Silent Hill: Downpour for Xbox 360 Reviews by Gamers

Compared to Silent Hill Homecoming, Downpour's core storyline is coherent, tightly written, and satisfying to explore from start to finish. Unfortunately, compared to Homecoming, the controls and combat mechanics are an absolute disaster, and other annoyances - like constant backtracking, and the protagonists' ridiculously slow running speed - make it a frustrating playthrough at times.

Silent Hill has been a series that always preys on its characters' fears and secrets, and casting a convicted felon as the lead is a brilliant direction for the franchise to take. The story is just ambigious enough that the many endings can all "fit" what you're learned up to that point, while leaving them up to interpretation.

You'll follow Murphy Pendleton as he escapes a prison bus crash, makes his way to Silent Hill, and tries to piece together his own past as well as several mysteries along the way. Why does Officer Cunningham seem to hate him? Why does water play such an important theme throughout the game? What is Murphy's actual secret, his biggest regret?

Fans of the series may be frustrated by the tedious backtracking and awful combat, but they should find a story within it all that's well worth expriencing at least once.

Amazing............ but flawed, but come to think of it what silent hill game has ever been perfect? thats right none of them. They all have been a little bad but their all still great games. Im going to make this short, i thought Downpour was awesome. Yes it was flawed but it exceded my expectations as a silent hill fan, above and beyond. So this is how i look at this game, ok so imagine an empty frying pan and konami wanted to cook a new silent hill game up. So they take a little silent hill 1,2, and 3, silent hill origons, silent hill homecoming, and silent hill shattered memories and mixed them all up and boom you got a darn good silent hill game. And dont listen to the other reviewers that say this game isnt scary because it is pretty scary. I play all the older silent hill games all the time and this game still managed to make me jump like a girl and send chills through me. I also thought that the story was dead on perfect and i say good job for letting me play as a prisoner because silent hill is a place of punishment and who ever is called there or ends up there is basically paying for their sins. And who better to suffer for their sins than a prisoner! I also think that this game improved on tons of things that the silent hill series needed to improve on, (the god dang health system being one, which is perfectly fixed in this game.) anyways all in all i give this game a 8 mainly just for some graphical, musical, and gameplay issues. but as a die hard silent hill fan i give this game a solid 10, because i see this game as the game that all the fans have been asking for, its just you got to look past some issues to see it. ohh yea and also just cause i love all things silent hill. :)