You all know I love Heavy Rain<\/em>, right? Well, I do<\/a>. Sadly, I can\u2019t say the same for the first chapter in the Heavy Rain Chronicles<\/em> DLC series, released yesterday on the PlayStation Store for $5 and previously made available as a free download for those who pre-ordered the complete game.<\/p>\n

Chapter 1 of the Heavy Rain Chronicles<\/em>, subtitled The Taxidermist<\/em>, takes us back prior to the events of the main storyline, following journalist Madison Paige on one of her earlier investigations into a taxidermist who she believes could be the Origami Killer. Sound familiar? Well it is, because it\u2019s the same thing as the demo scene that was used as a teaser back in 2008 when Heavy Rain<\/em> was unveiled at the Leipzig Games Convention \u2013 I\u2019ve embedded the old trailer further down the page to refresh your memory.<\/p>\n

Generally speaking, The Taxidermist<\/em> is every bit as tense and evocative as the full game, perhaps even more so as you search through the suspect\u2019s house with creepy stuffed animals starring you down and happen upon a truly gruesome discovery. The chapter is paced brilliantly, and some incredible split-screen camera work makes the final sequence of attempting to sneak out of the house as the taxidermist comes home as suspenseful as any scene from the full game. Each scene has many different outcomes as well, so there is some fun to be had in replaying multiple times to experiment.<\/p>\n

But that\u2019s really all The Taxidermist<\/em> is good for. There are five different \u201cendings,\u201d but each is nothing more than a newspaper headline describing the achieved outcome, so there\u2019s very little satisfaction gained from replaying to see them all. The chapter adds nothing to the Heavy Rain<\/em> story either, and the actress playing Madison sounds startlingly different from her final performance. Also a sign of the tech demo origins, the animation quality seems rougher around the edges than the main production.<\/p>\n

Worse still, the chapter is absurdly short \u2013 I\u2019m talking 10-20 minutes short. I completed my first play-through in less than 20 minutes, and I thoroughly searched every nook and cranny of the house and purposefully attempted to savor the experience for as long as I could. When it was over I literally muttered to myself aloud, \u201cis that it?\u201d<\/p>\n

The Taxidermist<\/em> can be seen as either a success or a failure, depending on what you look for in downloadable content and whether or not you got it as a pre-order freebie. As a standalone chapter, it is a compelling slice of Heavy Rain<\/em> psychological adventuring and, like a demo, functions as an excellent teaser for the main game. But that\u2019s all you\u2019re getting here: a paid-for tech demo that fails to flesh out Madison\u2019s back story or add anything of substance to the Heavy Rain<\/em> storyline. Even $5 is too much to ask for that. <\/p>\n

Now I can only hope that future chapters in the Heavy Rain Chronicles<\/em> are more substantial\u2026<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Pros:<\/strong>
\n+ Suspenseful pacing and atmosphere
\n+ Many ways to experiment with each scene<\/p>\n

Cons:<\/strong>
\n– Short with little value, even at only $5
\n– Voice acting sounds off
\n– Not as polished as main game
\n– Adds nothing of substance to the Heavy Rain story<\/p>\n

Game Info:<\/strong>
\nPlatform: PS3
\nPublisher: SCEA
\nDeveloper: Quantic Dream
\nRelease Date: 4\/1\/2010
\nGenre: Adventure
\nESRB Rating: Mature
\nPlayers: 1
\nSource: Review code provided by publisher<\/p>\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

You all know I love Heavy Rain, right? Well, I do. Sadly, I can\u2019t say the same for the first chapter in the Heavy Rain Chronicles DLC series, released yesterday on the PlayStation Store for $5 and previously made available as a free download for […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[684,1176,49,180,3,61],"tags":[950,6489,696,1918,6070,6100],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.vgblogger.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5613"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.vgblogger.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.vgblogger.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.vgblogger.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.vgblogger.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5613"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"http:\/\/www.vgblogger.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5613\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":23655,"href":"http:\/\/www.vgblogger.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5613\/revisions\/23655"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.vgblogger.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5613"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.vgblogger.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5613"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.vgblogger.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5613"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}