You know, I paid this game hardly any attention at all when news of it spread. Sometimes I just filter out games I see on websites, since I've been gaming long enough to know what is and isn't appealing to me, or if it'll be worth my time at all. Eventually, though, I began to notice recurring articles on one of my favourite sites and initially thought the writer was going off on some one-man-crusade for a game that -- in all likelihood -- he alone thought was superb. Even so, the writer's intention maybe paid off, because my curiosity got the better of me and I began to delve deeper into what Deadly Premonition is.
At this stage, having spent the past fortnight playing Deadly Premonition, I now feel I owe the writer of those articles a personal thanks. I just feel saddened that it took me this long to get round to playing it.
Of course, I'm not someone who shuns obscure and bizarre titles at every opportunity. Rather the opposite in fact, it's just that Deadly Premonition doesn't really make the best job of showing you what it stands for. The perfect example being the opening section of the game itself - you get a couple of brief cut-scenes, then it's straight into that combat. I say that since, as most will be aware, the combat -- and controls in general -- in Deadly Premonition are, to put it kindly, below standard.
Fortunately I was aware of what I was getting into with regards to the controls, but actually said to myself when first playing "huh, it's kinda like a low-grade RE4 this... I can live with this no probs" and was surprised at how acceptable I found it. Of course, it didn't last.
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| Forget these enemies, it's the wall-crawling ones that cause most grief; the flame-thrower is a must |
The main issue is that, at some point, you realise that opening section you played at the start of the game never really changes. It just gets longer... and longer. The enemies move around at a slow enough pace to accommodate the sluggish aiming, but when their health pools get buffed to a stupid degree, and they respawn at most opportunities, it becomes more efficient to just run past them. This is one of the few games I actively avoided combat at most opportunities, which says a lot since my threshold for repetition is pretty hard to break, it has to be said. Of course, there's no skipping a certain type of crawling enemy. Believe me I tried.
There's no doubt combat is a test of anyone's patience and forgiving, and I've heard suggestions that the developers should just have ditched it in favour of shorter QTE sections, but I wouldn't go that far; I can handle it in short-bursts easily enough, so just shortening the sections would have been enough. New enemy types might also help, but I got the impression this really wasn't something the budget could stretch to.The budget couldn't stretch far for the graphics department either. Again, I can get over this just like the combat -- heck, I have a confession, I actually got out of the car at one point to admire the view, imagine that -- but in the interest of criticism I've got the be fair. Deadly Premonition looks and runs like, at best, a launch-day PS2 title, or, at worst, a HD Dreamcast title. Everything has a washed-out tint to it, while aliasing and shoddy animation are clearly noticeable. The saving grace is how the developers have managed to still make the location seem authentic and believable (check the research photos in the game's bonus menu if you want to see how spot-on they are).
So with both bad controls and outdated visuals, you can see how the game finds it hard to pull people in, especially on the opening chapter. But if you can get past it -- and you absolutely should -- then what you eventually get is something much, much more important and special.
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| York isn't just your atypical crazy detective; there's a lot more going on than you initially think |
The opening song nearly already had me thinking "maybe there's more to this game", but once I got to the actual story and characters eventually I began to see a revelation. This isn't the pseudo-Twin Peaks you keep hearing about, although influences are clearly present, this is a superb narrative with its own appeal.
When I was first introduced to the game's protagonist, Francis York Morgan, I just assumed he was your typical crazy-dude in a Japanese-developed title. But like everything else about Deadly Premonition, there's a lot more to him; the game's more deceptively dark, mature and intelligent than you could ever know without playing it. I came into the game expecting a weird story that'd give me a few laughs, but at its end I was heavily invested in York, his story and the characters around him; during the credits I concluded he was one of the best written characters in a game ever.
But it's not just the story that won me over, it's what else you can do when you're not shooting shadows, or progressing the main story. Indeed, had I stuck purely to the main content I'd have probably finished the game around the 15 hour mark, but instead I chose to explore Greenvale when I had the chance, and was greatly rewarded for it.
It was when I was partaking in said optional content, that I discovered how much attention-to-detail Deadly Premonition has. A good example is when I was waiting for it to be 6pm on a rainy day so I could do a side-quest for local law-enforcer Emily. When I got to her house I noticed there was an exercise bike and actually thought to myself "nice, they're trying to show you she's athletic, but of course she won't be able to use it in this game" only to have Emily promptly walk past me and start her exercise routine on said bike. If that wasn't enough, she then jumped off the bike, walked in front of a mirror, and started practising martial arts. This is all the more impressive if you consider that most players will likely never even enter Emily's house, let alone notice this back-room with the bike and mirror.
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| Old Harry here, with the gas-mask, likes to order a special sandwich from the A & G Diner |
In essence, all the major townsfolk you meet have their own routines and day-to-day doings, which happen regardless of what you're up to (excluding main story). They literally drive from home to buy groceries from the store, then stop off at a diner for something to eat. I found this incredibly impressive, and it added to my feelings as a detective with York, since I could follow these potential suspects to see what they get up to, but it also added the overall atmosphere of the game too.
It's ironic that when Deadly Premonition's ending hit it was in stark contrast to what I felt with the opening of the game; instead of thinking how dated the game looks, and how sub-par the controls are, I was genuinely sad to be leaving Greenvale. Instead of putting the game back in the box and cracking on with whatever was next, like I do with most titles, I went online to read about Deadly Premonition more. In fact, I went back to those very same articles I spoke about at the start of this review, but the difference this time was that I was in full agreement with the writer; this game really is special, and the more that gets heard about it, the better.
Review Summary
In the past month I've bought two big-named full retail-priced games for the PC and PS3 which came at £25 and £40 respectively. In the same month I got Deadly Premonition for £8 off Amazon.com -- a game that is, by all intentions, a low-budget game with dated visuals and gameplay. I think it speaks volumes, then, that I consider Deadly Premonition not only greater than those two RRP games combined, but a lot of others too.
This is a game that is literally crippled with flaws that would outright kill other titles, but with a setting, story and characters that go above and beyond what I've ever seen, there's no doubt in my mind that Deadly Premonition is one of the most unique games ever made. If it wasn't for the technical flaws, I'd have no hesitation awarding the highest honour a game like this deserves, but as it is I think this is the most generous I can be without compromising my own integrity (as tempting as that is).
8/10
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