Silent Hill: Downpour is the first game to be entirely developed by a different game company or group. Namely Swedish company ‘Valve’. While it is noticeable that this game changed developers, since it’s so different than its predecessors, the change isn’t necessarily a bad thing. I did some research and if I’m correct, Silent Hill: Downpour is even Valve’s second attempt at any game ever. If you ask me, a game company couldn’t have done an early game any better than one like Silent Hill: Downpour. It’s a good game overall. It’s not perfect, which would set the bar really high for their third game, likely for them to under-deliver, and definitely not a terrible game, which could cause the company to go bankrupt in their early days. They played it safe, and delivered a good enjoyable horror game. But I digress. Let’s delve into the world of Silent Hill once… again. I’m already too afraid to push on.

The Graphics

I really like how this game looks. Even though the character models and animations are nothing more than decent, but the environments look great and wonderfully detailed, especially when you’re in the streets of Silent Hill. The fog in the town is less obscuring, and just looks more natural. The occasions when the world switches from the normal world to the Otherworld (the Otherworld is a twisted, hellish world, for the people unfamiliar with Silent Hill) looks unsettling and great, and the town is full of detail. The graphics do have problems though. They’re not entirely clean. The game suffers from quite a lot of minor bugs and glitches, such as hiccups and inconsistencies here and there, and perhaps the most annoying bug, consistent lag on certain parts. Lots of players have advised to install the game on your X360 hard drive, as that would solve the problem, but this doesn’t seem to help. You’re just gonna have to deal with the lag, because it doesn’t seem likely that Valve is going to do anything about this like bringing out a patch. Shame. This isn’t game-breaking though, and this becomes quickly overlooked.

The Sound

This series changed its developer, and with it, its music composer. Where this game’s predecessors had horrifying music which played a huge part in how uncomfortable you felt while playing them, this game’s soundtrack is a lot less scary, and more… ‘just eerie’. There’s no more moaning, shrieking and gear-grinding to be heard in the background (seriously, curse that stuff. It gave me nightmares as a kid). The music even seems to serve to give you a breather at parts, which is pretty much a downer if you think about it. But then you step foot in the actual town. The music played while exploring the town is some of the scariest tracks I’ve heard yet in any video game, and even rival the eeriness of the early Silent Hill games. Furthermore, adding to the fright, you can barely hear your radio static, even when it is turned on. This makes it way less obvious to know there is a monster in your vicinity, about to attack you. More often than not, I was exploring the streets of Silent Hill, and didn’t pay attention to the static my radio was emitting, and just happened to look backwards for a second and saw myself being jumped by a monster. Brrrr!

The Addictiveness

The Silent Hill games always were special. They were so mind-bogglingly scary, that you would often get the tendency to just put down the controller and stop playing. But there was something that always pulled you back in. No matter what the Silent Hill games threw at you, you just HAD to know what the game had in store for you. It was scary as all hell, but nothing stopped you from completing the game and unravelling the mystery. I can’t quite wrap my mind around it as to why the Silent Hill games are so darn addictive, but they are. And Silent Hill: Downpour is no exception. Even though Silent Hill: Downpour is way less scary than, let’s say, Silent Hill 2, it still has enough at its disposal to keep you on your toes and screw with your head. And as I said, the story is as exciting as ever, if a little straightforward. Which I will get into right now.

The Story

You’re Murphy Pendleton, a convict, who’s supposedly falsely accused. One day, you’re sent off to a different, more secure prison. The bus that should deliver you there gets wrecked, and you’re supposedly the only survivor. The story unfolds as you progress through the various stages you play in. It’s written really well. It generally avoids becoming clichéd, and doesn’t leave any holes afterwards. There are pages to be found which tells about Murphy himself and his background. I have to say, I really like Murphy too. I love the Silent Hill series, one reason being that just about every game has a likeable protagonist. But Murphy is probably my favourite protagonist yet. The only problem I personally have is that the story might be written too ‘safely’. The earlier Silent Hill games had really complicated plots, which often contained many plot holes leaving a lot to be fantasized about. It was one of the ways how those games managed to screw with your mind so much, and that just doesn’t happen as well in Silent Hill: Downpour. The plot is just too simple for a Silent Hill game. But other than that, there’s really nothing ‘wrong’ with it.

The Depth

While the plot is less deep than in other Silent Hills, there is a lot more to do. Firstly, you can actually free-roam the town. There are lots of side-quests to complete, which are often really rewarding. One rewards you with a pistol (which is actually powerful in Silent Hill: Downpour), and another causes less monsters to appear on the streets. Furthermore, there are quite a lot Easter Eggs nodding to earlier Silent Hill games, which is always fun. But arguably the best feature is the ability to look over your shoulder to see what’s behind you. This makes the game almost double as creepy than it already is. I already explained at the end of the Sound paragraph what happened to me a couple of times. Anyway, the game is not gigantic, but apart from the basic storyline this game has a lot in store for you.

The Difficulty

Typical Silent Hill, this game has separate difficulty levels for both the action and the game’s puzzles. On both the easiest difficulty levels, monsters probably won’t trouble you very much. The puzzles may still pose as an obstacle to you, but generally they’re less of a challenge than in the original games by focusing less on riddles and more on… well, puzzles. On the hardest difficulty settings, though, the town becomes a force to be reckoned with. There are more monsters around, which take more hits to kill and more difficult to escape from, and the puzzles take a MUCH more clever approach. What’s more, Murphy is a terrible fighter, giving you a substantial disadvantage against the monsters you’ll encounter. This all works to make the game just a little bit more scary, and I love it for that.

At the time of its release, Silent Hill: Downpour was the best horror game in years to me. It was heaps better than the flawed Silent Hill: Homecoming, and Downpour showed that the Silent Hill series was still alive and kickin’. But then it took a roundhouse kick to the face from the recent Silent Hill: Book of Memories.

Pros:

-          Lots of side quests to complete, most of them are rewarding

-          Murphy is the series’ most likable protagonist yet

Cons:

-          Quite a few visual hiccups and inconsistencies

-          The plot, if decently written, is very straightforward and simple