Initial Heavy Rain Impressions

I'm a few hours into HEAVY RAIN, and I figured I'd write up a bit about what I've experienced so far.

The Good

Graphics: This is a really great looking game. As somebody who grew up during the early genesis of video games, sometimes when I stop to think about how far games have come, especially graphically, since the early days, I'm a bit amazed. This is a really nice looking game. I did have one gripe about the graphics, but that's covered in "the bad" section.

The story: It gets off to a very very slow start, but once it kicks off it becomes pretty interesting. A serial killer is going around kidnapping and killing little boys. He drowns them in rain water, and dumps off the bodies leaving an origami in their hand. It's strongly suggested that one of the characters you play as is the killer.

Branching pathways: Depending on what you do, the game will be different. That's really cool and leads to high replayability. I have a feeling I'll definitely get my $55 worth here.

The Bad

Graphics: The game's graphics are great. What isn't so great is that HEAVY RAIN only supports 720p video. That in itself isn't bad, but what is bad is that if you have your PS3 set to 1080p mode and start the game, it runs in 480p. I had to exit out of the game back to the dashboard, turn off 1080p mode and set it to 720p for the game to not look like mud and for it to fill the screen. In 480p mode it ran close to 4:3 with black bars on the side. I had a similar problem with UNCHARTED 2, which instead of running in 480p, it ran in 1080p, but the graphics were jagged and crappy looking until I forced the PS3 to run in 720p on my 1080p HDTV. I normally keep the PS3 set to 1080p for Blu-ray. I could be wrong, but I think enabling both 720 and 1080 didn't work when I tried it. So I just switch it up manually when I can remember to check the game box first. I didn't remember this time.

Early levels: The first two or three levels of this game are boring. They're also a bit depressing. They get you used to the control scheme and set up the story, but they can definitely be a turn off. Things pick up once you take over as the private detective. It can be a bit of a chore to get there though. I have a feeling that on future play-throughs, that I'll be skipping those levels via chapter select.

The controls/camera: If there's one thing that's awful about this game, it's the terrible controls and camera angles. They're old school RESIDENT EVIL bad. Maybe it's just me, but moving my character from place to place is a pain. There's also a few times where they want you to press and hold down one button, then another, and another, and another. Sometimes they buttons they choose are incredibly hard to hit when you're holding down others. Like L1, then R1, then X and then Triangle on the PS3 controller. I'm also not nuts about having to use the Six-Axis motion controls. If I wanted to do that nonsense, I would've gotten a Wii.

Spoilered: Not a fault in the game. I accidentally got spoiled as to the identity of the killer. There are some hints throughout the early parts of the game as to who the killer is and a few red herrings with the other characters.

Overall (So Far)

Don't let that there's a few more negatives than positives. It's definitely a good game. I just wish it controlled a little better, and that the PS3 handled video resolution switches smoother and automatically.