HEAVY RAIN is a role-playing, adventure game for the Sony PlayStation 3. Played from the third person perspective, the player assumes by rotation the identity of four playable characters – an architect and the father of a missing child, a private detective, an FBI profiler and a female journalist. The purpose of the game is to hunt down the ‘Origami killer’, a serial child murderer who drowns his or her victims in rain water, and to secure the release of the latest kidnap victim. The game was classified '15' for strong language, violence and sex.

The BBFC's Guidelines at ‘15’ state that 'There may be frequent use of strong language (for example ‘fuck’)'. There are numerous uses of strong language in the game.

The game also includes infrequent strong violence. There is, however, no particular dwelling on the infliction of pain or injury. In one sequence the female journalist briefly tortures a male criminal by squeezing his testicles but there is very little detail. In possible 'end game' scenarios, two of the playable characters can commit suicide by shooting themselves in the head; there is very little blood and next to no injury detail. In a dream sequence the female journalist is attacked in her apartment by a number of masked intruders and her throat is apparently cut (with a little blood but very little detail) just as she wakes up from her nightmare. In perhaps the strongest sequence, the same female character is drugged by an evil doctor. She wakes up to find herself tied to a bloodstained gurney and being threatened with an electric drill. Depending on whether she escapes or not, either the doctor drills a hole in her leg (thereafter her death is inferred) or she kills the doctor by drilling a hole through his heart. Whatever the outcome, the action is masked and there is very little detail. Finally, in another sequence a playable male character is more or less obliged to chop off one of his fingers (he has a choice of implements with which to carry out the task). He screams a lot and a little blood can be seen but there is otherwise very little detail. The violence in the game occurs only when scripted and cannot be instigated at will. Moreover, it is impossible to inflict post-mortem injuries. The violence, which includes no strong gory images and no strong sadistic or sexualised violence, is permissible under the Guidelines at ‘15’.

HEAVY RAIN includes nudity (bare breasts and buttocks), mostly in a non-sexual context as characters take showers etc. There is, however, one sex scene of note in which two of the principal characters make love. The female character undresses and removes her bra. The couple then kiss, embrace and lie on the floor, before she straddles him. Bare breasts and buttocks can be seen but there is no stronger detail. This sex scene is sufficiently lacking in strong detail to be permitted at ‘15’.

The game also includes a number of drug references and in a party sequence we see lines of white powder on a table and other characters smoking what appears to be cannabis. Moreover, one of the four playable characters is addicted to 'Triptocaine', a fictional drug, and he suffers withdrawal symptoms throughout the game. However, although we see discarded syringes from time to time, we do not actually see the drug being taken. That said, the game as a whole does not encourage or promote drug misuse and the drug references do not challenge a '15' classification category.

Heavy Rain

Heavy Rain