Heavy Rain Demo, How You Can Get It, And Some Impressions

The hotly anticpated Playstation 3 Game, Heavy Rain produced by Quantic Dream, is not available until February 23rd, but you have your chance to play it now. Earlier yesterday, Sony published a new viral website over at Precinct 52. You need to register first over here, but once you are done, you can head on over to Precinct 52 and click a certain 4 objects to get your promotional code you can use to download the Heavy Rain demo on the PSN Store.

Once you're in the Precinct 52 main site, click the following four objects:

- Coffee Shop C (towards the bottom, also says "Diner")
- Cigarette Butt B (click the cigarette, then click the short one)
- Oragami Bird
- Tyre Tracks (click the "tyre" tracks, then click 117h tracks)

Once you select the four of those items, you are prompted automatically to present them. Do as such, and you should be presented with a redeemable code for use on the PSN Store for the download of the demo. Enjoy!

All that being said, I had the opportunity to download and play the demo a little earlier. There was a lot of website traffic, and the site was extremely slow, but things are back to normal now it seems. I've been waiting for a trail of this game for quite some time, and it does not disappoint.

The demo gives you the opportunity to play as two separate characters. You first get control of Scott Shelby. The first thing you will notice while playing this game aside from the absolutely gorgeous graphics, is the unconvential controls. You do not use the d-pad or analog sticks to move. Instead you use R2 to move forward, and the analog stick to change direction. The face buttons, right analog stick, as well as the shoulder buttons are used to control characters actions. It is quite strange to get used to the different control scheme, but once you get it down, it is pretty easy.

Scott Shelby is an older, retired heavyset private investigator who is searching for any clues regarding the Oragami Killer. He seemingly suffers from chronic asthma, which factors into the gameplay. You need to occasionally to use your inhaler to keep him under control. After walking through a rainy alleyway, you go into a cheap motel and proceed to question a prostitute. She's not too helpful, but you can approach situations in different ways, and the characters will react differently. After leaving, another of her callers goes to her door, and it is up to you to save her. You engage in a particularly intense battle. Shelby is obviously no brawler, and it shows. The fight is very hectic with the control scheme setup as it is. It is very fun and creative and that is all that matters.

The second character you control is Norman Jayden. He is a FBI agent and seemingly a drug addict. He arrives to a recent murder site and is very shaken up. Jayden has this really nifty pair of glasses and a crazy futuristic glove that both allow him to identify potential evidence on the scene of a crime. Even though the game is set a year from now, the technology is really cool. This part of the demo requires you find evidence and check out the surrounding area. There is not much to it, but it really shows you how different the 2 characters are.

Overall I was very pleased with this small taste of the game. The graphics are extremely good, and it definitely shows they've taken care over the past 3.5 years developing this. Some of the characters seem to suffer a little bit from "dead eye syndrome" which is common in a lot of CG/movies today. It's not too bad, and hopefully will clear up with the remaning time. It is only a demo after all. The voice work is also very well done, and I was left very impressed. Personally I cannot wait until the full game comes out later this month. Expect a full review when it does hit.

In case you haven't seen the game in action, below is a trailer for the game.