This may come to quite the surprise if you have seen any thing on this game, but Deadly Premonition is really good. That is if one can look past terrible graphics, audio problems, and dated survival horror game play. But looking past all of this I found one of the most interesting and awkwardly amazing stories of any game that I have played in a while. Not to mention it’s $20 new. So it’s quite a deal.
From the first screen in the game I had my doubts, the grass textures looked off, and the character models were defiantly falling into the uncanny valley. To be honest I thought this was a PS2 port the first time I saw a video on this. The pre-start screen cinematic made me have my few minutes of buyer’s remorse. However the moment I was first introduced to the protagonist, Francis York Morgan, these visual flaws dissipated because York is someone truly unique. York is a FBI agent, who came to Greenvale to investigate the murder of Anna Graham, hunt down the legendary Raincoat Killer, and from then on it gets pretty crazy. Let me tell you York is one of the best characters of this console generation.
Game play could be a lot better, and that’s not saying much. The game controls like Resident Evil 4. You aim over the shoulder, press x to run, move like a tank, and limited inventory space. It’s all standard survival horror stuff. The only problem is none of it feels satisfying. The zombie-esque enemies are slow, they absorb way too much damage even on easy, York is clunky, and the lock on is always targeting the knees of your enemies (useful when they go all limbo on you). Though it is easy to get an infinite version of the SMG or shotgun, and the melee weapons kill almost anything in 1 hit so that makes things much easier. But combat is really a minor part of the game that only occurs in a dark world kind of setting.
The driving though has some problems. Seems like my car always wanted to careen to the left when I started to speed up, like someone wanted to jerk the steering wheel around though that may be my slightly worn controller fault. Driving a car uses up gas which can result being stranded in the sizeable open world map. Speaking of which the map screen is one of the worst I’ve seen in a game. The map rotates depending on which direction you are facing, meaning if you face west, west is the top of the map screen instead of the top always being north. This is very confusing the first time it dawns on you, and your just trying to find the one citizen to give you a side quest but they are driving around town and don’t know when they stop or where to look on your map. Along with the 26 chapters in game, the game has 50 side missions, and 65 cards to collect. I think by the time the credits rolled I had clocked 26 hours. Oh and by the way york is going to have to sleep and eat or else he will loose all of his health and die. Luckily sleeping gains health and food isn't to hard to come by. Suits can even be unlocked so York can be a little more casual when out and about town.
Now perhaps it is my tainted sense of humor but I find this game hilarious and it’s story oddly intriguing. The town of Greenvale is filled with weird personalities, from Sherriff George Woodman, to the effeminate officer Thomas McLaine, Polly the innkeeper, “wandering” Sigourney the pot lady, the resident millionaire Harry Stewart or his manservant Michael that speaks in rhymes. These are just a few of the characters that live out their own lives day by day in Greenvale. This is one of the few ambitious things Deadly Premonition tries to do, characters will drive around, go to work, go home, and have different things to say according to the events in the story.
As time went on I actually started to be kind of excited when I saw the people I liked or when they wanted me to do something (Mr. Stewart’s my favorite; bonus for looking like a combine soldier.) The closing few hours of this game are insane; I was yelling at the screen I was so excited. The music is also pretty catchy. “The Woods and the Goddess” and “Life is Beautiful” have been stuck in my head for some time. Each of the songs just something that does not fit at all that in the end somehow works. The songs even drown out the dialog between characters and serves to a great comedic effect.
If you want another game to play, choose this one, do not delay... So says Mr. Stewart.
HOW DOES IT LOOK? Dated. Let’s be honest textures look bad and the characters lack detail, Not really pleasing but easy to look pass sometimes.
HOW DOES IT SOUND? The sound track isn’t that bad. But many of the sound effects just seem cartoonish or not where they should be. The voice acting is also pretty good all things considered.
HOW DOES IT PLAY? Like Resident Evil 4 but with none of satisfaction. Once in a while a quick time event will appear. Not the worst ever, but not that great. Doing the side missions is more fun than the actual combat in the levels until you get near the end.
HOW LONG WILL IT LAST? It took me over 20 hours to get through doing most of the side quests.
HOW WAS IT PRESENTED? In a Alan Wake sort of way. The game is told through chapters and episodes with previously on segments. The narrative is probably the driving force of the game and has some very interesting hooks. The cutscenes don’t really flow that well, but that awkwardness is part of the charm. A few points later on get a little artistic and boy does this game have a crazy story. By the time it all ends you realize you just played something different than anything you have before.
Final Verdict:
BUY
Friday, August 27, 2010
My problems with this game were the funky driving controls and how you couldn't zoom out really far on the map to get a good idea of where everything is. Of course the graphics weren't good, but they weren't terrible. I don't understand how some of you people can destroy a games reputation because of graphics, I have no problem playing games like MGS 1 or Tomb Raider on my playstation even though their graphics suck. The ending was a little out there and ridiculous, but overall I have to agree the resident evil meets gta atmosphere and quirky characters were great. I really liked the story as well, trying to guess who the murderer could have been was fun.
If the game doesn't allow screaming 12 year olds and multiplayer. It's not a triple A next gen game.
Ok Folks I am one of those weird folks who have to try every bad game (and I find out I like a lot of them I love Onechanbara if that gives you the idea). The game deadly premonition is a true bunch of crap. I gave it a chance spent 5 hours going through it I cant believe how poor the company did. The game did control very well (till you get a car what happened !@#$%^&* the control just became true crap). It did have some attempt a horror (I find the early creatures a little creepy)I can deal with the lower level graphics (hey it is a budget title) but did it have to be so bad. It reminded me of some of the very early 3d graphic PC horror games. Some things were funny (the gay cop) some were bad (the car control) some were actually fairly neat (good control, I actually like the concept of the main character with the inner voice, the monster design with a little work could be very creepy). The idea of having a no combat search and find story mode was original and a good idea. To bad the game sucked so hard.
hbrandinew hit the nail on the head, this is the Troll 2 of videogames. Everyone involved clearly started with serious intentions, but when they realised the trainwreck that they'd created just thought 'fuck it' and made the title a parody of itself. Epic.