WARNING: Minor spoilers follow.  If you don’t want this experience ruined, don’t read until you play :D

I had to privilege to play this game this past week and I have to say, it does not disappoint.  After all these years of hype, I feel that the game certainly lives up to it all.

This game is unique in a lot of ways.  The story has a starring role, unlike some games where the story tends to play second fiddle to gameplay or, God-forbid, graphical fidelity (one of the things that irks me most is the comment “Is that game good?  The graphics don’t look very good…”).  Not only is the story in the center of the experience, it DESERVES to be the center.  The twists thrown in left me on the edge of my seat throughout most of the experience.  Sure there are a few plot holes and silly moments (seemingly all involving Madison…), but it wasn’t enough to discredit the entire experience.  The superb voice acting, motion capture and music did everything they could to convey emotion and character and they succeeded.  I kid you not, this is the first game I have ever played where I legitimately teared up and actually, truly cared about the characters.

The characters… Man are they incredible.  Ethan Mars initially appears as a somewhat corny happy father but soon becomes a depressed and pathetic soul that I so wished I could help.  Scott Shelby immediately stuck with me as my favorite character as he showed himself to be a strong, intelligent and good-natured person (Oops).  Norman Jayden seemed like a pretty good guy, if a little flawed and played the typical “I just KNOW” sort of guy (Y’know, the people with so support for their argument and just blindly run through things?).  Madison Paige first came off as insane, then snooping, then somewhat likeable at the end; the one character I didn’t absolutely love.  Even some of the supporting characters were fantastic.  I seriously loathed Carter Blake, there was nothing redeeming about him at all.  Lauren was pretty annoying (Why must she follow me around?!?), but well acted and, don’t ask me why, but I thought the waiter that showed up when Jayden was all drugged up was totally amazing (I really liked his accent too).

Actually playing the game was incredible.  I think it may have broken me of the habit of putting down my controller during cutscenes.

NEVER LET GO OF THE CONTROLLER DURING HEAVY RAIN.

While the gameplay mechanics were perfectly suited for the experience, I found the character movement unintuitive and generally annoying (Why do I have to press R2?).  I cannot tell you how many times I was stuck walking in circles because my character either wouldn’t respond to my input well or got stuck on a piece of furniture or the like.  Further, some of the prompts that required you to move the controller (I’m looking at you ‘Bear Trial’ and ‘Old Warehouse’.  You know what you did.) were really unresponsive and frustrating.

The graphics…  Now this is what the PS3 can do when a company commits to making a game and refuses to simply port a 360 version.  Character models look great, environments are beautiful, movement is very fluid and realistic (I like to push my way through crowds just to see characters squeeze by and push aside people), the list goes on.  There are a few blunders, but everything else can more than make up for the occasional lip-synching problems (Jayden opens his mouth REALLY wide when he speaks).

Overall, I seriously recommend this game to anyone looking for a truly unique experience.  I really believe that this game would have great appeal to non-gamers, despite it’s lack of branding as a ‘casual’ game.  I think Quantic Dream has a great formula here that can not only push the boundaries of gaming but also bring new players into gaming.  The focus on story and characters have a very universal appeal and the simple to grasp controls (save the aforementioned character movement) can serve to encourage those who see games as daunting tasks to pick up the controller and try something new.  All in all Heavy Rain is a incredible effort from Quantic Dream and I eagerly await their next big project.