rain Review (PS3)

Every so often a game comes along that enchants you from the moment you load it up. rain (spelt all lower case, for art of something) is certainly that sort of game. Opening with scenes pulled straight out of a watercolour portrait, the game smacks of an attempt to ensure everybody playing knows that gaming is a genuine art form and it succeeds, for the most part.

While I won’t get into the whole “games as art” argument here (they are, deal with it), rain does offer an experience that is mesmerising, a little confusing and, if we’re being brutal, pretty simple in terms of gameplay.

Here Comes The Rain

The central conceit revolves around a young boy who has ended up trapped in some alternate version of gay old Paris, where he is completely invisible. The only way he can be seen is if he steps out into the rain, which is perpetually pouring in this particular universe. The initial stages deal with teaching the player the general mechanics, such as using your footprints to detect where you are in roofed areas, how to use such areas to confound the various beasties you will encounter along the way, all of whom are also only visible in the rain, and how you have the ability to use sound to distract the beasts from your actual location.

The crux of the tale revolves around our hero searching for a young girl who he has spied running from the beasts of this sodden world. All the while he, and she, are chased by a creature named ‘Unknown’, whose sole purpose seems to be to quash the lives of our intrepid duo.

While the various other beasts you encounter are most certainly dangerous, with alternate interpretations of rhinos, blood-sucking parasites and what appear to be dogs all capable of causing your demise, it is Unknown that presents the clearest danger.

In many ways, this beast is a typical ‘Implacable Man’. It hounds our duo relentlessly, constantly returning from what seems like certain death to continue haunting their steps. In many ways it is reminiscent of Silent Hill 2’s Pyramid Head - before it was bastardised by the movie and later games - in that it never stops coming and it can’t be hurt directly by the player. Even its shape, vague as it is given you only see the soaking wet version of what it looks like when it’s in the rain, is similar, especially the extended arm that calls to mind memories of Pyramid Head’s exceptionally phallic knife.

All of this combines to make a game where you are constantly on the run, never quite certain of when Unknown will make its next appearance. This central mechanic is used wonderfully to create moments of tension that will leave you on a knife-edge, desperately hoping for the creature to move on while you search for a way to escape its grasp.

As the game progresses you will come across some gorgeous locations, including an abandoned factory and a circus, before everything descends into an M.C. Escher-esque nightmare as the degree of control that Unknown has over the world is made clear. It is a subtly beautiful experience, made all the more interesting by the fact that the story is essentially narrated via captions that seem to be on the journey with you.

The Rain Wizard 

Now while the threat of Unknown and the other beasts is often present, the game offers little in the way of challenge. As an adventure game primarily, you are going to be tasked with solving puzzles to make your way through. These tend to be variations of using dry areas to sneak past beasts, climbing up structures to access new areas and, as the game progresses, cooperating with the young girl of the story to take on some slightly more complex stuff. 

rain starts to feel a little like Ico in execution once this cooperation becomes a regular part of the game, which is certainly not a bad thing. Still, it feels as though the gameplay itself never gets out of second gear, which allows for leisurely progress. Even on the scant occasions when you die you will be instantly transported back to the beginning of the particular scene or part of the puzzle where you left the mortal coil, meaning that challenge is non-existent.

However, it does feel as though that is a purposeful design choice. rain is not the game to play if you are looking for an immense challenge that will leave you feeling immensely skilled once it has been completed. We have Dark Souls for that, after all. No, rain is much more about the journey that you undertake and the growing connection between the young boy and girl who are braving the horrors of this strange world together. Adding challenge onto that story would only slow things down and may even lead to frustration to the point where players end up putting it down before reaching the climax.

Can You Stand The Rain? 

While this focus on story is admirable – some world argue essential given rain’s obvious desire to be taken seriously as a piece of art – I couldn’t help but feel as though something was amiss by the end. Without wanting to spoil anything, the game does an excellent job of establishing a world in which all hope seems to be extinguished, regardless of how hard you try, and more of a statement would have been made if that idea had stuck until the very end. Granted, this would make rain an even more morose and melancholy experience than it already is, but it would have been in fitting with the narrative, if a little bleak.

That isn’t to say that the story won’t have you hooked. Personally, it dug its claws into me from the first few minutes and didn’t let go until the epilogue created the sole narrative complaint I have. It was also aided in no small part by the excellent use of music. This is not a game that is heavy on soundtrack, but what is there always means something. Whether it is a simple plink of the piano to signify that you aren’t quite out of danger yet or the sound of French Horns adding a little extra flavour to the scenery, every note you hear complements what is happening on screen.

While an older game, rain does an excellent job of creating a unique world that is visually memorable. While there is nothing too complex going on here in terms of draw distances, lighting effects or the various other boondoggles that game designers like to throw around – often to distract from the fact that the games bolted onto these graphical showpieces are fairly poor – rain creates a visceral atmosphere made all the more beautiful by the shimmering forms of our protagonists – and their foes – as they navigate it. 

Let It Rain 

For the three hours or so that rain had me, it was an experience that I couldn’t pull myself away from. While the complaints of those looking for a game over a story are obvious – and completely valid – this isn’t a videogame that is made for that crowd. rain is a game that wants to make you care about the world you inhabit and the two unfortunate souls trying to survive in it, if only for a short while. It’s aspirations to artistic acceptance are sometimes a little clunky, but it mostly achieves its aim by offering an experience that, short as it is, differs greatly to what you will get from the AAA titles produced by today’s massive studios.