Deadly Premonition may be one of the most divisive games ever made. When it was released on the Xbox 360 in 2010, some critics thought it might have been one of the worst games ever created, with terrible dialogue, bad graphics and horrid controls. There was, however, another group of critics who thought it was a prime example of the, “So bad, it’s good” genre. The voice acting was laughably terrible, the story was completely insane and the graphics were hilariously bad. The game was so polarizing, it won the Guinness World Record for “Most Critically Polarizing Survival Horror Game.” Deadly Premonition: The Director’s Cut has now been released for the PS3 and it’s probably the best version of one of the “worst” games.
The story sees FBI Special Agent Francis York Morgan investigating a horrible crime in a small town. A young woman has been mysteriously murdered and red seeds have been found inside her throat. York must navigate a twisted web of small town intrigue in order to discover who the culprit is and stop more of the red seed murders.
Deadly Premonition wears its Twin Peaks inspiration on its sleeve. The game has a huge number of nods to the cult classic television show and, like the TV show, the game has more of an emphasis on meeting the unique local inhabitants than on solving the crime at hand. This is as close to a David Lynch video game that we may ever have.
Much of the game remains unaltered in the Director’s Cut. You still drive around the city of Greenvale, going to various locations at certain points of the day to start missions. There are still side missions to do in between your main missions, as well.
When you’re not traveling through the open world of Greenvale, you’ll be unraveling the mystery of the murder. This usually consists of some fairly basic puzzles. Then, the world will transform into a sort of “Dark World” where monstrous versions of the town’s inhabitants must be killed. As you travel through the dark version of Greenvale, you’ll have to gather clues to unravel more of the mystery.
Combat has taken a slight turn, however, as the Director’s Cut features several changes to the control scheme. Now, the game plays like a very basic version of Resident Evil 4 due to the controls being altered. You can press down the R1 button to aim and the R2 button to fire. It’s a small change when you first begin playing this version but it becomes almost impossible to go back to the original control scheme once you get used to it.
The game is also substantially easier. Enemies take fewer hits to bring down and with the revised control scheme, you can now pull off instant-kill headshots with incredible ease. When you entered into a section of the game where combat was heavily involved in the original game, fights were almost dreaded. Now, you can breeze through them with incredible ease, for the most part.
However, the core of the game is still as laughably silly as the original. Everything about it seems custom made to be the perfect game to accompany any “bad movie night.” Lines are delivered in hilarious fashion, sounding mostly stilted, like they are being read directly from the script. The story is completely, laughably insane, and makes little to no sense by the time you finish the game. The whole game seems like it was made by Tommy Wiseau (director of The Room) or James Nguyen (director of Birdemic: Shock and Terror).
Another major change is the graphical update the game received. The original game had a sort of haze covering everything in the world, making the world look like it was smeared with Vaseline. Here, the haze is removed and everything is much easier to see. The game still doesn’t look good, but with that fog being gone you can now actually make out what you’re supposed to be looking at. These changes definitely make the game far better than the predecessor, as it’ll be easier for the uninitiated to get into the game.
Sadly, though, the resultant upgrade in visual quality also results in a choppy framerate. Characters literally look like they are badly animated gifs from the early 2000’s at times. Additionally, the audio cuts in and out on occasion. The game also features a new “Scenario” made by the game’s director Hidetaka Suehiro. However, this new content is minimal at best. All that’s here are a few extra cutscenes sprinkled throughout. This is hardly anything worthwhile for people who played the original game, as there is nothing playable about these scenes.
This might be the biggest problem with this version of the game for fans of the original. The game costs twice as much as it did when it launched (the original cost $20 and this version costs $40) and the additional content isn’t really worthwhile. Additionally, the game advertises that additional DLC will be available later on but this version hardly seems worth buying if you’ve already played the original game. The promise that later on you’ll be able to buy more content is hardly enticing to fans of the original game. That said, if you’re looking for a new copy of the game, this version is likely the best way to go as a new copy of the Xbox 360 version now goes for almost $60.
Even with all of these issues for fans of the original, however, ultimately the game is still great. The world is still a blast to explore, filled with tons of crazy characters and hilarious voice work. Yes, this version of Deadly Premonition is flawed, but the slight changes made to the Director’s Cut visuals and to the controls are enough to make it just a bit better. Owners of the Xbox 360 version will find little in this package worth buying, but if you’ve never played this “B-Game” gem, this is the best version you can get. If you own a PS3 exclusively and you’re a fan of films like Birdemic: Shock and Terror or The Room, this game is perfect for you.
A copy of Deadly Premonition: The Director’s Cut was provided to The Married Gamers for review.
Worst. Game. Ever.