Silent Hill: Downpour

by Konami

• Explore the ever-changing game world
• Unlock new game areas, special items and bonus content by venturing into all-new side quests
• Uncover the deep and dark storyline of the latest Silent Hill thriller
• Experience the spine-tingling chills and psychological terror
• Immerse yourself in the desolate town of Silent Hill with intense visuals

Product Details

• Shipping: This item is also available for shipping to select countries outside the U.S.
• ASIN: B003O6HDHA
• Product Dimensions: 6.7 x 5.4 x 0.6 inches ; 3.2 ounces
• Media: Video Game
• Release Date: March 13, 2012
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (155 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,728 in Video Games (See Top 100 in Video Games)

Product Description

Platform: PLAYSTATION 3

Amazon.com

Return to the horror and desolate town in Silent Hill: Downpour. Marking its return to next-generation consoles, Silent Hill: Downpour delivers a completely original storyline, new soundtrack and more haunting moments that are sure to make your spine tingle.

Go back to Silent Hill

Meet mysterious characters

Explore an ever changing world

Synopsis

Having been behind bars for years, and receiving an extended sentence once already, Murphy Pendleton has become a liability during his stay at Ryall State Prison. Due to his storied past at Ryall, he is being transferred to Wayside Maximum Security Penitentiary. During his trip to his new gray-bar home, your bus is involved in a horrific accident. Once the twisted carnage of your prison transport bus comes to a stop, you are able to assess the situation. You find yourself stranded in the foggy woods near the town of Silent Hill. Knowing that this may be his one shot at freedom, Murphy sets off to explore the desolate town. Despite the town seeming vast and empty, he can't help but feel claustrophobic and that someone — or some thing — is watching him.

Take on the role of Murphy Pendleton, who finds himself alone and lost in the woods outside the lonely town. Explore the all-new environment that is expansive while feeling claustrophobic at the same time. Experience the bone-chilling terror of Silent Hill with vivid and spectacular visuals that are powered by Unreal 3 technology, bringing the town of Silent Hill, its characters, creatures and horrific world to life. Freely roam, explore the town and venture into all-new side quests that unlock new areas, special items and bonus content. Immerse yourself in the terror with an ever-changing game world that includes a day and night Normal world and an Otherworld world that are created from your actions during the gameplay. Understand that you are never truly alone in Silent Hill.

Key Features:

• Experience the spine-tingling chills and psychological terror while exploring the sleepy town of Silent Hill as Murphy Pendleton
• Uncover the deep and dark storyline of the latest Silent Hill thriller
• Immerse yourself in the desolate town of Silent Hill with intense visuals powered by Unreal 3 technology that bring the town, characters, creatures and alternate hell to life
• Unlock new game areas, special items and bonus content by venturing into all-new side quests
• Explore the ever-changing game world that features day and night Normal world and Otherworld world that are manifested and sourced from character actions throughout the game
• Get closer to the action with 3D technology for the first time ever
• Lose yourself in the desolate and terrifying town with renowned story and music talent, including Silent Hill comic writer, Tom Waltz, original music directed and composed by Dan Licht and the theme song performed by hard-rock group, Korn
  

Product Description

Staying true to the franchise's original roots, this eighth installment of the Silent Hill franchise returns with an all new thought-provoking horror storyline. Players will once again find themselves face to face with their deepest sins and fears in the strange world of Silent Hill. The survival horror experience begins after a prison transport vehicle careens off the road, leaving lone inmate Murphy Pendleton stranded in Silent Hill. Gamers will encounter mind-bending puzzles, as well as horrific creatures and other world terrors using everyday objects from wooden chairs to glass bottles to fend off their enemies. The natural response, fight or flight is left to the player as they unravel a dark, thought-provoking storyline which will appeal to fans of the early, classic Silent Hill series, as well as anyone who enjoys a deep, psychological horror experience. In addition to the main storyline, players will also be presented with variable side quests along the way that can change depending on their play style, revealing unknown evils within the town.

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

133 of 140 people found the following review helpful

3.0 out of 5 stars Highly underrated, still lacking in certain areas March 14, 2012

By Joman1000

Platform for Display:PLAYSTATION 3

Fun: 4.0 out of 5 stars   

Let me start by saying that I am a die-hard Silent Hill fan. I played the first game when it was released in 1999, which made me about 12 years old (my parents obviously made a very "wise" purchasing decision at the time) and bought every subsequent game (aside from the Japanese play novel and on-rails arcade game) on the dates of their release. Despite that the game disturbed me beyond words and gave me recurrent nightmares, I felt compelled to keep coming back for more just because it was such an inexplicable, bizarre, unique, emotional, "otherworldly" experience. I was never the type to lose sleep over movies and games about zombies, diseases or war/general violence; Silent Hill transcended those things to me because it was like it was pulled directly from my deepest, darkness nightmares and fears of evil, eternal damnation, etc. Silent Hill 1, 2 and 3 aren't "video games" so much as they are, in my opinion, works of absolute genius, developed by a handful of Japanese game designers that were clearly very well versed in classic horror films, novels and religious lore. They have set an incredibly high standard for anyone to attempt to live up to.

With that said, Silent Hill Downpour is certainly a valiant effort, not to be mistaken as the absolute failure that a couple of other reviews around the internet have described it as. It is a massive improvement from SH: Homecoming (which pretty much played out like someone watched the movie, played the first game for ten minutes and said, "OK, I get it.") but alas, still doesn't hold a candle to the first three games in terms of their artistry, imagination, soundtrack and the way they just... well, stuck with you, making you lose sleep and contemplate the overwhelming weirdness you had just witnessed.

First of all, The enemies in this game are somewhat unoriginal. It's ironic that the band Korn did the song for the trailer because one of the first enemies you encounter almost looks like a zombie version of one of the Korn band members; complete with black, parted bangs that hang over its face. The designers did a nice job of making the light reflect off of their bodies which appear to have a charred texture, reminiscent of Silent Hill 2's "prisoner" demons, which looked as if they were encased in their own burnt flesh. But despite this one cool visual effect, these creatures (referred to as, "screamers") aren't that disturbing. One of the other enemies you encounter are these tall, lanky beings that have the ability to crawl around on the ceiling and attack you from above... sounds scary, right? Not really. They're kind of goofy looking and their movements are a little bit too exaggerated. And the last type I'll mention (brace yourselves)... sex dolls with blacked out eyes whose ghosts are invisible and fight you. I mean, really? Luckily their existence in the environments makes for a much more frightening experience than the enemies do by themselves.

The other major downfall to this game is the overall lack of polish on the final product. Before buying this game I told myself the rumors of camera jitter, image chopping and framerate dips weren't going to effect my playing experience because I know there is supposed to be so much more to this series than the occasional programming flaw. Despite telling myself that, trust me, they do cut into the gameplay experience. None of the visual faults lie in the graphics themselves; only in the camera, the visual rendering and the occasional pop-up textures. While it is easy to overlook, it does make the game feel like less of a complete product than previous games. Hopefully the developers will take the hint and release a patch that fixes these issues because they take what would be in my mind a 4-star game and turn it into a 3-star one.

The environments are very detailed and it's clear the developers put a lot of time and effort into making sure everything looked truly abandoned, like it was inhabited at some point and the inhabitants just mysteriously disappeared one day. The crumbling walls, dusty interiors, strewn garbage and great lighting effects combine to create a chilling world that will feel like home to any hardcore Silent Hill fan. This is one of the game's biggest selling points. If it didn't feel like Silent Hill, it wouldn't be worth playing and it really does feel like Silent Hill. The dramatically improved graphics from previous entries in the series only adds to the believability. The only problem I have with the environments is that there are too many sections where you have a lot of visibility. That might sound strange to newcomers of the series but to old school fans like myself, the extremely limited visibility actually pulled the player deeper into the game, making them wonder what was going to be around every turn and just what unimaginable horrors lay just out of view. Luckily there are sections where the game is extremely dark and the only light you have is the light of your flashlight. These are the classic Silent Hill moments and by far the creepiest sections (look forward to the mines and certain cramped interiors, both on and off the beaten path).

Here is where my heart breaks a little bit. The "otherworld" sequences are a mix of engaging and totally cliche'. The "wall-peeling" mechanic introduced in the movie is something I've really grown tired of seeing. Not every transition has to come with the walls peeling away. Some of the transitions into the nightmare realm in Silent Hill 1, 2 and 3 didn't even involve sirens or anything; sometimes they involved going through some strange door, taking a ride on an elevator decorated with flesh or getting consumed by black veins and passing out. It's not just some stupid alternate dimension, it's a re-imaging of the current dimension incorporated with the main character's deepest and darkest fears. I'm so sick of it playing out like some silly trip to another planet or something. There are some cool things in the nightmare realm in this game, such as bodies rattling around in cages but you don't really get to enjoy them to their full extent when you're running from an all-consuming ball of light, which is not that scary. It's kind of scary when it catches you because Murphy (the main character) starts to peel away kind of like the walls and emits an ear-piercing scream but other than that the concept of the floating black hole is not really that frightening. I miss the days of stark black, chain link, blood, rust, walls that move and breathe like they're alive, strange pictures and statues posing in mind-boggling ways... these are the things that embody the nightmare universe, not some stupid vortex chasing you along catwalks.

Lastly, to be positive, I'm really happy they brought back the explorational elements of the game. There are so many different side quests to be experienced (many of them more eerie than the linear storyline itself) all with their own psychological rewards. The puzzles are the perfect degree of hard without being so hard that you want to pull your hair out and stop playing the game. The characters are particularly interesting and really remind me of the kind of 'people' one would encounter in a Silent Hill game including the main character, and the voice acting and motion capture are some of the best the series has ever seen.

To summarize, if you are a Silent Hill fanatic like me, there are fruits to be experienced in this game that will perhaps tide you over until a game comes out that is everything we could ever hope for (if that ever happens) but don't expect it to blow you away like the first three did. If you've never played a Silent Hill game, there is enough here for you to find enjoyable and unique, particularly if you're a fan of survival horror. There are cracks in the surface of this game and it's clear it isn't the work of 'Team Silent' but it is a worthy addition to the collection of anyone who takes an interest in the macabre and the generally bizarre. But it won't keep you up telling yourself it's the scariest thing you've ever seen. -Joman

62 of 71 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Proof a grown man can still be scared out of his wits March 14, 2012

By Jake

Platform for Display:PLAYSTATION 3

Fun: 5.0 out of 5 stars   

I've been eagerly awaiting this game for a long time. I've been playing Silent Hill games for as long as I can remember, and agree with the fact that the series was declining. WAS. Contrary to IGN's beliefs, this is the Silent Hill fans have been waiting for.
I'm not going to sit here and tell you all the pros and cons of the game, but I felt that I should defend the game's honor against a scathing IGN review giving the game 4.5 out of 10. Seriously...a 4.5? That implies the game is an unplayable piece of garbage, which SH:D most certainly is not. I was worried by all the negativity and honestly feared another Homecoming type experience (blah at best) but so far have been pleased by the offerings of Downpour.
I don't necessarily understand reviews that say the combat is "clunky." Its the first time in a Silent Hill game where the combat isn't actually just a pain in the ass and actually adds to the game. Items break and Murphy is by no means a superhuman, which means running away is your best bet more often than not. Firearms are VERY rare, meaning you save shots for when you have absolutely no other choice.
The game is among the scariest Silent Hills, and my first trip to Otherworld left me thinking WTF by the time I was free. The story itself is also interesting, because the player doesn't know if Murphy is an evil man or a good man who got caught up in bad circumstances. Little morality choices throughout the game don't seem to really matter, but I feel better inside knowing I at least tried to save the person dangling over the cliff.
All in all the game is a real return to form for the Silent Hill franchise. Be aware that there are minor framerate issues, but they in no way hinder gameplay. Usually they only happen when entering from one area to another, and never in the middle of a life and death fight (which is somewhat odd come to think about it). Don't believe the people at IGN giving it a 4.5. While it isn't the most perfect game ever, it's certainly at least an 8.0. Have fun in Silent Hill and make sure you have a light on nearby!

45 of 55 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Welcome to Silent Hill March 13, 2012

By LoneWolfComplex

Platform for Display:PLAYSTATION 3

Fun: 5.0 out of 5 stars   

I've never written a review before on here. I just got it, but I had to give my opinion due to the scores this title has been receiving. Mainly, IGN's abysmal 4.5/10 review.

The game begins with Murphy in prison and quickly sees his bus careen off-track during transport to another facility. This is where the game begins proper, and oh boy, is it freaky. There is still fog, and the rain adds a nice density to it.

You can use anything for a weapon. Frying pan, knife, hammer, broom, anything, which is realistic. This adds the elusive survival element that has been missing from horror since, well...Silent Hill 4. I've heard combat is clunky, but we're going for realism here. Murphy is a convict (for what is the million dollar question), so unless he's an expert murderer, he won't be good with weapons. And after you fight your first monsters (which are freaky), you won't feel like combat is clunky. At least it doesn't to me.

The only problem I see so far is lag when it's auto-saving, as well as the inability to save it whenever you want. These are minor grips. Also, it's worth noting that the achievements/trophies are actually fun to get in this game. The side quests will add a good dimension to Silent Hill, although I haven't come across those yet.

You can open doors slowly, too, which adds to the intensity of the horror. There are Otherworld sequences where you're getting chased by a mysterious black and red orb of light, and the first time you experience this in the game, you won't expect it. It adds an interesting chase set piece to the game.

So far, so good. Silent Hill fans needn't not hold their breath any longer. This is the real deal.