So the other week, I was at a friend's place for a impromptu pool party, which after the pool-ness, we played a game that said friend checked out, called 'Deadly Premonition', a budget title for the Xbox 360. The game is revered as being so bad that's it's almost hilarious, probably capturing some of the more entertaining horror films these days I suppose.
I jest, but I have to admit, while movies like the initial Nightmare on Elm Street and New Nightmare were quite creepy in their own right and did horror particularly well, I'd be lying if I said I didn't enjoy the middle Nightmare on Elm Street Movies; Freddy's dead was particularly entertaining due to the powerglove scene, but I digress.
First things first, Deadly Premonition is by far not a great game. It may not be 'good' or even 'average' as the general score is pretty much around the 4/10 mark. That seems to most come from the poor graphics... oh man, the graphics are god awful. One of the very first shots you see are paper thin textures for tree-leaves. Something you would probably see in the PS1 era, yet here it is on the 360. Pretty much anything environmental takes a graphic blow. Character models fair better, but they're still pretty bad, though the model for the main character, Agent York is not too bad. He at least looks interesting, all things considered, but even with poor graphics, if the animation is good, then the game's aesthetics aren't so bad, right? ...Well, too bad the animations are pretty still too and the lip synching is almost entirely spot on, or godzilla-dubbed quality.
The controls feel a little sluggish, the fighting is annoying at points, and the fact that a steel pipe is more effective than your gun really says something, though I guess since you have infinite ammo anyway, it's more a balance issue. The music also very hit and miss, not really scary, kind of hilarious at times, when it sort of just comes out of no where when a character in introduced and when the music is louder than the people talking. I should hate everything about this game.
And yet, I'm really intrigued by it. Sure, there's the hilarity factor of how bad it really is, yet I can't help but be mesmerized by some of the music, such as the main theme. It's... rather soothing to listening, honestly. But the thing that intrigues me the most is the main character, York, a FBI agent who talks to 'himself', has ridiculously bizarre dreams that he mostly shrugs off, reads fortunes in his morning coffee, and is quite possible the biggest driving hazard to himself and others in the history of car accidents. This guy is such a hardass that not only is his smoking and talking on his cell while driving, but he's also checking database reports on his laptop in his car. The only way he become a bigger hazard is if he decided to start texting while reaching over to deep fry some donuts. Oh, he also has a pretty cool looking scar.
Then, there's the whole 'talking to himself' thing. It's rather interesting to play a character with a possible psyche problem. The fact that he's constantly analyzing a situation and starts talking to 'Zach' a duo-personality, who I think is supposed to be the player as when he asks Zach questions, the player chooses the answer. It's.... kind of interesting. It almost makes me wonder if the crazed, Joker-looking zombies you fight through the prologue are really zombies or just something made up in his mind. Not alot of horror games do that I think. The ones that do include Eternal Darkness, Call of Cthulu, and the Suffering I believe.
Overall, as most people have said while we watched this game, "If this were a dreamcast game, it would probably be considered amazing." Which, who knows? Maybe this game will become like a lost treasure in a way, for one purpose or another. It has its share of problems, but it's not completely unplayable from what I've seen so far... but yea, those are my initial thoughts so far.
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