As a movie, or a narrative, there are problems of equal measure. Early on you're presented with a child—a child that isn't developed as a character in the least and through a sequence of interactions you're supposed to feel as if this child is your child. The entire narrative hinges on this. For me it worked brilliantly but I am a father. I have a son and I would stop at nothing to save him. Would it work so well for someone without children? Once you have kids, you are always a parent, even when not actively parenting and the game uses that in the cheapest of ways, namely to engender sympathy for a child that they don't take the time to develop properly. If it works, more power to them, but is that fair? To use emotional manipulation to make up for genuine character development seems somewhat cruel, especially if the child can die at the end. If I spend seven hours trying to save my not-real son, am I really going to try for one of the many endings where he doesn't live? If I can do that, is it the game's fault for not giving me significant reason to care, or is it my fault for harboring the ability to let a child, even a fake one, die?

This is not the narrative's only problem. Significant plot developments and aspects of playable characters are brought up only to serve a specific narrative purpose, or none at all, and then dropped, never to be heard from again. The late game reveal of the killer's identity to one of the playable characters, but not you the player, is scripted and acted as a supremely dramatic moment, however when the killer is revealed to the player, the drama of this moment is ruined as the player has to assume a set of circumstances happening that they have no first hand knowledge of or any reason to believe happened up until this point to support the drama of the earlier moment. Similarly, the late game motivations of certain characters do not play well with what we see as their motivations early in the story. This is not a case of a character growing throughout the arc of their story, but simply the internal monologues we are given access to early in the game do not match up with what we learn about them late in the game. It is jarring and takes away significantly from what should be the game's most dramatic moment.

Adding to the troubles, the performances seem off and somewhat stiff. None of this is helped by facial animations that are, for the most part excellent, but falter at all of the wrong times. When eye contact is needed, one character seems to be staring off into the distance. The control scheme makes it easy to move your character in all of the wrong ways at the worst possible times. I was amazed to discover that it was set in Philadelphia as most of the voice actors sound like they're from Europe, desperately trying to hide their native accent. Turns out this was the case, and while it's certainly easy enough to get past it as you progress through the story, one wonders why the game had to be set in an American city when there's absolutely nothing about the city that is critical to the game's story.

If I sound like I'm being unduly harsh, I suppose that I am, however it's only because I genuinely loved and enjoyed being a part of this game and because of that, it makes the faults all the more glaring. There is the beginning of something here, at least it seems that way and I didn't want a beginning. We've had beginnings. I wanted this game to show us that we're farther along in pushing the boundaries of what it means to play a story driven game than we are and it didn't do that. It certainly tried and maybe others can look to this and address the problems and bring us where I hoped this game would. If they do, then Heavy Rain's influence will transcend its individual problems.

To its credit, Heavy Rain explores some deeply mature subject matter and doesn't flinch away from letting the player fail. For something so steeped in the theme of parenthood, this is its most parental aspect and, in a game so steeped in heartbreak, its most heartbreaking one as well. If you play the game as it's meant to be played, not as a game, but as a story that you have some control over, you may find that your control results in the death of a child. It is devastating, or at least I can only imagine that it would be as I could not bring myself to that end. I could not and I will not. As childish as this may seem, I often feel as if the game worlds in which I play continue on after I leave them, and I was not going to leave this particular world with one more drowned child.

So, in what can also be described as a truly "parental" set of feelings, I love this game, but I'm also disappointed that it was not able to be all that it could have been. In it I saw the potential for greatness, for unparalleled excellence and it's hard to see that potential go unrealized. Perhaps that's my fault. It probably is. Then again, maybe not. After all, the game asked me to pour so much of myself into it to make the necessary emotional connections that, at that point, it's hard not to pour in my expectations for it as well. So I did, and I was disappointed as a result. But I don't love the game any less. I just need to love it for what it is. Thankfully, that should be enough.