MY TIME SPENT IN SILENT HILL DOWNPOUR

   Silent Hill has always been a  great horror game series. I have played all of the games but Silent Hill Origins  that was on the PSP and the new one that just came out for the PS Vita called Silent Hill Book Of Memories. I have loved the series, even though I was not completely into Silent Hill 2, it's still a good game. When I heard that a new Silent Hill was coming out, the wife and I got really excited. Silent Hill has always delivered a great twisted story, monsters that are disturbing and creepy, and a dark, grimy and gory scenery to try to survive in. The game messes with your head and freaks you out. And who doesn't love Pyramid Head?

   Well as I have said time and time again, if it is not broke, don't fix it. The writers of Downpour got this game all wrong in my eyes. The background of the world does not give you the feel or look of Silent Hill. Even other world disappoints you. You pretty much get chased though other world by a vortex, that is called a Void, the whole time. Which would not be that bad if it was once in a while, but nope, every time you go into other world your getting chased by The Void at some point. Now The Void's purpose is suppose to be a meta fore saying you can't out run yourself. You need to deal with your problems. If The Void catches you, you will be disintegrated into The Void. Also the producers of Downpour decided to go the Dead Rising and Dead Island route and have weapons that break apart. Still don't know how a metal ax or a pipe wrench could brake by hitting a enemy. Also in previous Silent hill games you can carry a bunch of weapons at a time, and more then one gun at a time. But in Downpour you can only carry one melee weapon at a time, and if you have two guns, you can not carry any melee weapons. If you go to use a gun, you automatically drop your melee weapon.
   Now this I do not understand. Why after so many games would they just now try and change up the way you carry items in your innovatory. If this was the second game in the series, I could under stand making a change. Downpour being the eighth game in the series, it does not make sense. I really don't understand why they would have your weapons break. I guess you could say they just wanted to try something new in the game. I think its silly to try to make changes like that this far into the series.
   The fighting system is not to bad. There pretty much just attack and block. You also, for the first time, can throw things at enemies. Adding that ability is a good thing. Being able to attack you foe from a good distance or if they are hanging off the ceiling or wall. One thing that would of been nice is if they allowed you to duck as you were running as they did in Silent Hill Homecoming. Being able to duck while trying to avoid the enemies would have been really helpful in some points of the game. Over all though I really did not think the fighting system was all that bad.
   Normally in Silent Hill games your flash light would hang from your front pocket. In Downpour it hung from your right hip. It was also a big heavy duty looking flash light compared to the small portable flash light in the previous games. This is not a big change that I mind. And they added a really cool attachment. They added a UV attachment that can help you find hidden items or foot prints that will unlock clues.
   The monsters of Downpour were a disappointment. Don't get me wrong, they were creepy and got me to jump a few times. But they were not really that Silent Hilly. They did not have any of the trademark nurses in the game. The monsters are called, Screamers, Weeping Bats, Doll, Prisoner Minion and Juggernaut, The Wheelman, and Bogeyman.

   Screamers are the first monster you will come across in the game and resemble a woman. The Screamers have there hands wrapped with bandages with nails sticking out of them. They have deformed faces and long black hair. They have the ability to scream and stun you for a brief time. They will also jump on you back and if they sink up behind you. They are the most common enemy in the game.

   Weeping bats are grayish white skinned monsters with a sunken face with a muscular body. They have skinny arms and legs and it's legs are really long. Weeping bats are strong. They will hang from ceilings and walls. If not paying attention, they will pounce on you.

   Dolls are a interesting monster. They look like female mannequins. They don't move at all as mannequins. They have a shadow silhouette that comes out from the Doll and attacks you. You can really see these shadows with out the UV light. The fastest way to take out a Doll is to attack the Doll mannequins. The Doll has white skin with short silver hair. They are also missing most of there face.

   Prisoner Minion and Juggernauts pretty much look the same. They are male monsters. Both of them look like monsters from the game The Suffering. Prisoner Minions are smaller and have some kind of metal braces pulling there eyelids and mouth back showing there teeth and making there eyes look big. They sake violently as they walk and attack you. Some carry prison shanks that they will attack you with. Prisoner Juggernauts are a way more bigger and stronger version of the Prisoner Minion. There eyelids and mouth are pulled back too but with no metal pulling it. They will charge at you to knock you down and then swing at you with there fist. He is very powerful and is just as fast as the Prisoner Minion.

   The Wheelman is the boss in Downpour.The Wheelman is seen throughout the game stocking you throughout Silent Hill. He is in a wheelchair and his face is deformed. Skin only come down to his ribs and his stomach is exposed. In the final battle, he goes from being about normal human size to a giant size. He is hooked up to four breathing machines that you need to disconnect to be able to destroy him.The Wheelman I believe is Officer Frank Coleridge, a prison guard that you feel responsible for his death.

   Now onto the Bogeyman. If you are to say the Bogeyman and Silent Hill in the same sentence, you automatically think of Pyramid Head. I know in Origins the Bogeyman was the Butcher. But lets face the facts, Pyramid Head is the real Bogeyman of Silent  Hill. Not in Downpour! They made the Bogeyman a huge man in a black hooded rubber raincoat with rubber gloves, big black boots, and a gas mask. He wields a giant sledgehammer that is made at of concert and a metal pole. Even though Pyramid Head is known as the Bogeyman, Downpour's Bogeyman has no other name but Bogeyman. You come across him a few times in the game. He will either swing his huge sledgehammer at you or slam it to the ground that will cause a shock wave in a straight line that will cause a lot of damage. If you get to close he will grab you with one hand by the throat and fling you across the screen. Grand it the Bogeyman does look really good in the game, once again does not completely feel like he fits in the whole lore of Silent Hill.
   They added side quest to the game. I thought this was a good idea. I have never seen side quest in a Silent Hill game before. And I know these games are more focused on the story of the main character. But it added some more challenges and allowed you to be more evolved in the world. I only completed one of the side quest in my first play though, I plan on doing all of them on my next play through.

   As normal in Silent Hill games, there are links to the other games. They had pictures or items you can find about the other games. You can even find and explore the apartment of  Henry Townsend from Silent Hill 4 The Room. But one thing that was missing from the whole game is Robbie The Rabbit. Any true Silent Hill fan will know who Robbie is. And I did not see him or anything representing him.
   Okay, reading all that I have written about this game you must think I think this game is horrible and that I did not have fun playing it. Well that's not completely true. I did have fun playing this game. It got me to jump on more then one occasion. The music and scary sounds were great. The soundtrack is different from the normal soundtrack they have, but yet still good. The Korn title song is awesome, and I was getting into a few of the other songs they had playing. Besides being glitch'y at some points, the game ran smooth. Downpour was still challenging and fun. I just have problems when you start trying to change the lore of a game that has been around forever. If your looking for a good horror survival game that will give you a good scare, then I would say pick it up. If your a Silent Hill fan period I know you will pick it up. Like I said this is not my favorite Silent Hill game, but I will play through it again to see the other endings and to finish all the side quests. If this was some other kind of game that was not called Silent Hill I would of said this is a awesome scary game. The fact that it has a Silent Hill title is what makes me say that it's a good game that they could improve to put it to the standards of what the Silent Hill fans expect.
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