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Console Exclusives We Want On PC – Heavy Rain

Many of the problems PC gamers face, such as bugs, computer crashes, and broken power supplies, are generally solved in two ways. One way to fix them is that we can throw money at the problem, and buy new computer parts or pay for help. The second, more preferable way, is to spend hours solving the problem in a cost efficient or free manner. However, there's one problem that no matter how much money we throw at it, or how much time we spend begging developers to solve it, it just doesn't work. Console exclusive games. These games are very irritating and tempting at the same time, so it can be easy to fantasize about the perfect port to complement your game library.

Heavy Rain, an adventure game, is one of the more unique games of 2010, and proves divisive for many. Heavy Rain is developed by Quantic Dream, the same development studio behind 2005's Indigo Prophecy, and both of these titles show an ambition to create a game around a story, rather than a story around a game. You follow the perspective of four individuals who are all tied to a serial killer named the Origami Killer. There's a father who's son has been taken by the Origami Killer, a detective who's looking for the Origami Killer, an FBI agent with a drug problem, and a journalist. The story has several different endings, which one you get is determined by what choices you make in the game or who you let die. If one character dies, the story keeps going. The big hook here is that rather than having usual adventure game controls, you use several movements with the analog stick and face buttons to complete a series of, let's face it, Quick Time Events. Unlike the dread QTE's of God of War ripoffs, though, Heavy Rain has huge story consequences for how well you perform some of these actions, or what actions you choose to perform. It's a unique experience that divides many, mainly on issues of ambition vs. quality, as the story has big plot holes and the voice acting can be less than stellar, to say the least. 

Why It Would Work On PC
Heavy Rain's control scheme heavily utilizes the analog stick in-game. Since the analog stick is in and of itself an imitation of the mouse for consoles, the reasons why this control scheme would work are pretty obvious. There were some moments in Heavy Rain where you completed a sequence successfully but the game didn't quite count it, and this could be improved, if not removed from the game entirely with a responsive mouse. The controls could work with the mouse, mouse buttons, and keyboard quite well, with WASD being more suited to "tank" controls than R2, L2 and left analog stick. Also, like all PC games, a PC version of Heavy Rain could take the PS3 version's graphics to the next level, or at least clean up some of the uglier textures that popped up from time to time. 
 

What PC Exclusive Content It Could Have
Heavy Rain had a DLC story called The Taxidermist released a while after the game launched. This was a short but savory piece of content that could end in multiple ways, and was even used to demo Heavy Rain before it came out. The problem? It was only available to those who preordered the game. With a new PC port of Heavy Rain, you could throw the PC crowd a bone and have The Taxidermist come free with the game, like a Game of the Year edition. Also, with the PC version of Heavy Rain, a fan service possibility comes in. Since bothIndigo Prophecy and Heavy Rain would be on the PC, you could have unlockable content for Heavy Rain if you have purchased Indigo Prophecy on the same PC, which would be great for rewarding PC fans of Quantic Dream. Along with that, you could have a smaller, and more customizable storyline that shipped with the rest of Heavy Rain in the PC version. Say you had a one hour story, a bit longer than The Taxidermist, but you had a customizable character, with different looks, voices, and attitudes. These options could effect what dialogue options or choices you got in the one hour story, thereby giving that one hour story a larger amount of endings and events. It would be a cool addition that would give the PC version a couple of hours more game time, while staying in the style of Heavy Rain.

 
The main reason that we even expect this on the PC is that Quantic Dream released it's last game, Indigo Prophecy, on the PC. It was a decent port, with it's only problems showing up during the action scenes. It's less likely that Heavy Rain will see the light of day on a PC with Sony's exclusivity grip, but a gamer can hope, right? 
 
Need convincing? Read Player Affinity's review of the PS3 version.




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