‘Heavy Rain,’ the new Sony PlayStation 3 title to hit the stores on Tuesday, aims at taking the ‘interactive’ entertainment industry to more creative and emotional heights – moving a step closer to blurring the line between video games and movies.
Developed by David Cage and Quantic Dreams, the new PS3 exclusive is virtually a drama on edge. It involves four characters - a bereaved architect; an asthmatic private investigator; a drug-addicted FBI man; and a restive photojournalist – that are played in turns by a player; during the course of the hunt for the Origami Killer who kidnaps and drowns young boys, and dumps the bodies with an orchid and an origami figure.
As the players to step inside the superbly-crafted interactive movie, they come to grips with a number of moral and emotional choices that trickle out from the story. The interactive game is essentially a propulsive story with clear consequences to every action; and is thus devoid of any points, gunbattles or other traditional challenges found in video games.
Noting that ‘Heavy Rain’ is part of an effort to develop a potentially new category for gamemakers looking at sales growth, Guillaume de Fondaumiere, co-CEO of Quantic Dream and executive producer of ‘Heavy Rain,’ said: “We tried to create an emotional experience for adults, one that is cinematic and touches on themes that are seldom found in games. It is very story-driven.”












