(Images courtesy of Eurogamer and Quantic Dream.)

Especially with directors like David Cage behind the helm, Heavy Rain is a hard game to cover. Both the game and the man are unconventional, surreal, and dare I say it, poetic. But I know at least a few of our readers here really wanted to see some coverage on the title, so it will be done.

First thing's first: it seems everything seen in this preview -- characters, locations, scenarios -- will not be in the final game. You're not the only one confounded. Perhaps this is metaphorical.

Second is the script: Cage wrote 2,000 pages for the game with the assistance of Hollywood folk, detailing the game mechanics on top of the expected characters, locations and scenarios. Aside from those already introduced, more "sets" in the game include a prostitute's home, an antique shop filled with dusty typewriters (each with individually modelled keys), a train station, and a nighttime crime scene. And as for paths, the game will deviate, but a coherent "linear backbone to the story" is present. The period to create all of this took about 15 months, which was followed by Cage directing over 60 scenes featuring over 70 actors and stuntmen.

Writing Heavy Rain, he says, is a process which requires constant consideration:

"I'm not starting with the story and trying to fit gameplay in," he insists, becoming animated, "because that would fail the same way. What I try to do is to think about the story and the gameplay together. At the moment that I have an idea for a scene, I try to think about the potential for gameplay in this scene. Or when I think I think about a nice gameplay mechanic, what's the potential for the story? I wrote many scenes that were deleted because they had a good idea for gameplay but not for story, or a good idea for story but not for gameplay. I need to have good ideas for both in every single scene."

Remember that gaming revolution mentioned yesterday? User tallteen86 responded with a few games that did fit such a bill for bringing back that magic that seems to be missing from games today, or at least got close to it, like Braid, Super Stardust HD, and Portal. Due to the minimal (and vague) coverage on Heavy Rain, I'd almost forgotten about it in the mix. If Fable's Peter Molyneux says gaming has lost its sense of wonder and we need to toss the rulebook in the mincer, well, it seems like Heavy Rain is, inadvertently, a response to his feeling.

Cage pushes past the "pattern-based" rhythm of the action-adventure titles of today in favour of "a complex story told through contextual actions and realistic visuals". He feels with gaming, emotions like anger, anxiety and fear are relatively easy to trigger in the player, "but to make you feel social emotions like empathy is more difficult". See what I mean? We're starting from scratch.

Regarding gameplay, it's been revealed previously hiding in a cupboard, for example, will have you pressing an awkward combination of buttons to stay in place. The prominent use of the Sixaxis function was detailed, too, which you will use to throw, kick and generally "give an impulsion". The director wouldn't elaborate on these things, only saying "there is some kind of language regarding the interface and how we deal with things". Seriously. Hardest game to preview, ever.

One thing that isn't new to the game is choice and consequence. Cage explains your actions will affect which scenes you experience, amplifying its spiritual predecessor Fahrenheit's high point:

"There are scenes that you will get or you will miss based on what you've done. There will be part of the scenes that you will see or not see, and there will be specific actions in the scenes, so it's really an open end. There is no way you can see everything in one play-through, because there are many scenes you can only see if you play a certain way."

Something he notes is they won't make the "mistake" they did with that game. I won't spoil anything for those that haven't played it, but for those that have, you likely know what's being referred to.

Heavy Rain is due out for the PlayStation 3 in the second half of 2009.

Update: Check out all the vital stats here.