Welcome to the town of Rainy Woods.
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I can hear David Lynch yelling about copyright laws to the producers of this game from way the hell over here. Clumsy deputy, Sheriff with a cowboy hat, dwarves, a dead blond girl. Holy s**t, I hope nobody talks backwards because they might have to change the title to “Twin Peaks: The Game”.
I know this isn’t a gaming site, but a lot of video games do go through a lot of time and trouble to develop a really complete cinematic experience, with deeper and more complex storylines than some movies, so I feel that their effort should be commended. You just have to play plotless orgies of violence like Devil May Cry or God of War, which are really just updated versions of Pac Man with better graphics and more blood, to understand how refreshing it is to play something that feels like it was made by grownups for grownups, even if it is derivative all to hell.
If you’re not into games, and I’m assuming a lot of you aren’t, you should be aware that titles like “”Metal Gear Solid” and “”Silent Hill” have always been more movielike than gamelike, and that some of the newer games like “”Killer 7″ or “”Resident Evil 4″ manage to be more engrossing and fun to “”watch” than a lot of the Hollywood nonsense that passes for entertainment.
Just look at the trailer for Metal Gear Solid 4 and tell me if that wouldn’t make an awesome movie.
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Then, check out Silent Hill 2. It’s a bit old, but it’s rightly considered to have the best storyline and plot of any game EVER made
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Then there’s Silent Hill 4, another insanely good game. Not as good as 2, but that’s like saying that Pierce Brosnan wasn’t as good as Sean Connery in the role of James Bond.
Also, not to go spoiling SH4 or anything, but the storyline is amazing! It’s better and scarier than the Christopher Gans/Roger Avery movie that was released in 2006 and flopped.
Don’t believe me? Let me walk you through a tiny little bit of it:
You start off with a couple of cutscenes that beautifully set up the premise.
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Then, once it’s been established that our hero is hopelessly trapped, a way out presents itself”¦ sort of.
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He needs not wonder. He can get out that way; although, he only ends up trapped in a different kind of box: a nightmarish version of the subway station near his apartment. He’s not alone, he meets a girl. Lucky dawg.
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Then…
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After he fights off the monsters he checks to see if the girl’s okay. (You’ll notice the dogs came out of the MEN’S room, while Cynthia obviously went into the ladies’) but even though there’s no way for her to have left without him seeing, she’s gone; a little bit later he finds out what happened.
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Now, despite me only showing you a shortened and incomplete version of the storyline I still think that the cinematic qualities of the game stand out. So go ahead and tell me with a straight face that this isn’t more engrossing, scarier, more tightly written and just plain better than the Silent Hill movie.
See what I mean? You can’t. It’s a game”¦ but it’s really not. It’s a movie that you happen to be able to play, totally different thing.
Anyway”¦
I doubt that Rainy Woods will be as good as any of the above, and for all I know it may not be any good at all. The title certainly sucks a*s and from what I’ve seen of the trailer it really flirts with outright plagiarism. I mean, the old Silent Hill games borrowed a lot from Lynch, but you honestly did have to look hard at times to see the inspiration. This, well… a four year old would notice the influence. Still, it’s nice to see a game that doesn’t look like it’s sole purpose is to keep ADHD casualties occupied for a couple of hours; and if this encourages Lynch to eventually try his hand at writing a Twin Peaks game (nudge, nudge) then all the better.
