Silent Hill: Downpour (originally SH 8)

[Biojex]

Sweet! That's what I'm looking for. SCARY/TERROR/ETC. The last game I played that made me feel like that was Siren Blood Curse.

Haven't been tense playing a horror game in a long time. I'm talking pre-PS2 era long

 

[Matt S]

I am not that big on pro reviews when it comes to Silent Hill - most of em don't 'get it' as it were. Ok, this game has already defeated me when it comes to puzzles, playing normal puzzle mode, yet the one with:

Spoiler

the color buttons at the train, labeled A B C D E...I am not sure what order to do, cause I've been trying for 10 min. any help is appreciated.

Also, not digging one monster design so far, but what I do love it the look of the whole game. Very well done, IMO. Right there with Biojex as far as look and intensity of layout, but this is the kinda game I love, frankly. I hated Shattered Memories mostly, but do love the fact that this game retained the slow door opening mechanic, and the look-over-the-shoulder one.

Parts of the game look 'ok,' whereas other parts look downright beautiful. Beginning inside Diner, with light from windows and light from flashlight looked AWESOME

 

[Leonidas]

I am not that big on pro reviews when it comes to Silent Hill - most of em don't 'get it' as it were. Ok, this game has already defeated me when it comes to puzzles, playing normal puzzle mode, yet the one with:

Spoiler

the color buttons at the train, labeled A B C D E...I am not sure what order to do, cause I've been trying for 10 min. any help is appreciated.

Also, not digging one monster design so far, but what I do love it the look of the whole game. Very well done, IMO. Right there with Biojex as far as look and intensity of layout, but this is the kinda game I love, frankly. I hated Shattered Memories mostly, but do love the fact that this game retained the slow door opening mechanic, and the look-over-the-shoulder one.

Parts of the game look 'ok,' whereas other parts look downright beautiful. Beginning inside Diner, with light from windows and light from flashlight looked AWESOME

I wish they could re-capture the magic of Silent Hill 2

 

[Biojex]

I am not that big on pro reviews when it comes to Silent Hill - most of em don't 'get it' as it were. Ok, this game has already defeated me when it comes to puzzles, playing normal puzzle mode, yet the one with:

Spoiler

the color buttons at the train, labeled A B C D E...I am not sure what order to do, cause I've been trying for 10 min. any help is appreciated.

Also, not digging one monster design so far, but what I do love it the look of the whole game. Very well done, IMO. Right there with Biojex as far as look and intensity of layout, but this is the kinda game I love, frankly. I hated Shattered Memories mostly, but do love the fact that this game retained the slow door opening mechanic, and the look-over-the-shoulder one.

Parts of the game look 'ok,' whereas other parts look downright beautiful. Beginning inside Diner, with light from windows and light from flashlight looked AWESOME

A hint for that puzzle if you care to be hinted.

Spoiler

It has something to do with the poem you picked up that talks about "cerulean skies" and what have you.

Shattered Memories, I enjoyed, to an extent. The mechanics of it were fun, turning stuff, the phone calls, etc...brilliant implementation of the Wii-mote. The thing that ruined Shattered Memories though, was once you figured out there were no monsters (or danger for that matter) outside of the "ice world" it took away the entire scare factor when you were in Normal world...sucked.

 

[Matt S]

You are smarter than me, Biojex if you got that from the hint...but thanks!

That's what it was for me, and I agree. Phone was cool - I loved the ending twist with Heather, etc, but the fact that there was one enemy type that had variations combined with the fact that they only attacked when the game announced it, killed it for me. Level design was too linear for me, personally, a problem Downpour is not having thank goodness


Just got the town of Silent Hill itself. So far, i am digging the way the journal is handled. I pray I find another flashlight cause I don't want the lighter as your only light source. love the lighting look via a flashlight

A fan on the SH boards, hell descent, helped me with the train button solution; for anyone that gets stuck on normal mode, its

Spoiler

ABDC

Ok, getting a perverse pleasure out of rock throwing a monster to death!

In game exclusive codes - go to the locker that has a numeric keypad and enter:

353479 = .45 and bat (amazon)

171678 = Nail gun and Battle Axe (gamestop I think)

911977 - rifle and golf club = best buy

 

[Ash Housewares]

I highly doubt that issue will be in the actual game. Homecoming had little of it from what I recall, and this one is getting a lot more polish

Seems the screen tearing that I first mentioned is present in the final build and has been brought up as a big minus in every review. If they patch it I might buy it. I hate screen tearing with a passion.

 

[Matt S]

Seems the screen tearing that I first mentioned is present in the final build and has been brought up as a big minus in every review. If they patch it I might buy it. I hate screen tearing with a passion.

Ok, having played this for 5 hours I will say screen tear is present. Its not crazy bad like Alan Wake was, but I too, hate it. That said, there is a worse issue for some: framerate 'hiccups' that seem pretty prevalent.

Take pro reviews with a grain of salt. Perfect example: some have said the gun control in Downpour isn't good, well, it has auto lock that couldn't be easier to use, so the fact that's a negative speaks volumes to their lack of quality review, IMO

 

[Leonidas]

Hey Matt S..The most important element by far in Silent Hill games has been the story..How would you rate the story in Downpour?

 

[Chargersfan57]

Also, what platform are you guys playing on?

 

[Matt S]

Hey Matt S..The most important element by far in Silent Hill games has been the story..How would you rate the story in Downpour?

Story is pretty good. Its a bit of a mystery. A very slow reveal, and its keeping my interest, personally. You get just enough here and there....I like it better than Homecoming, at least this feels like it hasn't been done. Got tired of the 'save my daughter,' 'save my brother' crap over-and-over

I am on the 360

 

[Biojex]

Some of these Otherworld segments are pretty intense...

 

[Matt S]

Some of these Otherworld segments are pretty intense...

I agree, 2nd one was trippy.

If anyone is experiencing hiccups on 360 try launching game from the 'My games' section and not the disk tray one - I dunno why, but seems to make a difference. My screen loads are longer, but seem to experience less framerate hiccups - I do have my downloaded to HDD

 

[Biojex]

My framerate hiccups seemed to stop today, Didn't encounter a single one. Very odd.

 

[brucecamblzchin]

Hey Freaks how you feeling about this one so far? I'm seeing mixed reviews, what else is new right?, but I will play just about anything with silent hill written on it. Homecoming just wasn't scary IMO. This and the hd collection are out in two weeks down here in oz.

 

[Matt S]

Hey Freaks how you feeling about this one so far? I'm seeing mixed reviews, what else is new right?, but I will play just about anything with silent hill written on it. Homecoming just wasn't scary IMO. This and the hd collection are out in two weeks down here in oz.

Trust me, this one is a helluva lot better than Homecoming; have heard ps3 version has technical issues so be aware

 

[brucecamblzchin]

Right on thanks Matt

 

[Matt S]

I hate to say this, but the framerate hiccups have gotten so bad on mine, I am almost to the point where I am going to label this one 'broken'

I am playing it off HDD and all that using my 3 month old 360 that runs great. Did the 'Dead Mans' side quest and the framerate got soo bad, it was hard to tell what was going on

I am a long time SH fan, but if the game isn't playable, I am debating whether to send it back to Amazon. For $60 , the stuttering isn't acceptable

 

[Boba Ben]

I just picked the game up today and am really enjoying it so far. Very reminiscent of the old games.

If I have one complaint, it's that the fighting mechanics do seem pretty bad even compared to the older games. I felt a lot tougher in the first three games with my trusty crowbar. I could destroy mannequin legs and monster kids like nobody's business. These monsters seem a lot stronger and I'm having a tough time with the blocking stuff. I've take at least some damage during every fight so far, but it's early so maybe it just takes some getting used to.

Spoiler

A tip for those of you who are just starting. After the kitchen turns into the other world and you run away from the red stuff up the long stairwell, do not keep going up. It never ends. You have to turn back around to go into the kitchen again. I ran up those stairs for 20 minutes thinking there would be a door at the end.

 

[Leonidas]

I hate to say this, but the framerate hiccups have gotten so bad on mine, I am almost to the point where I am going to label this one 'broken'

I am playing it off HDD and all that using my 3 month old 360 that runs great. Did the 'Dead Mans' side quest and the framerate got soo bad, it was hard to tell what was going on

I am a long time SH fan, but if the game isn't playable, I am debating whether to send it back to Amazon. For $60 , the stuttering isn't acceptable

You know what, that's such a damn shame to have waited all these years for a decent next generation Silent Hill game only to be fed this hot mess excuse for a game. After hearing so many negative comments about this latest installment, I'm going to pass and wait for the SH HD collection

 

[Biojex]

Spoiler

A tip for those of you who are just starting. After the kitchen turns into the other world and you run away from the red stuff up the long stairwell, do not keep going up. It never ends. You have to turn back around to go into the kitchen again. I ran up those stairs for 20 minutes thinking there would be a door at the end.

I did the same thing. I just kept running and running, at one point I just sort of spaced out and kept going. Eventually I snapped back to reality and figured it out. Felt pretty silly afterwards.