Federal Agent, Francis York Morgan, is investigating an unexplained phenomenon: serial killers everywhere, with no relation with one another, have all strangely been committing the same ritualistic style of murder with all their female victims. This most recent one, a lady named Anna, has led Francis York Morgan to the small hick town of Greenvale.
Now lets talk about Greenvale. Greenvale is a big sandbox style town. The set up is similar to the Grand Theft Auto games. It's a Two Part Town, surrounded by country roads and a nearby lake. It's only got one gas station, grocery store, a few restaurants and bars, a hospital, a Sheriff Station, and a couple other locations. As the story unfolds and your investigation leads you to various places on the map, the town becomes very much like a real place. You get to know a lot of the people who live there and, like the Japanese often do, they've created very memorable characters.
You got George Woodman, the town Sheriff who doesn't take too kindly to big headed Federal Agents interfering with local affairs. Emily, the Sheriff deputy that likes your character. You got Isaach and Isaac, the twin boys that found Anna's body in the woods, their Grandpa, who looks after the kids while their parents, Keith and Lilly Ingram, work at the grocery store. You Have Sally, Anna's mother. Becky Ames, Anna's best friend. Quint, Becky's boyfriend....and each of these people are hiding something and depending upon your actions, you can learn more about them. You can actually drive door to door to meet with them for interviews. This opens up a good number of sidequests.
Then of course you have Francis York Morgan himself. You gotta love this guy because no matter what happens--like flipping over his car on a rainy night and escaping death by mere seconds--he remains completely unfazed. Everyone else might be panicking around him, but he keeps his cool. In fact the only thing that makes him lose his composure is food. Those of you that have played the game know what I'm talking about. Never mind the fact he spent the whole night fighting off hoards of zombies, Francis York Morgan has got his eye on them freshly baked Biscuits. He talks to his coffee. In fact, a lot of his investigative intuition comes directly from the coffee he drinks. Okay? Furthermore, he has a second personality, Zach, that he talks to, even in front of other people. But no one questions him because there's no denying his effectiveness at solving the murder case.
So what makes this game a horror game? Well, every time the murderer strikes, it rains, and when it rains, York is transported into another dimension that looks like a distorted reflection of the town, where zombie-like creatures come out from the walls and attack him. And again, he's completely unfazed by all this, considering it merely something he doesn't understand. Nobody else seems to experience these recurring events and he doesn't tell anyone else about it because he fears they'll deem him completely insane.
But this game is not a Survival Horror in the traditional sense where the player is in constant danger. It's more about the investigation, driving around interviewing people, and following a really good story.
Get more detail about Deadly Premonition.
No comments:
Post a Comment