Chances are you never played the Deadly Premonitions when It was first released back in 2009, considering it only came out on xbox 360 over here, and only on the PS3 in Japan it has become something of a cult classic. Though it is a strange game, and at one point it even outsold Bad Company 2 and Mass Effect 2 on charts which for a brand new IP is quick shocking to outsell such larger series. Now you must be wondering, god damn if it outsold those it must be a fantastic game!, well hold your houses, because the only reason this game sold so well is because of the massive differences it was given first time around from review sites. Yes, because it got highs of 10/10 and lows of 2/10 a lot of people wanted to see if this game as actually good, and why there was such polarizing review scores out for the game, good of a reason as any I guess. Now as with many other games, we are slowly seeing PC ports being made, which is becoming a bigger tradition, Metal Gear rising and castlevania being two of the more recent titles released or announced.
If you are one of the many who have absolutely no idea what this game is, well it’s a strange mix of survival horror and crime investigation game, imagine if Silent hill got buddy buddy with phoenix Wright, that would be the best way to describe this game. Now this example may be better than you want to realise, the controls in Deadly premonitions is very similar to how the original resident evil controlled, clunky and slow. Even when I was faced with a combat situation it was less creepy and tense and more awkward and annoying, I understand the setting there aiming for, but it doesn’t play well like this, not being able to move whilst aiming your gun isn’t as well accepted any more. For the phoenix Wright comparison? Well we have areas where you need to start an “investigation”, which is usually run around and find something that is shining, or kill everything in the area.
These game play mechanics do not make this game bad, but it does make it feel extremely dated, controls are very similar in nature to Resident evil 4, with how the weapons work, of course at the time resident evil was considered revolutionary, 6 years later however, it’s not so much. This isn’t always a bad thing, throw backs are nice but its something I can not shake off, I couldn’t get on with the controls at all due to frustration.
Graphically the only difference between the console releases and the PC port is mostly just resolution, though that itself is locked at only 720p, but for those who need higher resolutions, a mod as been made, which received positive feed back from the publisher’s themselves. Though the directors cut does have better visuals than the original back in 2009, but even that isn’t saying much, the starting cinematic looks in no way a game from 2013, or even 2009 for that matter. The ground textures are appalling, usually you won’t notice them, but when you put such low resolution textures behind a relatively high resolution character model, the difference is extreme. So for those who are always interested in the graphics side of things, remember what your walking into, graphics look in some cases on par with PS2 games, even then I’ve seen PS2 games that pushed the bracket further. Another thing to note is that there are a fair few graphical glitches, one of the most noticeable and fairly annoying is during pre rendered cut scenes, which has the tenancy to stutter for about a second very frequently, it made it very difficult to listen to the story segments.
Story is probably where this game shines the most, but it will only be interesting to some people, it’s very b movie, those ones that you see playing late night on the more obscure channels, they look similar to Jason and the Argonauts but none of the charm. You play FBI agent Francis York Morgan , you get sent to a small village due to some murders, it starts to rain, you loose control, there are unspeakable horrors and abominations in the village and you need to solve the case. It’s really nothing new, if you’ve played Silent hills, Resident evils or any other survival horror you’ll expect all of the twists and turns this story will take. Though there are some interesting ideas, and the collectable cards are a novelty but I know some who love them for the sake of 100%, there have also been some rumours about DLC exclusive to the PC version but of now no more is known.
Deadly Premonitions Directors cut is a strange game, and it Is 100% a game that needs to be played to understand if its a game for you, or if its something you will get bored of after a time, for me its a game that frustrated me too much, but I could see how people would enjoy it. It is possibly one of the neichest games out there for the PS3 and 360, not so much on the PC, but it’s up there I would bet. 3/5 is what Deadly Premonitions Directors cut gets, because whilst what I found jarring, I know those who have loved this game since its first release, so I know there are those who will find it enjoyable.
Disclaimer:All scores given within our reviews are based on the artist’s personal opinion; this should in no way impede your decision to purchase the game.
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