Deadly Premonition or what if David Lynch made a video game.
Welcome to Greenvale, you're agent York Morgan, but please call him York. If you've ever wondered what a Twin Peaks video game would be like well this is as close as you'll ever get to such a thing. All the elements are here: large midwestern town, quirky townsfolk, FBI agent who is enthralled by the small town, and a murder so horrifying it threatens to destroy the simple goodness of this place.
When you first start the game it would appear at first that everything is as you expect in a survival horror game. Slow walking undead creatures? Yup. Resident Evil style controls? Yup. There are few surprises to find in the games prologue but those who push forward will be greatly rewarded by all of the other gameplay elements that come into play as the game and the town unfold before your very eyes. It's the little details that always make me grin. The exaggerated looks on the character models. York's cheesy smile. Turn signals and windshield wiper controls when you drive the car. When York talks about popular films such as Superman 4 with his imaginary friend Zach.
The game blends the "real in-game clock" of Dead Rising with the open world freedom also found in that game but instead of just one mall you get an entire town to drive around in. In the same league as such great games as Mad World, Killer 7, and No More Heroes; Deadly Premonition is ambitious in it's design and most of all you can tell that the devs had just as much making it as you have playing it.
There is no need to make excuses for this game. The graphics, music, and gameplay elements are deliberate and they all work as long as you're willing to enjoy them for what they are meant to be.