HEAVY RAIN
Grade: A
Developed by: Quantic Dream
Published by: Sony Computer Entertainment
Rating: M
Available now for the PS3

Games as unique as Heavy Rain don't come around very often. Eschewing the usual mechanics of a video game for something best described as a cinematic form of Choose Your Own Adventure, Heavy Rain allows you to manipulate the story while throwing in plenty of heart-stopping action sequences that pack a visceral punch.

Set in an unnamed, ever-raining city on the East Coast of the U.S., the game casts you as four different characters attempting to stop The Origami Killer, a serial killer whose next victim has only a few days to live. Your actions dictate how the story progresses and what ending you will get.

The game excels when it's moving at a break-neck speed, giving it an intensity which has never been seen in a video game before. You will be thrown into car chases, shootouts and countless fist fights that rely on simple button-pressing yet still create a gut-wrenching tension that gets the adrenaline flowing.

There are consequences for every move you make; one mistake can leave a character dead - and, in a game with no Game Over screen, the story will continue on, with that character or not. That's what makes Heavy Rain so groundbreaking - it's not the stunning graphics or the attempt to tell a more adult story grounded in reality, it's that every single thing you do can have major repercussions on the arc of the story. A gunfight which might seem standard in any other game has a sense of foreboding dread here; mortality is always looming in the back of your mind.

While playing Heavy Rain is an exciting and tense experience, those expecting a layered, nuanced story will most definitely be disappointed. This is a pulp thriller at heart, filled with clichés: the hooker with the heart of the gold, the out-of-control bad cop who doesn't play by the rules, the spoiled rich kid with a dark side. The entire story is filled with caricatures, predictable red herrings and nonsensical plot twists that undercut the game's attempt to be taken seriously as a cinematic tale.

It doesn't matter, though. Even with its generic story, Heavy Rain is such an unbelievably memorable game that any complaints you have will be washed away by action sequences that get your palms sweating and your heart racing. This is a must-play for any PS3 owner.

Bits & Bytes
Socom 4 - the first true sequel to the Playstation 2 trilogy of third-person war shooters - has been announced for a fall release for the Playstation 3. The first Socom game was one of the first to popularize online multiplayer on the consoles, so it'll be interesting to see if the series is still relevant with online multiplayer now so prevalent in other console shooters.

Upcoming Releases
March 16 - God of War 3 (PS3); Command and Conquer 4: Tiberian Twilight (PC); Metro 2033 (PC & 360).

Mel Stefaniuk is a writer who can tell the difference between Mario and Sonic.