Heavy Rain (PS3)

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This guy stuffs women for a living.

Things start getting frantic. She looks around everywhere, trying to spot possible escape routes or objects to interact with. She creeps out and down the stairs. Cage's colleague triggers her thoughts so we get a sense of her panic. He's sitting on the couch, watching TV, drinking beer, oblivious to her coming down the stairs. She opens the garage door very slowly with the right stick - it jams. She rolls underneath and heads for the bike. It won't start - you have to mash Square to get it going. Then you drive off, safe from the murdering taxidermist.

"That was cool," says Cage. "He didn't know we were here. That was fine. That was one possible story. But what would have happened if we had broke the bottle? Or left drawers or cupboards open? When the taxidermist came back he would have known something had changed and suspected someone broke in his house. This is where we reach the point where we bend the story."

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Cage loads up the game just before the taxidermist arrives, in the bathroom. The taxidermist is driven by AI. Cage doesn't know what he's going to do. This time she hides. You need to press and hold buttons to stay hidden. This is an uncomfortable position so you have to press buttons in awkward positions to simulate the same feeling. He walks past the bathroom. You leave and see him talking to his stuffed women in the left hand side of the screen. This time you walk too fast and step on a creaking floorboard. He spots you and gives chase with a knife. You hide in a cupboard, having to press four buttons this time to simulate how uncomfortable your character is. He checks under the bed before noticing the cupboard door ajar. You fight, having to mash buttons to fend the much larger taxidermist off. You run downstairs, all the time Cage's colleague is in control. This is not a cut scene. She stumbles at the foot of the stairs as he misses a QTE, bruising her cheek. She frantically looks for an escape, for something to use. You run into the kitchen, trying to open the door. More scuffles - she kicks him back. She heads for the garage door, enters, ignores the chainsaw before rolling underneath the jammed door. Once again the bike engine won't start - but just in the nick of time it does, and she speeds away, leaving the taxidermist standing in the street in the pouring rain.

"We could play the same scene five times, 10 times, 20 times and show you different variations," says Cage. "This was just two walkthroughs. We could kill the taxidermist. We could use the chainsaw. We could use screw drivers. There's also a gun hidden somewhere in the house. But also he could have killed us. We could have hidden and called the police using the phone." There are many places to hide, many chances to escape, and plenty more places to fight. "Now you know what Heavy Rain is all about." Well, we have a much better idea of what it's all about.

We can't wait to get our hands-on with one of our most anticipated games of 2009

There will be around 60 scenes in the final game each with a similar level of complexity and mature tone. Quantic Dream is working with script doctors from Hollywood to make sure the story is as good as possible, Cage explains. Each one will have unique gameplay, presenting unique challenges to the player. The environments will be varied, too, ranging from the small to the huge. "We're not making a video game," he says. "We're making a narrative experience."

It reminds us in some respects of those old play your own adventure games. Each action has a consequence and you have to continue the story in this way. During the chase sequence she fell down the stairs and bruised her cheek. That bruise will remain with the character during the rest of the game. If your character is injured it will continue injured. If your character dies, it is dead.

Heavy Rain might well turn out to be the best looking game ever made. Even in its current state its above and beyond anything we've seen not only on a console, but on PC, too. And while we know absolutely nothing about the story, or the main character, (the demo we were shown will appear on the disc as a bonus scene and shouldn't be taken as any indication of the main story) we're confident it'll be up there with the best electronic entertainment has to offer, simply because Quantic Dream has proven its plot credentials with the captivating Fahrenheit.

Our only concern surrounds the controls, which will probably only take a while to get used to, as Cage suggests. QTEs don't float our boat, so it was a tad disconcerting to see so many during the second escape sequence. Cage promises that the QTEs won't be game breakers - forcing you to replay whole scenes if you miss-time a button press, so that should soften the blow somewhat. "You've got several chances to tell the story you want," Cage says. "There will be some failures and some success but if you have enough success you will continue. But if not there will be a consequence to your actions."

It all depends, of course, on how frequently they'll pop up, which is currently a mystery. We're not fans of button mashing or waving the Sixaxis about about either, which we saw plenty of during the demo. Essentially, however, the concerns we have about Heavy Rain's controls are based on speculation. The real test will come when we actually get our sweaty hands on with the game. Until then, let's just sit back and enjoy the hype.

Heavy Rain is due out exclusively for PS3 late in 2009.

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