Just like Alex returns home, we return back to a beloved series
Silent Hill is one of the scariest series i have ever played. Nothing has scared me as much as this series has, so it's safe to say that i'm a big fan of Silent Hill. The last major Silent Hill console game was a disappointment, and the movie wasn't any better. So it took some time before we got a quality Silent Hill game again with Silent Hill 0rigins, which was a pretty good game. But sadly it seems that since Silent Hill 4: The Room, Team Silent is focusing on other things, and don't have time for Silent Hill anymore. For some time, we have heard about Silent Hill: Homecoming, which is developed by Double Helix Games, which used to be The Collective (Marc Ecko's Getting Under, The Da Vinci Code) and Shiny (Enter The Matrix and The Matrix: Path Of Neo), so fans like me where scared of how this game would turn out. But now i have finished it and now i'm giving you guys a review of it.
The story is about Alex Shepherd, a solider who has just returned home from duty, as he was wounded in combat. He returns to his hometown Shepherds Glen, to check up on his brother Josh, whom he feels is in danger, thanks to some nasty nightmares he's had recently. But nothing is as he remembers. Josh is missing, and so is alot of other people, a thick fog fills the streets, and monsters are on the loose. Alex's quest for finding Josh has now begun.
The story in Homecoming is diffirent from past games, and what's diffirent is the quality. Sadly the story of Homecoming is a pure example of Westernizatioin. The story reminded me alot about watching a american horror movie, and a american remake of a japanese horror movie. Some of the elements and characters are the same in both versions, with the things being diffirent is some parts of the plot and how the movie scares people. There's a love plot in the game, that's unessceary, but thankfully not much time is spent on it. There's also a typical black guy who is supposed to be funny and come with all the jokes, and funny coments. Errr not so much. And last but not least, there's a big cult that's involved in everything that's going on. On the other hand, the story does things diffirently from typical american horror movies. The scenes with Alex and his parents and brother are intresting, and it get's better and better the more you get into the game. The game has a few twists in the end which are actually suprising, and left me just as shocked as the twist in Silent Hill 2. But there is still one extra problem. The game copies movies. The cult and some locations are taken right out of the Silent Hill movie, and other locations and the entire intro is taken directly from Hostel. It looks neat but it just highlights how unorginal the plot actually is, suprising twist or not.
The gameplay is diffirent from past Silent Hill games, but the forumla is the same. Explore enviroments, escape monster encounters, solve puzzles, and sometimes fight agasint bosses. Homecoming follows the same formula although the gameplay is diffirent from past games. The gameplay is in full 3D with a fully controlable camera, much simpler inventory, diffirent combat. Overall the gameplay is diffirent from past games. Let's start with the inventory. Silent Hill 4 had the problem of a very limited inventory system, and 0rigins of a unrelastic inventory system, so Homecomings is a bit better. You can acess the inventory on two buttons. R2 for your weapons, and L2 for items. In contrast to previous Silent Hill games, the amount of weapons is actually small. There's a knife, a pipe, an axe, pistol, shotgun, and a machine gun. Each weapon get's an upgrade later on in the game, but upgrades dosen't really count as other weapons.
As in previous Silent Hill games, ammo is hard to come by, and monsters can deal alot of damage so it's best to avoid combat. If you want to kill everything in the game, your going to struggle alot with completing the game. The combat is also changed. Alex knows how to swing a weapon, and dodge attacks, and with firearms, the aiming is like Resident Evil 4, expect you can walk around while aiming. The irony is that in other games, this would have been very well recived, and to be honest it works quite well, but this dosen't fit with Silent Hill. In the previous games, our heros where just normal everyday people who have little or no experince with fighting what so ever. Yes the gameplay was a bit clunky, but it made the game even more scary. The new refined combat in Silent Hill, makes it more action orriented, and if guns are used, the game actually becomes a bit too easy. This makes Homecoming a much more action orriented game than previous games in the series. There's even an entire section devoted to only action. The game does have a few scary moments but they are very far and between. And last but not least, as typical american horror movies, there are shocks. Yes you will jump, but it never really scares you, because there's no build up what so ever, so the scares are really lacking.
But if we look past that, the game is fun to play. It's fun to explore the nice enviroments, and the combat is challanging, and the story (even though it's very cliched) keeps you going. On some cutscenes, you have mutiple answers to choose from. A bit like in Mass Effect, only useless. See you get diffirent responses, but they don't really change the outcome of the scene. The developers said that your replys decide what ending you get, but that's a half lie. Yes it does decide what ending your going to get (there's 5 endings this time), but only 3 scenes actually matter. The rest is actually just deciding what infomation you want. So all in all the mutiple conversation options are pretty useless, and have no real purpose in the game.
The puzzles still work though and still requries some thought to solve. New to the game is a journal that keeps track of objectives, so you'll always know what to do. It also provides hints on puzzles, and infomation on monsters. You can also collect pictures, although i really fail to see the point of that besides of achievements (sadly the game has no trophies). The trademark radio and flashlight also make their return, and since those tricks are old, they still work. I've missed you flashlight and radio.
The game is for once a good sized game. 8-10 hours, although it might feel longer. I had to clock it myself though because sadly unlike all the other Silent Hill games, there are no statctics screen. As for replay value, there are 5 endings, costumes, and a few bonus weapons so if you like the game, there's a good bit of content to unlock. Now if only the game had trophies.
The graphics are stunning though. The enviroments (unorginal as they may be) looks great, and has alot of details. Character models are smooth and detailed, and monsters, although werid, look stunning. It is all in all a beautiful game with alot of nice details. If you bump into tables, it moves along with everything on it, thus alerting nearby monsters. Enemies also get wounds for when you attack them, which is a nice detail.
The sound has actually improved compared to previous games. The sound effects are great, and the atmosphere is great, and is the only reason why the game has a few scary moments. The voice acting is the best in the series yet, especially Alex who's a great character. Thankfully Akira Yamaoka returns to creating the soundtrack, and as always, the soundtrack is fantastic. There are really some fantastic tunes, and your not likely to forget it. As always, find the soundtrack as soon as possible.
Overall, Silent Hill: Homecoming is a acceptable entry in the series. Considering some of the developers created the awfull Enter The Matrix, they actually did a pretty good job. The gameplay works and is fun, the sound and graphics are beautiful, and the story has some great twists. The problem is that the game lacks alot in scares, is cliched, and how it actually has very little to do with the series overall. You spend most of your time in Shepherds Glen, although few hours are spent in Silent Hill, and characters like Cybil (from Silent Hill 1) get refrenced to, and Travis (from Silent Hill 0rigins) has a cameo in the beginning. The Pyrmaid Head is also in the game, although he's just there for the sake of it. New players will enjoy the game, while Silent Hill fans will feel turned off by the game. It's a acceptable game, but let's hope the next Silent Hill (hopefully there's coming more) is better and more scary and orginal.
