Heavy Rain Move Edition

This is very much Heavy Rain once again, in that… well, in that it’s Heavy Rain once again. There are no visual upgrades, no additional content that hasn’t been released elsewhere and there certainly isn’t a different outcome to who the Origami Killer is. All that’s added is given away in the name of the game – this version has been upgraded to work with PlayStation Move. Does it really add that much? To be perfectly frank, no. Not really.

Using Move in Heavy Rain feels, at times, like the right thing to do. A smooth, sweeping arc to make your character pick up an item. A simple push out, pull in to open a door. Some daft multi-button-holding to stop yourself from being twatted by Mad Jack. It just seems to fit how it should, and work how we imagined it would. But there are times – more often than there aren’t times – where Move just seems wrong for the game.

When you’re trying for the fourth time in a row to open a car door (this actually happened) because Move is being a ‘bit weird’ and not registering your motions properly – that’s a time when it seems wrong. When you just can’t keep up with the quickfire motions and button presses required (ones you were comfortable with on the standard pad) because it feels just that little bit unintuitive – that’s a time when it seems wrong. When you find yourself having to carry out ridiculously theatrical physical movements just to perform the most simple of actions – that’s a time when it seems wrong.

Move functionality by no means breaks Heavy Rain, nor is it an unwelcome addition to a title many claimed was made with the control scheme in mind. All it does is prove that – while it works well enough – the game absolutely was not made with Move in mind. Playing with a pad is still the way to go here, though there is always the chance that motion controls may be a bit more intuitive to those not used to the Dualshock 3.

There are a few extras with the Move Edition of Heavy Rain, bundled in with the whole package. The Taxidermist DLC is included, giving you a short-but-fun extra scene to play about in. Three dynamic themes for the XMB are on the disc, bringing… well, some dynamic themes. If you like that kind of thing, you’ll like these. Probably. The complete soundtrack to the game is also included, which is a nice touch as it’s really quite listenable. If not inherently sad. Finally there are nine making-of videos included, which will let you stare at David Cage’s face for a while. Again, if you like that kind of thing, you’ll like his face.

Generally speaking it’s a decent package – a £29.99 price point, the bundled extras and Move compatibility should be enough to convince those sitting on the fence. Even those who don’t own the motion controller have a reason to pick up the game, so long as they don’t already own it.

As for those who already have Heavy Rain? Well there should be a patch out about now, which upgrades the game to include Move functionality. And it’s free. So that’s about that. It’s a good game, made a bit better.