Deadly Premonition (US, 360) The Red Seeds Profile (Japan, 360 and PS3) in 250 words.

‘The Asylum’ is a company that piggybacks on the popularity of theatrical blockbusters, producing movies with similar titles at a fraction of the cost. Yet somehow they are always entertaining. Deadly Premonition is what would happen if ‘The Asylum’ made a game.

Deadly Premonition is a third person survival horror with a distinct B-movie vibe. Developer Access Games appears to have played Silent Hill while watching Twin Peaks, and subsequently decided to make a game out of the experience.

Some truly creepy adversaries.

A gulf of difference exists between the visual fidelity of Deadly Premonition and it peers, but it seems to revel in it. No apologies are made for the low-resolution textures, instead utilizing the indistinct nature of the graphics to set the imagination running, allowing them to be truly disturbing.

With some outright broken controls the game is pretty hard to get to grips with, but perseverance pays off as you are treated characters straight out of a David Lynch movie. The protagonist, agent York, stands proudly at the front of this cast with his multiple personality Zach. York’s interactions with Zach provide an elegant justification for his constant ham-fisted exposition, and an excuse ’80s movie monologues, which prove entertaining if you can get past the laughable voice work.

Deeply flawed but entertaining, it is an instant buy if you live in North America where it was released on budget. Unfortunately it is harder to recommend at the £50 price tag of the Asian release.