Heavy Rain For PlayStation 3 — What’s It All About?

Heavy Rain is an upcoming PlayStation 3 video game which is being developed by the French studio, Quantic Dream. The game is being directed by Quantic Dream’s founder and CEO David Cage, who also wrote and directed the studio’s two previous games, Omikron: The Nomad Soul, and Fahrenheit. The game is scheduled to be released in early 2010. David Cage has confirmed a demo, but the Quantic Dream team it’s still choosing what “Scene” of the game shall be used for the demo. Details about the plot of Heavy Rain remain scarce. Director David Cage has stated that Heavy Rain would be “a very dark film/thriller with mature themes”, without any supernatural elements, and that “the real message of the game is about how far you’re willing to go to save someone you love.”

In an interview with Dutch magazine Chief in 2008, David Cage gave a brief overview of Heavy Rain’s narrative and ambitions. A translation was then made, which read as follows:

“Heavy Rain is about normal people who have landed in extraordinary situations. I wanted a much more personal story. The first thing that came to my mind, as a father of two little boys, was that the main theme should simply be a father’s love for his son. This is not a game about saving the princess or the world. It’s purely about a father’s love. The main story will revolve around four different characters, and we’re putting the spotlight on their perceptions. The question ‘what is good and what is evil’ is the key here, that will be just a matter of viewpoint…I believe heavily in moral choices, I’m going to use them A LOT. They’re not about being good or bad, but about finding the right balance.”

There are four playable characters mentioned: an FBI profiler named Norman Jayden, a private detective named Scott Shelby, an architect named Ethan Mars, and journalist named Madison Paige. All playable characters are said to be looking for a serial killer known as “The Origami Killer”.

According to a demonstration given to Edge Magazine, the game will use a unique control scheme. A trigger button on the PlayStation 3 controller will move the character forward. It will take advantage of the button’s analogue function, allowing the user to control the speed of the character’s movement by pressing harder or softer on the button. The left analogue stick will control the movement of the character’s head and the direction the character moves in relation to where the character is looking. David Cage explains that this frees the movement of the character from the perspective of the camera. The rest of the game is played using a series of context sensitive actions such as picking up a bottle in a grocery store and hitting a robber on the head with it, and quick time events, normally for chase and combat sequences. Players are able to bring up a selection of their character’s current thoughts by holding the L1 button and pressing corresponding buttons to say or do what they’re thinking. These thoughts will sometimes blur, and selecting them at the wrong time will affect the character’s reaction, causing them to say or do something in the wrong way.

If a character dies, the game does not end, and play control switches to another character, with the events of the previous character’s death affecting the story. In the event that all four characters die, there is a proper conclusion to the story and the game ends.

This is the most updated news we could collect with such scarce information, we will be looking out for more stories from Quantic Dream and keep you informed.

Sadly, there no real screen shots available.

We sure will definitely get our hands on this game for our so anticipated gamers out there.