Heavy Rain
Quantic Dream / SCEE, 2010
PlayStation 3
Yes, Heavy Rain is a very different kind of game. It’s one that some may argue barely qualifies as a “game” due to its lack of definable “gameplay.” I’ll leave that opinion up to each individual. Personally, I think that Heavy Rain is a very well-crafted game, and definitely a well-crafted experience. In fact, I’ll go so far as to argue that I found Heavy Rain to be an interesting RPG. That’s right. I think Heavy Rain qualifies as a role-playing game.
Heavy Rain means heavy narrative. The whole thing can be blatantly described as an interactive cinematic experience. However, it’s interactive, so we do play it, or at least we play a part in the progression of the story. In this case, we, as players, also play a part in the progression of the characters. As the player, I took on various roles in order to move forward to completion. I did not create my own avatar to dive into the world with, but instead was placed into the shoes of a father, a journalist, a private investigator, a small child, and an FBI agent. Each character already existed, already had a personality–the FBI agent was a drug addict; Ethan, the father, suffered from severe depression–and had his or her own agenda. To start, I had little say in any of this. Through the course of the story, though, I did get to have my input.
I played roles. I played the role of a father, scared and desperately trying to save his son, eager to redeem himself. Those facts I could not change and I was forced into those shoes. I got a taste, a sample, of what that may feel like. My son trapped, my wife angry, the police chasing me and blaming me for all of it; I’m scared and I have no idea how this is going to turn out. But I know that if I keep pushing forward, I just may be able to redeem myself, things just may work out alright. I played that role. I was more than just Ethan, the father, too. I was a journalist suffering from insomnia and trying to help out a despairing man. I snuck into a night club and used my body to gain information from a sleazy pervert. That made my skin crawl and I didn’t like a moment of it. But it helped out Ethan and I knew well the situation Ethan was in–in fact, I was Ethan, so I guess I was helping myself. Then I was a private investigator. I was also an FBI agent. For a short period of time, I was a small boy trying desperately to save his drowning brother. I played those roles.
I learned what it was like to be these different people. I was in control and I was responsible for success and death. Ever heard about walking in someone else’s shoes? Done. Each of these people affected one another in various ways. Each one, in some way, needed one of the others. Outside the context of the game, even, it showed me a bit what it may be like to be that man running through the mall, wondering where his son has gone to, and gradually getting more afraid of what might have become of the boy. The story isn’t all that did this in Heavy Rain. The gameplay made it meaningful. Decisions made a difference and many had to be made quickly. If I messed up, then I had to live with the consequences. I wasn’t guaranteed that everything would be okay or that I’d get a second chance. Just like the character on screen, I needed to consider my situation and act accordingly, quickly. This brought me closer to that person. This made me that person. I was role-playing.
The question now is theoretical: do games need more of this? Some call Heavy Rain a resurrection of the adventure games from the 1990′s. Might I dare offer the idea that it may be the evolution–or, perhaps, a mutation–of the role-playing genre? The point of a role-playing game, from my understanding, is to take control of some character in some defined world and find out how to survive and succeed in that world. The player learns and grows just as the character learns and grows. I’m not suggesting that RPGs of the future will lack character creation or will be even more cinematic-heavy than they already are. It was Heavy Rain‘s ability to create realistic characters, placed in realistic scenarios, and then force the player to make meaningful decisions that made it work as well as it did. Consequences is the word I’m looking for, I think. It also doesn’t hurt to have many, most, or all, of these decisions made through actions, not text prompts. That way, it’s more visceral, and time-sensitive. Sitting on a prompt breaks immersion. Personally, I’d like to see more of the ingredients used in Heavy Rain added to existing recipes. In my opinion, it works well and means more.