Videogames are big business. There are advertisements for videogames during the Superbowl and the Final Four. They have crossed over to mainstream, even Grandma is playing Wii bowling (mine did - stunning, really). But, there is still that understanding amongst the intelligentsia, that videogames are there for pimply faced kids who like to pretend to be an orc, or they're for twelve year old kids who try to collect Mario stars. Heck, even the snobby people can at least admit that they can be *fun*.
But... are videogames art? Art that is transformative, and unique, and should be taken seriously by adults? Would we dare to submit that a, a, a *videogame* could compete with The Seventh Seal or 1984? I mean, don't equate your little game with Literature. Well, perhaps. But similar things were said about comics. Until people like Will Eisner and Alan Moore came along. I submit that Heavy Rain is a step in that direction.
In Heavy Rain, a videogame for the PS3, you follow a weaving narrative of four characters that intersects and overlaps - the nexus of which surrounds a serial killer who destroys children by trapping them in enclosed spaces and letting rain water slowly drown them. Yes, let me say this, Heavy Rain is dark. It's not really a game you play and feel happy and chipper afterwards. You feel pretty emotionally drained.
Now, is Heavy Rain a videogame Watchmen? No. But it does expand what videogames can accomplish. What their possible limitations are. Where they can go from here.
Heavy Rain is certainly not a game without its warts. There are some minor issues with the storyline, as well as some minor control issues. But I can accept these for the positives that it brings. Namely, as you play each of the four characters, you are confronted with choices and situations that really weigh upon you. Some of them might be easy for you, but some of them most certainly are not. The fear and suspense in many scenes is palpable, and the fact that you're controlling the characters brings an air of intimacy that makes it uncomfortably personal.
As an example, there is a (possible) scene where a character you control is confronted with a choice to cut off one of his own fingers. Now, you don't have to do it, in fact, it may ultimately prove useless. But, you also have very strong motivation to follow through with it. Should you? But there's a clock ticking for this choice. And your heart is racing. And you have to run around a dingy apartment finding something to use for this grisly task. Scissors? A cleaver? A saw? What? How are you going to stop the bleeding? Keep it from getting infected?
This, though, is where the videogame element comes in. You find something. Let's go with the cleaver! But, you're breathing so heavily that it's difficult to concentrate. So, you move the controller back and forth to slow down your breathing. Try to get your heart under control. You feel yourself empathizing with the character. You feel your breaths synchronizing with the motion of the controller.
Time is counting down. But, what if you miss, or don't do it right? Should you go through a test run? How are you going to do it? You hold your hand out, but... you flinch and pull it back. You're having trouble controlling everything with your heart rate picking up again. So, you try to ignore the time. Focus on the calm, breathe in, breathe out, breathe in, breathe out. You open your eyes. Now it's time to do it for real. You lay your hand on the table, press the sequence of buttons, trying to control the cleaver under your shaky hand, you raise it in the air, hold your breath, ...
So, is Heavy Rain just a choose-your-own-adventure suspense film? Well, yes, just like Watchmen is a pulp novel with doodles.
