Fantastic game with innovative game play and an excellent story, however its let down by low replayability and controls
User Rating: 9.5 | Heavy Rain PS3
First off let me say that the game itself is great. The story is amazing (albeit with a couple plot holes), you can truly empathize with the characters situations and feelings, and the gameplay is unique and an will definitely influence many new games to come. The graphics may be the biggest achievement of this game. Even the most unimportant features such as the pores on ones face or a random freckle are easily visible. The graphics run through very smoothly however you may notice rare shuttering between frames although it is in no way a deal breaker. The story will make you want to continue playing for hours straight. After starting the game I did not put my controller down until four hours later out of extreme hunger (which I didn't even realize was a problem until I paused the game for a few seconds). The acting and voice acting is pretty good. The main characters children (Ethan Mars' kids) oddly have some sort of accent that I can't put my finger on even though both parents have typical American accents. Perhaps they were adopted...I don't know, regardless it is a little distracting. The music and sound is very good and is appropriate during necessary times. The only real let down in the game is the replayability (the reason I gave it a 9.5 rather than a 10). Once you play through the game it is very difficult to force yourself to make different decisions than those that you instinctively chose. Also because of the type of gameplay (the timed button pressing and analog stick spinning) you can't really change tactics and strategy like you would a normal game. Other than these very minor shortcomings it is an excellent and unique game that should be played by anyone who has a playstation.
