Silent Hill: Downpour

Too often people try to compare this game to all the previous ones, especially the first four. As a massive fan of 1 and 2: hey, I get it. But there comes a time where you eventually have to let it go. This game came out a DECADE after Silent Hill 2, and here we are another 10 years later and people still complain about it.

Look: is the story as good and innovative and groundbreaking as any of those first four? Maybe not. But do any of us really expect it to be? Silent Hill 1 and 2 were literally lightning in a bottle. 3 and 4 respectively had their own issues but were still great games.

The story in this game is good. Not great, but good. It's engaging, and you'll find yourself really interested in Murphy Pendleton. Additionally, the side characters and explorable environments are very enjoyable and engaging. I love DJ Bobby Ricks -- I think he's my favorite side character in this entire series! I wish we'd been able to learn more about him. The way we learn what we DO get to know about him through the radio is insanely creative. I also really enjoyed the character of the mailman, who you'll run into frequently throughout the game. He has a wise, Morgan Freeman tone to him with a sense of sinister-ness below the surface.

The monsters are a weak point. Silent Hill 2 set a bar for monsters in survival horror games. So did Resident Evil 4, in my opinion. The Evil Within would come out about 2 - 3 years after SH: Downpour and would also introduce some innovative enemy types/models. They're lacking in this game, I won't deny that, but it's not enough for me to hate this game.

The weakest point of this game are the massive frame-drops which occur every time the game autosaves. It is very, very disappointing as it can happen literally during a fight with an enemy, taking away all fairness momentarily.

All in all, though, if you're looking for a solid survival horror game with those familiar Silent Hill feels/undertones, you could do a lot worse than this game. It's unfair for people to completely dismiss this entry. The developers were never going to compare to what Team Silent did in those early years and it was just ridiculous to think that they could. Be happy with what we got: another entry. It may be the last.