After kicking off the new year there really wasn’t anything out there to look forward to. But rolling into February I was delighted to know that Quantic Dream announced that a playable demo was available for the psychological thriller Heavy Rain. It tells of the story of the psychotic “Origami killer” that seems to hunt children as his prey only to leave behind an Origami piece in their hands. You play as four main characters that live out this story in sequence. But the actions you commit dictate the outcome of the story. Quantic Dreams promises that the experience is one of a kind.

Ever since its initial announcement, there was a high level of interest for this game. Most gamers in general seemed a little standoffish that a game entirely designed to be played as one big “quicktime” event. Similar games have hit their niche market in the past with games like Dragon’s Lair, Space Ace, and even Sega’s Shenmue.

It would seem that hitting a command in time with when it’s exposed on the screen may seem to be a dated idea, but somehow Heavy Rain may seems to overcome that initial observation. The demo also allows you to play as two of the main characters in the game. Essentially the first story begins as a quick tutorial on how the game mechanics work. You also get a taste for what the actions sequences are like in Heavy Rain. Don’t think you can easily put that controller down just because some dialogue is being displayed.

From the very moment you pick up the controller some kind of interaction can be done as you take control of your character. The unique thing is that your interactions are what tell the story. Even as characters run through their dialogue, you continually create actions with your character. Never have I been emotionally driven by the decisions that I make in a videogame known to date. The experience is quite unexpected.

The second part of the demo allows you to play as the FBI agent that has some kind of unsettling drug addiction. Here you get play out the investigation sequence that help you piece together clues to track down the infamous “Origami Killer”. The game offers a virtual device in the form of shades and a glove that gives you a “Star Trek” like approach to visualizing your clues. The interface is self explainatory and looks to be a very integral part of the game.

By the end of the demo I was found wanting more. Like there was things left undone in this dark world. You really get into the characters that you interact with and you almost feel like you are going to see and hear things that you might not want  to be exposed to. Heavy Rain hits stores next week and I forsee this game doing well in the gaming ranks. Be sure to catch my full review as it arrives February 23 2010.