Silent Hill: Downpour is quite fun, bugs and all.
Despite my fears, the game turned out to be pretty great. Flawed, but great.
The story itself is interesting. A man in prison for reasons we don't yet understand, on his way to be transferred to a new prison when his bus crashes, leaving him stranded in the infamous town of Silent Hill. Although vague at times, the dark story was ultimately very fulfilling and was executed very well, loaded with plenty of twists and painful moments.
The characters, both the main and supporting are very interesting and have fairly diverse personalities and different reasons for being in Silent Hill.
The overall game play is one of game's weak points. The combat, although much better than Homecoming, has lot of flaws and repetition. It's mainly a lot of "hold Y while the enemy attacks, hit them, and repeat." You"ll also notice that there isn't a lot of varieties in the enemies you face. They can be rather intimidating, but they fall victim to predictable attacks and patterns.
Puzzles have always been a key part of Silent Hill. Downpour definitely delivers at times. I found some of the puzzles on the harder difficulty giving me quite a bit of trouble. Sure, it was frustrating, but anyone who understands Silent Hill will accept the challenge with open arms and gladly spend half an hour solving the problem before them.
The scarcity of fire arms, the fragile nature of melee weapons, and the limited number of health kits will also challenge you, giving your experience a true survival horror feel, which is absent in many games these days.
A new addition in this game that has never before been in a Silent Hill game is the ability to freely roam the town. This aspect was extremely fun and often times, very dangerous and mildly disturbing, as the streets are patrolled by things that want to kill you and get immensely more aggressive when it begins to rain. Exploration is definitely rewarding, as you will find a number of interesting and totally optional side quests, Easter eggs, and valuable things to aid you later on.
A number of glitches and and bugs litter the game. The main one, being the lag the occurs every time the game auto-saves.
The graphics are also amazing in this game, looking the most realistic and appealing out of every Silent Hill game to date. The soundtrack, despite not being done by Akira, is pretty good.
In conclusion, Silent Hill: Downpour is a fun and somewhat scary experience, despite, it's faulty combat system and minor hiccups . However, fans to the series will most likely enjoy it the more than someone who is new to Silent Hill games.