I've never done a review of anything before so any feedback would be welcomed. There will be some plot relevant spoilers but i'll try to limit and i'll mark any spoilers beforehand(I don't know how to do the fancy boxes).
Silent Hill:Homecoming is the latest addition to the Silent Hill Francise. No longer the domain of Team silent and now being produced by an the American Double Helix Studios.
The opening of the game places you in a hospital immediatly forcing you into a quicktime event to break free of your bonds after seeing your doctor attacked and killed by something. Gone here is the slow building of suspense in favour of throwing you straight into the action. Shortly after that you pull a knife out of a bleeding mirror and proceed to stab a nurse up with it.
However I am being rather throwaway here. The hospital was pretty immersive and there were several times when, after my character had bumped into one of the many objects that then clatter about the fall noisily, I spun around as fast as I could and readied by knife whilst creeping slowly into the darkness. The game even once startled me with my characters own shadow.
The new combat system is cleaner and more effective for taking out the various creepies and crawlies that infest Shepherds Glen and Silent Hill. But being able to take on even the hugest, and most indestructable looking monstrosities can be stabbed to death fairly effectively and easily with your initial weapon makes you feel a bit too powerful and takes away from the fear factor. It is also rather difficult to run and avoid some monsters. The smogs can be tricky to avoid in confined spaces and the mandatory "Zombie dogs" are too fast to escape from and indeed if you try you are likely to be tackled from behind. It seems to me that you are being encouraged to kill everything rather than avoid monsters.
Saying that, I did remain on edge throughout most of the game and the gore and violence was suitably sickening and I really did feel the need to continue on. The fear here is present but it is of a very different variety from the "Team Silent" games. The monsters are always present and, while you can you always take them out, if one catches you by surprise its very possible to become panicked and begin to take hits as you stab wildly away with your trusty knife.
One sequence that illustrates the difference between Silent Hill: Homecoming and its "Team Silent" predecessors is one wherein you end up in a police cell. A policeman lets you out and proceeds to cover you as you both run through the police station as it is beseiged by monsters. It is effective and I, for one, felt quite frightened and really felt the need to get out, GET OUT NOW!!! This highlighted, for me, a certain "Americanisation" of this game. This sort of high octane, fast paced action sequence would have seemed out of place in any of the previous games.
The soundtrack is ,as per usual, wonderful. The music, or maybe I should call it "Aural Enviroment" is immersive and the sadder tracks are really very pretty.
The story was interesting and although I saw the whole ~Spoilers~
Child abuse
~end spoilers~
storyline coming even before I bought the game. Some other aspects surprised me though and it was nice to see some explanation for why Shepherds Glen turned all Silent Hill and many offers an alternative explanation for why Silent Hill has gone Silent Hill. It borrows a lot from the films, such as the transition to the otherworld and the way some of the later enemies look, and even a little of the later plot.
My conclusion for this game is much the same as Yahtzee's. It is a solid Action/Horror/Survival game even if it dosn't quite live up to the Silent Hill legacy. I enjoyed it. Take from that what you will.
Silent Hill:Homecoming is the latest addition to the Silent Hill Francise. No longer the domain of Team silent and now being produced by an the American Double Helix Studios.
The opening of the game places you in a hospital immediatly forcing you into a quicktime event to break free of your bonds after seeing your doctor attacked and killed by something. Gone here is the slow building of suspense in favour of throwing you straight into the action. Shortly after that you pull a knife out of a bleeding mirror and proceed to stab a nurse up with it.
However I am being rather throwaway here. The hospital was pretty immersive and there were several times when, after my character had bumped into one of the many objects that then clatter about the fall noisily, I spun around as fast as I could and readied by knife whilst creeping slowly into the darkness. The game even once startled me with my characters own shadow.
The new combat system is cleaner and more effective for taking out the various creepies and crawlies that infest Shepherds Glen and Silent Hill. But being able to take on even the hugest, and most indestructable looking monstrosities can be stabbed to death fairly effectively and easily with your initial weapon makes you feel a bit too powerful and takes away from the fear factor. It is also rather difficult to run and avoid some monsters. The smogs can be tricky to avoid in confined spaces and the mandatory "Zombie dogs" are too fast to escape from and indeed if you try you are likely to be tackled from behind. It seems to me that you are being encouraged to kill everything rather than avoid monsters.
Saying that, I did remain on edge throughout most of the game and the gore and violence was suitably sickening and I really did feel the need to continue on. The fear here is present but it is of a very different variety from the "Team Silent" games. The monsters are always present and, while you can you always take them out, if one catches you by surprise its very possible to become panicked and begin to take hits as you stab wildly away with your trusty knife.
One sequence that illustrates the difference between Silent Hill: Homecoming and its "Team Silent" predecessors is one wherein you end up in a police cell. A policeman lets you out and proceeds to cover you as you both run through the police station as it is beseiged by monsters. It is effective and I, for one, felt quite frightened and really felt the need to get out, GET OUT NOW!!! This highlighted, for me, a certain "Americanisation" of this game. This sort of high octane, fast paced action sequence would have seemed out of place in any of the previous games.
The soundtrack is ,as per usual, wonderful. The music, or maybe I should call it "Aural Enviroment" is immersive and the sadder tracks are really very pretty.
The story was interesting and although I saw the whole ~Spoilers~
Child abuse
~end spoilers~
storyline coming even before I bought the game. Some other aspects surprised me though and it was nice to see some explanation for why Shepherds Glen turned all Silent Hill and many offers an alternative explanation for why Silent Hill has gone Silent Hill. It borrows a lot from the films, such as the transition to the otherworld and the way some of the later enemies look, and even a little of the later plot.
My conclusion for this game is much the same as Yahtzee's. It is a solid Action/Horror/Survival game even if it dosn't quite live up to the Silent Hill legacy. I enjoyed it. Take from that what you will.
