Heavy Rain. Heavy…

I eagerly pressed the x button with glee last night as I started the download of the Heavy Rain demo from the Playstation Store, but knew I wouldn’t be able to run it until I got home tonight.

After a crazy day at work, a website meeting and then toiling on aforementioned website from 7pm to 10:30pm, I decided to call it a day, but saw my PS3 power light was on.

That’s right! I had forgotten! I turned the lights off, the surround up and I settled in.

There was no flashy intro screen, no promises, just a streetcorner, with an ominous orchestal soundrack overlaid by the sound and visual of rain falling.

If you know nothing about this game, it centers on four people’s lives surrounding ‘the origami killer,’ a murderer of children who leaves origami in the victim’s hands, dumping the bodies usually in an area surrounded by water.

In the demo, you get to play as two of the four characters. The first is aged, asthmatic private investigator Scott Shelby, who’s following up leads after being hired by the families of the victims of the killer. I’m not going to go into any plot details, but I want to talk about several facets of the gameplay demo.

First, holy hell does this game look good. The faces… are hauntingly good. Sometimes there’s a little bit of horsemouth going with the upper teeth pushing the lips forward a bit too far as they talk, but other than that… the characters have souls. You can see it in the eyes… in the subtle facial expressions. You immediately tell if you like a person or not by their body language… it’s mesmerizing.

Every action you take is mapped in a sort of shorthand with the controller, but not in any way I’ve ever seen before. The closest I’ve ever seen use of a controller like this (and you’re going to laugh) is the WWE Smackdown Vs. Raw franchise. It is mind-boggling how SIMPLE and second nature this becomes VERY fast. Want to take something out of your pocket? Forward to half-circle back on the right analog. Want to bend down to look at something? Down on the right stick. It’s true that these are all ‘when you’re in the zone,’ but it’s amazing how fluid it is.

Perhaps the most interesting invention I’ve seen in the demo is a new form of stress for the player… The second character you play is FBI agent Norman Jayden, a one-man CSI unit.

He wears his sunglasses at night… so he can, so he can…. catch a killer.

The toys he pack are both surprising and intriguing. In one sequence, he must climb a wet, muddy hill in a rainstorm. In order to do this, you must press and hold the buttons on the screen in sequence, letting go to press new ones only after the

originals have disappeared. It’s almost like twister with your fingers, but you find yourself going through as much stress as the character on screen trying to do this difficult action. It really works well to link you to the character, in my opinion.

What’s amazing is that there’s already a story brewing that seems mega-engrossing.  I had thought this would be a want, not a need.  Damn early demos!  If you’re looking for a real story (something I’ve been lacking of late), this looks like the perfect murder mystery to satiate you.

Check the IGN video review to see the game in action and it’s control scheme:

Please enter the url to a YouTube video.

This has now surpassed FFXIII in my want list, after playing the demo.

Really.