Silent Hill: Downpour

Silent Hill is a series that died with a slow gurgle in the back of its throat, wheezing through several iterations of life-support before the monitors blips ceased to do so. I can’t even fully put the blame on the numerous developer-for-hires that picked up the series after the dissolution of Team Silent, as The Room is a decidedly more mixed game than the previous entries. Now that Silent Hill seems to have finally keeled over, I finally decided to work my way through a Silent Hill game that has been in my backlog for years: Downpour.

Downpour is a more difficult game to try and figure out then Homecoming. Homecoming was a derivative and awful piece of work, trying so hard to capture the glory of the series’ past without any greater understanding of what made it good, a quintessential example of why fans taking over a series in the wake of its original creators is often ill-advised. It regurgitated so many elements of the series — poorly, I might add — without creating nearly enough to stand out on its own, hoping to live up Silent Hill 2 through inept imitation.

By comparison, Downpour is a mess of good ideas executed with mixed success. While not its greatest failing, its attachment to the name Silent Hill brings along unfavorable comparisons to better-realized games, though Downpour certainly can say it tried. In fact, the aspects that force it to come back to Silent HIll end up being the weakest parts of the game.

The plot of Downpour concerns Murphy Pendleton, who opens the game murdering a child molester named Patrick Napier. After some time passes, Murphy is being transferred to a new prison under the care of Officer Anne Cunningham. During the transfer, Silent Hill rears its ugly head and causes the bus to crash. Seemingly the only survivor, Murphy’s attempt to escape forces him through the city, where he must face the horrors of the town and of his own past in usual Silent Hill fashion.

The first and most prevalent aspect of the game is its technical shortcomings. I played this game on PS3 and I can only hope that the Xbox 360 got the better end of the stick in that regard. Downpour‘s framerate is inconsistent, horrible loading times plague everything from retries to opening doors to walking around different portions of the town, and stuttering accompanies every autosave. Never before has “behind-the-scenes” loading been so readily apparent. Numerous times I feared the game had crashed when opening doors to new areas or even crossing some of the larger ones. It’s an ever-present problem throughout the game and if that’s a deal-breaker than this game isn’t for you. Also, this is an Unreal 3 game and its very noticeable, with popping textures left and right.

Even outside of general technical performance, the mechanical aspects of the game are suspect as well. Combat itself is terrible, cumbersome to a fault, but unlike Homecoming, Downpour doesn’t attempt to make it the centerpiece, instead giving the option to evade or outmaneuver most situations, an option a gladly took. That said, Downpour has an interesting system where Murphy cannot hold onto weapons in his inventory, instead weapons are strewn throughout the game and are far more temporary. Anything from bottles, bricks, chairs, pipes, and axes can be picked up and used as a weapon until it breaks. It gives a very impromptu and improvised feel to the survival aspect of the game, giving the feeling of using whatever was available to you to get by. It’s a system used to much lesser extant in The Last of Us, but it may even be more realized here.

But the options for combat almost completely invalidate this neat idea. Within the clunky combat, Murphy can lock on, block, and do basic attacks, but he can also throw the weapon in desperation. A nice inclusion, but its almost worthless and can almost make parts of the game inaccessible. Certain weapons have uses outside of combat, such as using an axe to break down wooden boards or using fireplace pokers to pull down fire escape ladders, but one poorly thrown axe can have you scouring the level to find another. It doesn’t help that adventure game logic takes over, where ONLY a fireplace poker can pull down a ladder, whereas the similarly-shaped weapons cannot.

After an introduction sequence, Murphy finally makes it to Silent Hill proper, which is one likely the most open the town has ever been. The city blocks are densely designed and filled with detail, each open house or door a different side quest that helps develop the town and brings it to life in ways that Homecoming failed miserably. Of course, modern game design dictates that each side quest be listed as such in a journal, turning the almost natural progression of exploration in the town into another checklist. The side quests are all non-sequiturs, but are interesting enough to keep you exploring.

And exploring is what you will spend most of the time doing. Many items, such as staples like maps and flashlights, need to be found but are easier to miss than ever. I actually appreciate that the game rewards careful exploration of the environment, which nets you proper maps and other helpful things, but without them the game definitely becomes more of a hassle. After a reload that cost me quite a few minutes of time, I failed to find where the map was once again and spent the rest of the game without a map of Silent Hill, making navigation quite difficult (Even Pathologic gives you a map).

As I said before, the game being tied to the Silent Hill name ends up dragging it down more than helping it. The Otherworld makes a reappearance and is of a unique design, but fails to inspire terror in any way, shape, or form. In a silly attempt to create an exciting chase scene, during the Otherworld sequences a giant red ball will appear that slowly eats away at Murphy when nearby. So you run away, but through really uninteresting environments with really stock obstacles to avoid. I have no idea if the ball is meant to represent Murphy’s guilt or his repressed memories or why else this is in the game except to create an “exciting” moment, but it makes the trips to the Otherworld more rote than anything else. Admittedly, these accounted for most of my deaths, but mostly though trial and error rather than actual difficulty.

Monster design is some of the weakest in the series, one of the few areas of the game Homecoming manages to surpass it, if only just. All enemies can be filed under creepy claw lady or feral brute guy. They come in different flavors, like invisible creepy claw lady, but there is very little to talk about in that regard. Horror is missing from most of the proceedings, Downpour builds an atmosphere but does offer any payoff with it. This is likely the game’s biggest failing, even given the technical shortcomings.

Downpour isn’t a bad game so much as it is a disappointing one. The West often gets a lot of crap for failing to deliver on the Silent Hill experience, but Vatra Games did the best of any of them, at least in the case of an original take on the series. Their ambition far outweighed their means, but that’s a better reason for failure than cheap mimicry or misplaced homage.

Metal Gear Solid 5: The Phantom Pain

Minor spoilers ahead.

Hideo Kojima can never be said to have made the same game twice. Each game with his name attached to it is more than an iterative update, each a painstakingly-crafted work that stands on its own merits, even when not all of it works. It’s with a bit of disappointment then that Metal Gear Solid 5: The Phantom Pain feels more like the mess that was Metal Gear Solid 4 than a triumph like Metal Gear Solid 3.

Picking up nine years where Ground Zeroes left off, Big Boss, now played by a competent but out of place and wasted Kiefer Sutherland, has awoken from a coma caused by the helicopter crash at the ending of the game. Even nearly a decade later, he is still one of the world’s most wanted men and as a result soon after waking an attempt on his life is made, forcing him to escape with the help of a bandage-obscured roommate. After an ensuing hour-long sequence, which you will either love or hate depending upon your ability to put up with heavily scripted sequences, Big Boss escapes and meets up with Revolver Ocelot, who takes him back to Mother Base, an offshore complex that houses the Diamond Dogs, a private military corporation waiting for Big Boss’ return to begin operations.

The first hour or so of the game is great the first time through, but overly long on repeat playthroughs. Those who find it boring and tedious need to only suffer through it before being treated to the most open and gameplay-driven game in the series, which is saying a lot. The Phantom Pain takes place in two full-sized open world maps, as well as Mother Base, which makes the available space in the game massive compared to previous entries in the series. And this one of the two areas where the game primarily falters.

I think The Phantom Pain has ruined open world games for me. While I still look forward to playing The Witcher 3, hearing the words “open world” is no longer a cause for excitement. If anything, it brings with it an unease that comes from knowing what you’re about to play is padded as shit. Metal Gear Solid V is no exception. Its environments are expansive and vibrant, with day and night cycles, weather patterns — that actually have an effect on gameplay — and incredible draw distances only occasionally hindered by popping textures in the far off distance. What it lacks is anything to do. Littered across the maps are outposts and bases, each wonderfully designed levels in the vein of Ground Zeroes’ sole location, but in between there is almost nothing to do break the monotony of traveling from one place to another except wild animals to capture and plants to collect. There are a few examples of having to chase targets across long distances, but they are few and far between a generally rely on a vehicle or horse to keep up with.

The one area where the game benefits from this style is being able to approach any situation from multiple insertion points and to assess any situation from a distance, functionally allowing actual reconnaissance for the first time in the series. The game only improves at this point, as once it gets up close and personal with its stealth gameplay, its on another level from the competition.

The pure freedom offered on a micro scale is incredible. A myriad of different items are offered at your disposal, from the classic cardboard boxes and empty clips of ammo to new things like decoys and a speaker that can play different cassettes found throughout the game, either as a distraction or influence enemies in other way. Helicopters can be called on command to offer direct assistance or to deliver supply drops. Big Boss will eventually find and unlock buddies to bring along, from D-Horse, the only convenient way to get around the open world quickly to the scantily-clad sniper Quiet, who positions herself overlooking your location and acts as a spotter and provides covering fire.

The Fulton Recovery System makes its return from Peace Walker, though can be upgraded to capture stationary gun emplacements, cargo freights, and even manned vehicles such as tanks. This is the main method of staffing Mother Base, which serves as a means of unlocking new upgrades and improving numerous aspects of the game. Mother Base in an of itself is a large complex of connected struts reminiscent of Big Shell. At points it is needlessly big and wandering around it takes a while, but packing yourself into a cardboard box allows you to deliver yourself to different struts at designated locations.

The open and near-perfect gameplay does come at a cost. For those who come to the series for its normal wackiness associated with the series, look no further than the gameplay, which is the best the series has provided yet. For those looking for a memorable entry in the Metal Gear Solid collection, one filled with twists, turns, and memorable moments, this is the other area where the game manages to live up to its potential.

When the game first opens itself to the player, its initially freeing, especially after the claustrophobic opening. A few hours later the “percentage completed” meter is hovering around ten percent and you realize just how much shit there is in this game. I know people like to get a bang for their buck and sixty dollars is no small price, but too much of a good thing can ruin said good thing. Metal Gear Solid V ends up falling victim to the same problems plaguing most open world titles: too much to do and not enough of it means anything. It’s a ploy and gimmick to increase the numbers on the back of the game box for potential customers.

What it does mean is that much of the game is spent waiting. The load times are actually quite good, but every time you want to go to the field, you must wait for the helicopter to drop you off. When you want to leave the mission field, you must call the helicopter and wait for it to arrive and then wait for it to fly away. Every time. Multiple missions can be tackled at once, but the game is so large that waiting is essential.

Story related missions can be tackled right away, but so many of them are filler that long stretches of the game go off without anything interesting happening, a trait unique to this game in the series. This gets especially bad when missions get broken up in the middle of the action only to have a “to be continued” slapped on the screen before being sent back to the mission select helicopter where the next mission can be immediately accessed. Why? At that point in the game, just keep going instead of ruining the urgency of the moment.

Another side effect of the missions structure cuts the number of cutscenes in the game down tremendously. At first, this is a good thing, as the gameplay to cutscene ratio for the series has never been better. But as the game progresses and you keep waiting for story related to things to happen, I found myself hoping for cutscenes just to break up the gameplay and possibly work to flesh out the characters, who are woefully underdeveloped. Codec calls are gone entirely, replaced with tapes that can be listened to while playing, another fantastic change, but so much of the story is contained in them that listening is mandatory to have any understanding as to what is going on.

And then the game just kind of ends. No big build-up, no forty-five minute monologue, the game just offers a mission that is functionally the intro again with a few key pieces of information added. There was a mission cut that would have resolved a lingering plot thread, but the game isn’t unfinished, its just underwhelming as all hell. Even the game’s twist ending, which is admittedly hinted at and has a great level of detail and effort put into it, doesn’t actually affect the game or the series that much overall, coming across as an attempt to recreate Metal Gear Solid 2‘s infamous ending sequence while falling quite short. Rather than a thunderous conclusion, The Phantom Pain just sort of meanders into Metal Gear, technically taking the series full circle but with a whimper, not a bang.

This makes The Phantom Pain a really hard nut to crack. Kojima definitely spent more time with the gameplay on this one and it shows, beautifully crafted, smooth, and intuitive throughout. What it lacks is any sort of structure or narrative flow, careening the game into a vast pit of meh that will make you ask “So… am I done?” at the end, never a good sign. And with the game’s uninspired conclusion — which may be the series’ as well — the audience is left with its own sort of phantom pain, a missing piece of a long, convoluted puzzle that’s been going on for twenty-five years. Metal Gear Solid V may be one of the year’s best games and its most disappointing.

Revisiting Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots

While I managed to finish my replay of the series leading up to MGSV, my write-ups fell behind as I have been caught up in the game itself, drawing me in to its drastically different take on the series. But before that can happen, a look at the series capstone Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots is in order.

Five years after the events of Metal Gear Solid 2, nanomachines have redefined warfare to the point that entire armies are integrated with them, allowing for inhuman levels of coordination and control of key bodily functions, both physical and psychological, essentially making the perfect soldiers instantaneously without the need for rigorous training or experience. Snake, now referred to as Old Snake as a result of the onset rapid aging courtesy of the cloning process that made him, is still on the trail of Ocelot, now known as Liquid Ocelot due to his grafted arm — which was originally Liquid Snake’s — slowly taking over his conscious mind.

As the story progresses, Snake discovers that Liquid is planning to take over the Patriots, a collection of AI that controls nearly every function of the modern world, including the nanomachines that power most of the world’s military forces. To do this, he needs the remains of Big Boss, whose genetic code is the master key to controlling the Patriots AI. This sends Snake on a worldwide chase to cut off Ocelot, all while trying to find out how to prevent the rapid aging destroying his body long enough to see the mission through to the end.

Overall, I’ve been kind to the series despite its many faults because it is a series that I loved and grew up with. There is a certain nostalgia to my inclination toward the series even when I attempt to give it a more critical eye. With MGS4 this task is a bit easier, as it is the most problematic game in the series, both because of what it does so well and what goes so horribly wrong.

MGS4 is a unique take on the series in and of itself. For the first time since Metal Gear Solid, the series had completely reinvented itself for a more modern age. Gone are the static camera angles and dated controls, instead replaced with a permanent third-person camera and dual-stick movement. Environments are now bigger than they’ve ever been, covering far more ground and being much more detailed in the process. The game adopts a new, chapter-based structure that allows it to hop locations more frequently, allowing for more varied types of play. The level design, especially the first two chapters, are some of the most interesting bits in the series.

The stealth has also been streamlined and for the better. Keeping the camouflage system from MGS3, a percentage rating shows Snake’s visibility to enemies. However, instead of constant trips to the menu for each new surface you come into contact with, Snake is now equipped with the Octocamo, which transforms to match the texture and consistency of whatever surface he’s resting against for several seconds. It smooths the process and is just a fun visual mechanic all-around. Snake now also has a Psych Meter, replacing the Stamina Meter from MGS3. The Psych Meter directly relates to Snake’ mental state on the field, as the meter depletes he stops healing over time and his aim becomes shaky and uncontrollable. When its full, he acts normal.

This is one of the many things that ties into the game’s theme of “Sense”. The character’s emotional states, while always an important part of drama, but Kojima attempts to tie it into the game’s mechanics as well. Snake, now being hold and essentially being held together by the functions of his suit, constantly shows signs of minor pains and aches of old age. Snake can restore his Psych Meter by taking certain drugs or listening to his iPod. The main enemy force of the game, The Beauty and the Beast squad, are each a reaction to base emotion, like crying or laughter.

Mostly though, Kojima gets his point across through the very aspect of Snake’s decrepitude. It isn’t very common that players control a elderly character, even one as agile as Snake. The entire game plays out like a tragedy, a man racing to a foregone unhappy ending because its the only thing he’s ever known how to do. “I’m no hero, I’m just an old man hired to do some wetwork.” Snake says, underlining the series’ maxim that soldiers are less a heroic image to live up to than a necessary evil, tools used by those more manipulative to further their own means. The only conclusion the game can reach is that Snake doesn’t make it out alive, so the question becomes whether he can do it before its too late.

But here is the part where things go horribly wrong. MGS4 is the unfortunate follow-up to a question that was never really meant to be answered. MGS2 is such a complex Hail Mary of ideas and concepts, many of which go unanswered on purpose, that to find a fitting answer for all of them is a Herculean task that even Kojima would find difficult. And lo and behold, he fails.

Nanomachines are a common point of criticism for the game and with food reason, they dominate the discussion and mini-series worth of cutscenes. The serve as a large band-aid for some of the series more fantastical elements. Why can’t Vamp stay dead? Nanomachines. How can the Patriots control every individual on the planet? Nanomachines. What’s keeping Snake and Naomi Hunter alive? Nanomachines. It’s underdeveloped and overexposed to the point of hilarity.

What’s more, the game itself also has to serve as a sendoff to to a long-running series which causes Kojima to indulge his worst habits. Pretty much every still-living character in the series — and some non-living ones — makes a reappearance, from deserved ones like EVA and Meryl to tacky scenes featuring Mei Ling. Raiden in particular is one of the most bizarre changes, changing from an unpopular Snake to an unpopular Grey Fox. The ending of the game itself is also horribly contrived, wrapping everything up into a nice little bow and taking an hour to do so. Which is a shame, since Kojima’s direction is still on point, it merely overstays its welcome. Its redundant at this point to mention the writing, but this is the worst cutscene to gameplay ratio in the series and it shows. All this to give the game a happy ending that the game doesn’t even seem to want.

Still, I can’t bring myself to call it a bad game, not by a longshot. The gameplay, when it appears, is the best in the series up until this point and is brimming with personality and detail. And although the cutscenes are too many, Kojima manages to make some great scenes, both in and out of gameplay. This series was never going to end in a totally satisfying manner, there is too much going on to wrap it all up succinctly and effectively, but even on its own merits its a worthwhile game, filled with the insanity and fun the series is famous for, even if you have to wade through some bad to get there.