Zero Punctuation: Silent Hill: Shattered Memories

[chaostheory]

I hope they try again with the no actual combat, only attempts to escape. I always thought the idea behind that was interesting for this game and that seems like it could really create tense horror situations. Maybe if they had the nightmares occur at random times and just make your main objective to survive for a (random again) length of time rather than having the nightmares be plot driven. That way there would still be the tension of not ever feeling really safe (cause a monster could spawn at any time) and on top of that you'll always be feeling helpless. You never know when or where you'll be attacked, you'll need to always be attentive of your surroundings knowing where the escapes, hiding places, and distractions are.

Only other elements needed would be above average level design (If the developer's can't control where your going to fight everywhere needs to be designed to give you options), and some nice monster variety. I'm thinking the key to having the monsters all feel different and scary would be to change how they track you and their movement speed/style. Wow I'm going off on a huge tangent here (I was about to describe different ideas I had for monsters and how you would interact with them, seems you lose your self control a bit after being up 48+ hrs). Well anyway I hope they try it again as it sounds like a great concept that just needs to be grown on. I may pick this up if I got some spare money this summer.

 

[PhiMed]

Uh oh! A pink dress! Shit's getting real!

 

[hassang]

Replayed it again, and I do believe the UFO ending makes the entire game worth it. It's just too funny(that is if you know the story, since it only appears on a second and + playthrough).
Though some people here are suggesting that's already in the game...For example, when running from the monsters, you can throw stuff behind you to block the way and hide in closets/under beds, and the Monsters appearance does change depending on your choices:
http://images3.wikia.nocookie.net/__cb20100116060513/silent/images/6/61/RawShock3.PNG
http://images2.wikia.nocookie.net/__cb20100116060425/silent/images/a/a6/RawShock1.PNG
http://images4.wikia.nocookie.net/__cb20100116060529/silent/images/7/7f/RawShock4.PNG
http://images1.wikia.nocookie.net/__cb20100116060458/silent/images/1/1f/RawShock2.PNG
Aren't they cute?
Anyway, there's a lot of needless complaining, so watch a video or something before you comment...Just saying...

 

[standokan]

o no a pink dress, shit is getting real

 

[Cluskey]

Liked the pink dress shits getting real part.

Seriously lol'd about the thundercats thing.

Cluskey.

 

[eels05]

Well Hello 'Silent Hill Shattered Memories',bout fucking time this game showed up in Australia.
I've actually lost all interest in playing it now.

 

[Cuppa Tetleys]

Although I don't care much for the game, I'm always amazed at the quality of ZP as a whole; it never falters and every week is worth looking forward to. Keep it up Yathzee, even if you are crap in bed.

 

[Spookimitsu]

What a surprise, more dumping on the wii. Not that I don't agree, but it's just getting old now.

"Oh fuck a pink dress, shit's getting real!" - Brilliant.

Funny, I thought he was generally positive about the game. As a critic, he has to expose faults...

I really don't think he was dumping on the wii persay.

But yeah the pink dress part killed me. lol worthy

 

[soam108]

My GF is a huge SH fan so bought this day 1.

She was not amused.
The Wii-mote anoyed the crap out of her she is a leftie though)

The wiimote+nunchuk is compatible for both lefties and righties.. so that's not a valid reason.

I bought the game as soon as it came out in the US and I played it through I think 3 times. Pretty good, better than the other games besides SH 1-3. It's true that it's not very scary though the atmosphere is very immersive.

 

[grimzero]

great review

 

[Yukichin]

I kind of disagree with some of his points; for instance, while the cult is overdone now... it's been at the crux of each game, even SH2, albeit in a much more subtle way (if it weren't for the cult, the Otherworld wouldn't have taken over). There IS some blood, and the color blue, while relaxing, was used differently; it wasn't completely effective in my mind, but it was nice to see it subverted into "WAIT WHAT THE FUCK" rather than calmness.

As for the psych readings, they tend to be as accurate as general statements can be; sometimes they're wrong, as we can see with his review. I wonder what he actually thought about the plot's psychological elements, though; that's where the best part of this game is.

I DO agree that the changing of clothing and such is more of a "Wait, what?" moreso than anything actually scary, though him getting the same ending twice is more based on subtleties rather than doing everything opposite. I wonder what he actually changed.

I also agree that the game wasn't wasn't scary. It was more tense than scary, and I think they could've thrown in other things even if not monsters during the non-Nightmare segments. I think they needed to make the monsters more threatening--other attacks besides grabbing you would work. It may have been effective thematically, but horrifically, not as much.

 

[El_Moss]

It sounds as if Yahtzee quite enjoyed this game, minus the Nintendo-bashing there was quite a bit of praise.

 

[JapanesePirate]

I'm sure you've answered this at some point and I'm just not paying attention but why not just order a version of the game from another country as long as it's English?
Also- make a Harem of all your fangirls and then let me join.

On a SERIOUS note- I played this game at a mate's house- I say mate because hes British. It wasn't horrible and we figured the bad psychological reading was because we were both playing and we'd confused it about what was going on. It was a fun game and despite the fact that monsters were easy and non-threatening and that the Silent Hill-y parts weren't as scary as in previous games, the fact that it was still a Silent Hill game kept on us edge, thinking but mostly hoping things would get scary- much to our disappointment.

 

[lukeator]

There was a silent hill arcade game??

 

[The Iconnorclast]

Shuttered Mamaries Ha! Funny right from the start! Good review.

 

[SilentSh0tz]

wednesdayyys.

 

[sumguitardude]

The Wiii has allways been a kids console and will allways be a kid console
so it`s no wonder the game has little blood or isn`t scary, its for kids and fat people!
The only game that was able to give the wiii some chesthair is fucking mad world.

btw great review as allways mate^_^

 

[Richard Hannay]

I'm thrilled that I'm not the only person who—having played SH2 before any other installment—finds all the cult shenanigans to be bullshit and was thrilled that they did away with it.

 

[Tontomanzz]

I wonder how he'd have liked the Penumbra series (PC game). One of the few horror games that actually managed to creep me out.