Instead, the most important feature of Heavy Rain, the design choice that makes it more important than any other game in separating from rather than drawing games toward film, is its rejection of editing in favor of prolonging.
To understand why the game is not a playable film, it’s important to review what makes film unique as an art form.
[Ian Bogost looks at Quantic Dream’s Heavy Rain in the context of film and cinematography’s history — including spoilers for the critically acclaimed PlayStation 3 game — to explain why he feels the game, billed as an “interactive film,” is not quite that.]