Customer Reviews

Deadly Premonition

5 star:		(70)
4 star:		(26)
3 star:		(11)
2 star:		(6)
1 star:		(17)

 

 

Deadly Premonition is obviously not a big budget title, and as such it cant compete with other games in terms of graphics or polish. If you give the title a chance however, you are likely to find that its quirky characters and story will engage your attention in a way that other games with their multi-million dollar budgets simply cannot. With that much money on the line, no mainstream studio would ever greenlight a project as weird as this game.

The graphics are far from terrible, and in a way they have a certain charm that requires you to use your imagination to fill in the blanks. Deadly Premonition reminds me of the sort of bizarre japanese games that were de rigueur on the Dreamcast, games like Illbleed, Maken X, and D2. The investigation is over 20 hours long and there is an abundance to see and do in the town of Greenvale. Gamers with an open mind who would like to see something different, or maybe just to revisit an earlier era of far-out gaming that is now all but dead, should not hesitate to give Deadly Premonition a shot.

Deadly Premonition

When I first saw trailers for Deadly Premonition, I was quite intrigued (I love adventure and survival horror games)-so I was going to get this game regardless price or quality (there are so few games in those genres these days that it's hard to get my fix)... and when I heard that it was going to be 20 bucks, I got even more excited (most budget games these days cost 40... which is 20 bucks more than what a budget game cost one console generation ago). I have to say, I've been very pleasantly surprised with this game.

Graphically, it's no showboat, that's for sure, but it's competent--especially for the price. The character models look like high-end original XBOX models, but the environments, especially texture-wise, are rather lacking. I had seen the previews and the price tag, so I wasn't going in expecting Crysis; but if you're a graphics whore, you will be quite disappointed. Regardless of the low polygon count and texture resolutions, I really liked the game's atmosphere--the environments are intriguing and surreal which really helps maintain the game's mood.

The story is captivating and very well done with a competent cast, especially for a budget title, to help keep you engaged for the 20+ hour campaign. It's an odd blend of surreal horror and quirky humor that manages to work well together. It's quite unlike anything you'll experience in a big budget title... the game takes a lot of risks, which is probably why it ended up being a budget title (ie. if they produced the game with a larger budget, if it flopped, the loss would have been much greater--so, they managed to take risks with a low budget to see if it was a formula that worked).

The gameplay may feel a bit dated, but I grew up on games like Silent Hill and Resident Evil and I honestly think it works well for a horror game because it adds a layer of intensity instead of making your character an indestructible superhuman space marine. You're placed in a free roaming town with plenty of places to explore and things to do... like more things to do than a lot of 60 dollar games these days. The vehicle segments can be a chore because they handle like bricks on square wheels, so that's a bit disappointing, but not an entirely game-breaking experience because they're not really a huge part of the game. Some really creative things were done with the time cycle and character management--your character will grow a beard as time progresses, so you can shave that to keep your image more appealing to those around you... if you don't change your clothes regularly, flies will gather around you... stuff like that. It's quite fascinating and is something you don't normally see in games.

The sound design would be my biggest complaint... it's like watching an old movie where the music is so loud and the dialogue is so quiet that it's almost hard to pay attention to what's going on. I turned the bgm music down to 30 and have the voices volume at 100% and it still had issues, so I put on subtitles. The music can also be a buzz kill with only a few songs that cycle during character interactions and key plot points... some of them feel really out of place (there's one happy little diddy with whistling that is just odd to hear when you're investigating a murder... and it WILL get stuck in your head).

If you can muscle through some torturous tunes, the game is really a treat. It has an engaging story with a lot of charm of its own that you won't find in most mainstream games, a lengthy campaign, and a very affordable price. It may not be a looker, but even had this game been released with the standard $40 budget price, it would have been well worth the cash--so, $20 is quite the steal.

Deadly Premonition has been met with a number of bad reviews. It occurs to me that they seem to follow a similar thread. Allow me to demonstrate the general consensus among those who so vociferously detest this product: "THIS GAME IS AWFUL BECAUSE OF THE GRAPHICS, AND SINCE THE GRAPHICS ARE AWFUL, IT MUST THEREFORE BE ASSUMED THAT THIS GAME IS AWFUL. TOTALLY WEAK GRAPHICS ARE MUTUALLY EXCLUSIVE TO A GREAT GAMING EXPERIENCE. ONE STAR! ALSO, I SHOULD NOTE THAT I AM NOT RATING THIS GAME FOR THE GAME ITSELF, BECAUSE I HAVE NOT PLAYED IT."

I, however, have played this game. A lot, in fact. I sunk around 50+ hours into the whole experience and found the game to be engrossing and easily worth the twenty dollar asking price. So how could I be so wrong, having played the game and all? Because I didn't know the truth. The ineffable yet utterly obvious fact: good video games didn't exist prior to Modern Warfare 2. There was no such thing as a good game for the NES or Dreamcast. There was no system seller title for your Nintendo 64 or Playstation. Forget what you thought you knew about Perfect Dark or Symphony of the Night or any of those games you thought were "good." Childish thoughts, those. Those games could not be good. Have you seen the graphics? They're SO bad, guys!

If you are on the fence, please disregard the negative reviews for this title, as they are incredibly redundant and almost totally useless. The drawbacks to this title are pretty notable once you crack it open, so there is little or no point to spend so much time hammering them (never mind making them the entire focus of your ire). And yes, some may consider them core elements of what essentially makes a video game. Graphics are not "next gen." Controls take some getting used to. Translation sucks sometimes. Audio is a little out of whack. Got it? Good. The difference between Deadly Premonition and so many other games with similar problems is that it manages to excel past so many of its peers on other levels to a point where it more than makes up for its problems. I personally assure you that, despite these shortcomings, the flaws are not egregious enough offenses to kill what is a very unique, if unpolished, gaming experience. Deadly Premonition is not a game that needs to look great to win favor, because its beauty comes from the story, which is an incredibly rare thing for the format.

I find that the problems so many people have with this game are born from being duped into believing that a game's primary objectives are looking as slick as possible and providing a quick-moving, kill-happy multiplayer component that will provide plenty of loud explosions to scream over in order to call some kid in Tulsa something vaguely homophobic or racist. But the real goal of video games is, and has always been, having fun. And Deadly Premonition is a lot of fun. It isn't strong as far as graphics are concerned, to be sure. However, for anyone who has ever enjoyed a title on an older-gen console and would find themselves drawn back to it for the game and not the look, this isn't an issue. Portions of it drag, and the combat, particularly with the boss fights, can become redundant and stale. The complaint about controls is invalid, particularly with those who enjoyed the earlier games of the Resident Evil/Silent Hill ilk. The character controls like a tank, but that has never been an issue when one considers how great, say, Silent Hill 2 is. We have become so concerned with games being bigger, faster, stronger that people tend to disregard things that make games fun. Mediocre graphics, somewhat frustrating combat, and tank controls did not hinder any of those early survival-horror classics from becoming just that. And my feeling is that this same distinction will befall Deadly Premonition with time: a classic. Once you settle in and get familiar with Greenvale and its inhabitants, it's a ride worth taking. And that's a big turn off for a lot of potential players. The fun is not in endlessly playable and thoroughly mindless slaughter, or marveling at how pretty it looks. Today's gamer, for the most part, is a pay me up front type. They generally want bang-bang action and they want it fast. Deadly Premonition is a slow burn. It takes its time to tell the story, because that is what is at its core. The fun is in the investment in the town and the characters who occupy it. It's feeling a connection to what you are playing, and feeling that you are a part of it, rather than a removed entity mindlessly pressing buttons. Deadly Premonition, more so than any other game I've ever played, sucks you in and completely envelops you in the world it creates. And while it may deter some gamers with shorter attention spans, it will inevitably pay dividends for those who have a mind to stick with it.

This is because Deadly Premonition takes full advantage of the shift in video games that places greater emphasis on storytelling. The story to be had here is disarmingly interesting, and it is amplified by the wide assortment of characters, each quirkier and more Lynchian than the last. From the gas station attendant who speaks almost exclusively to hundred dollar bills to the Pot Lady (directly influenced by Twin Peaks' Log Lady), each character is unique, regardless of how integral they are to the story. No character is more engaging than Agent Francis York Morgan, who succeeds in being one of the richest characters in video games. While a big point of contention for many has been, of all things, the slowness of driving and getting around in the early going (quick aside: boo hoo), I never felt it was an issue. Reason being, Deadly Premonition provides a character in Morgan who, rather than simply getting from point A to point B, gives the player something to chew on while they do so. The banter between York and Zach, who is essentially the player to a point, is endlessly entertaining, whether it is about the case and the characters involved or about a shared fondness of punk rock and B horror movies. This game doesn't simply use dialogue to advance the plot, nor does it choose to conveniently dump background information into the player's lap in a nicely bundled expository package. It gives the player bits of information, however arbitrary or tangential or bizarre they may seem at the time, that build over the course of the game to form what, for my money, is the strongest ensemble of characters ever put forth in a video game.

And it is because of this investment and trust in the characters from the creators that the story succeeds. Because of this strength, every twist, every death, is felt by the player. The game's conclusion is arguably one of the most effective of its kind because of that relationship with the characters. At the end, there is a choice that must be made. And there is one option that must be taken to advance the game. But it is a choice that I did not want to make, and I tried every other option available before the realization that this was the only way to go. This is entirely to the credit of the story and characters, as over time they become more than simple NPCs and filler. Deadly Premonition is a game that has substantial weight to it, and in that category, it stands without rival.

The argument that this game could have been great or fun were it that it came out on a console a generation ago is absurd, because the last time I checked, a good game is a good game. Bottom line. Were we to play revisionist history, and if Deadly Premonition had come out five or six years ago, it would have been hailed as a flawed but beautiful gem and would have set the bar for developers looking to translate a story to the medium. For it to have been released in 2010 should not effect the perception of what this game manages to do with what it has at its disposal. Arguing this end is the equivalent of suggesting that films of yesteryear are inferior due to the use of practical effects when compared to the application of CGI today. If a film utilizes amazing visuals but fails to be a good movie, it's a pretty looking mess. And so many games today manage to be pretty looking time wasters, which is fine if that's all they strive to be. Junk food is always nice. Deadly Premonition is like a film that is budgeted an eighth of what Michael Bay spends blowing things up on screen. A film whose producers knew that there was no point trying to compete with the glossy sheen of bigger productions and poured its money into screenwriters and casting. And from this effort, they pull something that doesn't look as nice and may have a hiccup here and there, but manages to tell a bolder and more captivating story. It won't see the big box office returns and it won't get immediate recognition, but it will stand the test of time while other films become statistical footnotes that are wiped away by reboots, remakes, and sequels. Deadly Premonition, for all intents and purposes, is a pretty remarkable gaming experience. If you enjoy video games, you are doing yourself a disservice by missing out on it.

I actually waited to write this review until I had beaten the game, which occurred at right about the 24 hour marker. (To put that in perspective I have played this game 21 hours more than Final Fantasy XIII.) All I can say is "WOW!" I am really thoroughly impressed by this little title. This game won't impress everyone that much is evident but if you're a more sophisticated/older gamer, someone who enjoys a unique experience or just a person enjoys a good Detective/Horror story I would recommend this title to you without hesitation.
For some reason this game clicks with me very strongly and a lot of people have said 'it's so bad it's good,' or 'I laughed through it lolz' and I have to disagree. There is a good healthy and might I add a refreshing dose of humor for about the first half of the game. Then it shifts into a much more serious tone and managed to draw me in even more than I thought. This transition happened so smoothly that I actually ended up caring about how the story was progressing. Thanks to this little technique of 'character building' I was actually riveted to my seat. I kept pressing on just to see what was going to happen next. So here we go, here's the rumors and the truth.

"The graphics suck!" - Well I still play Atari, NES, SNES, DOS and PS1 games. I had no problem overlooking the fact that these were PS2 era graphics. If anything I think it added a bit. It lets your imagination fill in where the graphics engine leaves off. (Trust me your mind can fill in more texels-per-second than any computer ever will.) As far as I can tell 'poor graphics' hasn't effected Silent Hill 1 at all. So why should this be a problem now?

"The controls are clunky!" - The controls do take some getting used to, and I did find driving to be a little cumbersome. With that being said though the game never asks you to do something that you can't.

"The story is stupid and filled with awful one-liners" - I actually found the voice acting to be very well done, and the dialog 99% of the time was spot on for the situation. The story is really more akin to a Stephen King novel even right down to the classic "Stephen King Ending." e.g. You don't know whether to be happy or sad. I'm still up in the air about that one myself.

This game does shine in other areas such as game play and creativity. Over all the experience is something that I will never forget. Think of it as a mash up of Metal Gear Solid attention to details in a Grand Theft Auto free roam environment with Silent Hill like atmospheric sequences, Resident Evil like controls and a Clock Tower like mystery and events. Truly they have taken a little something from all the pertinent genre leaders and made it their own. The huge amount of things for you to do, plus the different and varied ways that the designers break levels and actions up keeps this game from ever getting stale. You can tell that the designers, directors and testers were very proud of this game and put a lot of love and effort into it and it does show. This game was never a chore to play. It was simply unencumbered fun. Side quests that mean something or give you an actual valuable item. Great cast of characters and personalities, and so much more. This has worked it's way to a very prominent place on my very short favorite games list. I just wish more game publishers and studios would pay attention to why this game works so well.

F.Y.I. I'm told this game was heavily influenced by the TV series Twin Peaks. I've never seen the show but I think I will now, and if you've already seen it I would seriously think about getting this title. I've been told by fans of Twin Peaks, that it's a lot like playing the series.

I could go on for at least another 10 pages on all the good things this game does spot on but I won't. All-in-all an excellent game, the way games should be made.

Let me open up by saying I'm apprehensive when a game gets a "2" anywhere. Whether it is a scale system of up to 10 or 5 "2" is never a good mark. Yet after playing Deadly premonition it is my hypothesis that the IGN critic rating this game did not actually play it. You see IGN is known for their love affair of free roaming sand box games such as the popular GTA series. Such games come with their own bundle of frustrations and frankly I don't see how Deadly premonition is more "guilty" of those shortcomings than Rock Star's chrome plated champion.

The first issue to cover is this IS a budget title. The people who made it were "small time" independent developers. No, you shouldn't expect Deadly premonition to look spectacular and though the game mechanics are passable they are not revolutionary. (Than again I felt the same way about GTA, aka the driving and gun fighting were "just okay" but nothing to write home about.)

Unlike GTA you're the good guy this time around. Agent York is coming to Green Vale to solve a murder mystery and apparently the rural hamlet is also "cursed". Deadly Premonition is serious enough to want to tell a good suspenseful yarn but not so full of itself it excludes cheesy satire & humor. If you love to laugh it is a decent enough reason to pick up this game! From the very beginning York is a few fries short of a happy meal. He discusses cartoons, comic books, and movie trivia with his faceless partner Zach. We can make many assumptions. Zach could be a ghost from a deceased family member, he could be representative of the player, or he might be a multiple personality in an ingenious yet unstable mind. Regardless the actual origin no game has EVER opened up with such an odd & colorful protagonist.

In itself the concept of a free roaming survival horror game is quite original. Most games of this ilk hurry us along. Whether we're stranded on a hostile spaceship or in a city infested with zombies there are never many people to talk to and any semblance of "normal life" is restrained to notes, descriptions, and diaries the protagonist finds strewn about. For example in Silent Hill you may read a computer entry from "Joe the water sanitation guy" who fought a giant sewer slug but it's not as if you get to sit down and have a cup of coffee with him.

Greenvale by comparison is not "abandoned". People drive to work, go to the diner, get into arguments, and try their best to raise their kids. While Agent York can collect enough evidence to move events onto the next chapter in the investigation there is never any rush to do so and he can visit anyone at his leisure. When not tracking down the raincoat killer or fighting ghost zombies of the damned in the town's "shadow dimension" York buys new cars from a grizzled Vietnam veteran, peeps into people's houses to observe their routines, changes clothes, shaves, eats, throws darts in the bar, and literally goes fishing for items.

You quickly discover York is not the only eccentric person in dodge. Sigourney is a crazy old woman that carries around a pot in the pursuit to keep it warm. George is a stoic Sheriff with a troubled past which left scars on his back. Emily Wyatt is snug in her role as the "kind and courageous deputy officer tom boy" all us geeks can fawn over. A Californian rocker store clerk has twin sons holding an important secret. Nick is great at cooking yet abrasive when it comes to socializing. There is also Diane, a seductive rich art gallery owner known for her promiscuous habits and odd late night meetings. Keep into perspective these are only a few of Greenvale's citizens. This isn't akin to the 5 character "skeleton crew" found in games akin to the Silent-Hill series. The end result makes you feel as if you're in a "real place" instead of a Hollywood set piece.

Along with York's health eating and sleeping effect his "hunger" and "awareness" meters. If you don't take care of York beyond throwing an occasional health kit at him he will suffer for it. York's "hygiene" is important as well. Let him go long enough without a suit change or shave flies will buzz around his scraggly beard! If you want to play as a hobo FBI agent your wish has been granted!

Combat in Deadly premonition reminded me of Resident Evil 4. Pull out York's gun and things immediately are seen from over his shoulder and he even has a stereotypical "laser light" and red cross hair targeting icon. While shooting York cannot run but for any of you that enjoy this genre it is not too much of a detraction. In addition York can do a quick 180 spin, push objects out of the way, and smash crates and zombie ghost skulls either with his bullets or close range melee weapons he finds along the way. Certainly he is no Kung Fu master when it comes to swinging a golf club or shovel but he still gets the job done!

I was even more impressed when this low production value gem had "chase & hide" sequences. These occur when the raincoat killer pursues the hero and he has to hide in closets, hold his breath, sprint to a safer check point, or dodge axe blows through real time events so as not to end up the next gruesome victim. Most horror games only give us the choice to fight or only give us the option of evasion so it's great to finally have a combination of both of them.

Driving isn't hard. While you have it in your power to light up your turn signals, switch on sirens, and employ the windshield wipers none of those tasks are necessary to make it from point A to point B. The only annoying occurrence is running out of fuel or getting damaged beyond repair when in the middle of nowhere. Easy solution? Carry flares with you at all times. When one of those puppies lights up in the sky another patrol car will be sent to you free of charge. Luckily you can also switch the automobile camera from 1st person to 3rd person if you have a personal preference. Having a vehicle "cleaned" or "refueled" at the gas station will keep it at top performance. Remembering these tips will save you a lot of grief!

The inventory screen of Deadly Premonition is the weirdest piece of interactive game art I've ever seen. It looks like a surreal office with a cracked wall leading to outside. Mounted over a fireplace is a moving deer head. From this window in York's mental attic players can change out weapons, view the town map, look at clues, and view collected trading cards . Most designers would have made this a boring and drab task grid of monotony so the extra creativity is something that should be appreciated!

It perplexes me this game got low reviews. It wasn't egotistically puffing itself up to seem better than it actually was. The people behind it were generous to offer it for a mere $20.00. If that were not enough Deadly Premonition has a fairly large sandbox setting. Unlike its' more linear action driven survival horror siblings this beast cannot be blazed through in only a few nights.


My verdict: A

I purchased this thinking that perhaps it was the 360's answer to Heavy Rain. After playing now for about 3 days, I would have to say that it really isn't. This really is not a complex morality/decision making game, it is straight up survival horror with an emphasis on story more than shooting etc.

Controls take some getting used to, they went with the deliberately slow and methodical feel like Resident Evil 5, no running and gunning here. That is OK, I understand that it helps create the atmosphere, but the controls are choppy and the camera is not very cooperative, but still you can overcome it....it is only a $20 title, what where you expecting? The graphics are generally ok, not next gen for sure...compare to a ps2 title. That is ok too....its a $20 title. The story is good...sometimes very chilling and engrossing, other times very Japanese cheesy and falls flat. It is OK though, it is a $20 title and the story you get is well worth the money. The battle sequences are just OK, there are some unexpected QTE's which actually will lead you to death on more than one occasion. You can save only at 'telephone' locations, so sometimes when you die there is some replaying...not too much, but enough to get annoying.....but hey, its a $20 game. There are some normal survival horror puzzles, you know-- pushing crates, figuring out patterns and the like, nothing new, but kinda fun....especially for a $20 title. There are things to collect, infinite respawning zombies, a decent story, and most of all...only $20.

Releasing this game at the $20 price point certainly allows it some leeway when trying to be critical. NO, this game is not a masterpiece....it sometimes feels a little silly calling it 'good'...it truly is just OK. What I like is the idea to release a sub-blockbuster game at a sub-blockbuster price. Honestly even releasing this for $49.99 would send that message, and it might have still been worth it. I hope people give this game a shot, and hopefully other publishers will see its success and consider the idea...not likely I know.

I should probably clarify. Heavy Rain is a great experience. It has great graphics, voice-acting and Story-telling but controls so uneven (and awkward) I had a hard time calling it a video-GAME. Deadly Premonition has PS2 level graphics, believable voice-acting, a great odd-ball story and so much variety in gameplay I have no problem calling it a video game. In fact in-spite it's many short comings (which I'll mention later) it has more the feel of the old point-and-click adventure games than Heavy Rain.

The story of Deadly Premonition takes place in a small american town where a local girl has been murdered brutally and you're an FBI agent called in to catch the killer. The characters of this game all have oddball quirks which will remind most people of Twin Peaks (with a little SUDA 51 thrown in). You're main character talks to an imaginary friend named 'Zach' and sees messages in his coffee. The oddball charm of this game in my opinion is what keeps alot of the more unpleasant aspects of the gameplay tolerable.

The game splits between sand-box style exploring (more Yakuza than GTA), driving, shooting (ALA Resident Evil 4), and adventure game style. Throw in side quests for cash (though everything you do seems to give you $$$), clothes customization, eating, sleeping, shaving, and card collecting and you have the most dynamic game released for a console. Unfortunately the controls of this game are mediocre at best though were never frustrating enough to make me stop playing.

Also this game is long. I think my first play-through took me about thirty hours and I didn't do alot of the side quest missions.

The sound and graphics of this game will be deal-breakers for alot of people:

-The background sounds (office noise, woodland creatures, footsteps etc) and voice-acting are actually very well done. The more direct sounds are okay until you realize that every door opens with the same noise (no difference between metal and wood) and the music keeps looping the same four songs. Also the sound keeps changing volume for some reason.

-The Graphic animation in the game (especially with shadows) is very well done but the textures look very much like PS2 graphics (and even worse the outdoors almost look PSONE).

What's sad is just with a bit more polish this game would've been an all and out winner: smooth out the controls (especially driving and combat), re-edit the sound and music, hell take an extra year and buff-up the graphics. I'd actually pay $60 for a game like this.

Even with my list of complaints I really enjoyed my play through Deadly Premonition (and am still going back to it). It's not perfect (far from it) but it's dynamic gameplay and oddball charm will keep the right person entertained almost more so than the latest gameplay releases. The $20 price tag doesn't hurt either.

Deadly Premonition: Fun Budget Open World Exploration

Here's what's great about Deadly Premonition for the Xbox 360, released February 2010 for a budget price.

1. If you're a fan of Sega's life-simulation games like Shenmue, with a focus on patient exploration, then this game is a close match in many ways: From eating/getting hungry, collecting, buying stuff, shaving, sleeping, changing clothes to exploration of an entire rural town including interiors complete with vending machines, a grocery store, bars, a hospital, a large hotel, to expansive outdoor locations, rural highways, and more.

2. A day/night cycle with a very large world to explore. How big? It takes a car or van to really get anywhere, but you're free to walk on foot, though it may take you an hour or two to get from one end of the map to the other. The day/night cycle is on par with the speed of Dead Rising's, in that it's closer to real time. There's times to be at a location, but you can let that time go by and ignore the missions and go back the next day. From 12 to 6 AM, the town turns evil, but you can sleep through it.

3. Very nice looking interiors with some nice details and graphics. I'll discuss the exteriors later... The character models are very basic but have decent expressions. Some of the female characters are attractive.

4. Nice 3rd person behind the back view of your character indoors, which zooms out to a GTA medium view when outside, but can be zoomed in with a melee weapon like a knife while walking, though when you equip the gun (unlimited ammo on easy mode), you stand stationary like in Dead Rising 1. The camera only rarely switches to a RE 2 view, where you're steering the character from a fixed camera view, but mostly when using stairs. Otherwise, 99% of the game is behind the back view, which brings you up close to the details. You can zoom in unequipped as well, getting a nice view of the food and character faces.

5. Useable controls on foot, similar in feel to Resident Evil. The left stick controls left/right/forward/backward. The right stick is almost useless, but controls the camera so if you want to look left while walking/running, you can. You can walk, speed walk or run. Running requires holding the run button, and has a generous meter for stamina. You can crouch, but a meter determines how long, as it's main focus is to hold your breath to avoid zombies. No jumping, but action zones for climbing stuff. Guns are nice, including handgun, machine gun, shotgun... Fun melee weapons such as crowbars, rusty metal bars, knives, etc.

6. Interesting storyline and gameplay no doubt inspired by Resident Evil, Silent Hill, and more.

7. Vehicles anytime you want. What's truly innovative is the use of a generous fuel tank (drive for about 30 or more minutes before it gets near empty, ability to refuel at a gas station). The fuel meter requires careful planning, though if you buy a flare, and your car stops dead out of gas, light the flare and instantly get a new vehicle delivered to your location. Damage meter too, which is repaired with a carwash. So far, a police car and SUV are available to drive. Best of all, there's 3 camera views including an interior dash view, a close behind the rear view and a distant 3rd person car view.

8. Some nice options to adjust to your play style. Creepy atmosphere at times too. And the dialog between the hero and yourself is fun, with plenty of real world facts about popular movies like Attack of the Killer Tomatoes, Jaws, Remo Williams, Tremors, etc. I really enjoy this feature while driving a lot. Respect to the creators.

Here's what's Bad or not so good about Deadly Premonition:

1. Very slow, deliberate pacing. If you have plenty of patience, this won't be an issue, but even buying goods takes too long as you wait for the menu's to move along. Dialog boxes, opening doors, waiting for people to talk, all take longer than necessary.

2. Vehicle controls are too sensitive and sloppy, on par with Big Game Hunter's ATV's and Trucks, so if you can handle that, you'll be fine.

3. Exterior graphics straight out of a poor generation one PS2 game, not kidding at all. The resolution is blurry, lo-res and not anti-aliased, so you'll see every pixel twitch in the distance. Bland, flat looking textures overall, this is the game's biggest flaw in my opinion. The interiors looks great compared to outdoors. I'd guess this was first developed with PS2 in mind, but delays held it till the 360. Again, the indoors are miles better. Outside, quite ugly to play through. Draw distance is decent.

4. Repetitive enemies. If you don't mind blasting the same zombies whenever they show up, this won't be an issue. Eventually, things change up as you advance.

5. Can't think of much else thankfully. Other than the "living, breathing world" barely has anyone in it. Traffic is sparse, pedestrians almost non existent but for the main characters, most of whom are indoors. The fishing is automated but for button mashing. You can't even aim or determine when to draw in your line. Terrible.

Overall, you'll have to slog through the first half hour, but once through the mandatory, linear prologue, you're free to explore the giant open town with miles and miles of open, rural country roads. It's not a bad game, the voice acting is tolerable, characters mildly interesting, the story is mysterious, though I do wish the pacing was faster. I love the open world freedom and day/night cycle, and the interiors are a real treat with some great every day locations like deli's, bars, hotels, houses and more. If you like to explore, Deadly Premonition delivers, though admittedly, I can think of quite a few better looking open map games for the 360.

Ratings out of 10 being the best.
Graphics: Indoors: 8, outdoors: 4. Overall, 6
Controls: On Foot: 7, In-Vehicle: 4, overall, 5.5
Fun Factor: Exploration: 8, Pacing: 6. Overall 7.
Sound and Music: 6.
Voices: 6.
Story: 7.
Options: 8
Style: 8, very unique and quirky. Some nice touches in dialog and character.
Overall Game: I'd give it a "Fair", 6.5 out of 10. And for a budget title, I'll round it up to a 7/10. I like it, but there's room for improvement. The outdoor graphics really hurt it a lot. Considering the price, 6.5 is a good thing, and it was probably made by a very small team, if not one person, so much credit for such a unique game being released for the 360.

If you've played and enjoyed offbeat Japanese horror games such as Siren, Kuon and Rule of Rose, you're in for a treat with Deadly Premonition. I bought this not expecting much, and ended up pleasantly surprised. In what's clearly an homage to "Twin Peaks", you play as an FBI agent named York, sent to investigate the murder of a young girl in a remote Oregon town.

The story is episodic, with a number of fixed tasks you need to complete to advance the plot, but the open world allows for free roaming and exploration a la Grand Theft Auto or Oblivion. Gameplay alternates between investigative segments, in which York must drive somewhere to investigate a crime scene or talk to witnesses or suspects, and more traditional survival horror areas where he's attacked by zombie-like apparitions and must shoot or fight his way through. In addition to the standard health meter, York also needs to manage his hunger and sleep. The game passes mostly in real-time, so this never becomes annoying or distracts from the story elements. You can also have York smoke a cigarette to advance time more quickly, if you don't want to wait for the right time to talk to someone. Most of the time you're guided along so you won't get totally lost on what you need to do, but it never feels like hand-holding.

I had a lot of trouble getting used to the driving segments. The vehicle controls always felt hypersensitive, and a simple tap of the analog stick would send me swerving into the opposite lane. It's also frustrating to figure out where you need to go until you learn the town. There are markers that count down the distance to your destination, but because you can only zoom the map out so far, I had trouble determining which long, winding forest roads I needed to take to get there. Also it's frustrating to be running low on gas early in the game, but the gas station isn't open yet. The driving segments can take several minutes and are mostly uneventful, but the conversations between York and the other officers help keep things from getting dull and provide some characterization.

When you're on foot, the game controls pretty well most of the time, borrowing Resident Evil 4's behind-the-shoulder perspective. In a few spots the camera switches to a fixed perspective, and then the game takes on the clunky tank-like controls from the earlier Resident Evil games. I do wish I could reload a weapon while simultaneously backing away, and it always seems a bit strange to have to make eight headshots to kill an enemy when a metal pipe only takes two good whacks. But you do have unlimited ammo whereas the melee weapons break quickly, so I suppose it's a reasonable trade-off.

The game is chock-full of endearing strangeness. Agent York is a quirky and likeable character who loves 1980s films and constantly has one-sided philosophical conversations with an invisible "partner" named Zach, who may or may not be you the player (reminiscent of Twin Peaks' Agent Cooper and his "Diane"). None of the other characters ever react to him doing this. York can choose to shave or let his beard grow, and to change clothes or wear the same one for days (which attracks flies). When a bent-over-backwards zombie attacks you, it will jam its entire arm down your throat (!), and you'll be prompted to shake the left analog stick to "Get it off". There's a can of pickles whose label simply says "The Pickles", and some hilariously incomprehensible "Engrish" on signs in the local hospital. (Trust me, be sure to stop and read these.) Despite all this, localization of the character dialogue is excellent. I never once felt like something was lost in the translation. Most of the voice actors do a decent job as well, although there are a lot of awkward pauses and stiff character animations during the cutscenes.

Which leads us to the weakest part of Deadly Premonition. I hate to say it but the game's graphics are probably the least impressive I've seen on a commercial Xbox 360 title. Textures and character models look like something you'd see on the original XBox, and object pop-up is common during the freeroaming driving segments. But the game nails the atmosphere during the creepy investigative segments, tapping into something psychological with that "OMG it's gonna get me!" vibe. The glowing-eyed raincoat killer is memorable and scary as well, dragging a spark-throwing axe on the floor behind him wherever he goes. The sound design is excellent during the horror segments, with eerie and disturbing noises and low-key, effective music. The rest of the time, the music is... strange, never quite matching the mood of the scene. But it is catchy, I'll give it that, particularly one whistling, vaguely Andy Griffith Show piece that plays a lot.

So. Deadly Premonition is an ambitious game, one that takes a lot of different elements, doesn't always nail all of them, but manages to combine them into something unique. The best-looking and best-playing game on 360? Absolutely not. Sleeper hit of the year? Quite possibly. A future cult classic? More than likely. Worth playing? Beyond a doubt.

UPDATE: I've hit a snag in Chapter 2, Part 2, where after killing a particularly tough and frustrating enemy, the game consistently freezes up. I tried playing directly off the game disc and installing to the hard drive, no difference. Contacted Ignition but they had no helpful advice. So I'm exchanging my current copy for another. If that doesn't fix it... Well, I guess I'll just have to return the game as defective unless Ignition announces a patch. It's a shame, it was fun up until this point. I can forgive, even enjoy, all the other little flaws, but not this one. Buyer beware.

Using the basic premise of David Lynch's half-awesome, half-bad TV series "Twin Peaks" as a story seed and borrowing game mechanics from Silent Hill, Resident Evil, Clocktower, Shenmue and Grand Theft Auto, AccessGames writer/designer SWERY (AKA Hidetaka Suehiro) has cooked up something wonderful. It may seem hard to believe that a low-budget survival horror game from a developer you've never heard of would be any good, but much like Nick's turkey, strawberry jam and cereal sandwich, outward appearances can be deceptive.

You play as FBI agent Francis York Morgan, a subtly psychotic fellow with a penchant for cult film and an imaginary pal named Zach. The game begins with York on his way to investigate a bizarre, ritualistic murder in the small Pacific Northwest town of Greenvale. Driving through the darkness and the pouring rain, York totals his car when he swerves to avoid an odd figure in a red raincoat, and is forced to proceed on foot. Without warning, York slips into an alternate dimension populated by ghouls with rotten jack-o-lantern mouths who want nothing more than to stuff themselves down his throat. After a brief, harrowing encounter with an axe-wielding demon in a red raincoat (seemingly the figure that caused the crash), York slips back into normal space and is greeted by Sheriff's Deputy Emily Wyatt, with whom York (and Zach) are immediately smitten. To say any more about the specifics of our eccentric, spiritually sensitive hero's adventure would spoil the experience. In terms of quality, the narrative is right up there with Metal Gear Solid and the classic Silent Hills, and in terms of consistency of quality, it solidly outdoes "Twin Peaks." You will hear the game being called an ode to, or knock-off of that classic TV series, but trust me: outside the basic set-up, it does its own thing. The story is unpredictable, it's powerful, and it even made me cry a little bit at one point.

I found Deadly Premonition's gameplay, which has been the subject of much derision, to be quite solid. When York is on foot, the controls and camera behave much like those in RE4: as York walks or runs around, the camera is locked behind him and positioned so that his torso rises from the bottom-center of the screen. When he draws his weapon, the camera zooms in above his right shoulder and the targeting reticule appears. While a weapon is drawn and ready, York cannot move backward or forward, but he can step to either side. The above part of the control scheme will be instantly familiar to anybody who plays relatively current games. However, in classic, pre-RE4 survival horror fashion, York cannot draw his weapon or adjust his aim with lightning rapidity; there's a bit of slowness to his movements when compared with RE4's Leon or the meaty lunkheads in Gears of War. I don't consider this a negative at all; it's part of what makes this a "survival horror" game, not an "unstoppable badass mowing through monsters" game -- not that I'm against unstoppable badasses. In fact, I love 'em; I would marry Bayonetta if she would have me. However, when I play a game that enlarges upon the "horror" aspect, it feels more appropriate if the player-character is a bit more vulnerable. Driving the various vehicles in the game is somewhat more difficult than ambulating due to the sensitivity of the steering, and if you aren't patient, it can be frustrating. With fifteen minutes of practice however, it will become second nature, and you'll be zipping around Greenvale without a hitch, interviewing suspects and befriending the local weirdos to your heart's content.

The voice actors are generally excellent, particularly Jeff Kramer, who does York. All the main characters are voiced in a manner tightly-suited to their personalities; the actors really help them come alive, and you WILL get attached to them. While there are certainly no bad actors, some of the supporting cast will occasionally put an emphasis on the wrong word, or fail to emphasize where it is appropriate. This is a standard fault in video game voice-overs, and it's even present in the very best of them. The fault is usually not with actors, but rather with the voice directors not doing retakes when they should. Let me stress that this is not significant enough to be called an issue; I'm just trying to be as impartial as I can, despite my obvious love for this work.

The score is not hugely varied, but every piece is terrific: the music throbs hellishly in the otherworld, whistles nonchalantly in the bright daylight, chimes gently, broodingly during a moment of discovery. "Miss Stiletto Heels," an eerie but lovely jazz ballad, will loop repeatedly in your mind's ear, and a very haunting rendition of "Amazing Grace" makes an big impact at an unexpected moment. I will be seeking the soundtrack, and I know that I won't be the only one.

This is not a game with a budget of $50 million, and it does show graphically; it looks more like a polished Gamecube title than a big-name Xbox 360 game. This is perfectly fine with me, since I play last generation consoles (PS2, etc.) far more than Xbox 360. Having the shiniest, most heavily textured, most densely self-shadowed state-of-the-art graphics doesn't make a boring game any better, and I think that gamers are beginning to see this. The graphics of Deadly Premonition, however "dated" in the eyes of the gaming jet-set, don't look bad by any reasonable standard; they are always smooth and clean, with evocative environments and a host of unique, emotive character models. Gamers would be better served if developers were somehow forced to maintain graphics at this level, so that they would have to devote their energies to creating unique gameplay and stirring narrative.

In closing, I would like to address the phenomenon of people professing to enjoy the game "ironically," or calling it a "beautiful trainwreck" or even referring to it as the "'Troll 2' of video games." The game is excellent in its on right, and need not be enjoyed "ironically." In fact, assuming such an artificial attitude -- and artificial it must be, because the game doesn't merit such treatment -- will kill the true joy of it for the player. Try it without preconceptions, open your mind to the strange, rich story, keep in mind what "survival horror" means, and you will be rewarded.

This is a fine game, and a real steal for the price. If you like it, spread the word on the Internet, because small developers like AccessGames need all the help they can get. With a little luck, we might see Agent Morgan again.