Silent Hill Downpour Review
- Thread starter WMDogma
- Start date
Y'know, I'm that desperate for survival horror that I might pick it up anyway.
If Konami ever ships a decent amount of copies to the UK. I haven't seen it ANYWHERE, and I could swear it was meant to be out by now.
And it really does look like alan wake. Seriously, watch the video again, and at the end, say "My name's alan wake, and I'm a writer." Fits right in, don't it?
If Konami ever ships a decent amount of copies to the UK. I haven't seen it ANYWHERE, and I could swear it was meant to be out by now.
And it really does look like alan wake. Seriously, watch the video again, and at the end, say "My name's alan wake, and I'm a writer." Fits right in, don't it?
Oh man, I can't get the hang of combat in this game. I read that the story itself is pretty good, but the gameplay is broken when it comes to combat. I figured people just didn't realize that Silent Hill is more about running than fighting, but then I fought my first monster. Ugh. I tried button mashing, then I tried timing attacks. Nothing seemed to work very well, so it's gotten to the point where I run every chance I get. I'm annoyed that one attack staggers and breaks my block, especially when enemies attack in combo moves. I do like that you can throw your weapon though.
Personally, I find the story to be a bit unnerving so far, but I agree with you--so far, it hasn't lived up to Silent Hill 2 and 3, but then what games can? I'm still enjoying it enough, but I wouldn't recommend it to casual players. I think you need to be a fan of the series. Of course, with the Silent Hill Collection out now, I'm sure many fans will have picked that up instead. I got them both.
Totally agree on the Alan Wake feel too. That might be why I'm more unnerved because I'm having flashes of that game.
Personally, I find the story to be a bit unnerving so far, but I agree with you--so far, it hasn't lived up to Silent Hill 2 and 3, but then what games can? I'm still enjoying it enough, but I wouldn't recommend it to casual players. I think you need to be a fan of the series. Of course, with the Silent Hill Collection out now, I'm sure many fans will have picked that up instead. I got them both.
Totally agree on the Alan Wake feel too. That might be why I'm more unnerved because I'm having flashes of that game.
Decent review,Paul. For what it's worth I actually enjoyed Murphy's story arc in Silent Hill, and I enjoyed how vocal he was about what happened. In terms of atmosphere not being terrifying compared to Silent Hill 2, I figured that would be the case. I mean Vatra is based in the Czech Republic which has a lot of germanic influence when it comes to its type of horror stories, and it shows in Downpour. Best advice I can give is just accept that nothing will top Silent Hill 2, but Downpour definitely beats Homecoming in terms of quality. It could have been a lot better, that I know for a fact, but it's not horrible, either.
They really need to just stop making Silent Hill games.
By all means, make games *like* Silent Hill, that's a fantastic idea. But when you attach the words "Silent Hill" to a franchise you bring along so much baggage that it's practically impossible to live up to. Then fans like me come onto reviews of your games and say that they should really just stop.
(Note: I really liked Homecoming and Shattered Memories. They just had no good reason to be Silent Hill games)
By all means, make games *like* Silent Hill, that's a fantastic idea. But when you attach the words "Silent Hill" to a franchise you bring along so much baggage that it's practically impossible to live up to. Then fans like me come onto reviews of your games and say that they should really just stop.
(Note: I really liked Homecoming and Shattered Memories. They just had no good reason to be Silent Hill games)
I think maybe you were just hoping for too much. I havent finished it yet, but I think it's a nice change from the repeated formula they have used over and over again. Maybe they just wanted to try something different and who could blame them. I like the side quests but i agree with you that they could have been more informative to the story than they were. However I disagree on the subject of the fight system. I found it a bit ludcrious and boring. It was highly repetitive and makes fighting more of a nuisance than a joy. I was disapointed that they didn't at least somewhat build off of the block and counter system developed in Homecoming. All in all though I think that if you arent expecting it to be the best horror game of all time and give it a chance it's actually pretty good and unique compared to everything else on the market.
Hardcore survival horror fans and hardcore Silent Hill fan both, I gotta say that there's none of that good horror game meat that we crave. There's nothing shocking or disturbing in Downpour that isn't telegraphed way before it happens or has been seen before in other horror games. There's not a lot of blood or gore to make you feel that animal fear, and the environments are pretty well-lit overall. The heavy rain makes it somewhat uncomfortable but it's not hard to get back inside where it's safer, avoiding the screaming ladies on the way.
There's no health bar or even the health indicator of past games that gave you a basic idea of how close you were to death, so instead you'll have to make him run to see if he's slowly limping or not and decide accordingly. You could also go into your statistics to see the exact percentage, but that's just immersion-breaking... Murphy's high-pitched scream is kind of unneeded because if players were scared they would be providing the screams and gasps.
Continued...
There's no health bar or even the health indicator of past games that gave you a basic idea of how close you were to death, so instead you'll have to make him run to see if he's slowly limping or not and decide accordingly. You could also go into your statistics to see the exact percentage, but that's just immersion-breaking... Murphy's high-pitched scream is kind of unneeded because if players were scared they would be providing the screams and gasps.
Continued...
As for those of us interested in the Silent Hill ongoing mythos, it makes some appreciated attempts to tie it in to the overall series, potentially ham-fisted as they are. Veterans of Silent Hill might try to figure out where this GIANT GODDAMN CANYON came from and how it could have possibly not been mentioned before (especially in tourist brochures, hello?), but they'll come up with no answers. It just shouldn't exist except to forcibly create a large area for players to visit.
Homecoming is considered a bad word by most of us, but the monster designs in that game at least attempted to match, if not the game standard, than at least something you'd see in the movie. Downpour's monster designs aren't hard to figure out, and it gets pretty ridiculous when the mannequin ghost spawners show up (I WISH I was kidding). They're all just white-skinned people and one white-skinned ceiling-crawling alien monster, which is disappointing. The exception is that pink disco ball that chases you for a while. It might have been somewhat creepy if it was just a black hole but instead we get a neon light show every time it shows up.
Nobody has yet agreed with me, but I couldn't get invested in the new weapon system. It's hard to get good and scared while you're futzing around with menus and context-sensitive commands trying to pick up that item without accidentally throwing it or something, especially when monsters show up. Even worse when it breaks and you're stuck punching them again. I dunno, I think an unknowable thing is much more knowable and less fear-enducing when you know you can FALCON PAWNCH it in the face. I can't imagine putting my hands on a Lying Figure from SH2 or those crawling Slurpers from SH3... I just think it was scarier when you were aware of how ineffectual each weapon was but it was all you had and you damned well better use it, rather than chucking it into the sky while you grab a fucking table leg or bottle to finish the job.
Homecoming is considered a bad word by most of us, but the monster designs in that game at least attempted to match, if not the game standard, than at least something you'd see in the movie. Downpour's monster designs aren't hard to figure out, and it gets pretty ridiculous when the mannequin ghost spawners show up (I WISH I was kidding). They're all just white-skinned people and one white-skinned ceiling-crawling alien monster, which is disappointing. The exception is that pink disco ball that chases you for a while. It might have been somewhat creepy if it was just a black hole but instead we get a neon light show every time it shows up.
Nobody has yet agreed with me, but I couldn't get invested in the new weapon system. It's hard to get good and scared while you're futzing around with menus and context-sensitive commands trying to pick up that item without accidentally throwing it or something, especially when monsters show up. Even worse when it breaks and you're stuck punching them again. I dunno, I think an unknowable thing is much more knowable and less fear-enducing when you know you can FALCON PAWNCH it in the face. I can't imagine putting my hands on a Lying Figure from SH2 or those crawling Slurpers from SH3... I just think it was scarier when you were aware of how ineffectual each weapon was but it was all you had and you damned well better use it, rather than chucking it into the sky while you grab a fucking table leg or bottle to finish the job.
You know what grinds my gears?WMDogma said:
When people say "Unless you're a diehard fan of "X", you won't like it."
That is one of the most nonsensical sentiments I could think of.
Honestly won't fans of the series or genera have a HIGHER standard for the medium? Not a LOWER one?
Why do you think that because I enjoy (and have presumably played better) games like this that I will be more likely to enjoy this mediocre one?
It's just food for thought when considering the diction you're going to use in your next review.
I'm kind of in agreement with others. They could just call the game 'downpour' and change the town's name to Hilent Sill or whatever suddenly we'd think it's a better game.
I probably will still pick this up... when the price drops.
I probably will still pick this up... when the price drops.
Sound like you could use some chicken soup, there, Paul.
Disjointedly, but man did this bug me, that is a long pickaxe. The arc of that pick and the length of that handle seems like it would put unwanted stresses along the shaft. No wonder it breaks. Nice to see that we can open doors with blunt force now, though.
Disjointedly, but man did this bug me, that is a long pickaxe. The arc of that pick and the length of that handle seems like it would put unwanted stresses along the shaft. No wonder it breaks. Nice to see that we can open doors with blunt force now, though.
My only problem with Homecoming's monster designs were the people that designed them won't know a metaphor if it kicked them in the ass, but at least they were an attempt to be terrifying.PrototypeC said:
As for Downpour, I agree completely. I played it at a friends house and I spent more time cursing at the weapon system than I did actually fighting the monsters. I found the white face paint lady to annoying after a while and her screeching made me want to rip my own ears off. I miss the days where all you had was a plank of wood with nails in it and you were stuck with it's shitty-ness until you got the pipe or whatever.
I've been tinkering with this and my major thoughts on the subject is that they decided to play up the surrealism a little too much, and were a little too quick in bringing up the otherworld. See, the trick to Silent Hill is that it was grounded enough in reality that when the surrealism kicked in it was more meaningful and creeped up on you, the monsters also genuinely felt like they just didn't belong in the earlier games and were creepy for that reason, compared to how the ones in later Silent Hill games look like fairly high budget FX, I guess you can say their attempt to look realistic made them less creepy.
Likewise the whole "personal nightmare" thing was a point of debate for a long time, with a lot of people theorizing about meanings. Spelling it out this clearly, especially seeing as the analogies are oftentimes "beat you over the head obvious" sort of ruins the mystique.
Unlike some horror fans, I'm not really done with Silent Hill as a franchise yet, but I admit I am growing tired of a lot of the failures. Oddly I think the problem is that we seem to switch between developers who all want to make the property their own while they work on it.... and that really doesn't work. Silent Hill works with a very specific style and formula and developers need to realize that this isn't their world, but someone else's that they are kind of a guest in and being allowed to use. The developers need to approach these games with the same kind of reverance and attention to detail and lore than the fans do, even if they don't directly take all the ideas from the fans.
While it's a minor spoiler, I think the problem is kind of summarized by the beginning sequence where you walk into the diner and deal with the fire/leak/otherworld transition which leads to you walking around something that looks like a steampunk arthouse prison rather than the portrayal we're used to, and involves chases with some "force" in a sequence that seems very much like an "Evil Dead" movie. Then we've got some kind of booby trapped water slide thing, and an endless staircase. My initial thoughts were that it was too much, too quick, and the style seemed a bit off. The waterslide for some reason made me think of an amusement park ride (or oddly, the old "Goonies" movie) where the apparently dangers were just FX and no real threat... and that was paticularly off.
That said I think this game and Homecoming are better than most reviewers let on, especially given the general drought of horror games. I mean right now all you have up against them is "Resident Evil", and maybe "Saw" even though it's dead. I think their biggest failing is being unable to live up to the high standards set by previous games in the series, and honestly I think a lot of that has to do with so many developers shuffling in and out, none of whom really want much more than the "Silent Hill" name and a basic framework to do their own thing.
I kind of have a wierd daydream about all the lead developers from a Silent Hill game not developed by Team Silent, driving along in seperate places where it's suddenly very foggy and winding up in the REAL Silent Hill (muhwahahaha) together, with the town itself intent on teaching them the error of their ways and how it's really done.
You know, maybe I'll actually write that as a "fanfic with a point" and hope the actual people I decide to use don't get slotted off at me.
Likewise the whole "personal nightmare" thing was a point of debate for a long time, with a lot of people theorizing about meanings. Spelling it out this clearly, especially seeing as the analogies are oftentimes "beat you over the head obvious" sort of ruins the mystique.
Unlike some horror fans, I'm not really done with Silent Hill as a franchise yet, but I admit I am growing tired of a lot of the failures. Oddly I think the problem is that we seem to switch between developers who all want to make the property their own while they work on it.... and that really doesn't work. Silent Hill works with a very specific style and formula and developers need to realize that this isn't their world, but someone else's that they are kind of a guest in and being allowed to use. The developers need to approach these games with the same kind of reverance and attention to detail and lore than the fans do, even if they don't directly take all the ideas from the fans.
While it's a minor spoiler, I think the problem is kind of summarized by the beginning sequence where you walk into the diner and deal with the fire/leak/otherworld transition which leads to you walking around something that looks like a steampunk arthouse prison rather than the portrayal we're used to, and involves chases with some "force" in a sequence that seems very much like an "Evil Dead" movie. Then we've got some kind of booby trapped water slide thing, and an endless staircase. My initial thoughts were that it was too much, too quick, and the style seemed a bit off. The waterslide for some reason made me think of an amusement park ride (or oddly, the old "Goonies" movie) where the apparently dangers were just FX and no real threat... and that was paticularly off.
That said I think this game and Homecoming are better than most reviewers let on, especially given the general drought of horror games. I mean right now all you have up against them is "Resident Evil", and maybe "Saw" even though it's dead. I think their biggest failing is being unable to live up to the high standards set by previous games in the series, and honestly I think a lot of that has to do with so many developers shuffling in and out, none of whom really want much more than the "Silent Hill" name and a basic framework to do their own thing.
I kind of have a wierd daydream about all the lead developers from a Silent Hill game not developed by Team Silent, driving along in seperate places where it's suddenly very foggy and winding up in the REAL Silent Hill (muhwahahaha) together, with the town itself intent on teaching them the error of their ways and how it's really done.
You know, maybe I'll actually write that as a "fanfic with a point" and hope the actual people I decide to use don't get slotted off at me.
Disappointing, but not surprising. I'm just gonna come out and say it but I haven't enjoyed Silent Hill since the very first game. It had a better hook for the main character and myself. I wasn't wowed by Silent Hill 2, Silent Hill 3 had some okay moments too and the controls were half-decent, and Silent Hill 4, while only barely connected to the rest, had great music and atmosphere. After that the game just went downhill, trying to be a mediocre Resident Evil without the "evil corporation" angle.
I like the concept of certain weapons getting destroyed with a few uses, but weapons degrading has never been a good idea. Better to let the main character have a single solid weapon, and then plenty of disposables for throwing and weakening enemies.
I like the concept of certain weapons getting destroyed with a few uses, but weapons degrading has never been a good idea. Better to let the main character have a single solid weapon, and then plenty of disposables for throwing and weakening enemies.
I agree with you on most points. Its seems that they have forgotten that combat with a monster will make it less intimidating, especially when you can defeat it fairly easily. The scariest monsters tend to have a trait in common, you either cannot kill it, or it is extremely hard to do so.PrototypeC said:
Monsters are at their most frightening when you know that they are after you and you are powerless to stop them. That is why Pyramid Head was scary, why Amnesia's monsters, especially the water creature, was scary. And why Homecoming's were not (comparatively).
Horror games must go out of their way to make the player feel vulnerable. Making a player able to fight monsters effectively only empowers the player and works against making a player vulnerable.
This of course all opinion, fear is different for everyone after all.
I will probably try downpour out anyway, I really need my survival-horror fix.