Silent Hill: Downpour

I enjoyed this entry into the Silent Hill series quite a bit. It was a bit like part two in the series in that it really had nothing to do with the little girl who is actually the cause behind the terror, but rather it is about people who get a bit too close to the haunted town and find themselves having to face their sins. Of course, I thought the second game was better than this one. I also enjoyed Origins more than this one and I think it was on par with the third game. I did enjoy this one more than Homecoming and The Room though. One of the main problems with the game though is the fact it starts out so incredibly well. You are introduced to Murphy in a great opening. Then you get two very interesting locations to start the game with: A gas station/hotel and then a cave park. Then you reach Silent Hill and at first it is pretty good, but you quickly begin to learn that the game has one too many flaws and other things that detract points and make what could have been the best in the series a game that is just about middle of the road, instead.

The story has a convict in the middle of a prison transfer stranded in the middle of nowhere due to a bus crash. He wanders around and soon finds himself on the outskirts of everyone's favorite town Silent Hill. One of the officer's responsible for the transport of the prisoners is also alive and well and she seemingly has an ax to grind with the main character Murphy. As Murphy makes his way through a gas station and through some caves, strange creatures assail him at every turn! Also, a kindly mailman offers Murphy advice and soon Murphy finds himself in Silent Hill where he not only has to figure out why the town is tormenting him, he also has the option to solve other mysteries as well.

The game play is a bit more like Origins as Murphy has the ability to punch and fist fight the monsters of Silent Hill. You can also use many other objects as weapons from axes and knives to mundane objects like vases and chairs. There is also guns for Murphy to find and things like nail guns. This also causes a problem, as many times a pick up icon will appear and you may think that you are about to find a clue or an item that is not weapon related. The game also has glitches as it will freeze up when multiple enemies appear on screen . It just does not make sense to me how a game on the PS2 like Grand Theft Auto Vice City can have a ton of NPC on screen and vehicles and this one has no more than three enemies yet this game seems to struggle more than that one. Too many games these days are rushed out and all the bugs not worked out and that along with other factors make this Silent Hill middle of the road, rather than one of the best. You have side quests in this one as the town of Silent Hill is more open ended, but they still needed more. More places to explore, more stuff to do that does not revolve around Murphy's story. If you are going for a more open ended approach, you do need more to do.

So, yes, I liked this Silent Hill game. It could have been better and it had multiple flaws, but overall I enjoyed it. This is mainly due to the story which kept me wondering what was going to happen next. It answered more questions than most Silent Hill games and the game's resolution was pretty good too. Still, there were a couple of questions that were unanswered like what was the strange light that pursued Murphy in other world, who was the mailman who disappeared after the orphanage stage. And what exactly happened to the DJ? They indicated that he perished, but it was never anything that was really shown in game. Still, this trip to Silent Hill was interesting and fun for the most part and a bit of a tease, because when it first started I thought it was going to be one of the best.

Where are all those negative reviews coming from? For some reason I think that most of the people who were disappointed, have simply quit long before the main course was served. Otherwise, I can't imagine anybody could not like Silent Hill Downpour. Please keep in mind, that the first 14%+ of the overall progress (check statistics from the main menu) is a warm-up, but as the story unfolds, the unstoppable fun begins. Which is why I would highly recommend not to waste much time fighting ghosts/monsters at the beginning, just avoid them unless you really have no other choice. Your goal is to uncover the mystery, and this is a psychological survival horror, not an action game. From a finicky fan of Dark Souls legacy who has underrated plenty of contemporary games. Silent Hill Downpour has the spirit and the heart. The story and drama are intriguing enough to keep you up all night just to learn more about Murphy's past. I loved the protagonist and delightedly watched every flashback cut scene. Completing the side missions too makes you feel good, and Daniel Licht's moving soundtrack is now on my Android. 'Silent Hill meets Jacob's ladder with a beautiful homage to Kubrick's Shining' is how I would basically describe Silent Hill Downpour. Now imagine what an intense, terrifying and disturbing psychological horror it is. It just keeps improving as you play, showing more of its' layers and has everything a horror fan can dream of. All the story elements are masterfully mixed, serving us this beautiful nightmare. Another good news is Silent Hill Downpour is pretty long. The unsettling ending absolutely nailed it. A brilliant game! Playing this in 2017 for the first time, I think it has aged well too. Silent Hill Downpour is a a hugely rewarding game play. Dear Konami Team, you must continue the Silent Hill madness, and I will be frequently tweeting you with that request now.

Too often people try to compare this game to all the previous ones, especially the first four. As a massive fan of 1 and 2: hey, I get it. But there comes a time where you eventually have to let it go. This game came out a DECADE after Silent Hill 2, and here we are another 10 years later and people still complain about it.

Look: is the story as good and innovative and groundbreaking as any of those first four? Maybe not. But do any of us really expect it to be? Silent Hill 1 and 2 were literally lightning in a bottle. 3 and 4 respectively had their own issues but were still great games.

The story in this game is good. Not great, but good. It's engaging, and you'll find yourself really interested in Murphy Pendleton. Additionally, the side characters and explorable environments are very enjoyable and engaging. I love DJ Bobby Ricks -- I think he's my favorite side character in this entire series! I wish we'd been able to learn more about him. The way we learn what we DO get to know about him through the radio is insanely creative. I also really enjoyed the character of the mailman, who you'll run into frequently throughout the game. He has a wise, Morgan Freeman tone to him with a sense of sinister-ness below the surface.

The monsters are a weak point. Silent Hill 2 set a bar for monsters in survival horror games. So did Resident Evil 4, in my opinion. The Evil Within would come out about 2 - 3 years after SH: Downpour and would also introduce some innovative enemy types/models. They're lacking in this game, I won't deny that, but it's not enough for me to hate this game.

The weakest point of this game are the massive frame-drops which occur every time the game autosaves. It is very, very disappointing as it can happen literally during a fight with an enemy, taking away all fairness momentarily.

All in all, though, if you're looking for a solid survival horror game with those familiar Silent Hill feels/undertones, you could do a lot worse than this game. It's unfair for people to completely dismiss this entry. The developers were never going to compare to what Team Silent did in those early years and it was just ridiculous to think that they could. Be happy with what we got: another entry. It may be the last.

Positives:

• Themes and concepts
• Musical score
• Most of the story
• Most of the characters

Negatives:

• Parts of the presentation
• Lack of horror
• Lackluster psychological elements

The "Silent Hill" media franchise is a strange beast, indeed. It has gone through highs and lows, thick and thin... good and bad. But I have always and will always stick by its side, even when the future seems bleak and unsure. Because it started out so strongly, and a part of me believes that no matter what, it will someday recover and return to its former glory and resume being the best survival-horror series in modern gaming, a title that I firmly believe it held during it's first four entries between 1999-2004. Before it began a gradual downfall into mediocrity.

Yes, starting at about 2004, after the underrated fourth game ("The Room") was released, there was a downgrade in quality within not only the games, but the media franchise as a whole. Starting with some truly awful comic books, followed by a theatrical movie in 2006 that garnered mixed fan reception, and finally the decent but flawed fifth game in 2007... it suddenly almost felt like the franchise was starting to buckle a little bit. And it continued over the next few years, before the series reached the lowest of the low in 2012... When the abysmal and pretty much unanimously hated theatrical sequel ("Silent Hill: Revelations 3D", which I hated as much as I possibly could hate a film) and the two lowest-rated game in the series were released. Including this game, the incredibly mixed missed-opportunity that is "Silent Hill: Downpour."

"Silent Hill: Downpour" follows convict Murphy Pendleton, whom escapes a prison transport bus after it crashes one dark, rainy night. Fleeing, he comes through several obstacles before finding himself in the dark, twisted town... Silent Hill. And there, he will face a variety of characters, a plethora of monsters and a dark, twisted storyline that will determine whether he lives or dies.

The graphics are very mixed in this entry. Character and setting design is nice, but the visual themselves left a sour taste in my mouth. It all looks and feels just a little too... "last gen." Visuals seemingly haven't improved in quality since the fourth game for the PS2 which was released 8 years prior, and to be honest, the previous entry, "Silent Hill: Homecoming" had more fluid, smooth and realistic graphics. The creature design also left something to be desired, as enemies this time around just sort of look bland. If not downright terrible. (Seriously, guys... evil cop cars? Really?) Although I will admit, I did find the real-time transitions between the "light" and "dark" versions of Silent Hill very awe-inspiring.

The sound work is quite a bit better, though. Voice acting is amongst the best in the series, and Murphy, despite being a criminal with a dark past, is given great life by a very good performance. And to address a giant elephant in the room- the music is fine. Series veteran Akira Yamaoka, who scored each of the prior games, did indeed leave. But his replacement in American composer Daniel Licht is a perfect fit. Licht, best known for his amazing work in the series "Dexter", has a similar mindset and style to Yamaoka, and I found his music to be just as good as any of Yamaoka's prior work. Particularly his main "Downpour" theme, which is fantastic, and just drips of "Silent Hill." And I will even admit, the controversial choice of choosing metal band Korn to provide the main title theme, works. It's a decent theme and fits into the game's opening movie sequence perfectly.

Controls and gameplay, though. Uh... the best way to describe them is with a sound: "Blech!" The controls are very mixed. They are way too loose, and feel slightly over-simplified. It's difficult to get a handle of them, and you'll often find yourself pressing the wrong buttons, accidentally turning off your flashlight or dropping items when you didn't mean to, which is frustrating. And the combat is pretty foul. It's slowly-paced much of the time (aiming and firing your gun just flat-out sucks, and you'll end up taking a ton of damage before you can even fire off a shot) and usually just devolves into a button mashing nightmare. While combat was never a strong point, here, it's taken to a new low.

However, there are silver linings to be found despite this. In addition to the fantastic aforementioned soundwork, the atmosphere is top-notch and there are some startlingly set pieces that work perfectly. This is a creepy, creepy game (despite over-reliance on gore at times), and I did find it almost as unsettling to play as the first few entries. There are also a lot of great moments, such as a bizarre and freakish mine-cart ride that feels like you're riding a train to Hell, and it worked fabulously.

The story is also fairly well-told and interesting, if not predictable by "Silent Hill" standards. The idea of following an escaped prisoner is nice, and some of the metaphoric imagery surrounding this works perfectly. And you will be generally interested enough to want to stick it out and finish the game to see how it ends.

All in all, this is a very mixed game. The graphics, controls and some really questionably bad choices by the developers almost ruin it, but some decent atmosphere and an intriguing enough story salvage it. I will say though, with confidence, that this is the worst game of the series. And I hope the next entry is able to resolve it's many issues.

I give "Silent Hill: Downpour" an extremely mixed 5 out of 10.