Or how about something more like Dino Crisis?  As I recall, it had a nice compromise between real-time environments and cinematic cameras.  I mean, you can still have the angles, but the camera doesn't need to be completely static.  Again, back when the original RE came out, they did that because you couldn't do much else.  But these days, you could do it any way you want.

I think you said you've played DC but I'm not sure.  If not, it uses 3D environments but keeps the cinematic camera, so gameplay feels kind of like RE but with some nice perks.  Like, in a large area, the camera might remain stationary but pan to follow you as you run from one side to the other... or it might follow along behind you as you run down an alleyway... that kind of thing.

Here are some examples.  I love the attack at 1:20, particularly the shot at 1:36 where the camera pulls back to follow as you run down the balcony, pursued by the T.rex...

Possibly.  I don't know much about the later games.  I was thinking primarily about the original SH.  If they could capture that kind of atmosphere in an RE game... Damn!

Was it really that bad?

Almost as bad as RE6, so that should tell you something! :-/

What the hell happened?  Silent Hill was so good once.  Was it the dumping of Team Silent?  Could that be where everything started to go wrong?

Maybe, but other Western-developed Silent Hill games were nowhere as bad as this one! :-/

If I can ask, what exactly made Downpour particularly bad?  Was it just not scary... was it gameplay... story... poor execution...?

The soundtrack was good, but other than that it wasn't scary, the combat system was annoying and the game also had some techinical issues.. It was a damn chore of a game and I got rid of it before I even finished it...

Man, I'm sorry to hear that.

Interesting that you say the soundtrack was good.  If anything, I thought that would be one of the first things to go.

I remember back when I heard that Akira Yamaoka was leaving, I had a bad feeling that it was the beginning of the end.  His music and sound design were such a big part of the game's atmosphere, and I really wasn't sure how it would fare without him.  Anyway, I'm glad to hear that at least that aspect of the game is still good.

As far as the combat system goes, hasn't it always sucked in SH games?

I can't speak for the classic SH games since I haven't played them in a while, but I don't remember the combat  beinb as bad as in Downpour...