Heavy Rain (PS3)

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The controls are different, and may take some getting used to.

Similarly to Fahrenheit, a small arrow pointing upwards appears on the bottom right of the screen as she approaches the mailbox. This arrow shows you how to interact with the mailbox, with the right stick, but you can also define the speed, something that will prove to be important later, Cage explains. She checks the garbage, and discovers a woman's shoe covered in blood. Not a good sign. At the front door a few interaction options are presented, which can be cycled through with the d-pad. She knocks - no answer. She tries the door bell. No answer. There are three speech options that appear on-screen above, to the left and to the right of a graphic of the Sixaxis. To select one piece of dialogue you need to move the Sixaxis in that direction. "Mr. White?" But she is not stuck in this dialogue. She can interact with the door, move away and talk all at the same time, at the player's whim.

She tries the garage door by the side of the house. "Locked, obviously. What did I expect?" As she's walking her head will turn towards points of interest, providing visual clues to the player. She spots a window that's ajar, but it's too high to reach. She uses a big barrel, moved by mashing Square. By flicking the Sixaxis forward she kicks it forward. Mashing Circle lifts it up. "Each time strength is required you have to press quickly this button. Each time you need to kick or hit something you need to do the same move with your controller to hit it. Everything is about immersion in the interface. We need to emulate what your character does to make you feel the same way."

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She climbs up on the barrel. Here we see the contextual thoughts system, which allows you to hear the thoughts of your character at any time in the game. Similar to the dialogue interface, you press L1 and select from different options by moving the Sixaxis. Right now there are two options: daring and caution. "She gives you the pros and cons. You can do it but there is a risk. But if I don't do it, I won't learn anything. She doesn't tell you what to do."

She struggles as she opens the window, as does Cage's colleague - he's rigorously shaking the Sixaxis. Inside is a dank but normal looking home interior. Furniture, nik-naks, ornaments, everything you would expect to find. Cage explains that there won't be any loading within levels, despite the graphical quality. Everything is 3D, including buttons on the oven. The living room is realistically sized - she brushes a bottle as she walks past - a QTE triggers, press Triangle to catch it before it drops and smashes. This won't be the last QTE we see in our Heavy Rain demo.

There are no cut scenes in Heavy Rain. The player is always in control.

The only prerequisite to interaction is that she first must look at the object with the left stick. This, Cage says, negates the problem other games have where you struggle to find the exact spot required before interaction is possible. She does this with the living room couch, first looking at it then sitting on it. "You don't need to fight with the character to make her do what you want her to do."

"Everything in this set is interactive," Cage explains. You could watch TV, sit in the rocking chair, sift through all the cupboards and drawers. She approaches the fireplace, where burnt clothes sit. She moves into the garage where she spots a trail of blood. Things are heating up. The door switch begins to open the garage door before it jams. She spots a chainsaw lying about as she moves back into the main house.

Upstairs she enters the bathroom, where an overpowering smell forces her to cover her mouth. Inside the bath itself is the body of a woman. She stumbles back in shock, before composing herself and reporting to her tape recorder. She moves down the corridor and enters one last room. The music ramps up - crazy strings busting out of the speakers. Inside is what appears to be a woman in a nurse's uniform locked in a crazy fixed smile as she sits cross-legged on a couch. She inches closer and discovers that the woman is, in fact, stuffed. There are more similarly stuffed women dotted about the room.

She starts taking pictures - she's a journalist after all. She's about to leave when a car pulls up outside. Guess who - it's the taxidermist. The strings ramp up as he enters the house, then bang, the screen splits in two - a third on the left showing us the taxidermist's actions, two thirds on the right the normal view. "Oh shit!" says Cage. "The taxidermist is back and we're stuck in his house! We're in trouble."

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