So sad, So sad
Allow me to preface this commentary by mentioning two basic facts;
1. I've never finished a silent hill game. The clunky combat and acward controls always turned me off even as the atmospher and story really drew me.
2. I really, really, really, want to love Shattered Memories. It seems to take everything I wanted to love about previous games (spooky atmosphier, creepy visuals, convoluted story) and exiced the bits I hated (cluncky combat)
With thise two caviets I'll now say that SM is one of the most disappointing games I've played this year. Not because It's terrible, but because it's mediocre and I really wanted greatness. The idea of running from enemies instead of engaging in combat makes so much sense I'm suprised it took this long for the concept to be used. After all if you where in an abandoned town that sudennly turned snowy and monster filled would you really pick up a pipe and charge? I wouldn't. I'd run my ass off. And so does Harry Mason.
The problem is that escaping is more of a chore than it really should be. Flailing around with the wiimote everytime you get grabbed becomes tiresome and downright frustrating when theres more than one enemy on you. And fleeing is difficult since the nonlinear enviroment's have a tendency to look all the same, and bringing up your map reduces you to walking speed only. All of this results in a lot of running in circles and dying until you've figured out the exact path the game wants you to take.
Then theres the other 80% of the game. That time is spent in the mundane world of Silent Hill and at that point theres no danger of attack at all which leaves you with plenty of time to explore but no sense of dread or fear. And since the shift to the icy world is bookended with cutscense you know ahead of time when the "scary stuff" is coming.
It's too bad because the whole concept behind the game seems very sound. There's just not enough thrills or chills to make it anything to scream about.
