ENSLAVED: ODYSSEY TO THE WEST

Ever the masters of narrative-driven single-player experiences, back in 2010, Ninja Theory delivered Enslaved: Odyssey to the West, a game that many consider one of the studio’s best works ever to this day. Sadly, the game ended up a commercial failure. Though acclaimed by many for its storytelling, characters, performances, and its take on the classic Chinese tale of Journey to the West, for whatever reason, it failed to attract a sizeable audience.

Abstract Daddy – Silent Hill 2

Located within the Labyrinth, the Abstract Daddy is arguably one of the most disturbing creatures in Silent Hill lore. Essentially two bodies stuck on a portrait of skin, moving on four legs, it’s a representation of the abuse that Angela Orosco faced. It’s also implied to have some connection to James Sunderland’s own frustration.

Bloater – The Last of Us

The final stage in evolution for a victim of the Cordyceps virus, the Bloater’s immense size is a testament to its damage resistance. As such, the sheer thickness of the fungus is pretty disgusting when you look at it. The one recognizable quality of humanity remaining are the teeth and they look especially awful, jutting out amid all the fungi.

Note: The views expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily represent the views of, and should not be attributed to, GamingBolt as an organization.

Silent Hill 1 – The Final Boss Will Die Automatically Provided You Have No Ammo At All

When facing the final boss of Silent Hill 1, if you have no ammo you can win instantly. Cycling through each of your weapons and showing the boss you don’t have a single round on you will cause it to die automatically. Sometimes the best weapon is no weapon at all.

Konami hs released the patch for the PlayStation 3 version which promises to fix these issues. The complete list is below:

• Improved frame rate
• Fixed save game system
• Fixed bugs in “Homeless” side quest/mission
• Several other performance enhancements/bug fixes

So, as you can read, this patch promises to enhance performance and fix the save issues. Only time will tell how many of these issues are actually fixed as we get feedback from the gaming community.

Do you guys think that developers and publishers need to stop rushing in to releasing their games? It’s been almost seven months the game was released and Konami is still issuing patches. In my opinion it would have sold and scored more, if they would have delayed the game and worked on giving a better end user experience.

Unfortunately, the patch only seems to be deployed for the PS3 version of the game. It has thus been cancelled for the XBox 360 edition due to technical issues and resources. Yes, you read that right. If you’re having problems with Downpour, then the best help Konami can provide is three words: Deal with it.

Which might be a bad time to say that Silent Hill: Downpour is going available for download via XBOX Live Games on Demand, beginning on October 30 for $39.99.

Poor Murphy. Stuck in Silent Hill all alone.

Let’s talk about the story first. The plot is a very crucial element of any survival horror game and Downpour is no exception. The game is about a convict, Murphy Pendleton who is seeking revenge for an unknown incident. He gets in touch with George Sewell, am officer at the station and gets access to Patrick Napier. For unspecified reasons, Murphy beats the hell out him and eventually kills him. Murphy is then scheduled for a prison transfer with other inmates under the watch of Anne Cunningham. On their way, the bus crashes and falls down through a mountain. Murphy wakes up and finds himself in the midst of, guess what? Silent Hill. From there-on Murphy finds and fights his way through monsters, puzzles and meets with people who will eventually help him escape from Silent Hill. Unfortunately that is all what I can reveal about the story as I really don’t want to spoil it for you guys. The story is pretty well narrated and ends the game on a satisfying note.

Some monsters pose a threat alright.

Silent Hill games have always been about surviving and Downpour does the job done in this regard. You won’t fire and force your way through but instead the game forces you to think and survive. The player will have access to basic weaponry like iron bars, wooden sticks and fire axe to make their way through and take down any weapon or obstacle they might encounter in their way. On very rare occasions you will find a pistol or a shotgun that will make things a bit easier. So overall the game is more about exploring and less about combat, due to which the developers have not really put a lot of effort in to the latter. Now this may bug some players but personally it added a lot of tension in the gameplay.  Vatra Games have also done a brilliant job with the puzzles. Anyone who is horror game fanatic will instantly recognize that these puzzles have been inspired from the traditional Resident Evil games. The enemies in the game also pose some serious challenges to the player and running away from them is the best solution at times.

The game is developed on Unreal Engine 3 and as soon as I think of that it means a game with beautiful vistas. Unfortunately that is the not the case. The game suffers from poor textures and frame rate issues. The score could have gone a notch higher if they would have released a highly polished game. On the other hand, the voice acting and background music have been brilliantly performed and composed respectively, adding a sense of tension and excitement throughout the game.

The game borrows heavily from traditional Resident Evil games which is a very good move in my book.

Silent Hill Downpour is not a game that will appeal to everyone. It has its faults but it does one thing absolutely right. It scares the hell out of the players at times and forces the them to survive and move ahead, which has been the central theme of every game in the long running franchise. Veteran Silent Hill fans should pick this up without any second thoughts. But if you do not belong to that bandwagon you should probably wait for some of the more awesome horror games that are coming out later this year.

This game was reviewed on the PlayStation 3.

Konami have announced online patches for both Silent Hill Downpour and Silent Hill HD Collection. They are currently under development and will be released soon.

The patch will fix the frame rate issues, the audio-synching in Silent Hill HD Collection. The Auto-Save issues in Silent Hill Downpour will also be fixed.

Stay tuned for more information.

***Please note this walkthrough was not uploaded by GamingBolt.com

Special thanks to Youtube user theRadBrad for uploading this walkthrough.

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Without further ado, let’s begin!