A flawed gem
There is a reason why Deadly Premonition is one of the most polarizing games of all time. People either like it, and endure it through to the end, or they cant stand it and wonder why people like it at all. I stuck with it through till the end. While it has many rough(and some frustrating) parts, it really was a joy to play overall and had some very memorable characters and plot twists.
Story
You are Francis Morgan, a FBI agent who goes to a small town to investigate a murder of a young girl. The whole plot is very similar to Twin Peaks, and especially if you have ever watched the show you will see a lot of the similarities immediately. Things start to get weird as more and more people become suspects to the murder case, and there are some truly surreal moments that creep you out, but over time are repeated so much they become almost comedic. The first few times you engage an enemy are pretty horrifying, but it would have been nice to see some variety in the enemies, as there are only about two. The plot takes many twists and turns, and it is very rewarding if you stick with it all the way through. Great story and characters overall.
Gameplay
By far, the weakest part of the game. DP is very repetitive, and even though its broken up into puzzles, exploration, and combat, its relatively similar the whole game. Luckily the story is good enough that you can overlook this, but I did feel many times in the game that it began to drag, and I stopped caring for the side missions much. The weapons are horrible, and dont do much at all. Near the end of the game many enemies just become bullet sponges as you stand in the same spot holding down the A button until they fall over. The game play as a whole is pretty boring as well, and most of the surprises gameplay wise are through and through about halfway in. Once I had a fast car, some weapons with unlimited bullets, and a large sum of money, I just wanted to plow through the game to see the end of the story. The gameplay is so bad that I felt I have to dock a star.
Visuals
Unfortunately, the visuals are very bad as well. This really looks like an upscaled ps2 game, but luckily the frame rate keeps up for the most part. The game as a whole looks pretty bland, but the supernatural parts of the game are pretty well done, and the animation for the raincoat killer I thought was pretty well done. If there ever is a sequel hopefully Swery '65 can have a bigger budget and make DP2 look like a game from this gen, but as it stands, it honestly looks like shit.
So you may be thinking, why did I even enjoy this game? The gameplay is repetitive, the visuals are bland, and the last boss battle has to be one of the worst bosses I have ever had the joy of defeating. But its a charming game. I wanted to keep playing it regardless of its flaws. Maybe its because I love the TV show Twin Peaks and I enjoyed seeing a game emulating that. Maybe its because the characters and story are so unique and off the wall. Overall, its a game that I would have a hard time recommending to anyone unless they were a big fan of the Show Twin Peaks. Anyone else would have a tough time even getting halfway through this game, but its rewarding nonetheless. So if you havent picked it up by now, they just released a recut version on the PS3, so if you were ever into Twin Peaks, or love playing games for quirky characters and crazy plot twists, pick it up and support Swery '65. Otherwise, move on and keep on keepin on.
