• Publisher: SCEA
  • Release Date: Feb 23, 2010
  • Summary: How Far Will You Go To Save Someone You Love? Experience a gripping psychological thriller filled with innumerable twists and turns, where choices and actions can result in dramatic consequences. Spanning four days of mystery and suspense, the hunt is on for a murderer known only as the Origami Killer - named after his macabre calling card of leaving behind folded paper shapes at crime scenes. Four characters, each following their own leads and with their own motives, must take part in a desperate attempt to prevent the killer from claiming a new victim. [Sony] Expand
Score distribution:
  1. Positive: 99 out of 107
  2. Negative: 3 out of 107
  1. 100
    I have never played anything so momentous or revolutionary as Heavy Rain. In the coming years I expect the game's influence to be felt throughout the industry in terms of gameplay, storytelling and interactivity. This is a game that deserves all the plaudits it can get. So please go out and buy Heavy Rain and reward those that have made such a groundbreaking videogame event.
  2. Ultimately, the technical issues tainted the experience beyond what I'm prepared to take, which is a terrible shame considering the level of effort that has been put in to craft an engaging and thrilling storyline. Offering a multitude of endings is redundant if I don't want to go back and play through the game again, and I had a strong desire to see this work. In a way, I still enjoyed my time with it and can definitely see myself returning to any similar games that come along, and with smoother controls and no technical issues, there is every chance that future titles could become masterpieces.
  3. Heavy Rain looks amazing and it puts in an outstanding effort to further how video games can be used to tell a story, but it's not good enough. David Cage - the game's Creative Director - has argued that Heavy Rain isn't a video game, it's an interactive movie. If you were to remove the interactive part of Heavy Rain and focus on the plot, characters and acting you'd come away disappointed, and by misunderstanding fundamental elements of character representation in interactive media it fails to utilise interactivity to its advantage either.

See all 107 Critic Reviews

Score distribution:
  1. Negative: 35 out of 246
  1. The most amazing gaming experience I have had in the last 5, maybe even 10 years. (Owned every console and I play all the blockbuster hits).This really pushes gaming in a whole new direction. For the most part it's a moral dilemma that involves mystery and some puzzle aspects. Its very cinematic in its styling the story is fantastic! The plot gets better and better as you go along. It became very addicting for both my brother and I.You become completely absorbed in the story of these characters and you really feel for them. You feel as if you ARE the characters themselves. Many games stake the claim that the story developments hinge upon the choices you make in the game. For many games it doesn't completely flesh out that way. For this game it's absolutely true! Decisions you make drastically change to direction of the story. There are substantial rewards and consequences for you decisions, different cinematics, play sequences and endings. Much of the game pushes you to make difficult decisions that make you really dig deep into your own value system and deeply held convictions. It is NOT an action game, though it does have action elements. Many people get frustrated because they seem to be expecting something different, and they are disappointed that its not like other games on the market. This is not Call of Duty or Batman. Take it for exactly what it is and you will be happy. At least four of my friends have played HR and everyone loved it. We all played through more than once. Graphics are top notch (especially given that it is slightly dated). In no way should it be rated anything close to a 6.8! I give it a solid 10; a rating I give VERY sparingly. This game is revolutionary and impactful to the future of gaming. At the discount you can get it for these days it SHOULD NOT BE MISSED. Expand
    • 1 of 1 users said yes
  2. I don't think I've ever been this split on a game. I enjoyed the story half the time, and loathed it the other half. It's the strangest combination of terrible and fantastic dialogue and plot twists. I think I had the most issues with Madison because her character was inconsistent and was the source of the dumber parts of the story (psychopath ex-surgeon drug dealer anyone?). The controls were either fine or terrible, especially in some of Ethan's segments. Due to a control glitch (I think) Jayden got killed. Right before the end too. As far as vocal performances go, I'm not even sure what to say. Each character had great acting, but at some part of the game, each one of them had terrible deliveries. I'm kind of split on this one. I can't recommend buying it, but it's worth a rental I guess. Expand
    • 7 of 10 users said yes
  3. Ryusennin
    4
    You've already heard everything about Heavy Rain. It's the best thing since sliced bread. Its graphics blow Uncharted 2 out of the water. Its interactive storytelling is a revolution. Bullshit. Heavy Rain is a souped up spiritual and technical sequel to Fahrenheit. It presents the same qualities (an intriguing yet repetitive gameplay which tries too much to copycat Shenmue without ever being able to equal it or even understand it) and the very same flaws. Technically, it's not stunning. Character graphics are nicely done, but the whole affair is largely inferior to other mocap achievements like Uncharted or Heavenly Sword. The game is littered with glitches -- I personally didn't encounter any serious showstopper, but apparently many people have suffered from aggravating bugs and even profile corruption. The most serious flaw of Fahrenheit was its downright mediocre ending. Just imagine David Lynch concluding his Twin Peaks series with an over-the-top air fight obviously inspired by Matrix 3 (complete with conspiracies about artificial intelligences and Mayan prophecies). Yeah, I bet you didn't see that coming either. Heavy Rain unfortunately goes the same way with an impossible Deux Ex Machina final twist, and once again proves that the failed moviemaker David De Grutolla (aka David Cage in English-speaking countries) is a decent director but an awful and amateur scriptwriter. Is Heavy Rain the "revolution" of videogaming? Heck no. Not even close. In five years, it will be remembered the same way as the FMV games from the mid-1990s. A strange yet futile gameplay experiment, with an appaling narrative by a wannabe David Fincher. David Cage is really turning into the Uwe Boll of videogames. Expand
    • 1 of 3 users said yes

See all 246 User Reviews

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