video game reviews

March 25, 2010 at 12:00a.m.

Video game review

‘HEAVY RAIN’

(Sony) for PlayStation 3

Grade: B

In most games, the story serves the game play. In “Heavy Rain” (Rated M; $59.99), a fantastic-looking serial-killer yarn with a brooding, noir flavor, it’s the other way around. The player guides four characters through the game’s many chapters, and any of them — as well as various secondary characters — can die, leaving the story to continue without them.

The first character we meet, Ethan Mars, is broken by tragedy and has a difficult relationship with his young son. The second, Scott Shelby, is a private investigator who keeps finding himself in dangerous situations.

The third, Norman Jayden, is an FBI agent on the trail of an elusive killer with the help of an advanced, virtual evidence-gathering device. Finally, Madison Paige is a photojournalist troubled by insomnia and disturbing dreams.

All four are trying to track down the Origami Killer, who leaves folded paper figures in the hands of his victims — always young boys, found drowned days after they disappear in times of heavy rainfall.

The game’s age rating is earned. Aside from the subject matter, there’s matter-of-fact nudity, intense violence and other R-rated content.

It’s not for kids.

Each chapter is a self-contained vignette in the story of the character it focuses on; sometimes the goal is clear, sometimes it’s not. Activities range from the exciting to the mundane. In one chapter, Mars may brush his teeth, do some laundry, fix dinner for his son, neglect to have him do his homework, watch some television and go to bed. In another, Shelby could get in a brawl with a thug or talk a desperate man down from a robbery attempt.

Some of the split-second decisions feel a bit like those in “Mass Effect 2,” but there are no Paragon or Renegade points to earn here, just new branches in the story.

Characters can walk around and interact with various objects using the analog sticks. Moving the right stick in various motions tends to activate objects — pressing up can cause a character to pick up or look at an item, a quarter-circle to one side may open a door.

Some items and actions require shaking the motion- sensitive controller. Other times, the player will have to press a certain button, hold one or more in combination or press buttons within a short time to carry out an action.

The actions are simple, quite similar to the monster-killing mini-games in “God of War” in mechanics if not effect. But they translate into everything from shaking a carton of orange juice to jumping out of the way of a truck to a desperate fight against several assailants.

Trying to hit all the right buttons and make all the right motions when the life of a character hangs in the balance is exciting — and made all the trickier when the prompts that show what actions are available jitter around for characters under extreme stress.

—Justin Hoeger, Sacramento Bee