Deadly Premonition is out in North America!
I received my copy of Deadly Premonition Director’s Cut yesterday and was able to put a few hours into the game last night after work. I was pretty worried that the game wouldn’t run smoothly due to the reports of bugs by fans who purchased the PAL release last Friday but I’m happy to report that the NTSC version of the game is running smoothy for me so far.
That’s not to say the game doesn’t have issues but they are pretty minor compared to the Silent Hill HD Collection technical fiasco I was picturing in my head! Here’s some of my first impressions:
- There’s tiny hiccups with the frame rate similar to the ones I saw while playing the Japanese Red Seeds Profile on PS3 over the weekend. Every once an while there’s a slight pause after I shoot enemy in head and the worst stuttering I’ve seen thus far has been restricted to the opening Woods Otherworld segment and replay. It’s not hindering my play through at all and I’ve barely notice it after the initial occurrence.
- Enemies are way too easy. Probably not even necessary for people to go out and find the unlimited weapons. Two shots to the head with the 9mm Handgun FBI Custom and they are dead.
- Sound issues I’ve experienced: I noticed echoing a few times briefly but it wasn’t constant. I remember York echoing outside the woods and I believe when he first met Polly. Music and voices are still unbalanced like in the Xbox release. I also noticed slight stuttering on the bg music in the Woods area especially if you have the game paused and some stuttering while talking to Polly.
- Controls: Not as customizable as I thought. I tried to change the controls to the original ones found in Red Seeds Profile and the Xbox 360 Deadly Premonition and found it to be impossible. You can change what each of the buttons do but there’s no way to change which stick is used to aim nor can you customize the driving controls. Driving is improved handling wise as I find I don’t careen off road quite so much but the boost (L2) and brake (L1) positions on the controller is rather awkward. I really wish I could switch there positions so the brake is below the boost.The 180 degree turn is also missing which is a little annoying but given how easily the enemies go down I find I’m using it less often to make quick attacks behind me while fighting a group.
BTW the text given in game for the darts controls are wrong, but once I figured out the correct aim, breath hold and shot buttons it was a breeze.
- Really like that I don’t have the fast forward through the text dialogue and observations also the moveable camera really makes looking at the environments a lot more fun!
- I can see a lot of graphical improvements over the original but not all the textures have been improved. There’s still a lot of blurry illegible things that haven’t been upgraded. For example, the side of the Sheriff patrol car and George’s note to York with the car master key are still very low resolution. However a lot of the building exteriors, the road, menus and items have received more details and polish though. I plan on showing some side by side comparisons soon.
I’m enjoy myself immensely so far and I’m not sure why the PAL version is running so poorly for other fans. I’m thinking I should try and import a copy to compare. I’m not sure if my experience has more to do with my PS3 being brand new (I have a system that came bundled with Assassin’s Creed 3) or that the NTSC is just less buggy.
BTW I haven’t been able to try any of the DLC because they are not in the PSN store as of last night.
Just like my experience of the game. The improvements far outweigh the small technical niggles.
Control wise I can see why it’s different. It’s all because of the Playstation Move. The trigger = R1. Button on top = R2. This would work well for darts, and driving would be more comfortable using the trigger to accelerate and L2 to boost.
I still don’t see why there couldn’t be a non-Move influenced control scheme. Aiming on the Right Stick while planted feels really weird don’t you agree. I would love a patch that improves control customizastion.
What you’ve described is not too different from the PAL release I’m playing to be honest. I’ve yet to come across anything game breaking and the only really noticeable ‘glitch’ I’ve experienced compared to my xbox play through is the occasional 1-2 freeze. Always kicks back in though and off we go 🙂 Nobody I’ve read seems to know why they did away with the difficulty option. Most players are reporting the DC version being somewhere between easy and normal…
Yeah I noticed the difficulty started at easy and closer to the middle/end it was normal difficulty but it depends on the shadow.
I purchased the game on demand since there is a delay to get my copy in Canada so I’ll see how smooth it runs compared the the physical copy of the game. I should be finished it by tomorrow 😉
I told you not to even mentally compare it to silent hill HD! there is no way that was going to happen! I was surprised you went there.
I started playing it this morning, and I have to say, I’m very disappointed with the controls and the camera button. I definitely prefer the original controls. I’m hoping I can get used to this.
i only feel sorry for the development team. won’t be buying unless fixes
Not worth playing on ps3 but it had an amazing extra at the credits worth the price. 10 playthroughs in total. I’ll retire till DP2. Neworlands??? Better be on 360 though! Ps3 sucks.
😐
I’m now waiting for DLCs….
One of the few games that greatly succeeded in creating an open world. Certainly on of the best games i played this year.
I’m playing this on a 3 year old slim Ps3, and i don’t experience any of the bad things some people report about the game. But then again, i never had problems of this sort with any of my Ps3 games.
Nice site btw 😉
Some things I noticed:
A Rainy Woods real estate agency by the Milk Barn
Ushah’s house had unlimited small medkits!
Also, no problems on my end. Just HATE the controls
Ushah’s house having unlimited Small First Aid was in the original, too! 🙂 I always thought it was a nice little detail; though not super helpful to me since I made sure to get the Weather Doll early. Still, free quick heals is quick heals!
Alright, I’m just gonna say it: I don’t like when Gina gives me the “Special Service” I think she gave my car Herpes…. Although I kinda wanna see Jack give me the “Special Service”. That’s be funny.
I didn’t like it either XD
Does anyone know if there if a location where all the cars i aquired go when I don’t use them? I just got York’s car and don’t want to lose it.
The hotel parking lot 🙂
Really? That’s cool!
Anything about the DLCs yet? I’m getting restless. Lol