Although Dale North fully previewed the latest attempt to make Silent Hill relevant again, I couldn't resist checking the game out myself, in stunning 3D. Silent Hill 2 is my favorite game of all time, and hearing that Downpour was evoking its spirit while successfully trying new things turned me on.
Man, what a letdown.
If I had to name E3's biggest disappointment, it would be playing Silent Hill: Downpour and getting what looked like an even less enthralling version of Silent Hill: Homecoming. Yet again, the aesthetic of the Silent Hill movie is the one being copied, in a world that, so far, doesn't look much like Silent Hill at all, and the combat ... oh the combat ...
The demo opened up with protagonist Murphy Pendleton attempting to escape from a fire in a kitchen. After finding a fire alarm and setting off the sprinkler, Murphy realizes the water hasn't stopped rising and that it's heading for a broken electrical breaker that will fry him if the situation gets worse.
Fixing this is a simple case of wading over to a release valve, which causes a pipe to burst and fly through a door, opening it for you and letting the water drain. That's when the scenery begins to peel away -- a'la Silent Hill: Homecoming and the movie -- and reveal the "Otherworld."
What followed was a chase sequence as Murphy ran away from a red and black ... thing. Some sort of killer entity, devoid of form. In an admittedly cute fashion, the corridor I ran down rapidly stretched every time I was about to round a corner. It looked cool, but it wasn't really very scary.
Eventually, I was able to find an elevator and come up into a little area with buildings. There was a monster -- some shadowy, twitchy, screamy woman -- who jumped me from behind in a cheap scare tactic that would be fine for any other game, but feels a little gauche in the psychological horror of Silent Hill. I then got a taste of combat -- the rubbish, rubbish combat.
Somehow, fighting feels worse than Homecoming or even the original PlayStation 2/Xbox titles. Murphy can't fight for shit, which makes me wonder why he's an escaped convict as he could only be capable of jaywalking at the worst. You can pick up all sorts of weapons from the environment, including bottles and fire extinguishers, but they're all useless in their own unique way, be they too slow, too close-ranged, or simply incapable of connecting with a foe correctly.
Enemies attack faster and hit harder than Murphy does, and even worse, they're actively annoying opponents. The game cynically tries to make the monsters scary by giving them grab and scream attacks that immobilize Murphy and require the waggling of the movement stick to free him. The trouble is they spam these attacks over and over again, and there's absolutely zero tension in that. Sure, the very first time might induce a bit of cheap panic, but by the fifth time you've had to jostle the stick about like Michael J. Fox on cocaine, it just becomes tiresome and repetitive. There's no horror to be found in that.
It wouldn't be so bad, but with the demo spawning and throwing enemies at me, running away wasn't much of an option. If combat was more of a last resort, I could dig it, but throwing me into an open area with a bunch of enemies and no other recourse, I was forced to fight enemies with mechanics that have no place in the modern day. Better to take the ability to fight out of the game entirely than have this shoddy attempt. I had a better fighting chance in Silent Hill 2.
It's also worth nothing just how disgusting the 3D visuals looked. With the glasses on, bits of Murphy's hair are floating as jagged spikes from his head, and the visuals in this already visually unimpressive game get muddy and blurred. 3D doesn't just add nothing to the experience, it takes away what little visual flare there is.
If I'm sounding mean spirited, it's only out of love. I adore the Silent Hill and its recent, terrible iterations have become an endless source of frustration. I don't think my love for the series could survive another disappointment, and although I admittedly only played a little slice of the action, I was left feeling utterly empty from the experience.
With all respect to my colleague Dale North, who is just as much a Silent Hill nut as I am and whose opinion I respect and often seek, I'm going to have to contest his assertion that it's safe to get excited for Downpour. I would, instead, advise extreme caution. I say this as a fan, and one who wants to see Downpour become an excellent game. What I played was not enjoyable, but I know that Konami's heart is in the right place, so I really do hope the final product proves me wrong and we have a game that truly brings the spirit of the series back.
I just can't hope all that hard.
Contest:
7:41 AM on 06.11.2011 | 
/maturity
And what, exactly, were all the other previews we've done this week?
Not to mention the bit in the preview where I explicitly state I only played a bit and hoped the full game would be better.
That said, I don't have much faith in this title. Americans are not good at emulating Japanese scares, even if they're Jscares emulating Ascares. Origins, Homecoming, and just about every Hollywood remake of a asian-horror film (especially Pulse) have proven this time and time again. Having a well-known band at the helm of the theme music doesn't really sound good, either. Gimmicks like that are only necessary if you feel your product isn't good enough to garner its own attention.
Its. A. Work. In. PROGRESS.
God forbid a preview/demo that looks like shit gets called out on it.
I'll check out the full game, no doubt, but I'm not holding my breath.
"Needs some tweaks"?! Yikes!
The rest looked great, but ridiculously predictable. A "greatest hits" package is the only way I can describe it.
P.S. Do you mean "Fire Extinguisher", not "Fire Hydrant"? Unless, he pulled one loose in your demo...FUCK YEAH, "RAY WINSTON IN SCUM" STYLE, BITCHES!
You know, you're right. Mr. Jim there CALLS it a "PREview", but apparently he doesn't know the difference between a PREview and a REview.
A PREview gives a sneak peek into what the game (or whatever) is about, how the game mechanics work, who the main character is etc. Etc.
A REview is to criticize and judge. Determine the pros and cons.
And what Mr. Jim here is doing would be the latter.
Criticizing a DEMO.
I get annoyed by wanna-be-journalists jumping the gun and tearing down an unfinished game in a futile attempt to please his superiors.
I hope it's good, but judging from what I saw...
So what you're saying is that you only want to read hype and positivity from E3, basically.
Don't be dense. If someone didn't like a demo, I think that's all the more impetus to criticize WHILE there's still development time. It's not helpful to anybody to type up an insincerely positive preview if the person didn't like what was offered.
You can go to a multitude of sites to read vague previews that gloss over any negative aspects. Hell, if you want a more positive look at the game, then check out Dale's excellent preview of Downpour. I linked it for you in the post.
Sorry, but it's incredibly stupid to say "It's a preview build!" That means that EVERYTHING Destructoid published this week -- positive or negative -- is worthless. If we're not allowed to give an opinion or hazard a guess as to what the final product will look like, then what was the entire fucking point of E3?
Please try not to be so close-minded about E3 coverage.
E3 for all!!!
Am I the only one who thought Homecoming was kind of, sort of good? Maybe the music is putting the rest of it under a better light in my eyes.
That said, the fact the KORN of all people is making the theme song and Akira Yamaoka has zero artistic input, pulling double duty on story and music as he did later on, is making me kind of sad about all this. I really wish Silent Hill ended on the unusual and interesting note that was Shattered Memories.
SH2 is NOT the standard of the series. It is the oddball of the series. Liking SH2 and liking the series are two different things. You can of course like both but at least be aware that there is a difference between SH2 and the rest of the series. If you get yourself hell-bent on every SH game being like SH2 then every other game in the series will disappoint you. If you want to look at one game to define the series by, look at SH3.
Either way, nothing about Downpour interests me. I don't mind the film's paint peeling effect and weak combat should be a feature of any survival horror game that wants to support any degree of tension, but enemies rushing you in numbers and being forced into fighting isn't what I want. Running the fuck away should always be the most viable option.
@Jim Sterling
Did they show off the Silent Hill Collection at all? I'm really excited to see how its turning out and if they made the controls less "tankish"
Also:Is there a way to petition SH 4 to be put in the set? It just feels like a huge gap.
What is the point of a demo? Is it not to be judged? To give you a demonstration so you might form an opinion (hopefully positive) that will inform your purchase later? How does it somehow become wrong to critique a work in progress? All assets and demos are up for criticism. That is what they're there for. To piqué interest by producing positive feedback though not all feedback is positive.
Tell me you've NEVER judged a game by it's demo or a movie by it's trailer. Tell me you NEVER flipped through a book to get a taste of the style and decided it just wasn't good. Tell me you ALWAYS go front to back in everything before you judge it.
Jim isn't saying the game will be shite. Jim is saying right now, in it's current state, these were the glaring flaws he saw. Flaws that will hopefully be caught by the developer through people on the showfloor like Jim and be fixed proper. This is not a review it's a preview. It's not supposed to be devoid of criticism because then it's completely useless in communicating to you, the reader, how the game is shaping up. Jim and every other journalist/blogger/whatever at E3 is more than welcome to criticize what is on the showfloor. That's what it's there for. It's there for feedback, so they can produce globs and globs of positive feedback that will translate into sales and any negative feedback they can use to make a better product.
The notion that just because it's a work in progress everything said about it should happy-go-lucky is silly. Obviously I don't want to say I promote cynicism and pessimism but if there are HUGE problems what a game I'd rather it be told to the community so the community alongside the people at the convention can raise concern and that work in progress can continue on a path to make a good game instead of being blissfully unaware that they have a potential piece of crap on their hands.
Which has sadly, happened far too many times in this business. I don't think you'll ever get David Cage to admit that Heavy Rain had faults.
I think both games had a control type called "2D Mode" that let you move in the direction you point the stick like most other titles. I haven't played them in a while, so I don't remember if even those controls hold up much these days.
I knew I wasn't the only one who thought Homecoming was decent! :D And Shattered Memories was just lovely. I think it's too bad about Silent Hill 4 being left out this time.
"There are various types of weapons to be obtained in the enviroments. Bottles, fire extinguishers etc. Though they do feel a bit useless at times. Hopefully this is something that will be fixed by the game's release."
And then there's YOUR criticism:
"You can pick up all sorts of weapons from the environment, including bottles and fire extinguishers, but they're all useless in their own unique way"
And then there's low blows (that are completely unnecessary) like :
"Sure, the very first time might induce a bit of cheap panic, but by the fifth time you've had to jostle the stick about like Michael J. Fox on cocaine, it just becomes tiresome and repetitive."
Which you ONLY use to wrangle in more readers.
"Hey lookie! Lookie! I made a Micheal J Fox mean and edgy joke! I hope that'll bring in a bit of the target demographic! Maybe I should make some Hitler/Nazi jokes too, because that'll show I'm even more cool and hardcore! Ahyuk-ahyuk!"
Right. Writing a REview on a demo littered with low blows and insults when it's clear you didn't even want to play this demo in the FIRST PLACE is "openminded"?
No, I am openminded. I just prefer to remain closeminded to "journalists" trying to find something, ANYTHING they can hate at E3 so they can write a "Preview" on said game full of hate, low blows and cheap insults specifically to impress the superiors and bring in more readers.
This "Review"/"Preview" has NOTHING to do with the game. All this "article" is here for is for you to look good to your superiors and readers. Publicity.
And THAT is why I am "closeminded" to YOUR (no one else, just YOU) articles. Of course, with your definition of "open minded", I'M OPENMINDED! YAY!
But let's hope for a good Silent Hill. I mean, we're all fans here, right?
"The *ONLY* reason to read his "articles" are for his petty insults, low blows and cracks at the physically handicapped! God forbid we actually read his "articles"
See? Hyperboles. We all do them.
I get the sense that you just don't like Jim. Don't get me wrong, I'm not trying to say it invalidates your criticism, but there's also a lot of personal attacks on Jim in there too.
And I am curious as to what you read that gives you the impression that every single writer who goes to E3 is intent on finding something to hate. I freelance, I know at least a dozen people who went to E3 this year and talked to them all while they were there, and all everyone had to say was how awesome it was and how much they loved just about everything they saw.
You seem really...irritated. Irritated and bitter. No offense.