GC08 - Heavy Rain Preview

It began as an audition at E3 2006 on the mammoth PlayStation 3 booth, but at Leipzig's Game Convention, David Cage's Quantic Dream finally unveiled in all its glory the boundary-obliterating Heavy Rain. The first title from the French outfit since 2005's Fahrenheit (or Indigo Prophecy if you're on the other side of the Atlantic), Heavy Rain's appearance from the enigmatic existence in the shadows has been highly anticipated, as Cage and his team strive to create an "adult and emotional" videogame.

TVG sat in on a demonstration of what could be most eagerly anticipated PS3 title for 2009, with an enthusiastic Cage providing commentary...

Look Into The Eyes.

Opening on the temporary main menu might not be the most interesting way to unveil the first secrets of a videogame, but it certainly proved to be a successful way for Quantic Dream to explain the level of detail applied to Heavy Rain's characters. The demo's protagonist, and the scenario in fact, aren't part of the main campaign of the game - Cage doesn't want to ruin the narrative before its release. Even so, she certainly had the most remarkable eyes, motion captured (Cage jokes that they tried to put dots in their eyes, but the models never came back) to pick out even the tiniest flicker of movement. The footage will certainly look familiar to TVG readers - they're the eyes seen in our screenshots a few months back. And they're not pre-rendered...they're rendered in real time and part of the actual character model.

But enough about the eyes, what about the game?

Following the scenario of a reporter investigating the disappearance of several women, the demo opened with the player's character tearing down a US highway in the pouring rain. She's en route to the house of one suspect in the case, Lyland White, a taxidermist. Pulling up in front of White's ordinary suburban house (a sure sign that he's a psycho), the reporter got off the bike - and the control shifted to the player for the first time.

Fans of the Fahrenheit control system, or at least those capable of appreciating what Quantic Dream tried to achieve with their previous title, will be pleased to hear that it returns with a massive expansion of motions and functions. But ahead of explaining the conversation system, which is perhaps one of the most unique implementations of the SIXAXIS to date, Cage explained the game's camera and movement mechanics.

Static camera games have always suffered from a control issue, which occurs every time a character leaves one shot for another. Specifically, 'walk forward' can become ' walk backward' in an instant; throw in the same conditions for 'left' and 'right', and the control system quickly hinders the gameplay. What Quantic Dream has done is utilise the system as a racing game, where a trigger button is used to accelerate the character forward. It could be a stroke of genius, it could thoroughly confuse gamers; we'll just have to wait and see in the coming months.

The right stick, like its temperature-measuring predecessor, is used to make contextual actions in the world. From opening post boxes and bins (both examples in the demo), the way the stick is moved by the player determines exactly how fast or slow the actions are made by the character. Naturally, the left stick is used to move the character left or right, though in a further reinforcement of mimicking human movement, the character's head looks in the direction first before the move is made. This may all sound insignificant, but it's all part of Cage's desire to create an empathetic and believable performance by the characters, and ultimately, a wholly immersive experience for players.

In addition to the increased subtlety of movement, using the left stick to look around also triggers contextual actions without the need for pointing characters in the right direction. For instance, if a sofa is to the right of a character, players won't have to position the body in a particular way - they just need to look at the sofa to bring up the option to sit. Potential hints are also identified in this way, with the character looking at an open window or a barrel that can be used to reach a ledge. If ever there was a key word to describe Heavy Rain, beyond 'wow', it's 'subtle'.

But this isn't 'Fahrenheit 2.0', Quantic Dream is building upon the foundations of three years ago. Like the racing-style motion, Cage and his team are utilising an equally unusual and original way to implement conversations: the often derided SIXAXIS motion control. Choosing from up to four lines of dialogue by tipping the controller left, right, up, or down triggers the conversation, and players have an even greater degree of flexibility by combining speech with actions. In the demo for instance, the reporter rang Mr White's doorbell with the right stick, whilst at the same time calling his name by tipping the controller to the right. It's a small and perhaps insignificant example, but it'll no doubt be used in increasingly significant scenarios come launch day.

Players will also be able to get the pros and cons of their actions at any time by accessing the contextual thoughts of the character; whether it's a good idea to open the window or not is just one example in the demo. As a nosey reporter it's no surprise that she decides to jiggle the window open (with players flicking the SIXAXIS upwards repeatedly) to investigate the suspect's house further.

Get Stuffed.

Taking the story inside the house (there are only loading screens at the start of the sixty scenarios making up Heavy Rain), the tension ratchets up another notch. It's a dreary kitchen area, leading onto a lounge that's actually to scale for once. Showing the work that's gone into allowing characters to manoeuvre between narrow gaps, Cage then 'notices' that there is some women's clothing in the open fire...

Heading into the garage, where a trail of blood leads to a rather nasty looking chainsaw, the ambient sound of the demo only makes what is a non-eventful demo all the more tense.

It doesn't take long to confirm that the suspect is in fact the killer (the dead woman sat in a blood-filled bath gave the game away). However, the horror of discovering the rest of the women stuffed and posed in a boarded up room is only matched by the sound of a car outside and the slamming of the front door...he's back.

Fahrenheit was renowned for its use of '24' style split screens, and Heavy Rain looks set to make a similar liberal use of it. It's at this point that the creaky flooring upstairs comes into play, as the reporter slowly makes her way (thanks to the careful use of the left analogue stick) downstairs and into the garage. Tumbling under the narrow gap, she runs to the bike and sets off down the road.

But it doesn't have to end like that.

Sliding Doors.

Demonstrating the 'elasticity' of the storyline, Cage's way of implementing player choice without compromising on a solid storyline, the reporter makes a noise whilst White is downstairs drinking a beer.

Armed with a rather mean looking knife he heads upstairs to investigate. Like its predecessor, the split screen events of Heavy Rain look set to up the ante on the tension tenfold, and with White coming for her, the reporter was shifted into the 'safety' of the wardrobe. It's at this point that Monsieur Cage become even more excitable, running a commentary that almost convinced us this was his first time seeing the demo too.

It's at this point that the gameplay turns into a series of quicktime events that would have Cliff 'I hate QT events' Bleszinski turning in his grave. If he was dead. Bursting out of the wardrobe, the reporter makes it to the bed, with the contextual quicktime button presses appearing on the handle of White's knife - it definitely doesn't suspend the immersion much there. Breaking away from White's grasp, the reporter begins to stumble down the corridor to the top of the stairs in an almost pinball-like fashion. But this isn't a cut-scene, it's playable in a way that surely induces increased tension for players. Tripping downstairs, that's what happens when you miss the quicktime window, she tries the front door only to find that it's locked.

Eventually escaping via the garage door, she barely has time to kick-start the engine of the bike before the taxidermist runs onto the front lawn with his knife, speeding away in the pouring rain. Realising the inevitable, the twisted serial killer slowly walks back to his house, and a single bullet is heard as the screen fades to black...what a way to finish a demo.

The thing is that the two very different ways the scenario played out represent the tip of the iceberg for gamers. According to Cage, a gun is hidden in the house somewhere and (like the chainsaw in the garage) could be used to kill White. The reporter could also have phoned the police - this is the sort of flexibility on offer come next year. We can't wait.