As a bit of an apology for nothing being written last week due to Mass Effect 3, a video project, a video shoot, and general laziness. Here are my first impressions on Deadly Premonition, a cult classic game that is horrible from a gameplay standpoint, but is an amazing piece of entertainment.
Deadly Premonition First (~17%) Impressions
Platforms: 360(reviewed), Playstation 3(Japan Only)
Release Date: 17/2/2010
Price I Paid: ~$16
Notice:
I spoil a few things that happen in the first out of 6 episodes, so
only read until you want to buy the game, and if you’re anything like
me, you’ll be hooked
The
title starts and FBI agent named Francis York Morgan, a scared up man
who is the most socially awkward main character that I’ve seen in any
game, nay, any work of entertainment. Let’s begin with the first thing
we learn about him as a person, the fact that this man has some form of
imaginary friend, or dead co-worker’s ghost, or tiny fetus below his
left thigh, I don’t know what it is, but he’s named Zach and I believe
that you are actually controlling him, not Agent York. I say this
because whenever Zach is asked something, you respond, that and he talks
to Zach while he’s driving around the northwestern woods of Greenvale.
But what really kills me is how York talks to Zach about movies from
the 70’s and 80’s.
I am not making this up, this man mentions everything from Xanadu, Attack of the Killer Tomatoes, Superman IV, Tremors, Jaws,
and so much more. It is so unique to see a main character who just
talks about the most random things when he’s not wandering the woods
fighting limboing zombies that bleed purple, and being ambushed by 15
ft. tall bloodhounds who fall from the sky. Believe me when I say that I
could ramble on about how the Pot Lady is among the best minor
characters in the last decade of video games.
The
actual controls in this game feel like slightly looser Tank controls,
or as I call them, Hog controls, turning is awkward, running has a
reverse stamina bar that takes 1-2 minutes to fill up. the main
gameplay consists of shooting zombies or hitting them with random bars
and pipes. What is great about the zombies is that they are wearing
facepaint that looks just like the Joker’s from The Dark Night,
and that they either fade in before you or just stumble into you while
you are shooting them in the face 5 times with your handgun of no finite
ammo.
There
are also hunger and tiredness meters that are regained by eating unripe
tomatoes and canned pickles sleeping in a hospital filled with red
vines and zombies with pipes who are literally begging to die. What
really does astound me is how the game is designed around you
controlling like a combination of meat and metal, and manages to be
creepy because of that. Even though I got an upgrade to an infinite
SMG, I still was a bit disturbed of these strange beings that only exist
in York’s head, or at least I think.
But
when you are not shooting zombies in the face, you are going around,
racing, collecting trading cards, and doing side quests by driving
around in your car that can not only be damaged, but has a gas meter.
Now if that sentence made you cock your head, then I’m doing my job,
because there is nothing more head scratching than adding in racing
mini-games in a Survival Horror title. But the trading cards, oh the
trading cards, there are about 65 of these things, but the ideas ran out
fast, there are only about 25 NPCs that you meet, so of course they
need to resort to using sponges and bags of chips are trading card
characters. The inclusion of a gas meter really does help add to the
survival horror idea if you are out during a rainy night and the giant
dogs are ready to eat your face and your car only has 1 hit point
remaining, it’s the kind of stuff that makes games like Skyrim and Minecraft
more than art and turns them into experiences. I can barely contain
myself while vigorously typing my thoughts about this astounding title.
It
only occurred to me that this game does have a plot and is more than
just a guy goes to the woods to find a small town to do things in, Agent
York is sent to investigate the murder of a young woman named Anna, who
managed to traumatize two young children who enter York into every new
chapter of the game and sometimes give him cookies, none of this is
being made up! I would describe the process of investigation half
pissing off Burt Reynolds and the cop from Silent Hill 1 by
leaving them in the middle of nowhere and then talking to them at my
destination, only to be scolded to going in without them and checking
in, by checking in, it is amazing!The other half is looking at sparkly
red things that cause blurry images to appear in York’s head and somehow
allow him to learn how a crime was committed, it’s like L.A. Noire for dummies mixed with those hidden glyphs of naked people in Assassin’s Creed II.
One
thing that I was certainly not expecting in this game was an amazing
cast of secondary characters. Not to say that they’re very unique or
three dimensional, but their stereotypes are done so well and somehow
manage to be engaging, despite the fact that you could sum up every
character in one or two sentences. There’s a rock and roll guy who owns
a Milk store that has low resolution boxes of Trix cereal, and a wife
who gives you a discount if you do a Pokemon like block puzzle. There
is a black doctor named Ushah, who wants a saltier bag of potato chips.
There are hidden maps to challenge rooms that give you rocket
launchers! Zounds, I cannot write enough about how amazing this game
is.
Before
I enter a coma of drool and talking about coffee and a dog that steal
bones that York kept in his surprisingly deep pockets, let’s talk about
the audio visual aspects of this game. The first thing the game shows
you is a pine tree that is an octagon with 4 columns of 2D leaves,
needless to say, the game can look like crap some times, but the game
never draws attention to it, and the character models are far better
looking than the unexplorable background.
Characters
look uninspired, yet have an indescribable draw towards them, York’s
face is the only one give much attention, it is at the point where a
bead can grow if you don’t shave. Which only has the consequence of
losing money that you would get by shaving. Yes, you are paid for
shaving, changing clothes, and even saving the game, although money does
not have much purpose once I had and infinite SMG, with the exception
of the fishing mini-game... You heard me right, a fishing mini-game in a
“Survival Horror” game. The animations are very minimalistic, and
areas are not very well joined, but it actually feels like I’m
traversing a small mountain town.
From
the few songs provided and the manner that they are used are a prime
example, happy music is far too happy for this game, and most others,
and it gets in your head and before you know it, you’re whistling along.
From the cheesy sounding detective music whenever York is being an
intellectual, to the eerie sounding LaLas in one track, which brings the
atmosphere and tone back to a serious one faster than York can murmur
something about how he needs his coffee. The voice acting sounds like
something out of a B-movie, but it’s presentation makes most cutscenes
very memorable, something that I cannot say bout 95% of other titles,
from examining corpses, to the two screen vision that you have while a
killer is chasing York, it is something that only a handful of titles
can accomplish.
There is one thing that I think that Deadly Premonition has more of than any other game that I can think of besides The World Ends With You and Earthbound,
charm. I think that charm may be among the most important aspects of
any entertainment medium, and anyone who can take what looks like a very
poorly made product, and turn it into something that kept a smile on my
face for 14 hours is not only good in terms of execution, it’s
borderline genius.
If
you have a 360, you can get the game for $20 or less, but if you have a
PS3, you can either import the Japanese version, or wait until the
Director’s Cut is released. Give it 2-3 hours and you’ll be waist deep
in a liquid that is the physical representation of sheer bliss. Or at
least as long as you pay attention to the QTEs thrown at you by a less
subtle Pyramid-Head like foe, which include the bloody shoulder buttons
and require control stick movements that you will end up using your palm
for.
