Where Downpour falls hardest for me is the creature design and I'm glad Yahtzee alluded to that in the review. Even the lackluster silent hills could be counted on for some appealingly surreal monsters. Not nearly enough of that this time around.
Yeah, I was going to say they the monsters are fine, it's just that they're not utilized well. The should have given them different behavior patterns. The Weeping Bat and the ghost-mannequin-sex-doll-thing seem fine but more could have been done with the Screamers and Prisoners. If I would have done it I would have had the Screamers mope around crying like the Witch from Left 4 Dead, only attacking when you get near them. Prisoners I'd have wait standing and facing the corner of rooms like they're in timeout (Because, well, they are prisoners and they are being punished, makes sense to me /shrug) only attacking if you make a lot of noise or get close to them.Proverbial Jon said:I was never a fan of the ghosts from SH4, for mostly the same reason. I mean something as literal as a ghost in something as creative as a Silent Hill game always jarred with me somewhat.Gorilla Gunk said:The "You're not suppose to "like" them" argument just doesn't make sense to me. I've quite liked past SH enemies. I don't really see he problem with Downpour's enemies being human-looking. Previous SH games had the nurses which were just, um, nurses with fucked up faces, and Pyramid Head is just a dude with, well, a pyramid on his head, not to mention the ghosts in SH4: The Room.Proverbial Jon said:I think that's the problem right there. You're not supposed to "like" them, you're supposed to be reviled by them, horrified and disgusted. Like Yahtzee said, they're just dudes. Ain't nothing scary about dudes, even if their eyes have been forced open or they scream at you. Frankly the screaming female ones are ridiculous and they make me laugh a bit. Always brightens my day when they come shambling over!
Silent Hill 3 had the best designs for monsters and there was nothing human about them but I never really found them all that scary...
The nurses specifically were a manifestation of James' sexual frustration so they had to be sexy to a point so keeping a certain amount of their humanity is understandable. Plus there's something rather terrifying about a nurse who wants to hurt you with a steel pipe. I can't even begin to explain why PH works even though he's just a dude with a pyramid, like you say!
I think you might have a point here, the more I think about it the more I see the human creatures are the more effective. However it doesn't change the fact that I don't find Downpour's enemies scary. Perhaps it's the way they have been used. In SH2 the manequins would just stand in the dark until you approached with the light, the straightjacket things would kind of convulse towards you or slither across the floor and the nurses sort of limped awkwardly and sometimes took pot shots at you with a revolver. The abstract daddy would try to eat your face etc...
Downpour just tends to chuck a load of enemies at you and they all kind of rush you, flailing blindly. With the exception of the weeping bat, that guy's just a jerk. I guess they need just enough hamanity for us to be able to relate and just enough mutilation to keep up the WTF factor.
ForgottenPr0digy said:yeah the monster designs in this game sucks
homecoming had better monster designs and no one but me liked that game
silent hill is (as far as i can tell)a manifestation of a persons guilty mind.the setting and monsters have to symbolise the crime committed by the protagonist. James smothers his wife so the monsters are all effeminate thus increasing the mind fuckery.MichaelMaverick said:Contradiction #1763:
You complain that an inherent plot point in Downpour changing based on your actions cheapens the experience. How is it then different from your Heavy Rain review, where you argued that the big revelation should've been different each time? Could you maybe clarify once and for all what form of story-telling you incline to?
The entire genre of HR was mystery, and, I don't know about you, but I can't enjoy mysteries I know the answer to. Silent Hill isn't a mystery, because in SH2, we didn't know anything was being hidden from us until the end. It seemed like there was just some evil shit going down, and every human being in town was being attacked. In the end, though, it was revealed that there was something behind it all, aka James's psyche. In Heavy Rain, we knew something was being hidden from us, but it remained the same without any other purpose to the game's story but the mystery.MichaelMaverick said:Contradiction #1763:
You complain that an inherent plot point in Downpour changing based on your actions cheapens the experience. How is it then different from your Heavy Rain review, where you argued that the big revelation should've been different each time? Could you maybe clarify once and for all what form of story-telling you incline to?
Heavy Rain ends the same way, leaving no room to re-play except to kill or not kill characters for giggles. I guess you get different endings, sort of, except the killer is the same. The purpose of the game is to understand the mystery and survive challenges. There's no point doing either of those again.MichaelMaverick said:Contradiction #1763: You complain that an inherent plot point in Downpour changing based on your actions cheapens the experience. How is it then different from your Heavy Rain review, where you argued that the big revelation should've been different each time? Could you maybe clarify once and for all what form of story-telling you incline to?
Pfft, it's the English Las Vegas and you know it.Griffolion said:Love the quip about Blackpool. Totally right!
If you read the details, the complaints in most reviews amount to "This sucks because it's a survival horror game." without the writer realizing that's what they're complaining about... and some choppiness in the Xbox version... and all but 3 monsters looking pretty generic.Yopaz said:I am surprised to hear him say positive things about this game since from what I have seen from other reviews there's been a lot of negative things that have been mentioned. Still his general opinion of the game seemed to indicate that he didn't like it very much so *I think I might give this one a miss.
Actually I have read reviews complaining about the combat, the story and the environment, but thanks for pointing out that I have read different reviews than you.Nazrel said:If you read the details, the complaints in most reviews amount to "This sucks because it's a survival horror game." without the writer realizing that's what they're complaining about... and some choppiness in the Xbox version... and all but 3 monsters looking pretty generic.Yopaz said:I am surprised to hear him say positive things about this game since from what I have seen from other reviews there's been a lot of negative things that have been mentioned. Still his general opinion of the game seemed to indicate that he didn't like it very much so *I think I might give this one a miss.
Honestly, some of the side missions are better than the actual storyline. I remember the one you mentioned and it was harrowing. I have a thing about mirrors as it is so it doesn't take much to terrify me with one. The screamer is completely invisible on your side of the room and you can only see her to attack if you watch her position in the mirror.Gorilla Gunk said:Yeah, I was going to say they the monsters are fine, it's just that they're not utilized well. The should have given them different behavior patterns. The Weeping Bat and the ghost-mannequin-sex-doll-thing seem fine but more could have been done with the Screamers and Prisoners. If I would have done it I would have had the Screamers mope around crying like the Witch from Left 4 Dead, only attacking when you get near them. Prisoners I'd have wait standing and facing the corner of rooms like they're in timeout (Because, well, they are prisoners and they are being punished, makes sense to me /shrug) only attacking if you make a lot of noise or get close to them.
I also read that there's a sidequest that features a Screamer that's only visible through a mirror. Seems like they missed a golden opportunity for a really interesting enemy.