Were Deadly Premonition's "Quirks" Intentional?

If you're one of those people who likes cult games, you've probably already heard about Deadly Premonition. For those of you who haven't, it is an interesting little game. Essentially, it is a game that mixes the survival-horror elements of Resident Evil (and I mean the original few games) with the crazy setting and characters of the television show Twin Peaks. It married a crazy but endearing story and setting with some ugly graphics and shoddy gameplay (two things that CAN be dealt with, if a person cares to). This world really intrigued people and EVERYBODY was talking about it for awhile, causing popularity in the game to flare up heavily. Giantbomb also did an Endurance Run, playing through the whole game on camera (twice even, with two sets of people), which added to its popularity even more.

As for the point of this post, I was reading through my feeds today, as I usually do each day. I stumbled upon an article titled "Love GTA, Heavy Rain and Resident Evil? Well Deadly Premonition is better than all of them. Here's why" on GamesRadar and, having already played through the game and kind of understanding why this may be a valid point, I had to read it. The main thing I have to say about is that it is a brilliant article, dissecting what most people dismissed as poor implementation and design and showing the game for what it more likely was (although I don't exactly imagine that every little mistake that Deadly Premonition made was intentional).

The article looks at the town, the characters, the gameplay, and manages to perfectly justify each part of the game's shortcomings. When I first read it, I didn't necessarily need to be convinced. After viewing Giantbomb's Endurance Run, I went out and bought my own copy of the game, eager to play through it for myself. Even with the muddled textures and odd UI choices (the map in particular), I truly enjoyed my time with the game. I didn't even know how much I had dismissed little things about the game, making excuses in the back of my mind for some of the problems I had with it.

Each one of those excuses was verified by this article. David Houghton did an astounding job explaining why these choices were probably made, why these characters are so strange at first glance and more. If you've ever had any interest in Deadly Premonition, give it a look. If you've never heard of the game, you should read it too; it may describe a gaming experience unlike any you've heard of and give you something new to play.