Silent Hill: Shattered Memories Isn't Too Bad... Pity It's A Silent Hill Game, Though

[Seil]

I bought this for the PS2, 'cause 'M not spending $300 to play a new Silent Hill I was convinced was gonna be terrible. But all in all, it's pretty good. It refers to the original Silent Hill once or twice, and some of the characters have the same names as the PS Silent Hill characters, but it's not a SH game.

It's really not.

Climax, for those have been the holders of the Silent Hill franchise for a while, continually try to shake things up. They've tried to do so with Shattered Memories with all new gameplay, they tried to do it with Homecoming by refining the combat, and they tried to do so with Origins by making it shit.

The general staples of the series - subtle psychological scares and Freudian symbols mixed in with generally fun puzzle soling and some scary monsters. You're often totally alone with a meager supply of weapons and items,trying to do... something in a foggy town.

Shattered Memories loses points right out of the gate for telling you that it's going to try to psychoanalyze you, then the "scares" pretty much amount to long chase scenes with the "scary monsters" or taking a photo of something and hearing a scary sound effect.

The game tries to incorporate reality into the mix, such as having relatable moments atwixt characters and giving definitely plausible reason that the streets are cleared. A huge snow storm has hit Silent Hill, and like in Max Payne, that's their reason for no one being on the streets. Which kind of flops the "alone," on its end, as you're imagining everyone's there, you're just staying inside.

Which totally ruins the puzzle aspect of the game - in a mall bit, I had to go into a hair dresser's shop and turn on a faucet - hot water here, guys - so that the steam would allow me to read the code to a nearby door on a mirror. Now in a regular Silent Hill game, that'd be great - the puzzles in SH1-4 were like that, emphasizing on the "empty haunted fog filled town" ideal. But since the game is trying to break the reality ceiling here, it's just confusing - why wouldn't someone write a note? Now everyone who gets their hair washed in the salon will know the code to the door.

The monsters are kind of a letdown - in each prior game, they designers, whether the original Team Silent team or Climax, tried to match aspects of the monsters with aspects of the main characters personality - creating a wonderful metaphor of battling ones own demons. They were generally scary or off-putting, and viewed at as challenges. The Raw Shocks - ("Rorschach") ...aren't.

I haven't finished the game yet, but there are some things I like about it so far:

The flashlight is a really cool bit of game design, and the flickering bits could make for a fun horror scenario.

The phone mechanic is pretty neat, but so far I've been calling every number I see. I do like the camera bits, had they been worked on longer - but allowing us to take pictures of clues/passcodes is neat.

The over the shoulder perspective is pretty great... but where are my weapons here? This is one Silent Hill game that could have great combat if I had anything other than a flare.

All in all, the game is pretty interesting. It's just a Silent Hill game in title only, though. Even with references to the source material, it falls short. But within Homecoming, Origins and Shattered Memories, I believe Climax could make a pretty cool SH game.

...Well, maybe not Origins.

[stabbity death]

It's more than just 'in name only'. I consider it a brilliant subversion of the original Silent Hill.

It uses more than just the character's names.

[Seil]

It's more than just 'in name only'. I consider it a brilliant subversion of the original Silent Hill.

It uses more than just the character's names.

As a Silent Hill fan, I've come to expect certain things from the series, some things that aren't present in SM. It's an... alright game, but judged by the standards of the other games, it's not on par.

[PyrosNine]

The only thing that makes it worthy of being a Silent Hill game is the UFO ending. You will play the game, and be frustrated at the lack of Silent Hilly things, but then feel a moment of piece while watching the REAL ending. Which is the UFO one.

[DFM]

Shattered Memories is a very fun game and has a better story than most of the Silent Hill series. I'll agree it doesn't really "feel" like a Silent Hill game, mainly due to the lack of combat, but whatevs.



Shattered Memories loses points right out of the gate for telling you that it's going to try to psychoanalyze you, then the "scares" pretty much amount to long chase scenes with the "scary monsters" or taking a photo of something and hearing a scary sound effect.



To be fair, the psychoanalysis gimmick was never meant to make the game scarier, it just changes pretty much all the NPCs and character interactions, as well as your ending. I'll agree though that this is the first Silent Hill game that I've played that I would classify as "Not even remotely scary at all" but I don't think it was really trying to be. I don't know why it wouldn't try to be, but I'm not a game developer!



The game tries to incorporate reality into the mix, such as having relatable moments atwixt characters and giving definitely plausible reason that the streets are cleared. A huge snow storm has hit Silent Hill, and like in Max Payne, that's their reason for no one being on the streets. Which kind of flops the "alone," on its end, as you're imagining everyone's there, you're just staying inside.

Which totally ruins the puzzle aspect of the game - in a mall bit, I had to go into a hair dresser's shop and turn on a faucet - hot water here, guys - so that the steam would allow me to read the code to a nearby door on a mirror. Now in a regular Silent Hill game, that'd be great - the puzzles in SH1-4 were like that, emphasizing on the "empty haunted fog filled town" ideal. But since the game is trying to break the reality ceiling here, it's just confusing - why wouldn't someone write a note? Now everyone who gets their hair washed in the salon will know the code to the door.




I don't know, the whole vibe I was getting from it was the storm was just Mason making up a reason as to why this town was deserted. I mean, all the locales you visit look like they've been empty for way, way longer than the storm has been going on.



The monsters are kind of a letdown - in each prior game, they designers, whether the original Team Silent team or Climax, tried to match aspects of the monsters with aspects of the main characters personality - creating a wonderful metaphor of battling ones own demons. They were generally scary or off-putting, and viewed at as challenges. The Raw Shocks - ("Rorschach") ...aren't.



Yeah, Raw Shocks pretty much suck. The only thing they've got going for them is how they caress you lovingly after they've killed you, which is probably important/creepy.

[Nikose Tyris]

I hated testing this game. I hated it so much.

Having to play this game over and over and answer down a list to make sure results are different as you go by answering questions correctly

just

Oh my god.

Edit: and the NIGHTMARES. Fuck the nightmares.

[Seil]

character interactions,

It changed character interactions? Really?

Edit: and the NIGHTMARES. Fuck the nightmares.

Are you upset because of the process of testing the game, or that the game actually scared you?

[DFM]

It changed character interactions? Really?

It does indeed.

[Kim]

It does indeed.

I didn't notice much changes. There were changes in the appearance of one character, and some dialogue changes, but none of it felt even remotely important, and there were plenty of times when I'd do something differently, and it would have no effect on how things ultimately played out. i.e. The medicine or the car escape.

[stabbity death]

As another Silent Hill fan, I expected the worst, because I despised Silent Hill: Origins and heard nothing about Silent Hill: Homecoming which makes me want to play it.

Even the lack of combat in Shattered Memories didn't ruin the Silent Hill vibe for me. Honestly, in this series, the combat is, at best, plain enough that it doesn't interfere with the story very much. The more combat-oriented the games got, the less everyone seems to enjoy them. Myself included.

I'll grant that it's not much of a video game, but it was a wonderful experience nonetheless, and it was great to see somebody try to break the pattern of the games becoming almost entirely self-referential.

[Nikose Tyris]

Are you upset because of the process of testing the game, or that the game actually scared you?

Both. :(

[Seil]

I despised Silent Hill: Origins

For the flak I give it in the first post here, I can see how you could get the impression that I didn't like Silent Hill 0, but at the same time, I find a few likable things about the whole thing.

I liked the beginning, where you drag Alessa out of the house, I like the puzzles, I liked the BRING ME MY SON bit in the beginning level. The puzzles were kind of cool. It was a passable game, but at the same time there wasn't a connection to Travis Grady and the game suffered for it. You just couldn't feel for him, or for any of the reasons he stayed in Silent Hill.

Homecoming is alright - not the greatest Silent Hill game, but not the worst. The game play is roughly the same, a focus on puzzle solving, the general off putting nature of the town... But the way the combat system has been redone is a radical departure from the other games. Not a bad one, as now you can aim your guns and dodge, though it is a fair bit different. My main problem with the game was instead of focusing on making a new Silent Hill, they referenced things. Pyramid Head makes a few appearances, as well as other enemies. The biggest reference, though, was the Silent Hill movie, which I hated.

I think Shattered Memories has potential, and a relatively good story - I beat it and I have to say that after the shock ending, half the game stops making sense. I liked it though, and would probably replay it, but I just think it's too radical a departure from the original titles to warrant tying it in.

Origins and Homecoming had their moments and references, but they were... okay as Silent Hill titles.

Even the lack of combat in Shattered Memories didn't ruin the Silent Hill vibe for me. Honestly, in this series, the combat is, at best, plain enough that it doesn't interfere with the story very much. The more combat-oriented the games got, the less everyone seems to enjoy them. Myself included.

Yeah, combat isn't really what the game is about. Though I do like that Homecoming tried to make the combat a little more bearable, even though it went too far in the opposite direction. Being able to aim was kinda cool.

Both.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z5tEO2Rh8g8

[Kim]

Everyone seems to have enjoyed this game far more than I did. This is odd to me. Shattered Memories had its moments, but on the whole it just wasn't good.

[DFM]

I thought it was kind of neat how the two American developers went in entirely different directions with Silent Hill. Homecoming was basically "Let's pretty much ditch all the psychological horror aspects and just have a bunch of crazy gross monsters fucking shit up in some kinda ghost town." and Shattered Memories is like "Let's get rid of all the survival horror stuff and make it like a psychological thriller/adventure game."

Shattered Memories is basically you walking around with your flashlight and looking for clues about the story, be they NPCs or odd phone recordings or watching ghosts play out a scene from Silent Hill's past. I'd say this was pretty awful if the story wasn't interesting but I honestly think it's the best Silent Hill story to date (That I've seen, I mean I haven't played the first or the fourth one. Or Origins)

I didn't notice much changes. There were changes in the appearance of one character, and some dialogue changes, but none of it felt even remotely important, and there were plenty of times when I'd do something differently, and it would have no effect on how things ultimately played out. i.e. The medicine or the car escape.

It changes dialog, character appearance, motivations, endings, deaths, all kinds of things. The game basically tracks four or five stats depending on what you do or what you spend your time staring at, IIRC they were Lust, Family, Alcoholism, Anger and "Fake"

There aren't any branching paths or key choices to make or anything like that, but it does change how each point along your linear path plays out.

[stabbity death]

Climax (TEAM STUPID, as I refer to them), the developer which created Silent Hill: Origins and Silent Hill: Shattered Memories, is based in the UK.

[PyrosNine]

The way I see it, the game is less about the usual horror aspects and more of a kind of existential horror, which though not as gripping as monsters and cults, is more realistic and understandable.

It's about the horror of loss, facing the demons of one's past, and dealing with delusions.

Either the ones you loved were so loving, so good to you that their loss cripples your life forever, or they broken problematic people who have screwed you up so much that you need a lot of therapy to get over them.

The horrific existential part is the fact that these people are not just dead, but also dead in your mind, because you've forgotten and misremembered them, and the realization that they aren't who you thought they were, or aren't whom you've made them out to be can be crippling, crushing.

Dr K himself comments that any interpretation of the lost may not be the correct one, a bit like Pink Floyd's the Wall, where we only get the protagonist's perceptions of people close to him and the Band's own explanation that he is likely in the wrong in his perception of them which spurred him to build up the wall. All the endings could be somewhat correct, and yet could also be incredibly incorrect. Sylvia Plath, a somewhat mentally troubled poet, loved her polish father a lot, and in her grief described him in her poetry as a detestable Nazi who stepped on her.

And the fact that the end's twist somewhat reveals that whatever perception is made is based upon your own personal desires and tendencies, meaning there's quite a bit of displacement going on as well.

The game is less horror and more horrifically sad, as there's no "happy" ending. One of the final songs is "Acceptance", which is about coming to terms with the painful truth that what happened has happened and there's nothing you can do about it. If someone's dead, they're dead and you've lost all chances to know them.

The only thing you as the player can do, is gather up images and mementos to try and rebuild a solid, more stable and reliable image of the lost and move on, and from there you're on your own.

The game does get props for having four new Mary Elizabeth McGlynn songs. I like her. She is a great singer, and is also Helba, Kurenai, Lucia, Motoko Kusanagi, "Hot Ice" Hilda, two different Echidnas in different games, and Pandora in an episode of Xena Warrior Princess.

[Seil]

Okay, so I'm spoilering the game a lot in this post, so here's your warning if you haven't played SM.

At the end, when you realize that the patient of Kaufman is Cheryl, and she's imagining her dad, Harry, running around, what happens in the game? There's all this about snowing and nobody's outside and blah blah blah, but Harry does interact with people, and people die, like Lisa... Is the memory of Harry running around like Maria was in SH2? She was called the Memory of Mary or something like that, so is it possible that Harry was actually a real person with only the memory he had before he died, that he was in a car crash with his seven year old daughter, and everyone believes he's real? Or is it just the imagination of 25 year old Cheryl? Or something in between?

Also, Kaufman is a fucking terrible psychologist. I don't know how many sessions he's had with Cheryl, but in the end where he screams something about "18 years!" it seems like a lot of time has passed. A lot of the things he says are just... not things people say to other people, let alone a psychiatrist to his patients.


Stuff.

...Well I guess everyone can take the game in a different way.

The game does get props for having four new Mary Elizabeth McGlynn songs.

http://images3.wikia.nocookie.net/__cb20100402032820/silent/images/6/68/Mary_Elizabeth_McGlynn_profile.png (http://silenthill.wikia.com/wiki/Mary_Elizabeth_McGlynn)

She is one awesome lady.

[DFM]

Kaufman is exactly what I pictured a psychologist from Silent Hill to be like, I think they did a really good job with him.

[The Sevenshot Kid]

Question: As someone who has never played a Silent Hill game, but loves Resident Evil 4 and is in the middle of enjoying Alan Wake, would you be able to recommend this or any other Silent Hill game?

[Kim]

No. I love Silent Hill 2, but it's not remotely well-executed from a combat standpoint. The combat is more broken than a chair that has been under a steamroller. It gets fucking excellent marks in terms of atmosphere, story, characters, etc, but the combat puts a lot of people off. It certainly did Mirai. Even as someone who loves the games, if bad combat is enough to scare you away then don't play it.

[Seil]

Question: As someone who has never played a Silent Hill game, but loves Resident Evil 4 and is in the middle of enjoying Alan Wake, would you be able to recommend this or any other Silent Hill game?

I'll always recommend SH titles. That being said, it depends on what your preference is - Silent Hill is a horror title through and through. Not the physical horror slashers where you're scared of Jason or Michael, the horror where you're just plain scared. The monsters don't really help.

I'd start with SH2, it being the best in the series, in my opinion. If you decide you dun like it, try out SH4, which is slightly different in a few respects, or SH5, which has refined combat, or SH:SM because of the radically different style.

In short, there's a few different games in the series you can check out if you want to get in on the sweet, sweet Silent Hill lovin', but I understand it's not for everyone.

[stabbity death]

What's so awful about Silent Hill 2's combat? I'll not try to convince anyone that it's amazing in any way, but it's serviceable. Good enough to not get in the way. Certainly no worse.

[Kim]

It's mediocre at best, and the camera certainly isn't helping things.

[stabbity death]

Mediocre is a good way to put it--but the later games are even worse, in my opinion. Especially with the 2D control system being forced on the player in games clearly not designed to be interfaced with in such a manner.

[Kim]

Mediocre is a good way to put it--but the later games are even worse, in my opinion.

I never said they weren't. The thing is Fragile Dreams, which is the bizarre offspring of SH and a jRPG, has better combat than Silent Hill, and I still wouldn't call it good. Excuse it with "the game isn't about the combat" all you want, but if you put enemies in the character's way, you need to have combat good enough to dispatch them properly.

[Seil]

What's so awful about Silent Hill 2's combat? I'll not try to convince anyone that it's amazing in any way, but it's serviceable. Good enough to not get in the way. Certainly no worse.

The guns are serviceable - I like auto aim in games with cinematic camera because they'd be impossible otherwise. Attacking melee-wise is slow, each attack taking a few clumsy seconds, and it's impossible to cancel a move while you're doing it, so you could get a face full of acid because you couldn't dodge it.

Also, fuck these things:

http://i403.photobucket.com/albums/pp112/QuestionSleepZz/Silent%20Hill/Pendulum.jpg

[stabbity death]

Ha, I do, too.

Though, they're in Silent Hill 3. ;D

[Seil]

Yeah - I was mentioning them more in terms of the combat. They were tough, fast and strong.