As a series, I do consider myself a Silent Hill fan and I own all the games sans Homecoming (as of the time of this blog), but haven't gotten around to fully playing all the games (you can blame my procrastination for that). Still, from the games I have finished and what little I played of the others, I enjoyed them. Pretty much every game is a surreal, dark psychological struggle with the character you play as and the dark, desolate areas, grotesque and hideous monsters, and the town shifting into a nightmarish version is quite something to experience. I even go as far to say that as a whole, the Silent Hill series are the most intense survival horror games I played. With only Eternal Darkness etching out ahead for my single favourite survival horror game in terms of gameplay.
In recent years, Silent Hill games has been somewhat lackluster for some gamers. Since Silent Hill 4: The Annoying Ghosts-I mean, The Room, the series has been made with developers outside of Konami, which puts the hopes of many hardcore Silent Hill fans shattered (get it?). However, Climax, the same developers of Origins, hoped to "reinvent" Silent Hill with a re-imagining of the first game. This isn't like the Resident Evil remake were it's redone graphically with a few new features. It's pretty much a different game sharing only the town, character names, and basic premise of the protagonist Harry Mason trying to find his daughter Cheryl after crashing his car in Silent Hill.
The game also has no combat whatsoever, with only being able to run away from enemies during chase scenes. This alone turned off many gamers, but I saw nothing wrong with that, especially when you consider how the game is designed and what it's going for. Sure, in previous games, you had a small assortment of melee and firearm weapons, but due to the nature of combat, it was best to run away from enemies to conserve health and ammo and only really fend off monstrosities when you get cornered and fight the occasional boss. Origins and Homecoming did try and improve combat, with Origins being able to carry an absurd amount of weapons that are all apparently made out of clay and break after a few hits. Not to mention the ability to stuff portable TVs into your character's infinite storage then throw them at monsters, adding to the absurdity. But Origins still kept a decent atmosphere and tone, which can't be said with Homecoming which added more to combat like dodging and ultra combos, and it's focus on atmosphere and story suffered and is considered the weakest Silent Hill game.
The point is, combat does not define Silent Hill, and the fact that a game like Shattered memories is willing to throw away conventional survival horror concepts in favor of something more desperate and story-driven is something you should at least check out. Well, unless you're among the ADD gamers that demand all games need cool weapons and want to kill everything on sight.
No, there is no "Combat Time" in this game, get lost!
Before I talk about the "nightmare" levels and how enemy encounters work, I should talk about how the psychology aspect works. When you first start the game, we see Dr. Kauffman, who's a therapist in this game, asking you from a first person view to fill out a true/false form regarding your behavior. In fact, the game even has a "psychological" warning saying that the game will get to know you, which is kind of cute. But trust me, the psychology is not THAT involved and the only game to truly mess with my head was Eternal Darkness anyway.
There are a few of these "sessions" throughout the game, varying to filling a questionnaire, to colouring a family and their home, arranging statues to show which one is the more guilty, to simply nodding/shaking your head at yes/no questions, ect. These not only add a variety of different test methods, but also effect the game in certain ways. The story is still played out the same, but some dialog may be different, Harry may act/look different, characters might look different, certain rooms and puzzles may be different, etc depending on what you answer. These add an interesting aspect and encourage replay value, which is good since the game is fairly short.
In terms of basic gameplay, you pretty much play as Harry and wonder around Silent Hill with only a flashlight and a cellphone. The cellphone is actually a key part in both story and gameplay elements as the phone is used to make calls as well as receive calls/voice mail/text messages, take pictures, view a GPS map, and save your game. The cellphone also acts as the series trademark "radio" emitting sounds whenever they are enemies close in the nightmare levels or anomalies that when you approach or take pictures of, you receive ghostly messages of these fragmented (or, shattered if you will) memories of various people. The latter certainly adds to the atmosphere and half the disturbing things found in this game are found in these messages. Looking through the phone is done in real time and Harry can only walk while his phone is out, so using it during the Nightmare levels isn't a general good idea.
One thing I should mention about the phone is that one time it did glitch on me as I was trying to exit the phone after listening to a message relating to a puzzle. The transition from views got glitched and Harry became a floating disembodied arm and I could not get out of it unless I quit the game from the pause menu and start from the last save. Fortunately, this was the only glitch I encountered in the game and, amusingly enough, it was the same glitch Wellunreal007 got when he rented Shattered Memories:
One thing I should mention about the phone is that one time it did glitch on me as I was trying to exit the phone after listening to a message relating to a puzzle. The transition from views got glitched and Harry became a floating disembodied arm and I could not get out of it unless I quit the game from the pause menu and start from the last save. Fortunately, this was the only glitch I encountered in the game and, amusingly enough, it was the same glitch Wellunreal007 got when he rented Shattered Memories:
Harry can also look at certain things and comment on them, though looking at things like booze or sexual things can affect Harry's behavior along with the therapy sessions later on in the game. There are also collectable "Mementos" you can grab, but other than a small part in the ending, these really are just things to collect throughout the game. And besides going a bit out of your way to collect these interesting trinkets, the game is mostly linear, with Harry going down a set path and any other way is usually blocked off, which is pretty par for the course of the series. But except of going to dead ends to occasionally find items, you'll maybe occasionally find mementos or ghost messages, the latter of which you can find via sound and/or distorted images.
As Harry wonders throughout a snow laden Silent Hill, he will have to solve puzzles much like every Silent Hill game, though most of them are not nearly as cryptic as previous SH games. Most usually involve moving pieces or activating something to get a key, though there are a few parts where you have to look around and find clues (usually involving something in the room, or using your cell phone) to find the answer. Still, the interactivity is quite nice, especially on the Wii.
The "Nightmare" levels is a frozen nightmarish version of Silent Hill and is essentially the otherworld of this game. Throughout the game, Harry will slip into this realm, and the transitions from the Nightmare and normal snowy Silent Hill is quite impressive at times. During these parts, Harry simply has run away from these deformed midget-like monsters called Rawshawks. These are the only enemy you'll ever face, but do chance appearance a bit based on the psychological aspects you chose and are still pretty disturbing on their own. Since Harry has no weapons, he has to be constantly moving, going through marked blue outlined doors, climbing over and under things, and running at a desperate pace to find the exit. There are a few things you can do during these chases such as knock over shelves to slow down their pursuit, grabbing a flare and lighting it to keep them at bay for a short time, and hiding. Though the latter generally doesn't work all that well unless you want to check your map, because it is fairly easy to get lost during these parts since there are multiple paths and doorways which can often lead into circles. Fortunately, there usually indications to show where to go and after a few times, you should be able to find your way.
If a Rawshawk does grab onto you, you literally shake them off with the Wiimote and nun-chuck together. It does work, but not all the time. Though the main problem isn't the responsiveness of the motion controllers, it's that later on, the Rawshawks get aggressive and can take multiple shakes to throw them off, and sometimes the second shake doesn't register. Plus, multiple enemies can latch on to Harry on his North, South, East, and West sides, which makes it even more difficult to throw off. And since there's no health items, Harry's health is only visible by him limping when it gets low. If you do die, you simply restart at the beginning of the level, which while may seem frustrating, can actually help you better plan your path and not run into the enemy.
Running isn't the only thing you do in the nightmares actually, as you'll occasionally run into rooms (usually near the end) and solve the area puzzle that thankfully doesn't have any of those Rawshawks chasing you.
Overall, these segments are tense and add to the desperation of the game and enjoyed it quite a bit. That, and the level design and style of the otherworld is good too. Although some would argue that simply because the otherworld is blue instead of the trademark red, rusted otherworld in previous games, it's not scary because the colour red represents fear, while blue represents a more calmer tone. I agree, but the otherworld in this is frozen and still pretty twisted, which invokes desolation and desperation because face it, no one likes the idea of freezing to death. There's more to the psychology of this than simple colours people.
Voice acting is good and the music done by series composer Akira Yamaoka, as always, fits perfectly with the game. It should also be noted that this is Akira's last Silent Hill game he's composing for the time being since his contract with Konami ended. Still, I don't think we can thank him enough for providing such memorable and haunting music for the entire series from the first game to Shattered Memories. It'll be interesting to see what music he'll make in the future since he's freelance now.
If a Rawshawk does grab onto you, you literally shake them off with the Wiimote and nun-chuck together. It does work, but not all the time. Though the main problem isn't the responsiveness of the motion controllers, it's that later on, the Rawshawks get aggressive and can take multiple shakes to throw them off, and sometimes the second shake doesn't register. Plus, multiple enemies can latch on to Harry on his North, South, East, and West sides, which makes it even more difficult to throw off. And since there's no health items, Harry's health is only visible by him limping when it gets low. If you do die, you simply restart at the beginning of the level, which while may seem frustrating, can actually help you better plan your path and not run into the enemy.
Running isn't the only thing you do in the nightmares actually, as you'll occasionally run into rooms (usually near the end) and solve the area puzzle that thankfully doesn't have any of those Rawshawks chasing you.
Overall, these segments are tense and add to the desperation of the game and enjoyed it quite a bit. That, and the level design and style of the otherworld is good too. Although some would argue that simply because the otherworld is blue instead of the trademark red, rusted otherworld in previous games, it's not scary because the colour red represents fear, while blue represents a more calmer tone. I agree, but the otherworld in this is frozen and still pretty twisted, which invokes desolation and desperation because face it, no one likes the idea of freezing to death. There's more to the psychology of this than simple colours people.
"They should have just called it: BOO! BLUE ICE!"
as some naysayers would probably say.
The rest of the graphics are quite nice and definitely shows effort put into it to make the game look good on the Wii, especially the ice effects in the otherworld. Although if you favored the PS2/PSP version for easier controls, then the graphics on those ports are inferior, but still good on their own.
In terms of other controls for the Wii, they work fine. Aiming your flashlight while walking/running around feels natural and the controls during interactivity of puzzles is simple, but works. The only other use for motion I can think of is using the nun-chuck to knock things down and climb/crawl faster during nightmares. The only flawed controls I found were the aforementioned shaking off enemies, and even then it still worked for me most of the time.
Voice acting is good and the music done by series composer Akira Yamaoka, as always, fits perfectly with the game. It should also be noted that this is Akira's last Silent Hill game he's composing for the time being since his contract with Konami ended. Still, I don't think we can thank him enough for providing such memorable and haunting music for the entire series from the first game to Shattered Memories. It'll be interesting to see what music he'll make in the future since he's freelance now.
The story is also well written and without spoiling anything, I'll go on a limb and say the ending is perhaps one of my favourite video game endings. Believe me, M. Night. Shamalawn (or however you spell his name) wish he could make twist endings like this. Shame it had to end kind of short, but it was a good ride while it lasted.
As a whole I liked the game despite the short length (that, and I paid 20 dollars for a new copy). I definitely think this is a very nice take on Silent Hill and Climax did a pretty good job making a survival horror game with virtually no combat engaging and well thought out. I know this game didn't please everyone, but for me, it was a nice, atmospheric, story driven game with some good use of creativity with the therapy sessions being implemented. That, and it still retained the twisted imagination of the otherworld aspect we know Silent Hill games for.
I recommend it if you want a more engrossing Silent Hill game and don't mind the fact that you can't kill the monsters, but then again, looking at the monsters of SH, would you really stand your ground and smack them with a lead pipe or high tail it out of there?
Thanks for reading my blog, next time I'll give my thoughts and arguments on one of the most bitched at games recently released by Nintendo: Metroid: Other M.
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