Category: Spooky

I have finished Silent Hill: Downpour twice now. One more run and I’ll be part of the 1000/1000 club. You may have gotten the impression that I really liked the game last time I talked about it, and to that end, you’d be right. It’s exactly what a Silent Hill game should be: creepy, atmospheric, mysterious, and mind-bending. It has all the best qualities of a classic-style survival horror game, but cuts off most of the cruft to make it a more brisk, enjoyable game.

There are, however, a few downsides. Pobody’s nerfect, and the Vatra team is no exception to that rule. They did a really excellent job for a relatively inexperienced studio, but there are a few things that made my playtime less than optimal. The most obvious flaw with Downpour is the horrible, horrible lag. On my first run it wasn’t really an issue until I was wrapping up a few side quests near the end. Because I was taking my time and looking into every nook and cranny, the game had more than enough time to get everything loaded up and keep the framerate at a decent level. Only when I started motoring back and forth across town did I start to notice that the engine was having a lot of trouble keeping up with me, and things got really choppy. My second playthrough was even worse, because I was basically gunning it to wherever I needed to be next, and that is apparently not how you’re supposed to play. I worry about how my third run will go, since it’s essentially going to be a speed run to pop the last three cheevos.

The other thing that really got under my skin is that there’s only one save file. I’m not such an obsessive gamer that I save over multiple files in one run, but I do like to have more than one save on hand at times. Especially since there is a point of no return near the end of the game. Aside from that though, there isn’t really a need to have more than one save in this game, but I’d like to have the option available so that I could say, have a save game that leads right into the joke ending. Downpour is also the type of game that auto-saves. And it only auto-saves. There are checkpoints everywhere, and even if there isn’t an obvious one around, you can always go into a building to save. I feel like it would just be a lot more convenient to have a button on the menu to save though. Is it really that hard? The auto-save slavery still beats having to find an actual save point, I guess.

Aside from the framerate issue, these are very minor complaints though. Having multiple save slots and a manual save option would be nice, but the game works fine without them.  Other than that, I am pleased as punch with Downpour. The sentiment doesn’t seem to be too popular with the rest of the internet, but nuts to those guys. Vatra took Silent Hill in a great direction, and Tomm Hulett is most definitely still in my good books for the work he’s done with the franchise. Here’s hoping that the next one is just as good.

This is a “hidden” area in Silent Hill: Downpour. It is also the best hidden room in the history of ever. There really isn’t much to it, just a medkit and a handgun, but I think the fact that it’s there is good enough. I’ll admit that I would have liked maybe a ghost or two, or to have been able to enter the other rooms of the apartment, but what can you do?

The lack of interactivity is a bit of a missed opportunity, but at least they did a really good job on the detail. The living room table is missing, but I knew where I was immediately. They even included Henry’s loafers!

(Cheat sheet for idiots: It’s the apartment from Silent Hill 4: The Room)

In celebration of my fancy new promotion, Stephanie (who is the best, BTW) bought me Silent Hill: Downpour. I think I was pretty clear about how much I loved Shattered Memories, so it shouldn’t be too shocking that I was a little wary when the first details for Downpour hit.

The game was being developed for 360 and PS3, which sounded to me like a death knoll for Shattered Memories’ style, which focused almost entirely on exploration and atmosphere. Then came the guns, which meant that combat was back; combat has never been more than “acceptable” in Silent Hill games, and is usually much, much worse. I was immediately awash with fears of the game being produced with a “hey PS3 blood and guns derp derp” mentality.

Fortunately, I couldn’t have been more wrong. I’m only a quarter of the way through the game, so I’m not sure how things are going to roll out, but so far I’m really enjoying it. Downpour actually does feel a lot like Shattered Memories in most ways. The flashlight mechanic is less prominent here because you have to manage weapons as well as illumination, but it’s still an important part of gameplay. The single (playable) Otherworld section I’ve been in was a mix of puzzle solving and running from an undefeatable enemy. Otherworld transitions are unexpected and visually interesting (I do miss the ice though).

Downpour carries on the Silent Hill tradition of shallow, janky combat. The biggest improvement here is the ability to block, which is way overdue. I don’t know, maybe Origins and/or Homecoming allowed your character to block; I haven’t really played either. But yeah, blocking isn’t going to change the whole game, but it does make monster encounters more managable.

The monsters are also apparently affected by the weather. A loading screen tooltip that came up once said they come out in greater numbers and are more aggressive when the rain is really coming down. I haven’t witnessed a heavy rain yet, but I was surprised at how some of them will elect to run away when the rain stops. Monsters located inside always seem to be equally aggressive, but I suppose that makes a certain amount of sense.

The world is an interesting kind of hybrid of open and linear design. Another Silent Hill staple, now that I think of it. The first couple areas do a fairly good job of herding you forward, but give some nice rewards for exploring off the beaten path. Once you actually make it into the town, you’re given a bit more choice in where you want to go. Between locked doors and blocked/crumbled roads, Silent Hill still tries to push you in the direction of the next plot point, but you can run around town pretty freely. Another tooltip that I saw hinted at a subway system that might allow me to get around town faster, which has me wondering exactly how big Silent Hill is this time around.

One of my favourite things about the game so far is that it has side quests. Yeah, honest-to-God side quests in a “survival horror” game. I use quotation marks because survival horror isn’t really a genre in video games anymore. But anyway, side quests! I’ve only done two at this point: one rewarded me with copious amounts of bullets, I don’t think the other had any reward besides the satisfaction of doing a good deed.

The other thing about Downpour that I’m really digging is that it is terrifying. It might have less to do with the game being scary and more to do with the fact that I’m playing it the correct way. I knew nothing about the game before launch aside from what was shown in the very first trailer; I didn’t even know it was released until I haphazardly noticed it on a store shelf. Also, I’ve been playing it alone in the dark. The right atmosphere mixed with not having a clue what’s going to happen next is exhiliarating in the most horrifying way.

Suffice it to say, I am leaning on the radio static (which signals monster presence) more than I ever have before in a Silent Hill game. Somehow though, monsters are still managing to get the drop on me and catch me off-guard.

It’s not as scary now that I’ve learned how most of the monsters act and what the rules of the game are, but those first few hours were something else. The tension remains high because you really never know what’s going to happen next. I’m currently making my way through a library section of a tower, and there’s this… ghost, I guess that keeps randomly pushing stuff over and giggling. It’s nothing new to the horror genre, but it’s spooky as all heck when you’re not expecting it. There was another related event that actually made me jump out of my chair, but the game is still fairly new so I’ll avoid any more spoilers for now.

So Silent Hill: Downpour is pretty great. I’m not sure if I like it more than either of the Silent Hills that star Harry Mason (Silent Hill Play Novel not included), but it’s definitely my favourite SH game otherwise. You done good, Konami. You done good.

There are more than a few vacant cells in Arkham Asylum that have random things painted on the walls. By the time you notice the Riddler’s cell, it’s nothing new. Only, instead of handprints, his cell is marked in footprints? That’s slightly more unsettling and far more unexpected. Props to you, Rocksteady Games, for making even the little details in Batman: Arkham Asylum really awesome. I hope Arkham City has the same level of creativity.

(Did he draw all the question marks with his toes?)

Continuing my trek through the capital wasteland of Fallout 3, I finally reached Rivet City last night. As I’d suspected though, getting there was not just a leisurely stroll along the coast.

I set off from the Brotherhood of Steel’s Citadel to take a bridge over the river. Upon approaching the bridge, I spied a raider chilling in some wreckage. I dispatched her, and just as I was about to ascend the collapse end of the bridge, a huge explosion went off. I had no idea what caused it, but was startled enough to stand still and survey the area for any more raiders that might be trying to explode me. It was lucky that I stopped too, because two more explosions followed shortly after, and they were exactly where I would have been had I kept moving. The area was free of any more attackers, so I wrote it off as ghosts and pressed on.

On the other side of the bridge I found a peddler who tried to rip me off and a small encampment of raiders. I relieved them of their heads and proceeded to loot their base.

Moving farther south along the coast, I came upon the Jefferson Memorial, which was fairly heavily guarded by super mutants. These were the garden variety, and it was here that I learned that my combat shotgun was by far my most effective means of dispatching super mutants. This was a great discovery not only because super mutants take way too long to deal with otherwise, but also because by this point I was hauling around well over 600 shotgun shells.

I went the long way around the memorial, and coming up on the entrance to the aircraft carrier known as Rivet City, I noticed a super mutant outpost across the square. Me and my shotgun cleared the mutants out, looted the place, and were even able to rescue a hostage.

Finally reaching Rivet City, I started exploring the ship and meeting the inhabitants. In the science lab I completed one mission by telling some dopey white-collar that I’d found the corpse of an android he’d been hunting. I also picked up a fourth bobblehead for my collection back in Megaton.

While I was there, I also made the mistake of talking to Dr. Li, which sort of broke the game. There’s an achievement for each quest in the game, and my next story-relevant quest was to go to Galaxy News Radio to find my father. The stop after that would be to visit Dr. Li in Rivet City, and since I skipped the GNR bit, the game wrote off the rest of the quest and didn’t give me the achievement. Load game.

I continued exploring the ship, causing trouble and helping the inhabitants as I went. I broke into many locked rooms and computer terminals, but never stole anything. I made a hefty donation to the church to bolster my good karma, and helped a young couple get married. I bought a bunch of ammo and talked to a few people about their problems, but couldn’t find any ways to resolve a few of the situations. Eventually I met the aunt of the orphaned boy that had originally inspired my trek to Rivet City, and she happily agreed to take him in. 330XP. Nice.

Checking the list of unresolved quests on my Pip-Boy, I noticed that I had agreed to enslave a man named Flak who lived in Rivet City. He was one of the local arms dealers, so I figured it would be best to get him alone in his room to capture him with as little fuss as possible. I broke into his quarters and waited in a dark corner for the duration of a day. He never came in, so I figured it was time to try something new.

I snuck into the Rivet City marketplace, and quietly moved into place behind Flak’s stall. He was lounging on a couch, and I was hidden from everyone’s sight in the shadows. I pulled out my mesmetron, which would put him into a submissive state so that I could get him to willingly put on a slave collar. The mesmetron’s blast just made him aggressive at first, and he shot up his partner before going into the stupor I was waiting for. I made my move and collared him, but apparently the other citizens didn’t like that very much, and as Flak ran off to a life of slavery in Paradise Falls, the rest of the Rivet City dwellers pulled out their weapons and proceeded to ventilate me. Load game.

I figured that my business wasn’t something I’d be able to do in a populated area, so I tried following Flak around until he went up to higher deck where nobody else was present. I zapped him with the mesmetron and he turned violent and shot at me for a bit. After dodging his bullets for long enough, he  became passive and I collared him. He ran off to Paradise Falls again, and I waited a bit, double-checking the area to make sure nobody knew what was going on. I left Rivet City, and the guards posted at the entrance apparently had deduced what I’d done and unloaded into me. Load game.

I decided at that point to give up on Flak until I’d completed all of my business at Rivet City. Once there was nothing left for me in the ship it wouldn’t matter if the inhabitants wanted me dead. I left and pursued a new quest that I’d gotten from a mercenary in Underworld: to find and save the rest of her group who were pinned down on a hotel roof.

I’d already found the hospital that was adjacent to the hotel in my prior travels, so getting there wasn’t an issue. The super mutants surrounding the area didn’t put up much of a fight either. I had to get into the hotel via a makeshift bridge from the second floor of the hospital, and that part was quick enough. a Mr. Handy helped me out for a bit, setting all the super mutants and centaurs that got in my way ablaze. Unfortunately, he floated in the way of one of my shotgun blasts and is now lighting super mutants on fire up in robot heaven.

The Statesman Hotel was far more annoying than it needed to be. I battled my way up six or seven floors (I stopped counting after four), and reached the top after an incredibly draining trek. My ammo reserves were eaten up by dozens of super mutant masters, and if the hospital hadn’t been loaded with stimpaks I’d probably be almost out by now. I might even have to go back and search for more later. My new best friend, the combat shotgun, broke about halfway up. That’s been the worst part of it. A combination of my hunting rifle, sawed-off shotgun, and frag mines/grenades don’t work as efficiently as the combat shotgun does.

I sit at the top of the hotel now, the mercenaries I’ve come to help too weary to fight their way back down. They’ve asked me to find a fission battery that they’d seen on the third floor that they can use to repair the hotel’s elevator. I really have no idea how many floors there are in this place, but I’m not looking forward to working my way back down and then all the way back up. I killed every super mutant I met during my first ascension, so hopefully their numbers stay down when I head back in. I’m considering fast-travelling back to Megaton to get my shotgun repaired and then just starting from the hospital again. I’m not sure if this will respawn the super mutants or if my leaving the area will get the mercs killed, but I suppose that’s why there’s a “load game” option.

Either way, I’d better get a boatload of XP for this one.