Anonymoose

For everything Dishonored does right, something also feels rather off - resulting in a rather "meh" overall experience. The in-game world is convincing and tangible, but the gorgeously rendered, realistic trailers betray the truth of the slightly-dated "wood carving" art style, which doesn't detract from my experience as much as lower my expectations. The environments are stable and aesthetic, but entirely non-interactive save for the breakaway tables and glasses copy/pasted from area to area, which drags my immersion back to the shallows, at times. Combat is reliable, but one-dimensional - a blow either connects or it doesn't, with no variability of result quality or magnitude. These simplicities, I imagine, allow for the stalk-'n'-sock, custom-built kills to function reliably (and they do). However, though it may be fun to find new combinations of talents for your kills, the novelty wears off incredibly fast, leaving me feeling like some of the main selling points for the game are gimmicks, at best. I finished the initial playthrough, but don't have the motivation to put in the time and effort for the quality retry/replay attempts at a perfect game. Much of the story is told through submenu databanks, so perhaps I might revisit those and let myself deeper into the story, at some point. However, overall, this felt like BioShock 1 was reskinned for a Metal Gear Solid Mode set in the London of Alice: Madness Returns. I recommend picking it up as the price comes down. It's a good game and you'll enjoy the experience, but it will feel dated either way and there's nothing new or innovative enough to enjoy at full price; bland is bland regardless of freshness.

If you're here looking for a review of this game by a member of the Silent Hill fan-base that you can count on, please bear with the length of this review and I'll make it worth your time. Ignore the fake tens, ignore the forever vengeful - I know what you're here for, to find out the answer to the question, "Is it safe to go back to Silent Hill?" and I'm here to tell you, that while I will pull NO punches in my critique, the answer is a fairly solid "Yes!" Seeing as how the franchise has been sliding downhill for years longer than it stood proud, I'm not even sure how to handle praising it anymore - every flaw in Downpour makes me want to tear it down but one must keep in mind, the originals had their flaws as well. But let's start with the good, shall we? GRAPHICAL QUALITY won't win any awards, but it's up with the times. The worst aspect is the shadow effects of light on water or through trees, but if you can forgive that, the visuals will do just fine for your stay. THE SOUNDTRACK is phenomenal. Licht deviates from Yamaoka only in two ways - first, he takes Yamaoka's style and bends it to the will of music composition. The industrial sounds are here, the mandolin is here, the guitar is here - but you could lay it out as sheet music if you needed to, and it's masterfully done to the degree that this formulaic approach does not detract from even the chase scenes. Also, a bit of realism is mixed in as, throughout the entire game, radios within Silent Hill will play you real world music spanning from modern indie performers all the way back to Louis Armstrong and Frank Sinatra. Cast your doubts aside, Licht deserves praise for this job. PERFORMANCE is iffy (-1 point). The game tries to load in real time, but can't keep up - this will often cause the game to stutter and jump. There's no way around it - this is a problem you will either come to terms with or not. GAMEPLAY stays about 90% true to the Silent Hill formula. The interaction options have been expanded to make use of the Dualshock 3, so that's nice, but the two main differences are as follows: (1) The long-winded puzzles and sidequests that make the old Silent Hill games are now completely optional. I think this is GREAT. The game may feel more shallow when speed running it, but I'm thankful for the option. (2) The Otherworld doesn't make you repeat the same area with different skin; and it's not slow terror. The Otherworld makes you run - makes you keep up. It's linear suspense in a dissolving landscape. I can't say whether this is good or bad, it's just a total departure from the series roots. Hey, if that's how Murphy sees it, that's how he sees it. I just hope this isn't all it has to offer from here on - I'd like to see some variety in the future. COMBAT is clumsy but responsive and fast paced. It's not going to win any programming awards, but it keeps that "average Joe" feel to it that feels right at home in Silent Hill. Finally, what you're probably here for. MONSTER DESIGN is my main area of complaint; I'm docking a whole point for it. It completely does away with SH's "vaguely human / disturbing" forms and goes straight for "mutilated human / badass" forms, starting with basic enemies right out of The Suffering and all comes down to THE BIG BAD basically being the Tyrant-103 (Mr. X) from Resident Evil in a gas mask. This game could gain 10% of my love back with a mob-mod. (Sorry, creature guy. You just missed the point. They're good, they're just not Silent Hill.) THE STORYLINE is a welcome addition to the canon (Is it snowing on the hills of hell? I never thought I'd say that about Silent Hill again.) Cast aside your expectations to find out WHAT the protagonist has done - this time we're here to explore HOW AND WHY they did what we already know has been done - and the journey is satisfying; it's not "I'm going to cry, that was wonderful" levels of amazing, but it's worth your time n' dime. Also, and this is a HUGE bonus, there's a book hidden in the library that satisfyingly explains why THE ORDER of SH1 ~ 3 was only one chapter of Silent Hill, only one incarnation of it's power, only one group of people involved in a rotating door of the terrors of the realm. REPLAY VALUE is average, it'll take 3 playthroughs to see all endings, but with speed run being an option, just picking it up to blow through the story would be satisfying any time! ALL IN ALL, Downpour is a damn solid release - don't let anyone tell you it's perfect, but don't let anyone tell you it's terrible, either. All that remains is to see if KONAMI has finally pulled their head out of their ass and given Silent Hill a new beginning (and Downpour is a GREAT Chapter 1 of a new Saga), or of VATRA just got lucky. For now, Downpour is a solid 8/10 - here's hoping for a bright future.

Dragon Age: Origins had the potential to be a far better game than it turned out to be. The story (though not groundbreaking) and art direction are worthy of praise, but BioWare's mistakes in quality assurance and marketing shred its score. Even this "Ultimate Edition" is riddled with bugs - and this is after four major patches. Even now, it is not up to what I would consider release quality - there are quest lines that cannot be completed, entire groups of items whose statistics don't actually do anything, display conflicts, glitched flags, so on and so forth. It ruined the experience for me during this game, and BioWare's response to it (ignore the problems and complaints, release a tool-set for PC users to fix the problems themselves, move on to sequel) have tarnished the company as a whole in my eyes. If you care enough to put in the work, buy PC and check the Dragon Age Wiki for ways to correct the broken code. The console version may be possible to complete and basically functional - but is that really praise?

A highly worthy successor to Dead Space, but (this should go without saying) if you did not enjoy the original, the sequel probably won't win you over. Movement is much smoother, scene transition is more fluid, and the overall story arc progresses at a consistent pace. The only aspect that remains irritatingly clunky is performing a 180-degree turn, which unwittingly enhances frustration at the same pace it tries to increase panic. I'd have liked to see more new monsters, but as the overall antagonist of the game is largely the same force, I don't hold too much ****. Minor complaints aside, every single thing about the original has been improved (aside from the Marker's monster repertoire, which has inexplicably decreased) and I had a great time playing it. If you enjoyed Dead Space, this installment is a must have.