Has good ideas, and glimpses of brilliance, but it has too many things, that drags down the experience.
So, why do I mention Homecoming? Well, with every new game in the series, I've always been worried that they would end up being just as bad, or worse, as Homecoming. And despite what the developers of Silent Hill: Downpour stated, they never really managed to calm my feelings. I like the concept, but at times it felt like the game was too focused on combat once again, like in Homecoming. But of course, like with Homecoming, I gave the game a chance to shine through. It could, at least, be better than Homecoming.
Story
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Downpour follows Murphy Pendleton, a convict who's been in jail for several years. After performing a job for a prison guard, Murphy is transferred to a new prison. On the way there however, the bus crashes, and he arrives in Silent Hill. Being hunted by a Police Woman, who's out for vengeance, monsters, and his past creeping up on him, Murphy just wants to escape Silent Hill.
Following a convict in a Silent Hill game is an excellent concept. The story does a great job of building up Murphy's past, making the whole thing intriguing and insuring players to see things to its end. Things can be analyzed, which does bring out more interesting facts about… well everyone and everything. The game also has a small, but nice variation on the theme of Revenge, and it never descends to the themes and twists that made Homecoming's story horrible.
Unfortunately that's about it. The story is very underwhelming. While it has a good build up, things are resolved way too quickly. Some of the story's twists and themes are interesting, and you wish the game would have taken more time to explore this. Sadly, it just sort of happens, and then the game moves on. Things resolve so fast, that the main twists can be missed entirely, if you aren't paying attention to what's going on. The pacing is so fast, it left me with a bitter taste at the end, thinking: "that's it!?" The story is also a bit predictable, following a tried and too formula. The story is better and more intriguing than Homecoming, but that's about all you can say for the game.
6.5
Gameplay
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There were a lot of things that made me worried about the game. First of all, there are side quests in the game. There's even a subway that's there to make backtracking easier. The idea of the combat (limited weapons and having them break) sounded good, but the released gameplay footage made it seem like the game would be too focused on it. Once again, I was ready slap the game down and call this a terrible Silent Hill game. Good thing I gave it a chance then.
Let's get the obvious question out of the way first: Is Downpour combat focused? Well kind off. For most of the game, you'll be doing an awful lot of exploring. You'll be exploring apartments, libraries and various other locations. And while there are monsters in most places, some environments don't even have monsters at all. This is good, because it allows the players to really take in the atmosphere and explore the city. The city is a bit larger than the Silent Hill's seen in the previous Silent Hill games, but it's also vastly different. As mentioned earlier, there's a subway system in place, to make you able to switch between city parts faster. Thankfully, this doesn't involve getting on trains, but rather just explore the subway underground. While the city certainly is huge enough for a system like this to be of help (especially with the side quests), it's not an easy system to figure out at all. The problem is that you'll encounter a lot of locked doors, and the game doesn't tell you how you can unlock them, or even if that's possible. I've encounter several doors that were locked and they just refused to open, no matter what I did. My guess is that you need certain keys, but I've never been able to get any of these keys. The system works, it's just a system that isn't of much help, unless you know exactly where to look and what to do.
Likewise, Side Quests doesn't involve you talking to random people. Rather, they have you exploring optional buildings, or finding posters, before they start. Most of these optional buildings and objects are thankfully highlighted on the map, making it easy to figure out the vicinity of the side quests. The side quests don't have stories, for the most part, but they do contain small contained events. As typical side quests however, some are more interesting than others. One has you solving the murder of an entire family, while one has you fending off enemies to open a bank vault. They are interwoven into the story pretty well, and manage to retain the spooky atmosphere… for the most part. As with the subway system however, the side quests are a bit too random. Despite being marked on the map from time to time, the game doesn't tell you how to begin that specific side quest, and nor are the solutions easy to grasp. I took up a lot of side quests during my play through, but I only managed to complete a small handful, and their solutions came even more randomly. Even with that though, the side quests here are actually a nice addition, as they are done really well, and doesn't bring the game into anything that doesn't fit the series (or game) at all. That's what the combat is for.
The game's combat is… well it has some good ideas. The idea is that you have to look for everyday items, such as chairs, pipes, wrenches, etc. to use as weapons. These weapons can however only be used a limited amount of time, before they break, and you can only hold one at a time, along with a gun. Aiming with guns isn't as spot on or as easy as with Homecoming (which again, is a good thing, since part of Silent Hill's horror came from characters not necessarily being capable in combat), but they are powerful and can knock the enemies over in a few shots, without getting you into too much trouble. This is balanced by ammunition coming in very limited supplies. A fine idea, but the system can easily be exploited. While weapons break, they do respawn. If you pick up a fire axe, or a crowbar in a pile, they will respawn shortly after they've been picked up. Making it easy to just run back and get a new pair, before moving on, destroying some of the horror and intensitivity.
Not like the game has any of that, to begin with. This is mostly due to the combat system itself. The game lacks a lock on system, so hitting enemies is sporadic at best. The idea is, that you hit an enemy then block the enemy's attack, before you either attack, or run away. Attacking them is too repetitive and too boring. It always goes the same way: you land two hits, and the enemies become invincible for a while, so you block their attacks, or wait it out, and then you attack again. When enemies come in groups, it's even more difficult, due to the lack of the aforementioned lock on system. That being said though, you are encouraged to avoid battles… for the most part. While you may be prepared for battle and all, it often pays to just run away. The enemies won't follow you too far, which is a good thing, considering you'll get sometime alone to explore in piece. But, and that's a huge but; I say for the most part, because the game somewhat changes, the more you get into it. Around the final act, you meet a lot of enemies that you have to kill in order to move on. There's even a part that conviently places a Shotgun, with some ammo, and asks you to shoot enemies, that are coming at you in waves. The game's combat is boring enough as it is, so making the last section so combat heavy, is a very bad idea.
Another very bad idea is the otherworld sections. Once being the most interesting part of any Silent Hill game, the otherworld sections here instead has you solving small puzzles, and running away from a red light, that will kill you. These sections has parts where you are sliding down a hill, avoiding spikes and what not. These sections are actually pretty entertaining, especially the sliding sections, and the small puzzles here are actually good (as opposed to the ones in the real world), but they just aren't scary at all. There's even parts that has you avoiding moving spikes, similar to Uncharted and various other platform games. It's at this point, that you don't feel like playing a Silent Hill game. This feeling only gets worse as you get more and more into the game however. By the time you reach the final boss, you feel more like playing God of War or the recent Resident Evil games, more than you are playing Silent Hill.
Another obvious question for Downpour: is it scary? That's a bit tricky, as I'm, for the most part, not scared by horror movies, or horror games. That being said though, I can tell when the atmosphere is scary, and I think the game actually did have a spooky atmosphere. It's not as spooky as the previous games, mind you, but it's more spooky than most of the horror games and movies you'll encounter these days. Interestingly though, there is a lot of quiet moments in the game as well, which works to the game's advantage.
Unfortunately, the games scares are cheap at times. Often just having enemies jumping out at you from nowhere, or the obligatory loud noise moments when something happens. At least, these moments aren't too frequent at first. But like the combat, they start happening more and more, the longer you get into the game. In the final act, the game also completely gives up on the whole horror aspect, once again making you feel like you're playing some other game, and not Silent Hill.
The game at least, does have a lot of things to explore. If you decide to go all out on exploring and completing all of the side quests, you can easily spend around 10-15 hours. That being said however, the story is surprisingly short, and could only take around 6 hours, or less if you know exactly what to do. As is usual Silent Hill however, there are 6 endings to uncover, so there's plenty of reason to go back. The endings here are based on moral choices that you are presented throughout the game. They almost never change any of the situation's outcomes, so they should be viewed more, as building up Murphy, than affecting the situation.
5.5
Graphics & Sound
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The graphics are weird. The city has a 50's style to it, which almost ends up making the game feeling like a dystopian area. The style fits the game incredibly well, and makes the city all the more interesting to explore. They also have a lot of details, so there's a lot to discover in the background. If only the same could be said for the characters. The models looks a bit unfinished and the monster design is very uninspired. The game also has technical issues. The frame rate takes a few hits, and the game even stutters a bit. This mostly happens when you are just walking around, which is embarrassing. Buildings, monsters, etc. has a habit of popping into view, and this time there isn't enough fog to obscure that.
The audio fares better however. The voice acting isn't the best out there, but it does the job well, even if it sounds like the voices were recorded in a shed half the time. Akira Yamaoka has been replaced by Daniel Licht, who composed the music for Dexter. While his take on the Silent Hill music is a bit different from Yamaoka (often focusing more in being industrial, rather than unexplainable ambient sounds), he actually does a pretty good job, even if some of the tracks sounds a bit too much like Dexter. For some weird reason, the main theme has been done by Korn. If you're into that sort of music, you might like it, but it doesn't fit the game, at all. Thankfully, the song only appears at the credits, and doesn't play a role, at all.
7.5
Overall
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Silent Hill: Downpour isn't a bad game, even if the score, and what I've said, may make it sound like it is. As a horror game, I'd recommend this higher than most horror games. It has some good ideas, and glimpses of brilliance, and it does (most of the time) manage to respect the series, as well as experimenting with it. Unfortunately most of the experiments almost never work in the game's favor, making the whole experience worse.
The game has aparrently gotten a lot of praise from most Silent Hill fans however. So if you are a fan, you should check this out. If you're a casual horror fan, then you might enjoy this game as well. As for me, I enjoyed Downpour to a certain extent, and it did manage to kill some of my worries. It's not a bad game, but there's simply too much that doesn't work in the game's favor, and the story, while intriguing as it is, just seemed to be underwhelming. It's a decent game, and it's better than Homecoming (it never pissed me off as Homecoming did either), but that's all you can say about the game.