Silent Hill: Downpour

The Silent Hill franchise is one that very is so beloved, that recent sequels get scrutinized to see whether they deserve to be called a Silent Hill. It is my opinion that Silent Hill Downpour is deserving of the name, due to its story and its depiction of the fabled town. The first 3 Silent Hill games set the ambiance and rules for the town of Silent Hill. The first one and third one set up the back story of how the town became. While SH2 sets up what the town does to people “visiting”, and how the town and otherworld affect them physically, visually, and mentally. Downpour did a great job following these rules and setting a good story for our main hero Murphy Pendleton. Murphy has been imprisoned for stealing a police cruiser, some time after his son was kidnapped and murdered. During his time in prison, certain mysterious events happen to him while in prison that leads him to be transferred to another prison. During this transfer, the bus crashes near the outskirts of Silent Hill. Now trapped in the mysterious town, he is chased by a corrections officer who seems to have a personal grudge against him. After the brief prison tutorial, the game starts you out on the outskirts of the town, you have to traverse an area called the Devils Canyon before you can explore the town of Silent Hill. This dungeon seemed to be very “Bright Falls” which didn’t give me a good impression of the game at first. Once that area was over, and I was able to explore the town, that’s when the game felt like a Silent Hill. The town doesn’t have many buildings to visit for the story, but it does have an explorable town with various side quests. The side quests vary between looking for objects, solving puzzles, and even survival, where enemies come in waves. The town is fantastic, it looks great, its creepy, it has the right amount of fog, and it rains at different times. The otherworld looks great, but unlike previous titles this otherworld doesn’t conform to the dimensions of its original surroundings. It can change sizes, create new areas and affect physics. The otherworld themes are industrial, prison/cages, and water. The story and the different side quest can take around 15 hours. There is also multiple endings requiring more playtroughs. The combat has been rightfully criticized for its bad hit detection, however the enemies are not very difficult even with this oversight, and it’s just annoying when fighting multiple enemies. First aid kits are used in real time. This means you have to run away to safety and heal if you are low on health. Otherwise, enemies will attack you as you look for health kits in the item menu. There are an unfortunate small amount of enemy models, around five different types throughout the entire game, 4 of them “human like”. Men with hooks on their faces, a larger version of this one, a mannequin ghost, and the most frequent one, a dirty lady in a nightgown. There are no boss fights in Downpour, in their place there are these chase sections. During these, you run away from a small black hole enemy that chases you throughout the buildings as you dodge objects and find a path to safety. The puzzles difficulty can be adjusted, this seems to only affect the placement of objects and how dials move. The difficulty is not like the Shakespeare puzzle from SH3, you shouldn’t need a guide for help. Silent Hill Downpour is not perfect, but it’s a very good game in the franchise. The atmosphere, story and characters are well done. Exploring the town can give you the creeps and even provide some scares. I truly enjoyed playing this game, I recommend it to fans of the series and it’s a good introduction game for newcomers of the series.

This is the first Silent Hill game I've played since The Room on PS2, and I'm loving every minute of it. Like others, I'm a little puzzled about the mediocre reviews for this game, but I guess that's why there's so many different types of games around. Here's a few random thoughts, and I hope you'll assume the "in my opinion" part without me writing it all the time. 1. The atmosphere is terrific. Every bit as dark, stormy and eerie as you'd like it. (Yes, it's PS3 stuff but I don't mind. The occasional "clunkiness" gives it kind of a retro feel that I didn't find bothersome.) 2. This is a game where avoiding combat whenever possible is the way to go. Like other Silent Hill characters, Murphy is not a super hero, ninja, special forces type. He is, in fact, a bit clumsy with weapons and I think that's the idea. In most ways, he's pretty much a regular guy. 3. The game requires a real love for problem solving and lots of patience. For me, solving the many side quests - without cheating, of course - was very tough, indeed. (I'll admit it: I had a hard time finishing the Water Prison section in The Room, too. Now you know.) Anyway, I'm just getting started on a replay now. As we Silent Hill people know, more stuff gets unlocked on a replay and I'm gonna find it all this time.

Silent Hill is a series that certainly has seen it's share of ups and downs since it began way back in 1999. I must admit I had a somewhat skeptical outlook on Downpour when I heard it was being handed over to yet again another relatively unknown developer, Vatra. However, after playing the first two hours of gameplay I can definitely say this is a much better experience than Homecoming had to offer. Don't get me wrong, I did enjoy Homecoming but I felt as if it fell short of what to expect from a true Silent Hill experience. The story, character development, scares, etc. Basically, it was a weak experience compared to the very unnerving and intense experiences of SH2 and SH3. You play as prisoner Murphy Pendelton this time around, and unlike the protagonist of Homecoming Alex Shepard, Pendleton is a much better written main character. I won't spoil anything story related, but within the first five minutes of playing Downpour, you'll understand why I say he defintely has his issues. Every aspect of the story is extremely well written as well. This is the first time since SH3 was released in 2003 that I truly felt immersed again in the world of Silent Hill. This is what I believed really ruined my experience with Homecoming. It was much like ordering a familiar meal from a restaurant while being used to it home-cooked. It may be good, but it just wasn't the same. The gameplay this time around has evolved dramatically. The weapons found in the game break with use and firearms are very limited in ammo. This may seem like this would be problematic, but the game does a very good job at keeping weapons easily accessible(being found in areas such as the ground, buildings,etc.) but keeping the game challenging simultaneously. Another new aspect is side quests. These quests add a refreshing and fun experience from the main storyline and are rewarding oftentimes with rare items or weapons. The only real drawbacks are that the game does suffer from some framerate and lag issues at times. But these are nowhere NEAR as bad as are witnessed in the atrocious HD Collection which is currently under review due to it's numerous issues. The game still remained a very entertaining experience and the good definitely outweighs the bad in every area. Overall, if this is you're first experience with Silent Hill or if you're a hardcore fan, this is a definite must play especially since the game features many great aspects that made Silent Hill what it's known for. The atmosphere, which includes rain for the first time, is a nice introduction. The music(composed by Daniel Licht who is known for his work on "Dexter")does a phenomenal job adding his own flavor to the Akira Yamaoka based themes of noise and scratchy atmopheric effects of mournful yet beautiful, music combined with melodies and bass. It's nice to see that Silent Hill is once again a game that combines a great story and terrifying gameplay experience. My hat is off to Vatra on this accomplishment.

Excellent game

my husband loves it thank you very much :)

Fantastic survival horror gaming at its best

Hier hat Konami mal wieder ein Meisterwerk abgeliefert, besser als der Vorgänger, Konami kehrt wieder zu seinen Wurzeln zurück. Super Gruselatmosphäre wie man es noch von den ersten zwei Teilen kennt, hier stimmt wirklich die Balance zwischen Action und Survival-Horror, aber leider nichts für Zartbesaitete. Klare Kaufempfehlung.

This game is great. Sure it has a few FPS issues but that is not a big problem. The graphics are well done. The play is easy and it is easy to pick up, but it is difficult to put down. You want to keep playing the story and find out what the story is about the main character. Great overall game and the controls are very easy to get used to. So if you like SILENT HILL you will love this one.