Deadly Premonition - Reception

Reception

Deadly Premonition has received mixed reviews from critics, with praise directed at its unusual storyline and open world while criticism was directed at its spotty production values and dated controls; it received an average score of 70% from GameRankings and 68/100 from Metacritic. It is considered one of the most divisive games to be released in a long time, with scores ranging from as low as 2 out of 10 from IGN US (later 7.5 out of 10 from IGN UK) to as high as 10 out of 10 from Destructoid. Gamasutra released data that Deadly Premonition led sales of Xbox 360 games on Amazon.com for the week of April 9, 2010, temporarily overtaking higher-profile releases such as Battlefield: Bad Company 2, Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2, Mass Effect 2, and Left 4 Dead 2. This cult success was attributed to how the game's "wildly mixed critical reception and headline-making strangeness got people talking" by GamePro.

Criticism was directed at the game's controls, sound effects, and visual quality. IGN's Erik Brudvig called Deadly Premonition, "Awful in nearly every way", and criticized every aspect of the game, especially its bad production values and lackluster controls. Eurogamer's Chris Schilling noticed that the soundtrack seemed out of place during many scenes, with serious scenes often containing a light-hearted jazz track. GameSpot's Kevin VanOrd noted that the visuals contained many low-resolution textures.

Despite the criticisms, the game has received a significant cult following. The story and characters were widely praised by critics, and many reviewers drew comparisons to the Twin Peaks television series. Destructoid's Jim Sterling gave the game a perfect score, calling it a "beautiful trainwreck." GameSpot's Kevin VanOrd stated that the story's unpredictability was the game's greatest strength. Despite his criticism, Schilling of Eurogamer noted that the characters in the town were fascinating in their oddness. 1UP.com's Frank Cifaldi praised the game as being an example of the kind of quality interactive storytelling that only a video game could provide. Gamasutra also praised the game for its "living, bizarre game world, where people go about their daily business regardless of player interaction." GameCentral described the game as "the strangest video game of the year" and a primary example of "games as art", praising it for its "emotional range, from traditional survival horror scares to farcical comedy". X-Play gave it 4/5 stars, and named it one of the "Top 10 Games of 2010... So Far" in June 2010. Game Critics wrote an article about why it should be Game of the Year. The game has received over a dozen other awards from various publications, including "Best Cult Game" from Gamasutra, "Most Surprisingly Good Game" from GameSpot, and "Best Worst Game" from GamesRadar. In the 2012 Guinness World Records Gamer's Edition, Deadly Premonition holds the record as the "Most Critically Polarizing Survival Horror Game".