Addictive story, though has many flaws.
Bad: Awkward controls, Repetitive music, Low replay value, Horrible scenery rendering.
Note: This is the type of game that you either hate, or you love.
In Deadly Premonition, you take the control of an FBI agent Francis York Morgan as he goes to the rural town of Greenvale to investigate the death of a young female. During his trip, he meets locals, some of which take to him, others which do not, and finds himself in something much more than he expected. A mystery far bigger than he expected leads the FBI agent into searching into the dark past of the town, and even into the dark past of his own life. As he ventures into "the Other World," York will uncover the mystery that will change his life.
The story in itself is highly addictive. The cast comes together to add to the experience, bringing you in and making it extremely easy to get into the game, which, in turn, creates an environment for suspense. In addition, the monsters you will be facing allow the game a creepy atmosphere.
One of the first things you will notice about Deadly Premonition is that the scenery in-game is terrible. The graphics, looking like they are from the original Playstation, are obviously and blatantly dated. In contrast to the scenery, the character models are in rather up-to-date quality. The expressions can be rather overdramatic, as well, but still of quality. The music used in-game is rather uninspiring, and can get annoying with how often it plays. The sounds used on the monsters are rather chilling, adding to the creepy atmosphere.
Fans of the Resident Evil and Silent Hill series still have something to look forward to: The game feels alot like Silent Hill. The control scheme is just like that of the newer Silent Hill games, as well as Resident Evil. Even the aiming feels like it, using the over-the-shoulder aiming system mixed with a red laser sight, veterans to Resident Evil should not have much trouble aiming, other than slightly different buttons. The lock-on feature makes it easy for anyone to use the aiming system. The movement is alot like Resident Evil, as well. To sum it up, the controls are not really the worst on foot. Driving, however is a whole different story. The controls take a little practice, but nothing too major.
The monsters, strange beings from a strange purple mist, are well thought up and rather original. Not responding to sight or sound, they respond to breathing patterns in the characters. Near the beginning of the game, York finds out this and can then hold his breath to sneak past them, which will consume his pulse bar, another interesting idea, but not as original. The Pulse bar works alot like a stamina bar (not health) as running, holding your breath, driving with sirens uses it up. Once used full, it will take some time to come back down, or you can stop whatever it is doing, or use an item.
All in all, for twenty dollars, the colorful cast along with the chilling story make this game worth the money you can get it for.