by Alfredo Dizon, eParis Extra!
Have you heard this one before? A young high school girl is found murdered in a logging community in the Pacific Northwest, and an eccentric FBI agent is sent in to uncover the mystery of the murder and while involving himself with the town’s odd inhabitants. There are two things that would call this premise familiar: David Lynch’s 1990 serial drama Twin Peaks and Suehiro Hidetaka (also known as SWERY)’s 2010 video game Deadly Premonition.
Deadly Premonition, developed by Access Games, stars FBI special agent Francis York Morgan, a strange man with a penchant for smoking and coffee. His peculiar investigative methods involve receiving psychic advice from his coffee and conversing with his imaginary friend Zach. He is not your average video game character. That same sentiment can be applied to most of Deadly Premonition’s bizarre cast. Despite finding superficial root in Twin Peaks, the writing in Deadly Premonition is exceptionally unique and is what makes Deadly Premonition stand out as a diamond in the rough. The praise certainly isn’t a result of the game’s actual gameplay.
Deadly Premonition has built up quite a reputation. The game holds the Guinness World Record for “Most Critically Polarizing Survival Horror game.” Upon its initial release in North America on the Xbox 360, it garnered review scores from a low 2 out of 10, to a perfect 10 out of 10. Some critics were too put off by the game’s dated graphics and, at times, frustrating gameplay and controls. Others found extreme value in the game’s writing, with its crazy characters and intriguing plot. Such disparate reviews cultivated a cult following for the game, similar to those of the B-movies that Agent York spouts to Zach about during his long drives in-game. Unfortunately, Playstation 3 gamers were left out in the cold when it came to experiencing the madness that was Deadly Premonition. Desperate gamers could import the Japanese PS3 release, but that was hardly a convenient option, especially for those that could not read Japanese.
Fast forward to 2013. Thanks to the publishing efforts of Rising Star Games, the game is now available for the Playstation 3 as an exclusive “Director’s Cut.” American and European Playstation 3 owners can now visit the fictional town of Greenvale in a “remastered” Deadly Premonition. The Director’s Cut aims to provide improved visuals, a modernized control scheme, and brand new content not found in the original Xbox 360 release. But does this version actually meet these goals? Is this the “definitive version” of Deadly Premonition?
Graphics and Audio
The game certainly looks better in most aspects. The town of Greenvale is much more colorful than it used to be. The original game had an almost persistent muddy purple and green filter, which gave the town an oppressive atmosphere (which seems more appropriate for certain moments of the game). The environments in the Director’s Cut are much more vibrant. Greenvale looks like a more pleasant place.
Many models and textures have been overhauled to provide a greater level of detail. As an example, the trees are so detailed compared to the original release that they often get in the way of the camera when they didn’t before.
Speaking of the camera, the field of view is much larger in the Director’s Cut. The camera is pulled further back from the player character, showing much more of the game’s environment.
Despite the graphical improvements over the original release, the game still falls in the lowest end of graphical fidelity for a high definition game. The game still looks like it fell out of the Playstation 2 era. Environments, while big and open, still feel flat and empty. Tomb Raider or Bioshock Infinite this is not. Despite that, the character models of the main characters are actually quite good, and their facial expressions during key moments of the story are very effective. However, coupled with often stilted, canned animations outside of cutscenes, it’s rather inconsistent.
Unfortunately, while the game does look better than its original counterpart, it clearly does not run better. In fact, it is quite the opposite. The Director’s Cut contains performance issues that the original Xbox 360 release did not. On average, the Director’s Cut runs at a much lower framerate than the original. This means that movement is slower, choppier, and the controls are less responsive. This likely comes as a result of the more detailed graphics and the larger field of view due to the pulled back camera. It doesn’t help that the game’s engine, the framework on which the game was built, seems to be poorly optimized for the Playstation 3, which is a shame considering its exclusivity to that platform.
The audio is better in some ways, lesser in others. The incredibly catchy tunes from the original game remain intact, and for the most part, better mixed. In the old version, the music would sometimes drown out the character’s voices, often to comical effect. This seems to have been fixed in the Director’s Cut, which is greatly appreciated. However, some cutscenes have an odd “echo” effect applied to the voices. It’s virtually unnoticeable to newcomers of the game, but it’s still an odd stand out from the original. At other times, the audio will stutter for a split second, and then continue just fine. These issues were present in the original Japanese PS3 version, so it seems to stem from issues with the game’s engine.
Gameplay
Deadly Premonition: The Director’s Cut still maintains the open world gameplay of the original. The town of Greenvale is open to explore at your leisure. You’ll probably spend most of your time doing the main story missions, but if you find yourself straying from the beaten path, you’ll open yourself to greater rewards. The many townsfolk of Greenvale will have errands and side quests for you to accomplish, providing essential items and weapons in return. However, the greatest reward of doing these optional missions is the writing. Each character has a unique story to tell, and many of them end up heavily related to the main narrative. It’s a shame that these stories are optional, as most players will probably forgo these quests, missing out on some vital backstory or item that would greatly improve the main gameplay experience.
A major complaint against the original game was the convoluted map system. Greenvale is a big town, but the in-game map only zooms out so far. This makes navigation a problem. There is no in-game GPS system to tell you how to get to your mission objective. Instead, a simple waypoint is placed on your screen and you’re encouraged to just head in that general direction until you’re there. Using the map only further complicates things because its orientation changes depending on which direction you’re facing. North is not always at the top of the map. Sometimes it’ll be on the left side, sometimes on the right or bottom. It is peculiar that this issue was not fixed in the Director’s Cut. Then again, Deadly Premonition is a peculiar game.
When you’re not exploring Greenvale, you’ll find yourself in combat scenarios with supernatural monsters (it is a “horror” game, afterall). These shooting sections probably provide the bulk of the main game, and they don’t do the game any favors. The combat is probably the number one complaint about the original game, and the developers tried to alleviate the complaints in a number of ways. The game now features more standard shooting controls. It’s now your standard right stick to aim, right trigger to shoot shooter controls. While this is a vast improvement upon the game’s original Resident Evil 4-style layout, the experience still leaves a lot to be desired. The aiming still feels sluggish and off, but due to the reduced difficulty of the game, it doesn’t require much skill to gun down your foes. In the end, these combat sections simply serve as a necessary bridge between story points, and you’ll want to get through them just to get to next crazy scene. The game also eschews the tank controls of the original, making it easier to navigate through the environments. So it’s possible to just ignore enemies altogether and run right past them.
There’s also a sleep and hunger mechanic in the game, but it barely plays a role in the long run. The game employs multiple “useless” mechanics like that, but it adds to its uniqueness and unusual nature. York can grow a beard or shave at various points, but his beard has no relevance to the narrative or gameplay. The same goes for the tendency of York’s clothes to become dirty. Once his clothes become dirty, flies will begin to encircle him. The dirtier you become, the more flies you accumulate. The flies will continue to follow York, even in cutscenes to a comedic effect. Yet, other than the small dock in agent salary, this mechanic serves no purpose other than to be just weird. It fits right in with everything else in Deadly Premonition, all things considered.
Story
This is what makes the game. This is why you turn a blind eye to the numerous faults in gameplay. It’s the story: the murder mystery in Greenvale. Who killed Anna Graham? Was it Diane, the promiscuous owner of the art gallery? Or was it Nick, the unsociable but brilliant chef of the diner? Maybe it was both. They do meet suspiciously at the bar every night, according to Nick’s wife, Olivia. Harry, the eccentric wheelchair-bound billionaire that insists on wearing a gas mask everywhere he goes, his rhyming assistant Michael always in tow, seem awfully suspicious as well. And what exactly is in crazy Sigourney’s pot?
You’ll meet all sorts of interesting characters in Deadly Premonition and delve into their rich backstory while discovering unsettling relationships between them. Even when the game isn’t feeding story to you through its cutscenes, you can still choose to follow characters through their daily routines, observing their interactions with other townsfolk, or even peeping into their houses to spy on them. Again, it’s Twin Peaks in interactive form. While seeming like a Twin Peaks rip-off at first, Deadly Premonition quickly strays into a vastly different direction in the most unexpected ways. This stems from the fact that this is a story set in a traditional America setting written by Japanese game designer SWERY. The cultural dissonance there results in one of the most bizarre, yet unbelievably engrossing stories in a video game. And SWERY did his research. You’ll find photographs of his American expeditions once you beat the game. (Though the reason why the turkey sandwich in the game is purple is still a mystery.)
If you reach the end of this game, you will likely end up caring about these characters, invested in their plight. You will want to see York’s case to the end, you will want to know what’s up with his invisible friend Zach, and you will want to know what’s next in store for this dynamic duo. The Director’s Cut adds in various never-before-seen story events interspersed throughout the game that expand upon the lore of Deadly Premonition, and even hints at a potential sequel.
Conclusion
For fans of the original Deadly Premonition, the Director’s Cut is a definite must-play. The changes to the game make for a different experience, if not better. Newcomers should be a bit more cautious. Despite the various improvements, the game still retains the gameplay quirkiness of the original. It’s definitely not a game for everybody. But if you’re willing to forgive the tedious combat and the dated graphics, you will find one of the richest narrative experiences that a video game can provide.
I give Deadly Premonition: The Director’s Cut a score of 3 out of 5.
— Alfredo Dizon, eParis Extra!
Alfredo, born and raised in Paris, is a recent graduate from the University of North Texas with degrees in English and Japanese. He immerses himself in various facets of “geek culture.” From technology to video games, Alfredo seeks to explore and expose these growing industries to a greater audience.
