We like the fact that current Heavy Rain owners will be able to upgrade their version via a download to the Move Edition for free, but having spent some time in its company we’re still no wiser as to why Quantic Dream has bothered to make this interactive drama Move compatible in the first place?
If Heavy Rain had been built from the ground-up with Move in mind then our opinion would probably be much different, but it’s clear that the implementation of motion-controls was merely an afterthought. Based on the two levels that we tested out at the recent PS3 Beta event, it just hasn’t created the desired effect. Instead of feeling more immersed in the gameplay, all we could think about was how much better it was to play Heavy Rain with a standard controller.
The Move controller certainly offers a new experience, but it isn’t any better than the one that is currently on offer and if anything it’s more frustrating. Heavy Rain is a great drama that brings interaction to a whole new level, but what we played of the Move version was a tiring and dull experience that required us to complete physical actions that often don’t tie in with what you’re doing on screen.
We played through Chaper 1:A Sleazy Place, where Private Investigator, Scott Shelby, begins his investigation into the "Origami Killer” case. He ends up at the apartment of Lauren Winter, the mother of one of the victims, where he gets involved in a scuffle. In the lead up to the game’s first fight scene, there’s a series of simple interactions, such as getting something out of your pocket, taking your inhaler, or knocking on the door. These are made more complicated with Move.
To knock on a door, for example, surely you should simply raise the controller and tap a couple of times (like you’re really knocking a door?) Instead, you have to make some weird gesture that has no bearing on your action. Having to pull, push, thrust and twist the Move controller to carry out very simple interactions becomes very tedious. Heavy Rain is a slow-paced game that takes a good many hours to complete, so even the thought of standing up for hours on end waggling the controller about to do things like opening a car door is just insane. We were tearing our hair out after just one level.
The majority of the gameplay time that we spent with Heavy Rain just didn’t feel suited to Move, or optimised enough to make it a more immersive experience – even just pushing a door open with the Move controller is made more complicated than the standard version. Surely you should just have to push?
Where it did show glimpses of what Move is really capable of was during the fight scene in Miss Winter’s apartment. Having to smash this guy’s head against a table and push him off you as he pins you down has been handled extremely well with motion- sensing and it does feel like you’re in a tussle. If Heavy Rain were a series of fight scenes we’d be raving about it, but anyone who’s played the game though will know these action sequences are few and far between.
Heavy Rain Move Edition will undoubtedly offer a new experience, but based on our first impressions it isn’t one that’s better than the original. There’s no doubt that Quantic Dream could be one of the first developers to make a brilliant adventure game specifically for Move, but in our opinion it should have left Heavy Rain alone.