Maybe the monocle dude is supposed to be Napier or something? I don't know exactly why, but the only draw I have is that the boss in the leaked trailer is composed of a lot of a cars, and it seems that cars is a theme that both Murphy and Napier were into.
One of the collectibles is a toy car Murphy comments looks like Napier's car
, and I think I notice that car as one of the fists of the scrapped boss.
Maybe the monocle dude is supposed to be Napier or something? I don't know exactly why, but the only draw I have is that the boss in the leaked trailer is composed of a lot of a cars, and it seems that cars is a theme that both Murphy and Napier were into.
One of the collectibles is a toy car Murphy comments looks like Napier's car
, and I think I notice that car as one of the fists of the scrapped boss.
There it is. It was released last September by Canadian Gamestop, but it wasn't meant to be released. It was a trailer that was made back in 2010 for the game and wasn't meant for the public. The trailer was from the game's beta build and through the course you can see some interesting scrapped areas and concepts, as well as a scrapped boss at the very end (which there is a gif off on the other page). It also shows the black thunder cloud enemy, which reminded me of when I read the Game Informer Downpour demo break-down a year ago, which said before the endless staircase section you ran defenseless through water from a black cloud monster. The magazine doesn't mention the Red Light at all, which leads me to believe the black cloud was a beta concept of the Red Light.
Drove around to a few local stores, that are normally perfect for getting games day of release. No luck with Downpour. So went home and called around a few stores that are a bit of a drive away, no luck again. Really wish I'd preordered online now.
Have to say; the game feels very, very meaty by todays standards. At least in terms of length so far.
Done all sidequests, and I am 39% into the main story. Clocked in almost 9 hours. That is a very decent lenght.
Getting kind of curious with the story, and I really like Murphy. He's the maaaaaayn.
But from what I played, the main quest doesnt have the proper same atmosphere as some of the sidequests. Wow at some of those.
And one, very specific one, made me..... quite sad. Unusual. Bah.
My suspicion is that the red light is the direct result of upgrades to the UE3 engine. Light shafts are one of the more recent additions to the tool set and were not available to developers in 2010, as far as I'm aware. I'm sure when they were given access to this feature they found that it actually worked well for the purpose of the red light from a visual perspective.
I'd be willing to bet that this is when they changed the "black cloud" to the red light.
Ok so ive stuck a couple more hours in today. Got to Silent Hill, wandered round a bit, released some birds, hooked down a couple of ladders, met a familiar face who told me where a location was and im now in a big centennial building (spelling) im enjoying it but not 100% sure what im supposed to be doing. Ive not come across any side quests yet and certain areas for subway are locked and others need a keycode. Ive obviously not explored fully yet but ive definitely covered at least a third of the map and not seen anything.
Devil's Pit was awesome =P I thought the start was a really good intro, spooky outer edge of Silent Hill exploring w/story and not knowing where you are going next. Why did you find it boring at the start?
Wow yeah I did not know all that, and yeah I've been wondering who the hell that person is supposed to be/represent... anyone have any ideas? Any maybe originally Napier was dressed as a clown for kid partys or something like that? Just a thought cause otherwise the only other idea I could think is that Murphy just has a fear of them that somehow would have played into his terrors.
Devil's Pit was awesome =P I thought the start was a really good intro, spooky outer edge of Silent Hill exploring w/story and not knowing where you are going next. Why did you find it boring at the start?
I figured it was supposed to be the psychiatrist. Since monocle's tend to be a psychiatrist thing an there are those reports you pick up.
Devil's Pit was awesome =P I thought the start was a really good intro, spooky outer edge of Silent Hill exploring w/story and not knowing where you are going next. Why did you find it boring at the start?
How? It's for babby. You can't get lost really. You just walk forward. Not much to really do at that point in the game aside from walk through shitty forest grafx with framerate exploding in its diaper. It's not Silent Hill unless I'm jiggling doorhandles until my hands fall off.
How? It's for babby. You can't get lost really. You just walk forward. Not much to really do at that point in the game aside from walk through shitty forest grafx with framerate exploding in its diaper. It's not Silent Hill unless I'm jiggling doorhandles until my hands fall off.
Eh, the atmosphere of going through those caves with only a lighter and reading about the once famous SH natural attraction was a really cool experience. Liked the water wheel puzzle and the layout of the place. The occasional step out and see gorgeous waterfall vistas were a nice change of pace between the creepy dark caves. The tram station when you first get in at sunset was probably the best graphics in the entire game.
I pretty much enjoyed the entire game, even the final location. As a matter of fact, the first time I played the game on hard, I was always running from enemies so I didn't really fight too many enemies. Especially in the last place till the actual elevator sequence. Everything else I was running like a bitch. I literallly ran past
the first guy they threw at me that broke the gate down, then there was a sequence with the eletric, ran past and he got electrified, then the sequence with the numbers I was able to find them all without fighting even though the guys were around me, and then the chow hall the same thing.
It bothers me that this is bubbling under 70 on Metacritic. Yes, it's imperfect but that doesn't usually stop games from scoring well; we all know how gaming journalism is, and that's my problem.
A great many of the 6s and 7s, scores that might well be acceptable if gaming churnalists applied some form of consistency across the board, are due in large part to the game's undeniably wonky technical performance & basic combat, something which is apparently worse on PS3. How many games escape this because they're the latest in a currently 'hot' franchise or because there's been such a hype frenzy that it becomes some sort of weird duty to slap a 9/10 on it?
Does the frame rate stutter as you explore? Undoubtedly, but then Mass Effect 3's framerate is utter bollocks on the Citadel (and I gather many more places in the PS3 version) and that wasn't anything but an afterthought for most writers.
How about the staggeringly lazy plaudits heaped on the Silent Hill HD Collection (I'm looking at you, IGN) ? It's just such a tawdry, easy option to briefly pick up the controller and not even bother to compare them to the originals. Where was the mention of the fact that SH3 in particular is utterly plagued by performance issues on PS3?
How many games have consistently janky combat that goes unmentioned? Too fucking many!
So yeah...Downpour is a good game. Not the best ever, not the scariest ever but a good, atmospheric Silent Hill game by a developer respectful of the series. Add 10 to its Metacritic score.
Started this last night, and stopped right after I rode the sky tram to Devil's Pit or whatever. Really like it so far, the music so far has been ace (even the Korn song was way better than I had feared), and way better than the utterly forgettable phoned in shit Yamaoka delivered for 0rigins, Homecoming and Shattered Memories. Also really like how Murphy comments on his surroundings and what's going on around him. And that jukebox in the diner made me nostalgia hard. If the game keeps up like this, it might very well end up being my favourite out of the post-SH3 games.
Okey, been playing some more. And, I take back what I said about meaty and long.
Or, well, it kind of is. But I went from 39% main quest, to 70% after just one location. That felt kind of, meh.
Though, the sidequests and stuff, all 13 of them, really fleshed things out. Can imagine just doing a straight main-run will shorten the game massively.
Currently at around 11 hours, and just reached... what I suspect is towards the end-game. Quit there, because it needs to be darker outside.
So uhm. Did this game get a secret delay in the UK? I just called around to my local rental store to pick up Downpour. They had it in stock for both consoles. But the guy there told me he couldn't sell me it, because a note came with it saying not to sell it until monday. Then I had a similar story when I called another store near by.
So uhm. Did this game get a secret delay in the UK? I just called around to my local rental store to pick up Downpour. They had it in stock for both consoles. But the guy there told me he couldn't sell me it, because a note came with it saying not to sell it until monday. Then I had a similar story when I called another store near by.
Yeah I'm really enjoying it. I've not really explored silent hill that much and basically just gone for a wander and so far I'm not looking for side quests and just following the story. I'll carry on the way I am and not worry about additional quests and after completion I'll give it a 2nd play through and search every nook and cranny.
I can accept some of the negative reviews that say its dull and boring. To some people it will be but personally I've got right into the atmosphere and the story and just love the creepy vibe it gives me.
I got to the part in the final dungeon last night where
you walk in the main hall and see the cutscene with the guard monster walking two prisoners who he lets go and all 3 come after you
And seriously F THIS GAME. I almost wanted to rage quit and give up on finishing it after dying over and over and having to sit through 1 min+ of load screen + sit through cutscene every time. SILENT HILL IS NOT ABOUT COMBAT. STOP MAKING ME FIGHT A BUNCH OF ENEMIES IN THE END OF YOUR WESTERN SH GAMES. Also doesn't help they took away all your items, so instead of being overprepared for stuff like this with 20 health packs and 60 pistols ammo, I have like 5 shots and 2 health pack.
Between this part and the
part with the tangling electric wire where after a couple of instant deaths + long load times, I figured it was a puzzle and I needed to explore and find a way to turn the electricity off and got lost for 30 mins; but no, you just need great timing or its 1 hit death + load times
; I'm currently enjoying the final area the least out of the entire game so far :|
Does the frame rate stutter as you explore? Undoubtedly, but then Mass Effect 3's framerate is utter bollocks on the Citadel (and I gather many more places in the PS3 version) and that wasn't anything but an afterthought for most writers.
The framerate in Mass Effect 3, at its worst, is still not nearly as bad as Downpour. Not even close man. Yeah, the Citidal (and a few other areas) doesn't perform great but its nothing compared to the constant hitching you get in Downpour.
part with the tangling electric wire where after a couple of instant deaths + long load times, I figured it was a puzzle and I needed to explore and find a way to turn the electricity off and got lost for 30 mins; but no, you just need great timing or its 1 hit death + load times
; I'm currently enjoying the final area the least out of the entire game so far :|
I had that same problem at that part. From everything I dealt with in the game that far, I thought that there was a switch I had to pull to turn it off until I got tired of looking, popped on line and found out you just had to time it right. That was probably the most annoying part of the game IMO.
Started this last night, and stopped right after I rode the sky tram to Devil's Pit or whatever. Really like it so far, the music so far has been ace (even the Korn song was way better than I had feared), and way better than the utterly forgettable phoned in shit Yamaoka delivered for 0rigins, Homecoming and Shattered Memories. Also really like how Murphy comments on his surroundings and what's going on around him. And that jukebox in the diner made me nostalgia hard. If the game keeps up like this, it might very well end up being my favourite out of the post-SH3 games.
The framerate in Mass Effect 3, at its worst, is still not nearly as bad as Downpour. Not even close man. Yeah, the Citidal (and a few other areas) doesn't perform great but its nothing compared to the constant hitching you get in Downpour.
Insomuch as the Effec it has on gameplay, I'm not finding the 360 Downpour all that bad, to be honest, though I'll qualify that by saying it definitely needs a patch and that it's annoying.
The Citadel certainly has bigger drops, but I understand Downpour has more of them. Still, that was just one example...it doesn't excuse the general trend with gaming journos and their inconsistencies. Myriad games with monumental technical deficiencies go unpunished.
I really tried to like this but it just wasn't working for me.
I sold it this morning on Amazon to someone who will hopefully appreciate it more than I did.
I can't believe Yamaoka is getting slandered now for Homecoming! Witchcraft, Elle's Theme, Terminal Show, One More Soul to the Call....that soundtrack is freaking amazing.
I can't believe Yamaoka is getting slandered now for Homecoming! Witchcraft, Elle's Theme, Terminal Show, One More Soul to the Call....that soundtrack is freaking amazing.
I can't believe Yamaoka is getting slandered now for Homecoming! Witchcraft, Elle's Theme, Terminal Show, One More Soul to the Call....that soundtrack is freaking amazing.
Yeah like I posted earlier, I ran through most of the
prison
without fighting at all, even that part you mentioned with the three, I ran and got to the rooms with the keycode puzzle and either they didn't follow me or I was able to seperate them and it was a joke. Though I can say that was on hard and I still managed alright. Every other encounter I freaking ran or just progressed passed other then elevator part.
I tried running but I'd get constantly jumped from behind and stabbed while exploring and trying to figure out where to go. Plus getting stabbed constantly while inputting the keycodes :|
Eventually got past it, but that part was very annoying. I'd be less annoyed at dying in Downpour if the load times on PS3 after you die weren't some of the longest I've ever seen in a game. You can literally load a save, walk 2 steps and die from an environmental hazard in the same room and then it still takes 1-2 mins to reload you back into the game. It's one of the instances where the poor tech performance brings down the actual game enjoyment.
Haven't reached this "elevator" part yet, but hope it's not too frustrating. Going to try to finish this up tonight. The last dungeon just feels unpolished compared to the other dungeons in the game.
Maybe the monocle dude is supposed to be Napier or something? I don't know exactly why, but the only draw I have is that the boss in the leaked trailer is composed of a lot of a cars, and it seems that cars is a theme that both Murphy and Napier were into.
One of the collectibles is a toy car Murphy comments looks like Napier's car
, and I think I notice that car as one of the fists of the scrapped boss.
I tried running but I'd get constantly jumped from behind and stabbed while exploring and trying to figure out where to go. Plus getting stabbed constantly while inputting the keycodes :|
Eventually got past it, but that part was very annoying. I'd be less annoyed at dying in Downpour if the load times on PS3 after you die weren't some of the longest I've ever seen in a game. You can literally load a save, walk 2 steps and die from an environmental hazard in the same room and then it still takes 1-2 mins to reload you back into the game. It's one of the instances where the poor tech performance brings down the actual game enjoyment.
Haven't reached this "elevator" part yet, but hope it's not too frustrating. Going to try to finish this up tonight. The last dungeon just feels unpolished compared to the other dungeons in the game.
Fuck it. I'm done. Done with this game. I was at the bottom of Devil's Pit, in the mines or something and I encountered something so bad, so lazy, that I decided this was it.
You have to find a pick axe to rip apart a little wall of wooden boards that are blocking your way to a ladder. I didn't have a pick axe, so I'm looking around and I realized that I could EASILY go around the little boarded wall to reach the ladder but there was a little cardboard box on the ground. At this point I became furious.
The combat was shitty as fuck, unresponsive. Same as previous Silent Hills but now the enemies move faster and are way more aggressive. It's like taking on the Dead Space enemy roster but with SH2's combat mechanics. The puzzles I encountered were just as lazy and generic. There was practically no atmosphere. No creepiness. Just deserted houses and rooms with no personality. And then, that fuckin' cardboard box.
I was so angry, I had to take a picture and show it to the world.
I'm fuckin' done with Silent Hill. Origins, Homecoming, the disastrous HD Collection then this. Forget it. No future interests unless they bring back the old team. Done.
I think you could find things like that in every Silent Hill game, in almost every horror game and 99% of action / adventure games in geeral. "Why can't I jump this knee high fence / walk through that shallow stream / hop over that box / break that flimsy looking door rather than search for a key / take a long, convoluted route?".
I dunno man, I understood and can sympathize with everything else in your post (having to go find an specific weapon just to advance, enemies that are way too aggressive, terrible combat), but the cardboard box thing...that's in like every game ever! It's called being bound by game logic!
Ok, fuck this. Might as well Youtube the rest of the game. So many horrid design decisions in the final section. HOW HARD IT IS TO CHECKPOINT CORRECTLY?!?
Checkpoint -> Shower Area -> Go pick up 4 items -> Go through Door -> Go to body -> Watch cutscene as it changes to otherworld chase -> [CHECKPOINT SHOULD GO HERE; BUT IT'S NOT] -> long ass chase with tons of environmental obstacles that can 1 hit kill you so that you get to sit through a minute of loading and then redo the 4 items then rewatch the otherworld transform cutscene before you can even try again.
I can't believe how I've gone from defending Downpour and praising it to basically considering just a tad above Homecoming...maybe, at this point. Everything after the Monastery has been a huge slap in the face and I am absolutely hating this game right now. Homecoming's biggest fault was becoming a stupid action game for the last 20%...so now Downpour is becoming a stupid action game for the last 20%. Jesus. Why don't these developers get it. This is not how you "ratchet up the intensity for the final 20% of Silent Hill games"
Yeah complaining about that, is like complaining about any game really. It just's how games are man. Can't let things like that bother ya. Like said... gaming logic.
As for the final section of the game, there is no doubt they throw in more action, which is a bit concerning, but I played the game on hard and didn't have nearly the hard time people are mentioning on here, and if your on normal or easy combat, then I really don't know what the problem is because those runs I did were a joke. Shotgun is your friend. Not saying its prefered, but use it or the pistol if you have to.
I understand game logic. I get it. In the old Silent Hill games, there were some puzzles or obstacles that were linked to bizarre solutions or symbolism and that was part of the charm. Or even the classic game logic with doors and keys where you would go ''But I have a bazooka, why can't I blow up the door, etc.'' and that is still, to some degree, classic game logic.
What I find appalling, in 2012, is being blocked by an invisible wall, in this case, a cardboard box. If I would've been responsible for that level and I would've blocked the player with invisible walls, I would've been ashamed. Whenever I'm confronted with finding context to block the player's path, I work my ass off to make it work and not half-ass it like they did.
But this is not why I stopped playing, but it's what tipped me over the edge. You know when a car crashes in a movie and it ends up on the edge of a precipice and then a bird decides to rest on the hood of the car and it makes it fall? Well, the bird didn't put the car in this position but it didn't help either.
What I find appalling, in 2012, is being blocked by an invisible wall, in this case, a cardboard box. If I would've been responsible for that level and I would've blocked the player with invisible walls, I would've been ashamed. Whenever I'm confronted with finding context to block the player's path, I work my ass off to make it work and not half-ass it like they did.
Trust me, I totally understand you. It didn't utterly piss me off in Downpour, but I did have to laugh at some of the ridiculous rules the world put forward.
I can know padlocks off of gates, but not pry open a gate with a much weaker lock. Murphy can hop over certain walls, but is powerless against a sawhorse-constructed barrier. He can sometimes hop over great distances, but then can't get pack a crack in the floor less than a foot wide.
Game designers need to get smarter about this stuff. Either my character can always get past a certain level of challenge, or s/he can't. If you don't want me going somewhere, make it logical why I can't go there. Saying "that's just the way it happens in gaming" doesn't cut it anymore.
Trust me, I totally understand you. It didn't utterly piss me off in Downpour, but I did have to laugh at some of the ridiculous rules the world put forward.
I can know padlocks off of gates, but not pry open a gate with a much weaker lock. Murphy can hop over certain walls, but is powerless against a sawhorse-constructed barrier. He can sometimes hop over great distances, but then can't get pack a crack in the floor less than a foot wide.
Game designers need to get smarter about this stuff. Either my character can always get past a certain level of challenge, or s/he can't. If you don't want me going somewhere, make it logical why I can't go there. Saying "that's just the way it happens in gaming" doesn't cut it anymore.
Indeed. I'd have super long conversations with game designers, that sometimes leads to frustrations which then leads to solutions into bringing COHERENCE into the world you're creating. Game logic is cool and all, but if it's coherent with the player's ability in all situations, including cinematics, you offer the player comfort and that's priceless.
Ok, fuck this. Might as well Youtube the rest of the game. So many horrid design decisions in the final section. HOW HARD IT IS TO CHECKPOINT CORRECTLY?!?
Checkpoint -> Shower Area -> Go pick up 4 items -> Go through Door -> Go to body -> Watch cutscene as it changes to otherworld chase -> [CHECKPOINT SHOULD GO HERE; BUT IT'S NOT] -> long ass chase with tons of environmental obstacles that can 1 hit kill you so that you get to sit through a minute of loading and then redo the 4 items then rewatch the otherworld transform cutscene before you can even try again.
I can't believe how I've gone from defending Downpour and praising it to basically considering just a tad above Homecoming...maybe, at this point. Everything after the Monastery has been a huge slap in the face and I am absolutely hating this game right now. Homecoming's biggest fault was becoming a stupid action game for the last 20%...so now Downpour is becoming a stupid action game for the last 20%. Jesus. Why don't these developers get it. This is not how you "ratchet up the intensity for the final 20% of Silent Hill games"
I don't agree that Homecoming becomes an "action game" for the last 20%, but this is why I don't mind that there is more combat in SHH: it's not fucking atrocious. As soon as Downpour throws more than 1 enemy your way, the entire thing becomes a rather tentative square dance of shit.
I just replayed the first hour of Homecoming today (basically up and done with the house bit and in the cemetery) and that game is so under appreciated. The Shepherd house is wonderrrfffulll omg
It's not that the shooting things is hard (well, your aim is incredibly terrible for some reason), it's the principle of when the final dungeon becomes Resident Evil and it's all about fighting Thug looking enemies with knives using shotguns...it becomes a generic action horror game which is not what the entire game prior was, and is not what Silent Hill is.
Also while the chase sequences were not good, not bad; the stuff in them that can instant kill you or knock you back into the red light and kill you is freaking annoying and had no place in the game. Maybe if the loading was instant and you just jumped right back in, but the trial & error feel of the later chase sequences combined with the long loading made me DREAD anytime I saw a damage obstacle in my path because I was like "oh shit, if that hits me I have to sit through that stupid loading screen again". It was the bad kind of fear, not from the atmosphere, but from the fear of frustrating gameplay mechanics.
Anyhow, there were some good bits in the last area
the turning rooms upside-down puzzle; the spotlight puzzle
. But in general the final area was extremely linear and was like playing an action game where every room an enemy bursts through a door ready to brawl. It didn't help that the enemies in the last area looked closer to the enemies you'd see in a 3d action game than in a horror game. BIG DUDES WITH TATTOOS WHO DO RUNNING CLOTHELINES. FAST DUDES WITH KNIVES. C'mon, seriously? I understand they did this because Murphy's story and psyche revolves around prison and prison is big scary dudes with tattoos. However, this is Silent Hill. Enemies needed to be monsters, and not videogame enemies. And LESS FIGHTING. It really did feel like the end act of Homecoming where you wake up in the cult base and there are dudes popping out at after corner with hammers to fight you. Thought it was incredibly stupid and bad taste in Homecoming, and think it was in bad taste here as well.
The game worked best when it was trying to be like Silent Hill 1-3, most notably SH2. Exploring the mysterious town, as Murphy gets hints on why he's there is great. The dungeons along the way ooze with atmosphere (you know, the REAL kind of scary, when you go 15 mins without actually seeing an enemy, and you just think somethings out there), are nice looking, well designed in term of layout/pacing, and their otherworlds are neat dream like experiences outside the chase sequences which range from ok to pointless to bad.
The story was solid. In the end it was a bit less interesting than it was at the start; but they did a good job at presenting the tale through Murphy's trip through Silent Hill. I think I would have enjoyed more characters, but then again the story is pretty short. If you take out the sidequests, the game is a very small size Silent Hill
3 town areas, 4 dungeons
. I haven't played the old games in a while, but I'd guess they were all around this length (6 hours-ish for the main story)
Music was not really noticeable outside the radio songs. Art was good for environments, bad for monsters.
Tech on PS3 was utterly horrible and damaging to the experience. In dungeons, the performance is fine. But in town the game run soooooo bad. And the loading is dreadful whereever you are. Like I said above, the loading is so bad it makes you not want to ever die just to not have to sit through that load screen. Probably the longest loading I've seen in a game in a few years.
Overall, was it better than Homecoming? Yeah. Better than Shattered Memories? Hard to compare, I prefer the first 2/3rds of Downpour to SM, but I thought SM was much more satisfying in the final arc and ending. Better than Origins? A little bit.
If the game didn't have ANY tech issues at all (or maybe if I played it on X360), I think I'd put the game just below SH4. If it didn't have ANY tech issues AND the final 25% was more atmospheric horror like SH2 and less Resident Evil, I'd probably put it above SH4 and below 1-3. I think they almost made a real great Silent Hill again that stands with the originals. But the tech problems hurt the experience and I felt like the game fell apart a bunch in the last couple of hours. It's still good and probably the best of the post-SH4 games. But I feel a little disappointed that it was almost there. Just needed another year and budget in the oven for polishing.
I hope Vatra gets another chance to make a SH game and I seriously hope they either release a PC version that will run smooth or they use a different engine because their UE3.0 based engine in this game is trash.
I'd give it around a 7/10. It's an 8/10 survival horror game with -.5 for tech problems and -.5 for too much action.
Also I would have liked to see them focus more on the "crazy reality bending puzzle otherworlds". I feel like they dip into it briefly at parts
like in the final dungeon with the upside down rooms
but they never take it further than just "here's the tip of the idea were going for".
