I got the chance to download the demo for Quantic Dreams’ noir murder-mystery, Heavy Rain, which is coming exclusively to the Playstation 3, and it definitely seems like it’s shaping up to be one of 2010’s best titles. Heavy Rain is a game, a movie and a interactive narrative all in one. A U.S. east coast city is gripped in terror by the “Origami Killer”, who kidnaps and leaves his/her victims’ bodies all to be discovered four days after they’ve gone missing. The only clues to these murders is a small origami figure and an orchid found on the victims’ bodies. Based on the short sampling from the demo, Heavy Rain breaks away from the violence and repetition seen in a majority of games on the market today, and provides a unique control scheme, story and cinematic experience.

The demo is broken up into three parts: a tutorial and two chapters from the full game. “Crime Scene” follows FBI profiler Norman Jayden who arrives at the scene of the Origami Killer’s latest victim and utilizes an experimental device to investigate the crime scene, called ARI (Added Reality Interface). “Sleazy Place” introduces former police officer turned private investigator Scott Shelby, who has been hired by the families of previous Origami Killer victims to investigate the case. Shelby follows a lead which takes him to a seedy apartment where he questions the victim’s mother.

The game is gorgeous to look at, the characters and environment are beautifully rendered. The controls are also unique: you perform various actions by moving the analog stick in different directions, pressing and/or holding multiple buttons and even shaking the sixaxis controller. While talking to NPCs or interacting with the environment, button or command prompts will pop up in the form of small squares. Some actions are also time sensitive, take too long in making a decision while talking to characters or don’t react in time during the demo’s fight sequence alters their outcomes. The voice acting is decent but not Hollywood quality and the character facial animations seem a bit stiff at times. These are very minor blemishes and don’t make me want to buy the game any less. I actually found myself rushing to my nearest Gamestop and reserving the game after finishing the demo.

Quantic Dreams promises that every decision and action you make in Heavy Rain, no matter how trivial, can have profound consequences that you have to live with. Aside from Shelby and Jayden, two other playable characters follow their own leads in the hunt for the Origami Killer: young photographer Madison Paige suffers from insomnia and has no apparent connection to the Origami Killer case but nevertheless finds herself drawn into it; former architect Ethan Mars lost his oldest son in a car accident two years ago and now is racing to rescue his other son, Shaun, who disappeared and could be the killer’s next potential victim.

Prior to testing out the demo, I thought Heavy Rain was going to be one huge quick time event game. After playing through the short sampling, I can say that I’m eagerly awaiting the main course. The unique controls, story and level of interactivity keep you on your toes and like a good book, will surely make you wanting to keep turning the pages to find out what happens next. Get your rain coats and umbrellas out, Heavy Rain will downpour on Feb. 23.