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Forums - Gaming Discussion - Jim Sterling: "Silent Hill Downpour let me down, felt poor"

So, Destructoid´s Jim Sterling, who claims to be a 'Silent Hill nut', says that based on what he saw at E3, Downpour really let him down..here are some parts of his impressions, if you wanna read the whole thing, go here: http://www.destructoid.com/e3-silent-hill-downpour-let-me-down-felt-poor-203550.phtml

Silent Hill 2 is my favorite game of all time, and hearing that Downpour was evoking its spirit while successfully trying new things turned me on. 

Man, what a letdown. 

If I had to name E3's biggest disappointment, it would be playing Silent Hill: Downpour and getting what looked like an even less enthralling version of Silent Hill: Homecoming. Yet again, the aesthetic of the Silent Hill movie is the one being copied, in a world that, so far, doesn't look much like Silent Hill at all, and the combat ... oh the combat ...  

Somehow, fighting feels worse than Homecoming or even the original PlayStation 2/Xbox titles. Murphy can't fight for shit, which makes me wonder why he's an escaped convict as he could only be capable of jaywalking at the worst. You can pick up all sorts of weapons from the environment, including bottles and fire extinguishers, but they're all useless in their own unique way, be they too slow, too close-ranged, or simply incapable of connecting with a foe correctly.

The game cynically tries to make the monsters scary by giving them grab and scream attacks that immobilize Murphy and require the waggling of the movement stick to free him. The trouble is they spam these attacks over and over again, and there's absolutely zero tension in that.Sure, the very first time might induce a bit of cheap panic, but by the fifth time you've had to jostle the stick about like Michael J. Fox on cocaine, it just becomes tiresome and repetitive. There's no horror to be found in that.

With all respect to my colleague Dale North, who is just as much a Silent Hill nut as I am and whose opinion I respect and often seek, I'm going to have to contest his assertion that it's safe to get excited forDownpour. I would, instead, advise extreme caution. I say this as a fan, and one who wants to seeDownpour become an excellent game. What I played was not enjoyable, but I know that Konami's heart is in the right place, so I really do hope the final product proves me wrong and we have a game that truly brings the spirit of the series back

I hope so too!!...Silent Hill used to be one of my favorite series, I want it back in my favorite videogame series list!




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CGI, I´m a bit clueless here...though SH was one of my favorite series, I didn´t follow what was going on behind the scenes with the development teams, etc...what do you mean by "Konami´s decisions regarding Team Silent"?

Is Team Silent the original team responsible for SH1-4?



Since when did Jim Sterling's opinion matter xD.

I hate that man too much.



brendude13 said:
Since when did Jim Sterling's opinion matter xD.

I hate that man too much.

He was a pretty good advocate for Deadly Premonition, so he's not a total piece of shit.



CGI, on the other hand, here´s Dale North´s impressions:

"I'm coming fresh from just having spent some time with Silent Hill: Downpour. I wanted to hurry and write this up while it was still fresh on my mind. I wanted to tell fellow Silent Hill franchise fans that I'm feeling really good about how Downpour is looking right now. Really good.

Developer Vatra tells me that the game is still in alpha, but I spent a good amount of time with it, and it feels and looks great already. I think series fans are tired of Silent Hill franchise games trying to be Silent Hill 2, but I don't think any of us mind if developers look toward it as inspiration. That is what has happened here. The atmosphere, pacing and exploration in Downpour feel good, in the way that Silent Hill 2 felt good.

The best thing I can say about Downpour so far is that it is not afraid to take its time to set the stage and pull you into a good story. It seems to invite exploration, and it's not going to beat you over the head with instant action.

I think you're really going to like this one. Even if you didn't like Homecoming or Shattered Memories, I'm pretty sure you're going to like this one.

Silent Hill: Downpour is technically a survival horror game, but it felt a lot more open to exploration, and definitely more focused on slowly scaring the sh*t out of you later. The tension in the game seemed to rise naturally and gradually, but I was running for my life before I knew it. It looked great, sounded great, felt great, and had some pretty immersive 3D to boot. And again, this is in the alpha stage of development. Things are looking really good for Silent Hill: Downpour already. It's safe to get excited about this one."



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Oh wow! Combat is kinda shit in a Silent Hill game?! Never saw that coming. Because we all know the Silent Hill series have always had great combat especially Silent Hill 2. /sarcasm

Granted that I still haven't played the game so I don't have a concrete opinion on the combat but isn't weak combat the reason what made Silent Hill so tense and freighting. I also don't why Jim puts Silent Hill 2 on such a high pedestal when it had the same exact annoying enemies that spammed the same grab attack over and over again (e.g the face-huggers in the hotel level, seriously fuck them). Don't get me wrong, I still love that game but it's hypocritical to ignore its flaws and condemn Downpour. I'm still crossing my fingers on it not sucking, don't disappoint me vatra.




So... Lets put this in the book as another happily failed Western developed Japanese game.

YES



CGI-Quality said:
Xxain said:
So... Lets put this in the book as another happily failed Western developed Japanese game.

YES

Because of one opinion from a guy that's know to over exaggerate and/or judge harshly? I'd rather wait for reviews.


CGI, Team Silent is what created this and made it as popular as it is today, if you think that a western developer can emulate the style of a Japanese developer you like Jim Sterling are in for a huge disappointment.

Look at the trend. How many western developed Japanese franchises have been successful this Gen?

Zero

Theres a Reason for that.