Topic: How is "Silent Hill: Downpour", REALLY?

[Abnormal Freak]

So I see it's fourteen bucks on Amazon and I have to ask myself, "Should I get it?"

I've enjoyed every previous game in the series I've played. Nothing tops the originals, 1–4, which are all incredible. (I personally thought 4 was a huge step in the right direction but I guess a lot of people disliked it 'cos they're dumb or something.)

Every game since has been lacking, to be honest. It's not the same series I fell in love with, but I REALLY enjoyed Shattered Memories, and I thought both Origins and Homecoming were fun. Not travesties; good games; just not the Silent Hill I knew and loved.

So how's Downpour? I hear it sucks dick, I hear it's OK... Had Akira Yamaoka produced it and done music I'd have already played it a long time ago, but I really feel like he was the last great element holding the series together. With him gone, my interest in the game plummeted (and plummeted even further when I heard that awful theme song).

But at $14...I might be willing to give it a try if it lives up to the fun/scare/cool/mood factor of Homecoming. If it's just so far below every other recent entry in the series like I've heard...well...then it's probably best I save that money or spend it on something more worthwhile.

[ShinAkumaXX]

Well, I myself bought it for 360 on amazon for $13.00 I believe. I figured hey, new for that price, might as well. I had been looking forward to it ever since hearing about it. Honestly though I only played it for a couple hours. So I can't say if just anyone should buy it. But you sound very into Silent Hill, so at that price I would definitely if I were you. Personally I got Silent Hill the original on PS when I was in 7th grade long ago and loved it. I never played any others until very recently. I bought Downpour, played a couple hours, I've had HD collection and started 2. Seems great, just been busy with the Witcher 2 and some shooters. I really liked Shattered Memories on Wii though. Sorry to give you my Silent Hill history. But you as a big fan, I would drop $14.00 heck, even $15.00. I will say the combat seems a little lame to me, personally. But am hoping it gets better. There are some cool sequences where everything turns all crazy, those are enjoyable. I am in the military and sadly took it home when I was on leave, so don't have it with me right now.... Now I wanna play it. Oh well.

[Inccubus]

I haven't played it, but I can't take the soundtrack. The music is fail.

[Munchy]

Really? I thought the music was okay. (Maybe minus the Korn song.)

I kind of lost interest in it though. Exploring the town itself is a lot of fun, but the actual plot relevant areas kind of suck. There are very few incredibly mediocre enemy types (though I'll admit their placement and sparseness is pretty well done) and the Otherworld sections start out looking awesome only to devolve into terrible fucking chase scenes.

[PFG9000]

I really enjoyed Downpour.  I've played through every game in the series except that new Vita game, so I consider myself a fairly big SH fan.  I thought Daniel Licht did an impressive job with the soundtrack.  It's not Akira Yamaoka, but it's still appropriately moody/suspenseful/atmospheric.  I think Vatra did a great job with the story, which has several twists but stays true to the SH mythos.  The combat is a weird blend of oldschool clunky SH and modern polished 3rd person action games.  Once you get the hang of it, it's pretty effective.

I think the best way to sum it up is that it's an impressive achievement for a non-Team Silent developer, but it still falls a bit short of the originals.  Except 4, which I thought was kinda lame.  It's absolutely worth giving a try for $14.

[Laina]

SH4 was was the first step in the wrong direction to me, so maybe my opinion means bupkiss to you, but I suppose it's worth $14 just to experience it for yourself. It was mediocre, but since you're an SH fan I suggest you give it a go. I've played all of them save the one for Vita & this is how they break down to me:

SH 1, 2, 3- rad to the max, wouldn't change a thing
SH 4-another game, not necessarily a bad one, but not a great one either trying to be SH
SH Origins-a great bridge title, it gave us some backstory & introduced a new small branch of the main original story
SH:Homecoming-S'okay. I liked it alright.
SH: Shattered Memories-...no. Just...no.

[Abnormal Freak]

What didn't you like about Shattered Memories? The plot was pretty bogus, but the actual gameplay experience was really creepy and unsettling. It was a cool change for the series and felt very much like Silent Hill to me; only thing I didn't like is that you're never in any actual danger until the game flat-out tells you, "THERE ARE ENEMIES HERE." They could have done that so much better, I think.

I never understood the dislike for SH4 and no one's ever actually given me a reason for why they think it's not as good as the first three. Of the Team Silent games, SH3 is definitely my least favorite (though oddly enough the one I've played through the most). 4 was incredibly fascinating with the whole first-person view apartment and the creepy goings-on in there. Crawling through a hole to get into this weird otherworld... Really unsettling. The ghosts and weird monsters with the baby faces are also the most frightening enemies that have ever been in a Silent Hill game, by far.

The only complaint I've heard that possibly holds any weight is that the game is too bright. Which, honestly, that aspect of it never bothered me because it was nice not have to view a Silent Hill game through the field of a flashlight for once, and the brightness didn't take away from the creepy atmosphere for me; it almost made things even more unsettling because here's all these monsters doing all this scary shit and it's practically daylight out.

Anyway, SH4 is no SH1 and certainly no SH2, but from a gameplay perspective and creep-out factor, I thought it was very strong in those regards, and was a huge step up from the "going through the motions" SH3.



I'll keep pondering whether to get Downpour. Hopefully the price doesn't go up while I'm considering.

[Laina]

What didn't you like about Shattered Memories? The plot was pretty bogus, but the actual gameplay experience was really creepy and unsettling. It was a cool change for the series and felt very much like Silent Hill to me; only thing I didn't like is that you're never in any actual danger until the game flat-out tells you, "THERE ARE ENEMIES HERE." They could have done that so much better, I think.

That, the plot (wasn't terrible, but could've been leagues better), the ice setting, while maybe relevant to the story, was so not SH to me, and the fact that the enemies reminded me of the small Asian woman that they had play the 'Grey Child' monsters in the movie (bonus features on the DVD)-they were tiny little screeching old Asian ladies trying to bring you down. It wasn't scary, it was annoying. Also, this is just a completely personal taste that made it not for me, but I cannot stand the feeling of being constantly chased. It's okay for a chapter or two, but half the game? It's now become a chore. Just doesn't appeal to me. Again, that's a completely subjective view, but it's mine & we are giving opinions here.

I never understood the dislike for SH4 and no one's ever actually given me a reason for why they think it's not as good as the first three. Of the Team Silent games, SH3 is definitely my least favorite (though oddly enough the one I've played through the most). 4 was incredibly fascinating with the whole first-person view apartment and the creepy goings-on in there. Crawling through a hole to get into this weird otherworld... Really unsettling. The ghosts and weird monsters with the baby faces are also the most frightening enemies that have ever been in a Silent Hill game, by far.

It's an alright game on it's own, certainly. I don't hate it or even dislike it really, it just never gripped me & held on with it's rusty claws like the first three titles did. It was different with the first person view in the apartment & the monsters invading thing, but that got old & annoying quick to me.

I didn't care for the whole...holes thing. It's different, yeah, and I was a little intrigued at first with it, I admit. Any series has to keep changing, evolving as it goes if it's going to not only survive, but thrive. The holes thing to me though just lacked the pizzaz of the sirens & suddenly swarming darkness of the "other world". That just sent this wave of excitement & fear through me when the sirens started blaring, the music shifting to sound like something was rhythmically banging on metal with a certain desperation, like say the desperation of something powerful trying to tear out of a cage & come for you. The fact that it was a "something", a.k.a. the unknown, made it even better. I'm sure many of us first thought, "What da fuq?! Is that an in game noise?!...*finally exhales*  No, no, just the music...Akira Yamaoka, you sly devil." I didn't feel all that from crawling through a mysterious hole in my bathroom. Yes,  it's a novel & somewhat intriguing idea & I think it would've done fine in a different series of horror games, I just personally didn't prefer it to sirens & reality flaking off like in a Silent Hill title.

This leads me to my next point-in 1-3 & Origins the world as you know it was literally being ripped away from you, and you were completely powerless to stop it. When you have your safety & sanity ripped away from you & you're deposited in this nightmare hellscape teaming with monsters & God knows what else (there's that 'unknown' thing again), you're generally going to feel trapped and, in a sense, like you're being chased minus the screeching tiny Asian ladies in costume trying to bring you down. There's the panic, the fight or flight kicking in & you just want to race through desperately trying to find the way back to your world of light & sanity. Thing is though, you don't feel rushed like you were in Shattered Memories. You have time to think, to take it all in & enjoy the darkness that Konami crafted for you...ya know, back when we thought they liked us. I know I'm supposed to be addressing 4 at this point, but I promise I'm going somewhere with this...like now.

In Shattered Memories & SH4 (see? old Laina ain't about to let you cool cats down) I felt RUSHED. Once the fucking shit bastard ghosts  started appearing & chasing me and then invading my apartment I started losing interest. I can't find all of few swords & candles strewn about to ward them off because they can't stop coming to cornhole me long enough for in order to take a breather & adequately search a room. I just felt "flight" kicking in constantly & was never able to enjoy as much of the game as I would've liked to after that point. I do like that there was SOME sense of being able to fight back against the ghosts unlike in Shattered Memories. I will say that I did throughly enjoy the enemy design though-dead twin baby homunculus thing FTW. I also really liked that there was a slight tie in with our beloved SH2 (which is actually my least favorite original SH, but still loved it) with Walter Sullivan & the holes thing; the small, ramshackle room in town with absolutely nothing in it save some scribbling reading, "THERE WAS A HOLE HERE. IT'S GONE NOW...".

The only complaint I've heard that possibly holds any weight is that the game is too bright. Which, honestly, that aspect of it never bothered me because it was nice not have to view a Silent Hill game through the field of a flashlight for once, and the brightness didn't take away from the creepy atmosphere for me; it almost made things even more iunsettling because here's all these monsters doing all this scary shit and it's practically daylight out.

Agreed. I did find that refreshing & could see it being a little more of a brain fuckler than the "oh, it's dark as shit out & there's disfigured assholes comin' at me, makes sense". That is a winning formula though, I must admit. Oh, human instincts with our primal fear of the dark! You are a hoot.
 

Anyway, SH4 is no SH1 and certainly no SH2, but from a gameplay perspective and creep-out factor, I thought it was very strong in those regards, and was a huge step up from the "going through the motions" SH3.

SH3 captured my adoration because it built upon the mythos of SH1 for me. I did wonder, "Wow. Where're Harry & Cheryl gonna go from here? What's going to happen to them? What if there were people besides "Mom of the Century" Dahlia who wanted Cheryl/Alessa for dark & terrible means?" This answered those questions for me & I got to play a believable female lead. Being of the female variety myself & the same age as Heather at the time did help me to make a bit more of a connection. I was also still dealing with the death of my own father at the time, so more connections, yay!

As far as going through the motions-yeah, there wasn't a whole lot of improvement in the gameplay if that's what you meant, but why fix what wasn't broken? It wasn't exactly stellar, but it was far from bad.

I'll keep pondering whether to get Downpour. Hopefully the price doesn't go up while I'm considering.

I will tell you that I got bored 2/3 of the way through & just never went back to it, but you seem to have semi-different tastes than me, so I think it could hold your attention long enough for you to at least finish it. It wasn't God awful or anything, just...I really don't know. Like I said, I just got kinda bored/burnt out & never picked it back up. Fourteen bucks for a brand new "it's okay" game in a series we love though don't sound like such a bad deal. Anyway, enjoy my novel anyone not thinking "TLDNR". I'm glad I got to have an intelligent discussion with fellow SH fans. Oh, speaking of novels, anyone read "Silent Hill:The Terror Engine"? I'm wondering if I should snatch that up.

[Abnormal Freak]

Thanks for fleshing that out. Most people just say "SILENT HILL 4 SUCKS!" and that's the end of it. "IT'S STUPID AND THERE'S NO FLASHLIGHT—GAY!"

Obviously, I'm not of the same persuasion, but I can see why it didn't live up to the first three for you. The more the apartment got taken over by the ghosts and the bigger the hole got (it did get bigger, right? or am I making that up?), the less safe I felt, and suddenly this fairly cozy and safe apartment was itself dangerous and you couldn't really wander about at will. That really unnerved me, this presence of evil tearing through to my world.

The hole was always scary for me because I knew, "I have to crawl through this hole and scary stuff's going to happen, otherwise I'll never be able to get out of this apartment" type thing. So it's a facing your fears type of experience; it didn't matter to me that it wasn't out of the blue like the siren in the first games. (I'll always hate that the movie made it a physical siren to warn townspeople instead of this strange element of Silent Hill.)


Like most people, SH2 is my favorite because of the fantastic story and setting. It's a twist ending that doesn't feel cheap like most Hollywood flicks, and the watery grave ending is really, really sad.

[Laina]

lol You're welcome. Thank YOU for taking the time to read it! (that was a BITCH to type on an iPhone)

I think the holes did get bigger as things went on now that you mention it. I thought the ghosts in the apartment thing was pretty rad on the one hand because you ass-clowns just invaded my one safe space from the "other world"...SHIT JUST GOT REAL. But then it was annoying to because if you were low on health & had to go back to the apartment, but you hadn't found enough white candles to keep the ghosts down you were kinda screwed.

But yeah, I could write a literal novel I think on what Silent Hill is, isn't, should be & has been to me.

[PFG9000]

Yes, the hole in the bathroom in SH4 got bigger with each new world you went to.  And then, halfway through the game, it caved in, and a new hole appeared in your laundry room.  I don't recall whether that second hole ever changed size.

I respect SH4, and I even enjoy it to some extent.  But I think it got some big things wrong.  The lack of darkness is my biggest complaint.  It's not so much the missing flashlight, but the fact that you never need one.  There's nothing wrong with creating creepy atmosphere in creative ways, but I didn't find the environments in SH4 to be terribly creepy.  Maybe the children's prison a bit, and Eileen's gigantic disembodied head, but that's it.  Also, the fact that the second half of the game is made up of recycled environments from the first half, but with an escort mission on top of it, just destroyed a lot of what the game had going for it.  I replayed the game about a year ago, but once I got to the second half, I just couldn't play much further.  You never actually get to Silent Hill, unless you count looking across at it from the lake next to the Wish House (or Hope House, depending on which game we're going by).  And the missing otherworld is just unforgiveable.  If I recall correctly, the closest we got was the spiral ramp that connects the recycled levels in the second half of the game, and those are repetitive in themselves.

The game has some good things going for it.  The storyline with Walter is pretty good, and inventive too.  And the way that Henry is linked up with that investigator that lived in his apartment before him, through the red notes that repeatedly appear in the apartment, is a little creepy.  I actually respect the hell out of the idea that your apartment is your protection in the first half of the game, and then the game turns things on their head and the apartment starts to become corrupted and injure you.  It's a great concept.

But in the end, the negative outweighs the positive by quite a bit, in my opinion.  What is a Silent Hill without darkness and an otherworld?

There's a lot of disagreement within the Silent Hill fanbase though.  I think the haters might just be a vocal minority.  I absolutely adore Origins, and a lot of the fans seem to hate it.  And I think Homecoming was pretty okay.  That seems to be the most hated game in the series.  Sometimes I think we all just liked different things about the first three Silent Hills, and we pick and choose which sequels we like based on which elements of the originals they get right.