Heavy Rain
Generally favorable reviews
Based on 38 critic reviews
Game Info
Publisher: Sony Computer Entertainment
Developer: Quantic Dream
Genre(s): Adventure
Players: 1
ESRB Rating: M Mature
Release Date: February 16, 2010
Summary
How Far Will You Go To Save Someone You Love? Experience a gripping psychological thriller filled with innumerable twists and turns, where choices and actions can result in dramatic consequences. Spanning four days of mystery and suspense, the hunt is on for a murderer known only as the Origami Killer - named after his macabre calling card of leaving behind folded paper shapes at crime scenes. Four characters, each following their own leads and with their own motives, must take part in a desperate attempt to prevent the killer from claiming a new victim. [Sony]
Also On The Web: Official Website
100
Playstation: The Official Magazine (US)
We're enjoying it immensely... It is a game like none other. [Mar 2010, p.66]
100
Boomtown
I have never played anything so momentous or revolutionary as Heavy Rain. In the coming years I expect the game's influence to be felt throughout the industry in terms of gameplay, storytelling and interactivity. This is a game that deserves all the plaudits it can get. So please go out and buy Heavy Rain and reward those that have made such a groundbreaking videogame event.
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100
GamePro
An emotionally engaging thrill-ride from start to finish, Quantic Dream's Heavy Rain is a superbly crafted interactive experience, told expertly through it's stunning visuals and believable characters.
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100
Total Video Games
Heavy Rain is a rare experience that can be enjoyed by a watching audience and not just the person with the control pad. It's also one that you'll certainly want to play through at least one more time just to see what you missed and perhaps reach a better outcome.
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100
Gamervision
Quantic Dream puts forth some truly incredible ideas and concepts as to what a game can be, but they’ll stay ideas and concepts until gamers are willing to accept that they deserve more than another GTA or Call of Duty clone. Heavy Rain is without a doubt one of the most impressive games of the last five years, and it shouldn’t be missed by anyone.
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97
Everyeye.it
Heavy Rain is not a perfect game, maybe it's not a videogame at all. It's an involving experience that no one has created before and that will remain in videogamers' hearts forever.
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95
PSX Extreme
Heavy Rain isn’t just a masterpiece; it’s an ingenious step in the right direction...This may very well be the most “human” game ever made, and an absolute triumph for the industry. Take from that what you will.
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95
Game Informer
It's barely a game in the popular sense of the word, but Quantic Dream's masterpiece makes groundbreaking strides in storytelling and character development, demonstrating that interactive entertainment still has a deep well of untapped potential. [Issue#203, p.91]
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94
Multiplayer.it
It's really difficult to judge Heavy Rain. The new David Cage masterpiece is something to love or to hate without any compromise. But this duality is something typical for the excellence: Heavy Rain is strongly emotional and represents a new way to think about videogames. A way where the plot and the quality of narrative become more influential than the gameplay.
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92
GamingXP
For many people Heavy Rain won’t be more than a progression of quick-time-events, but for me this game has everything a great game needs. The thrilling story, the beautiful graphics and the innovative controls will let you play on and on, till you just can’t look any longer into your TV.
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91
1UP
One of the most emotional experiences I've ever had playing a videogame.
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91
Games Master UK
An incredibly original and compelling thriller that's unlike anything else out there. [Mar 2010, p.64]
91
9Lives
Heavy Rain isn’t just a game. It’s the next step in commitment, a wonderful experience for whoever is open to it. Some moves are a bit heavy and there are some technical errors, but the perfect marriage of story, gameplay, sound and a proper use of quick time events make this a unique, unforgettable adventure that will make lots of games pale in comparison, considering its involvement. Heavy Rain makes you choose between some heart-breaking options, but to the question "should I buy this game?" the answer is simple: Yes.
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91
GamingTrend
It’s film noir, it’s drama, but most accurately it is unique. I’ve played literally thousands of games on every platform under the sun, but Heavy Rain really connected with me.
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90
TotalPlayStation
Flawed, yes, but far closer to perfection than I ever would have thought given earlier peeks at the game, Heavy Rain is a monumental accomplishment. It takes familiar situations, bits of gameplay and tones, and melds them into something... unique.
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90
GameSpy
If you can buy into the idea that the ending you get is your ending, and that your characters are really your characters, then you just might find yourself feeling moved by a videogame.
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90
Cynamite
Heavy Rain is thoroughly unusual. Rarely before, a game has been as emotionally haunting as this one. Furthermore, the replay value is very high, because of the different endings.
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90
SpazioGames
Everyone who calls himself a videogamer should try the Heavy Rain experience. Such a fresh and innovative point of view on home entertainment could give birth to an entire new genre. Technically superb, provided with a good story and an interesting control system, Quantic Dream's new title is really a twist in the videogaming culture. Still, some minor issues and a limited interactivity do not allow to praise it with full marks.
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90
Eurogamer Italy
Beyond its unconventional and somewhat unconvincing gameplay, Heavy Rain is one of those few products able to assure a real videogame experience, taking gamers though a journey they’ll hardly forget. Quantic Dream has definitely pushed forth the standards of the whole adventure games genre.
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90
Eurogamer
It may also be the only game you play this year where pulling the trigger makes you really feel something, and I can think of no greater compliment.
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90
Play.tm
Those of you willing to concede a degree of control, and embrace the game world, its characters, its ambience, will find that Heavy Rain is a slice of entertainment that stays with you between plays and compels you forward. It isn't perfect, but there's no questioning the gripping endeavour here. Meanwhile outside, in the night, the rain keeps falling, and time is of the essence get to it.
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90
IGN
A hell of an experience. Its controversial control scheme actually works really well in allowing the fantastic story to dictate how events play out, and many of the game's scenes will keep you on the edge of your seat. It starts slow and the presentation isn't perfect, but the character development, dialog and story twists will hook you like few games can.
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90
Eurogamer Portugal
Heavy Rain is not the revolution that the videogame industry is waiting for, but it will probably be part of videogame history, as an important step in the growth of the industry, as a piece of entertainment.
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90
Playstation Official Magazine UK
Put gaming conventions aside, go in with no expectations other than this is something new and massively good-looking, and you'll be rewarded with a unique experience that lurches between genius and madness, manages to be genuinely emotional, and that you'll be bursting to talk about with your friends. [Feb 2010]
90
Kikizo
Heavy Rain isn’t a film, or even a game trying to be a film. It’s proof of just how compellingly a game can use film, of how gripping a warmed-over scenario or humdrum script can become in the hands of a skilled design team. It filches ideas from cinema, doubtless – what big budget character-driven release doesn’t? – but it’s because it’s a game, in the final analysis, that it’s marvelous.
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90
VideoGamer
For those of you who can open your minds to the possibility of something genuinely new, this is mana from heaven. Heavy Rain is one of the most exciting things to happen to video games for a long, long time. It's not a threat to the old way of doing things, but it does hint at the possiblity of a whole new genre.
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90
NZGamer
Watching a robbery go down with detached movie-convention-predictability and suddenly realising you have to intervene can freeze you up like Paul Henry spotting a mustache on a lady. It adds the third dimension that makes this game a game. In any case, it's an entertaining variation on screaming, "Don't go in there!" at a flickering screen in the dark.
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90
PS3bloggen.se
Heavy Rain manages to create an atmosphere unlike any other, and many of its scenes are more thrilling and engaging than anything else I've ever played. Despite the slightly clunky controls and some parts of the story not meshing properly, Quantic Dream have created a game that breaks the norm. By being normal.
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90
IGN UK
Heavy Rain’s undoubtedly a sophisticated, fearless and often remarkable piece of entertainment. As a game it's not always successful but, as an experience, it's absolutely unforgettable.
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89
GameTrailers
The epic moments fall down like, well, the rain. Boss fights, huge brawls, escapes, and much more will keep your fingers nimble and your mind guessing.
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88
IGN AU
This game represents some fine character development and storytelling. The further in you get the more involving it all becomes, and when you finish you’ll be raring to start all over again, and that’s always a great sign.
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88
PSM3 Magazine UK
It's essentially a nine-hour film that you nudge along by following on-screen button prompts, although you feel more connected with the action than this might suggest. [March 2010]
80
Telegraph
Flawed as it is, Heavy Rain is a game that anyone with even the vaguest interest in its intentions should experience for themselves. While it’s not quite the revolution for storytelling in video games, its accomplishments should prove it a worthy vanguard. And its ambition should be rewarded.
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80
Computer and Video Games
You have to appreciate Heavy Rain for what it is; a fantastic and absorbing narrative, and a bold new venture in interactive storytelling. Not Shenmue.
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80
Level7.nu
It's a shame that the controls are somewhat blocking the experience and that the serial killer story sometimes goes over the top, but Heavy Rain has some outstanding scenes, great animations, beautiful design and is one of the most interesting games in the last couple of years.
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75
Game Revolution
Heavy Rain is an inspiration board of editorials waiting to be written. It is entertaining without being “fun” and explores the assumptions players make as a spectator and a participant, the extent at which literary drama can interconnect with games, and the uncharted space far beyond mainstream gaming...Even if you come to oppose everything it stands for – and understandably so – Heavy Rain needs to be played.
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70
Destructoid
Ultimately, Heavy Rain is an experiment that both succeeded and failed, when it could easily have been a total success if the brains behind it weren't trying so hard to be smart, and cared more about providing a sensible plot as opposed to a shocking one.
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70
Games Radar (in-house)
Visually and aurally it's a decadent feast for the senses, but its frequent descents into ham-fisted schlock and downright broken storytelling ultimately make it a clumsy case of style over substance. It's a likeable mess if you don't think too hard, but nevertheless, a mess it remains.
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