Bargain basement games are almost always worth looking at, and as someone who grew up watching Twin Peaks (a show I probably shouldn't have been watching when I was in sixth grade, but that's a subject for an entirely different article), I couldn't pass up Deadly Premonition. Of course being 12 when Twin Peaks was on, I wanted an NES video game for it. I mean they made NES games out of everything else I enjoyed, why not a prime time murder mystery / soap opera? (Admittedly, this question sounded much more rational to a 12 year old D.O.M. than it does to a 30 year old D.O.M.)
The NES game never came though and years later (In 2007) to be exact, I saw an E3 trailer for a game called "Rainy Woods". I was excited. This was it. Finally a Twin Peaks game, or something that was ripping off Twin Peaks, but still it was as close as I was going to get. Finally the game was released as Deadly Premonition in 2010 at the bargain price of $20.00 and with some really terrible reviews.
Much to my detriment, I've never let bad reviews stop me from wanting to play a game, so of course I bought it. Here you have what may be my longest justification buying and actually somewhat enjoying a game that would nicely be described "unpopular", so let's just get to the review.
The plot is the plot of Twin Peaks almost exactly. The main character is Special Agent Francis York Morgan (Just call me York, That's what everyone calls me) who travels to the small town of Greenvale in the Pacific Northwest to solve the brutal murder of a teenage beauty. York is a quirky fun character very reminiscent of Twin Peaks' Agent Cooper in that he has an affinity for coffee, strange dreams, and the small town lifestyle. Also like Cooper speaks to Diane via a small tape recorder, York talks to Zach. Zach isn't a tape recorder though, he's the player. This was a fun way to break the fourth wall as well as including another nod to Twin Peaks. Other Twin Peaks similarities seen in Deadly Premonition include but aren't limited too: Crying Deputies, powder blue waitress uniforms in the diner, large hotels, eccentrics who own greenhouses, gruff sheriffs in cowboy hats, and creepy jazz music.
The graphics are abysmal. They look to be about PS2 level, which is probably the system this game was originally developed for. This really can't be justified in way other than saying Deadly Premonition is, after all, a $20.00 game.
The gameplay was an ambitious undertaking. Elements of Grand Theft Auto, Resident Evil 4, and Silent Hill are all present. The execution, however, is questionable at best. The GTA element would be York's driving from mission to mission. The developers failed miserably in this aspect of the game. The car controls are are jerky and driving is not very steady. The mission points are a long way from each other. Yes there are plenty of interesting places to visit in town, but there never seems to be enough time to do this in between missions. The interesting part about driving is York's monologues about films. These are quite funny and entertaining.
In true Silent Hill style, York will suddenly be in a parallel universe version of Greenvale with zombie like creatures stalking him. Unlike Silent Hill, ammo is infinite for the pistol, so these fights aren't too tough. These are over-the-shoulder Resident Evil 4 style shooting scenes. It's not that the developers have done a terrible job with this, it's just that RE4 has done a much better job with tighter controls.
The rest of the game is talking to the locals to find clues. Gamers have been doing this since The Adventures of Link, so it's a pretty obvious element of the game. The characters are fun and strange though which makes this probably the most entertaining part of the Deadly Premonition experience. Other neat aspects of the game include the fact that York needs to be fed, needs to sleep, needs to shave (or a beard grows), and needs to change clothes (or flies start swarming him). This sounds like it may get tiresome after awhile, but food, beds, razors, and clothes are found everywhere throughout the game, even in hard mode.
Deadly Premonition is a fun game for me probably more because of the Twin Peaks references than any actual aspect of gameplay. Would I recommend to anyone who isn't a huge fan of Twin Peaks? Probably not. But hey, it was after all, only $20.00.
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