VIDEO GAME REVIEW: Deadly Premonition

Last Updated on July 23, 2021

Published
by: Ignition Entertainment
Developed by: Access
Games 
Release Date:
February 23, 2010
Available on: 
Xbox 360

BUY THIS GAME HERE

INTRO: Assume
the role of FBI agent Francis Morgan (That’s York to you) as you
investigate a murder. It’s up to you to interact with characters and
try to piece the puzzle together to solve the crime.  Yep, the
murderer shoves red seeds down the victim’s throat and you’ve got to
connect the dots to other things that have happened to you in the past.
Hey, don’t forget that you have an imaginary friend who you talk to all
the time and you fight zombies in your head and you see premonitions in
your food, but that’s just the tip of the iceberg.

GAMEPLAY:

This game doesn’t get many
points for being a technical masterpiece, because it isn’t. The whole
thing is a bit of a mess but I’ve got to admit I had a lot of fun
playing it. This is the first game with the distinction of being “so
bad it’s good” that I’ve ever reviewed. There are a lot of problems,
but if you can get past those you’re in for a bit of fun. It looks,
feels and plays like a terrible horror movie that takes itself too
seriously and that can be a good time. There’s no way this
tongue-in-cheek style wasn’t achieved on purpose. There’s all kinds of
hilarious one liners and ridiculously out of place music, not to
mention your lead character is insane and you meet characters like
“Raging Bull”. Yeah, for real. The game is nuts, and I can’t describe
to you just how nuts it is but believe me when I tell you, it works and
it is the game’s main selling point.

Coming off almost like a weird homage to twin peaks, this game plays
sort of like a crippled GTA clone. You are going to be sitting through
a lot of long, long conversations and you’re going to be driving
for-EVER. Sometimes when you drive from A to B, you could find yourself
driving for 5 or 6 minutes without a break. This game is sloooooooow.
When you finally do get the chance to shoot and kill, you’ll do so in a
sort of RE-style way. You get a pretty standard selection of weapons
and you can upgrade along the way, and you’ll be using them to shoot
the zombies that may or may not actually exist. This all starts off
really easy but gets pretty tense as the game goes on. It has a really
cool feature where Zombies can detect breath and you have to hold it
during the right times to avoid them.

There is more tedium to get through too. You have to make sure York is
always clean shaven, that he eats and has gotten enough sleep. This is
annoying, but York can sleep almost anywhere, and eat at diners and
carry snacks. There’s all kinds of side missions and the like to keep
you busy for well over 20 hours, which is impressive enough.

Boss fights aren’t very difficult but they can be frustrating because
although you can shoot everything else, you cannot shoot the boss. You
are relegated instead to constant quicktime events where you press
buttons and watch things unfold on the screen.  I will admit
though, although not everything is perfect but the story is well done
and there are some legitimately scary moments. I wouldn’t call it one
of the scariest games I’ve played, but Anna’s death is intriguing,
tough to figure out and well written. I will also admit that the
Raincoat Killer is pretty scary, even though he seems to be torn right
from the pixels of Clock Tower.

I really don’t know what else I can say about Deadly Premonition.
You’re either going to love it or hate it. You really need to be able
to ‘get’ what it sets out to do or you’ll be left baffled. Everything
about this game is pretty bad, to be honest. The whole thing feels
silly and ridiculous and if you’re in on the joke you can kick back,
drop twenty bucks and have fun.

Gameplay: 5/10

GRAPHICS:

This
is an ugly, ugly game. It looks like a last-gen game and could have
been on the Wii. Character models are awful and environments are
bland. 

Graphics:
4/10

AUDIO:

The sound is well-placed
awfulness, but it has a tendency to loop over and over again. The voice
acting is a riot but again, it’s awful.

Audio:
4/10

FINAL VERDICT:

This is such a strange game to
review. Within the first 10 minutes of playing it I was sure I was in
for an agonizing time but I enjoyed the hell out of it. I still feel as
though I can’t encapsulate exactly what it’s like to play this budget
title. By all means, this game is terrible. It looks bad, it sounds
bad, it’s paced poorly and the combat can be frustrating. But as I
mentioned before, this may be the first game to purposely achieve the
status of being so awful that it’s worth your time. It is impossible to
give this game high marks due to its poor execution, but it really was
a unique experience. At only 20 bucks, I recommend it for those with a
sharp sense of humor and an appreciation for the absurd.

Final
Score: 6/10

BUY THIS GAME HERE