The system is not without fault, it has to be said. Firstly you'll need to de-program yourself from holding the left stick in a direction to move as this serves only to confuse matters and you'll often find yourself turning around unexpectedly. However, even when you learn to navigate by tapping the left stick, it still occasionally feels very awkward  and in some of the more perilous, high-tension sections of the game you might find yourself cursing the fact that you can't seem to go where you want to. It is undoubtedly an issue and some gamers will take umbrage with the way the game handles but – and I can't stress this enough – stick with the game beyond the first few scenes and I promise you will not care.     

See, Heavy Rain's storyline is so utterly absorbing that, before long you'll have forgotten all about its handling foibles. The biggest crime I could commit in this review is to give too much away about what is undoubtedly the best gaming narrative we have seen to date - it would be something akin to smearing ketchup on the Mona Lisa. So, after much, careful consideration, here is the story bit: in a city terrorised by a serial child murderer known as the Origami Killer, four characters -  architect Ethan Hunt, private investigator Scott Shelby, FBI profiler Norman Jayden and reporter Madison Paige - embark on a journey to reveal the secret behind these horrific events. Before long they'll find themselves caught up in a race to prevent the killer from claiming another victim. And that's all you're getting. I urge you to avoid all spoilers and any story details whatsoever as the more you know about what happens, the less the impact of the game's events will be. And Quantic Dream has gone all out to make sure that your jaw will rarely be off the floor.
 
The greatest achievement of Heavy Rain is the way that it combines visual, audio and narrative devices to make you feel something. Yes, feel something. I know, it's rare. The ways in which the developer has crafted even the most basic scenes in the game are truly staggering and when you find yourself in one of the game's many flashpoints, you'll see just how emotive video gaming can be. From the absolutely stunning visuals to the David Fincher-inspired cinematography to the astonishingly moving soundtrack, Quantic Dream wants to make sure that the player is completely immersed in the moment. This is all capped off by the two most important ingredients in Heavy Rain: choice and consequence. You'll find yourselves faced with some horrible dilemmas throughout the game and never have I agonised over in-game decisions as  I did in Heavy Rain. The fact that you know your characters are not invincible, and can die at various points throughout, means that not only will you have to make some very difficult decisions, they'll be made all the harder because you care about your characters. You don't want their story to end here. Sure you can replay the chapter and try to do things differently but that's really not in the spirit of the game. I couldn't bring myself to replay chapters until after I'd finished the game as it felt like I was betraying my earlier decisions. You know, the ones which I'd agonised over. I didn't go through that for nothing...

Now, I'm aware that this glowing review of Heavy Rain will not be mirrored everywhere. People are going to ask questions about how much game there is and whether it is, in fact, a game at all. There'll  be heated discussions about the controls, the QTEs and the lack of freedom compared to conventional games. But, in my opinion, this misses the point entirely. See the freedom to move, fight and shoot may have come to define modern gaming (at least until this point) but what Heavy Rain offers is a more complex and exhilarating kind of freedom. The entire narrative depends on, and is driven by, your will. While much of the time we find ourselves at the behest of a game, instructed and guided by the developer at every turn, Quantic Dream revels in creating a situation and then passing the buck to you. “Go on, then. What are you gonna do now?” Play Heavy Rain with other people around you and you'll soon have some company on the sofa as gamers and non-gamers alike are drawn into this intriguing gaming experiment. What we call this, I don't know. What is clear, however, is that Quantic Dream has crafted a truly unforgettable experience and set a new benchmark in story-driven gaming.   

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