Ah. THIS topic. If you see me walking down the street do not get me started on this. I'll go on and on about how the writing in video games has progressed over the years, citing examples from countless characters and story lines. Because I'm a little strapped for time right now, I'm going to keep this short.
The past few days I've been playing a game called "Deadly Premonition." Sounds cheery, right? Well I've played my fair share of the survival horror genre and from the moment I picked this up I knew it was an odd one. For starters it was a budget title, only $20 (compared to the usual $60) on the day of it's release. The low price could be chalked up to the abhorrent graphics but, even still, DP has turned out to be a brilliant game if only for the characters in it.
You take control of FBI Special Agent Francis York Morgan. But just call him York. Everyone calls him that. Normally a survival horror game would start with some serious opening scene in which the main character gets trapped in a spooky alternate world. This does in fact happen to York, but he is trapped while making cryptic references to the Tom and Jerry show to an unknown person on the phone. Flash past some average game play against some creepy zombie-like things and you've brought York back to the normal world and to the forest town of Greenvale. But don't worry about it. His coffee warned him that morning so he was prepared.
Greenvale is where DP really shines. The inhabitants of Greenvale are just plain wacky. In a good way. From Thomas, the shy, biscuit-making assistant sheriff, to Wandering Segourny with her pot full of mysteries, the characters are never a bore to interact with. They always have something to say and, most often, it'll leave you laughing on the floor. The fact that the game developers were able to mix this humor into a survival horror title- and still manage to keep some creepiness in tact- signifies a well written game to me.
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