Deadly Premonition

Fortunately, they're a fascinating bunch, from the rocker with a surfer-dude accent who runs the grocery store to the wheelchair-bound magnate whose face is covered with half a human skull attached to a gas mask, and who talks in cryptic terms through his assistant. Speak to someone at the right time and you'll get the opportunity to do them a favour in return for a financial reward or useful item.

These side-quests are generally fairly straightforward, but some are far more worthwhile than others, and there's no real way of knowing which is which. One early mission can only be activated by replaying that particular episode, yet it yields one of the most useful items in the entire game - a radio that can instantly warp you to a place you've previously visited. Given the time it takes to drive anywhere, it's an absolute godsend, yet it's buried away in a quest that can very easily be missed.

Everyone in the town has his or her own schedule, and it's often interesting to simply follow someone around as they go about their daily routine and see how the townsfolk have been affected by the murder. The game happily lets you take your time exploring and discovering background info, even if much of the dialogue is incidental rather than helpful.

In the early stages, some of the town seems closed off, forcing you to pay attention to the opening hours of each establishment. Time can be skipped by either smoking or sleeping, though York has to eat, as an empty stomach can cause him to rapidly lose health. Fortunately, there are several places to get food, even if some of it seems extortionately expensive. $35.56 for some vending machine crackers?

There's something of Shenmue in Deadly Premonition's unhurried pace, and there are a few mini-game asides. Fishing is a highlight, a heartily silly bit of business that sees you reeling in weapons, ammo and first-aid kits as well as the odd bass or catfish. Purchasing a special gun lets you play darts in the local bar - a surprisingly tricky test of skill and nerve in which York needs to beat the bar owner's high score while regulating his pulse. There are also simple checkpoint races to try, soundtracked by what appears to be a supermarket muzak version of Green Day's American Idiot.

Once you've had your fill of exploring, the story missions beckon, with crime scenes and other suspicious areas to investigate. Often these result in York apparently entering another world in hallucinatory sequences that play out like a low-rent Resident Evil 4. It's here that the sluggish controls become more of a problem, while the wonky aiming can see you score a headshot while clearly missing the target.

Enemies are standard shuffling zombies with a slight twist (many of them approach you while bending over backwards), while attacks often involve them rudely shoving their arms down your throat in a move that's at once hilarious and troubling. When they die, they shout things like "don't kill me" or "I don't want to die" in voices that sound like they're being played at half speed. My initial reaction was to laugh, but the further I progressed and the weirder the story got, the more affecting their cries seemed.