Genre: Heavy Rain

Platform: Sony PlayStation 3

Publisher: Sony

Classification: 15 (BBFC)

Heavy Rain is forecast and there’s never been a better time to get drenched.

Quantic Dream’s new slice of Interactive Drama treads the thinnest line between movie and game ever ventured. The visual delectations that gently caress your corneas and the aural notes that seductively ripple your tympanum, mostly outshine that of a Hollywood blockbuster.

It’s dark, it’s dingy, wet and damp. The walls are lined with a film made from the remnants of filthy polluted air and the streets are swarming with strangers. It’s a horrible place that looks and feels like the movie Se7ern with the smell of death, corruption and wrongdoings hanging stale in the torrid and constantly wet air.

And it’s this incredibly genuine ambience that helps the player get drawn in as the intricate story unfolds. It’s like actually watching a movie in which players press buttons at the correct time to influence what’s happening on screen.

Admittedly so many games in the past have been spoiled by button-press sequences that mar the rest of its prepossessing qualities, yet Quantic Dream build a game centred around button-pressing and still mange to pull it off with magnificence yet again.

Because of the fantastic realism and the fact that the game is heavily storyline driven, a bond is both quickly and easily formed between the player and the characters. Although you loosely control the character’s actions, you really feel their emotions.

Ethan, Scott, Madison and Norman are the characters that the game centres on, each storyline thread crossing over and woven into the fabrics of the complete tale. Each character has their connection.

Although the game lasts only about eight hours there’s a great deal of replay value in the fact that what you do in game reflects what you see on screen. And with plenty of hugely varying endings, there’s always something to work for.

And to further expand the longevity of this gorgeous looking and deeply immersing game is some DLC heading our way. The DLC episodes are planned to be about an hour long each and will provide background into each of the main characters.

I honestly thought that with a game so revolutionary, ambitious and unique, I would perhaps have to force myself to like it, embracing the technology and overlooking the playability. That wasn’t the case. It is what it is – fantastic.

If you liked Fahrenheit, you’re going to love this; it’s the same sort of game but a few degrees hotter. A lavish cinematic treat that rarely comes about.

SCORE: 9 / 10