Downpour: Let The IP Go (part 3)

I feel as though I may have lost focus on the last post. It got so long, and my brain kept going off on tangents relative to the point but not the topic. But that's what Downpour is doing to me right now; the longer I look at this game, the more and more I get irritated that they didn't really fix what was wrong with Homecoming. Homecoming was bad because the combat didn't make the game terribly scary, but it had the right elements despite not being in Silent Hill.

 To be fair, Silent Hill once had a larva/moth boss. Symbolic, yes, but still silly.

Homecoming had an advantage of being primarily at night. Downpour has the disadvantage of being during the day.

Man, I sure hope there isn't a monster sneaking up on me through the super thin fog.

The fog is not claustrophobic enough, it's way too thin. Homecoming?

Oh god I hope there isn't more beyond those archways in the dense as fuck fog.

Do you see where I'm going with this? Downpour can look better, but it doesn't have nearly the same game feel. Back when Silent Hill first hit, the fog was to contain the limitations of the engine. Rendering an entire town to explore on foot needed a buffer, so Silent Hill literally loaded and deconstructed itself as the player walked around as need be, with the fog making sure it wouldn't eat up too much memory. It worked as a gimmick then, but then Silent Hill 2 came around and kept the same deal; if you watch the game without fog, you can see that it loads textures within a certain distance. But the fog is still claustrophobic enough.

Better still, the color scheme of the enemies were shades of grey, making them hard to see in the fog. That's what gave them their edge; and that's what made the radio both an indispensable tool for knowing an enemy was close, but for getting your fear rising KNOWING there was an enemy close, and you were put on edge to prepare to fight it but still trying to scan for it in the fog. I refer you to the prior picture in Downpour. What is the point of a radio in the streets if your line of vision extends far out enough? It helps against the invisible enemies mind you, but the fact that Downpour relies on invisible enemies and cheap attacks to get your tension up is kinda lame. The last invisible enemies came out of Silent Hill, and in that they weren't a threat till the end of the game, and still visible enough to identify in a panic and shoot. Weeping Bats will drop down from the ceiling unexpectedly and without the ability to react or defend against it.

It's also pretty silly that Murphy Pendleton can beat the snot out of them with his bare hands. I don't quite agree with the fact that you should be able to punch these enemies. The only reason why fisticuffs exist in the game is because of the degradable weapons; but why would a weapon degrade that quickly? Why the fuck is a full tang butcher knife breaking apart? Why is a fire axe? These are tools that were designed to take a beating. You're not exactly crushing rocks here with a Sledgehammer, so why is it breaking apart on monster's skulls? Why is a solid piece of metal like a crowbar breaking?

Weapon degradation is bullshit in most cases.

Entire army of aliens beaten over the head, endless destruction caused on the environment, and still fully functional and ready to cave in your skull.

In a game like this, the weapon selection isn't even limited in terms of "finding" them, just in "holding" them. Travis held an arsenal on himself just fine, and it made the weapon degradation thing bullshit due to having several televisions in your pants. This game makes it bullshit because an arsenal can be found anyway. It's not like Alex was armed to the teeth; he had a knife, a blunt weapon, an axe, and 3 guns. Heavy, yes, but it's not impossible to think he could hold onto it. One leg holster, two guns with straps, a knife in its sheathe,  and an axe and crowbar in belt loops. It's not like it ruined the immersion of Silent Hill. But if weapon degradation adds nothing to the horror since an arsenal can be found anyway, why do it?

 Moreover, melee had its disadvantages as well. In previous installments, the melee weapons were hindered by the fact that they had no sense of crowd control. If two Air Screamers and a Groaner hot on  your heels, it was more advantageous to either run or use a gun to quickly even the odds, not try to swing an emergency hammer at them. Some enemies were hard to stun, some were fast to recover. They saved ammo, but came at a cost. Some didn't allow you to strafe, so you sacrificed mobility. However, it seems like all the recent iterations of Silent Hill seem to put an emphasis on melee combat, and severely limit the ammo you're allowed to use.

You want to do that? Fine. Do it like Silent Hill 4 then. Make me work with both weapons that break and have durability to them, and if a limited inventory is a concern, have a drop feature. I never quite understood why some horror games felt the need to limit your inventory, but gave you few ways to empty it out except through backtracking. Less still, that Silent Hill 1-3 didn't restrict your inventory to keep the game paced at your speed, but then decide that a restrictive inventory would be fine in 4.

How about the music? Well...the intro theme isn't bad, except for the fact that it doesn't deal with the protagonist again. But the entire soundtrack...something just doesn't feel right about it, in my opinion. This one you can choose to disagree with me and I won't argue it, but I feel like the soundtrack is the furthest from a Silent Hill game. Nothing really jumps out aside from the title screen. Say what you will about Homecoming, but it had a soundtrack I'd come back to at points. Nothing in Downpour strikes me as something I'd play again and again, nor does it fit the game. Akira Yamaoka is the heart and soul of the Silent Hill soundtrack; he understands how the ambient music is supposed to feel, and throughout the series, has consistently delivered fresh tracks. One moment, he can put forth a track both soothing and unsettling, chaotic and subtle.

The best part about the majority of his tracks are, sometimes, you have NO idea what he's using to make those sounds. That's the charm of his style. It's unsettling, atmospheric, moody, hitting the scenes just right. Moreover, the games make you concentrate on the music because you're listening intently for the radio to go off...and when it's quiet, you're left with nothing but the music and your own footsteps clacking down the hall. Downpour sounds more like a movie soundtrack...it's not like it's incompetent, but even the Silent Hill movie knew to use the tracks from the game instead of coming up with an original score. If it ain't broke, don't fix it.