Heavy Rain pits you in the shoes of multiple characters who search for the Origami Killer: Ethan, a father who lost one of his kid in an accident, and whose second son is kidnapped by the killer; Norman, an FBI agent; Madison, a journalist; and Scott, a private investigator.
The game is linear, but the way events resolve is all but linear.–The multiple endings and all the possibilities coming out of your actions, inactions, successes and failures mean the game is more like an interactive movie, which is great: it completely merges a videogame experience with a movie watching one.
The story is the meat of the game here, as opposed to many other games, and the gameplay is minimalist. Action scenes are mostly quick-time events, the rest of the game playing a bit like an old point-and-click adventure, only there is no pointing nor clicking – only the concept is the same. You search for clues and for ways to escape traps and the like.
If you don’t want to have some plot points spoiled, just know that I loved the game and STOP READING! From that point on, there are SPOILERS.
After playing through the game, there is no doubt that there are many resolved issues. Ethan waking up from his blackouts with origami in hands, characters breaking the fourth wall, and so on. I think most of these are non-issue. The experience is still stellar and Heavy Rain is an oddity in a sea of FPS, action RPGs and easy thrills.
I have come up with explanations for some of the plot holes: Ethan waking up from the blackouts with the origami is a tricky one. However, when I started playing, as Ethan, I picked up a newspaper speaking of the Origami killer. There is no doubt from Ethan’s reaction that this has a strong influence on him. In my opinion, he might be having subconsciously affected by this, and thus be making origami figures and dreaming of drowning children.
As for Scott Shelby exclaiming “Oh my God, he’s dead” when he sees what we learn later is his OWN victim, he still is not far from Lauren. He plays the act for her sake. That's what I thought. Were I a murderer, I’d kill in a similar situation, I’d play the act 100%, in case Lauren or another hypothetical witness could see and hear.
Some people (on forums and such) have an issue with Shelby not being able to fit in the pipes to put glasses for Ethan. That’s not an issue, since he could have asked someone else.
During the fight with Norman and the masked killer, who turn out to be Shelby, it is evident the killer isn’t exactly slim. While he might be thinner than Scott, thus creating an issue (a side-by-side comparison would be useful), there are ways to hide temporarily one’s girth.
Overall, I’m not entirely satisfied with the Ethan-origami-blackouts issues. Some people have commented that the psychiatrist might be in cahoots with Scott Shelby and be using drugs or hypnosis or other means of manipulation on Ethan, but I feel this is too far-fetched, and there is nothing to support this. Who knows, maybe Ethan is thinking he IS the killer because of the newspapers and his blackouts, and his subconscious tell him to do origami?
Even with such loose ends, they did an admirable job of creating a narrative that supported so many different possibilities, which is much harder than a simple, linear narrative. By the way, there is, in my opinion, two big hints as to the identity of the killer: we don’t know for whom or why does Scott investigates the Origami Killer case, and when playing the flashback with the kids, we can hear young Scottie having trouble breathing. Also, we know he is an ancient cop, and Norman can guess the killer is a cop shortly before the reveal, which adds yet another clue.
Too bad it wasn’t Blake, I’d liked to have killed that unbalanced psychopathic asshole!
The game is linear, but the way events resolve is all but linear.–The multiple endings and all the possibilities coming out of your actions, inactions, successes and failures mean the game is more like an interactive movie, which is great: it completely merges a videogame experience with a movie watching one.
The story is the meat of the game here, as opposed to many other games, and the gameplay is minimalist. Action scenes are mostly quick-time events, the rest of the game playing a bit like an old point-and-click adventure, only there is no pointing nor clicking – only the concept is the same. You search for clues and for ways to escape traps and the like.
If you don’t want to have some plot points spoiled, just know that I loved the game and STOP READING! From that point on, there are SPOILERS.
After playing through the game, there is no doubt that there are many resolved issues. Ethan waking up from his blackouts with origami in hands, characters breaking the fourth wall, and so on. I think most of these are non-issue. The experience is still stellar and Heavy Rain is an oddity in a sea of FPS, action RPGs and easy thrills.
I have come up with explanations for some of the plot holes: Ethan waking up from the blackouts with the origami is a tricky one. However, when I started playing, as Ethan, I picked up a newspaper speaking of the Origami killer. There is no doubt from Ethan’s reaction that this has a strong influence on him. In my opinion, he might be having subconsciously affected by this, and thus be making origami figures and dreaming of drowning children.
As for Scott Shelby exclaiming “Oh my God, he’s dead” when he sees what we learn later is his OWN victim, he still is not far from Lauren. He plays the act for her sake. That's what I thought. Were I a murderer, I’d kill in a similar situation, I’d play the act 100%, in case Lauren or another hypothetical witness could see and hear.
Some people (on forums and such) have an issue with Shelby not being able to fit in the pipes to put glasses for Ethan. That’s not an issue, since he could have asked someone else.
During the fight with Norman and the masked killer, who turn out to be Shelby, it is evident the killer isn’t exactly slim. While he might be thinner than Scott, thus creating an issue (a side-by-side comparison would be useful), there are ways to hide temporarily one’s girth.
Overall, I’m not entirely satisfied with the Ethan-origami-blackouts issues. Some people have commented that the psychiatrist might be in cahoots with Scott Shelby and be using drugs or hypnosis or other means of manipulation on Ethan, but I feel this is too far-fetched, and there is nothing to support this. Who knows, maybe Ethan is thinking he IS the killer because of the newspapers and his blackouts, and his subconscious tell him to do origami?
Even with such loose ends, they did an admirable job of creating a narrative that supported so many different possibilities, which is much harder than a simple, linear narrative. By the way, there is, in my opinion, two big hints as to the identity of the killer: we don’t know for whom or why does Scott investigates the Origami Killer case, and when playing the flashback with the kids, we can hear young Scottie having trouble breathing. Also, we know he is an ancient cop, and Norman can guess the killer is a cop shortly before the reveal, which adds yet another clue.
Too bad it wasn’t Blake, I’d liked to have killed that unbalanced psychopathic asshole!
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