I don't think I've ever played a game before Heavy Rain that so skillfully straddles the line between intensely captivating and mind-numbingly boring. But the foundation laid here is exciting and should definitely be explored further.
Let's get it out of the way right now: The worst part about Heavy Rain is actually having to play it. Even simple tasks like walking from one room to another can be a huge pain with the cumbersome controls. You hold the R2 button to walk and can look around with left analog stick. It sounds easy enough, but combine that with too much character momentum and the game's jarring tendency to switch camera angles on you for "cinematic effect" and you've got a recipe for wasted time as you constantly fight to get your character to go where you intended. But the real problem is that it doesn't just feel awkward, it looks awkward, too. For a game that relies so heavily on its cinematic presentation, it's surprising that basic movement is so counterintuitive.
As for what you actually do in this game, typically you'll just walk around triggering little cut scenes of your character talking to people or opening drawers or shaving or other inconsequential actions. If that sounds like it could get boring, it's because it does. Face it: Most of the things you do in real life are extremely mundane. Well, in Heavy Rain, you do a lot of extremely mundane, realistic things, but it helps put you into your character's shoes. If you like playing the role of a character, you'll probably enjoy how refreshingly boring it can be. It attempts immersion in a much more ambitious way than most games do. But if helping your virtual kid with his homework before making him dinner and sending him to bed doesn't sound like your cup of tea, then this isn't the game for you.
While the majority of Heavy Rain plays out like an adventure game, with you calmly walking around trying to figure out which part of the environment will progress the story, that calmness is punctuated by moments of intense action. Where these moments differ from typical quick time events is in how natural they feel. Rather than appearing in the same place every time, becoming a visual distraction, the icons here appear directly over whatever they correspond to, letting you keep your eyes focused on the action. Most of the inputs usually make sense in the context of the scene instead of just being a reflex test, all resulting in quick time events that look and feel like a true evolution.
The plot revolves around a father trying to rescue his son from a serial killer, boiling down to a slight twist on SAW, and three other characters also trying to bring the killer to justice. It's certainly absorbing enough that I was never really bored, but it definitely has flaws. There are whole sections of the game that are completely irrelevant and make it feel like a film that needed better editing. In fact, the female character, Madison, probably should've been cut out entirely since she doesn't really add anything that worthwhile to the plot, yet ironically, she was the only one of the four playable characters that made it to the credits alive for me.
Persistent character death is just one of the ways that Heavy Rain makes you feel like your experience with it is unique. My favorite moment in the entire game occurred in the first fifteen minutes when, playing as the father, your wife and two sons come home and you get into a play sword fight with one of the boys. It's ultimately just a scripted moment, but I felt more in control there than any time outside of the quick time events. I gave the kid a good fight but purposefully lost in the end because, well, it was his birthday. It actually felt pretty good. I talked to a friend who had also played it and he had just slaughtered his virtual son without thought. Little moments like that helped immerse me in the story.
Unfortunately though, a lot of little moments are ruined by the game's presentation, which is decidedly mixed. Sometimes, everything comes together and the game impresses with lots of interesting camera angles, stunningly detailed people and environments, and a realistic sense of style. Other times, characters look decidedly fake, the animation is unconvincing, and the voice acting sounds unnatural. The only thing that makes poorly delivered voice acting sound worse is poorly written lines of dialogue, of which the game has plenty. It doesn't get frustratingly bad or anything, but some lines occasionally stand out.
Heavy Rain is a very engaging game and a very interesting step in trying to evolve how video games work that is hopefully followed up on by other 
developers, but it has enough problems that I'd only recommend renting it.
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