Silent Hill Downpour

Reviewed By Tristan Tancredi

We here at Web Wombat recently reignited our passion in the Silent Hill franchise with the Silent Hill HD Collection. A re-release of two of the best survival horror games to ever hit the gaming scene.

Fans of the series, myself included, have enjoyed the many releases since those early 2000 PS2 games. The Room and Homecoming although enjoyable, didn't quite reach the massive expectations placed on the series.

It's tricky for a franchise that had so much early success to develop a game that lives up to the hysteria and excitement that Silent Hill produces. Often these games are victims of the franchises own success.

Too often reviewers criticise a game with the expectation that they will be as good as their classical benchmarks. Unfortunately, Silent Hill Downpour is a true victim of this trend.

Let's just say if this game didn't have the "Silent Hill" brand attached to it, we are pretty confident the reviews would be much better right across the board.

With this in mind, we approached Silent Hill Downpour with a clean slate and took all that it had to offer on its own merit.

Playing the role of convict Murphy Pendleton, gamers are thrust into the action at Ryall State Corrections Facility. Initially gamers take care of some "unfinished shower-room business" to brush up on the basic gaming controls.

From here, Murphy is loaded onto a bus to be transferred to Wayside Maximum Security Prison and you guessed correctly, the bus never makes it to the prison. Crashing in the outskirts of Silent Hill, Murphy must find a way through the town of Silent Hill (And put some "issues" to rest).

The locations are all creepy, run down constructions, ranging from The Devils Pit, The Centennial building, a Monastery, a Prison and a few more locations spread intermittedly. Every location is finely detailed to deliver maximum chills, so kudos must go to devlelopers Vatra Games.

The Monastery in particular is a well designed level, incorporating super-creepy CGI sequences, amazingly enjoybale missions and difficult, often stumping puzzles. The developers of Vatra Games weren't afraid to address issues modern day society so readily refuses to acknowledge.

The story is structured in such a way, that a quick play through will rarely uncover all the secrets of the game. There are letters, transcripts and notes scattered throughout the game that offer valuable insight into the narrative and are often by-passed if rushing through locations.

Silent Hill Downpour has a deep and interesting storyline that slowly unravels over time to great effect. Nothing is what it seems at first glance and nothing is known for certain. Just a brilliant script. 

What Downpour gains in story, it loses in combat.

The combat is clunky and the camera angles deliver a queasiness often experienced on high seas. Combine this with monsters that aren't easy to kill and the answer is some frustrating combat.

Yes, you can use anything you can find as a weapon (planks of wood, hammers, frypans, rocks, axes, etc) but these weapons quickly deteriorate and you are left scrambling for another weapon in your close vicinity.

Hitting a Screamer for instance with a plank of wood, and the wood will often deteriorate before the Screamer is actually dead. It's often easier to bypass confrontation entirely. If you run far enough, the monsters rarely chase you, Oh and the more it rains outside, the more aggressive the monsters, so best to duck inside.

Why bother hitting these creatures with objects I hear you ask. Why not shoot them with a double barrelled shotgun? The quick answer, We would if we could. The long answer: Guns and ammo are few and far between in Downpour. We felt it best to save up the ammo for the boss scenes.

A free roaming environment, although restricted in its size, enables the gamer to complete side quests throughout the town of Silent Hill and unlock special items and bonus content.

When not fighting your way through the town of Silent Hill, Murphy Pendleton must avoid "The Void". "The Void" is basically a red thing that chases Murphy through the "Otherworld". We understand, all of this would sound very confusing to a non Silent Hill fanatic.

Throughout Silent Hill Downpour a host of interesting, somewhat strange, characters are encountered. Situations will arise whereby Murphy will have to make a choice (For instance, Save or Kill). Although either choice normally results in the same consequence, a handful of endings available are based upon these choices.

Series composer Akira Yamaoka has been replaced by Daniel Licht yet the soundtrack of Silent Hill Downpour remains pure to the tunes of past games. Setting the scene for some nailbiting, edge of the seat fun, the music of Silent Hill Downpour is synonomous with dark, dreary landscapes and dreaded monsters.

If you play Silent Hill Downpour as a game unto itself not compared to its predeccesors, it is a terribly fun game. Brilliant locations, great puzzles and a great story are slightly tarnsihed by frustrating combat, yet ultimately, Silent Hill Downpour is 10 hours + of a bloody good survival horror game.

Rating: 80%

(Ratings Key/Explanation)

Silent Hill Downpour

Game: Silent Hill Downpour System: PS3 Developer/Co-Developer: Vatra Games Publisher: Konami