360 Gamer POV on Heavy Rain

Finally the PS3 has an exclusive that can actually rival the competition. At least that is what it seems from playing the demo for Heavy Rain the other day. I have never played a game like this and really all I can say is that I was hooked and left wanting more. I am not going to go in to much detail because I think Brian T. did a good job at doing that, but I just wanted to briefly touch on my feelings about what is to come.

Being a person who heavily favors the 360 over the PS3, I found the controls to be a little difficult. Not so much as to how they were set up, but since a lot of the game is controlled by timed button pushing, it becomes a little difficult if you do not have the layout of the controller memorized. So I found myself hitting the wrong button from time to time but it was never a devastating problem. It is a little weird with some of the other button combinations but after a couple of tries it was fairly easy to pick up on.

I played through the Detective Shelby scenario 2 times and both times were different. Each time it started and ended the same; it was the content in the middle that was different. The first time I played through I angered the hooker and she would not talk to me about her son. It wasn’t because I was trying to anger her; it was just my inability to push the correct button. The second time through I again pissed her off but was able to lay a guilt trip on her at the last second, which got her to talk. I am pretty sure that if I played through a third time I can make her talk without any anger or any form of guilt, therefore giving one single scenario three possible forms of gameplay. Not to mention that once you get her to talk you begin to ask different questions depending on which button you push. If this were to follow suite with the first half of the scene, then you are looking at up to 6 different ways to play one particular scene, hypothetically of course.

This seems to make the replay of value of this game very high. Talking with Brian T. he said that in order to get the full experience it is recommended by Quantic Dream to play through the game a few times due to the changing content depending on how the game is played and because of alternate endings. The big question for me is; is it a buyer or renter? Well I can say that I am going to rent it through Gamefly first and give it some good playing time. If I absolutely need to have it I will eventually buy it, but I think that playing through it a few times will be more than enough to satisfy me. Later on I most likely will pick it up when the price is down to $20 or $30.

From a heavy 360 gamer this is definitely a game to play even though it is exclusive to the PS3. It may be difficult to pick up on the controls at first, but once you do I think that there will be no disappointment. After almost losing my PS3 I think it is time that I blow the dust off of it and give it the fair shake it deserves. Besides Heavy Rain, I know that I am getting Super Street Fighter IV (solely to kick Brian T.’s ass) and Final Fantasy XIII for the PS3 (only because the PS3 version is in 1080p and the 360 version is in 720p) this year. So at least I will have 3 games for the console compared to the many that I own for the 360. Comment and let us know what you all thought of the demo.

-Brian R.