As an aside, here are a few thoughts.
I'm sick. That sucks. I also shaved my beard off- I had a Gordon Freeman goatee for a while, and even though I intend to regrow it, it was uneven and simply not working. I need to have even growth, and maintain that. I'm also frustrated with work, as my hours are not as numerous as I'd like, and I want some extra spending money. Even so, I finished getting my fillings, so once I'm done paying off my credit card, I'll have that extra spending money.
Anyway, now to the foggy little town of Silent Hill.
There's a new Silent Hill game coming out for the Wii that I am greatly looking forward to. As it approached, I wasn't sure what to expect from it, and I've heard mixed reviews. A lot of the die hard fans are dreading it, claiming that it isn't Silent Hill, but what I see in the die hard fans is a wish to return to Silent Hill 2, which is probably one of the best survival horror games ever, and in most fans' opinion, the best game in the series.
This game is a revisioning of the first game, set in modern time. It doesn't take place in 1985 like the original, and there are some new characters. What I got from the articles I've read is this game is like comparing the Burton Batman to the Nolan Batman- both have many of the same characters and same concept, but are fundamentally very different films, although both are good.
And that's all I ask of this game- that it be good. I realize that Silent Hill will never be back to Silent Hill 2, and I don't mind. We had our perfect game (well, it wasn't perfect, but it was compelling, had great atmosphere, and an awesome story.), and now we need to look forward and find new ways to be scared, to carry forth the eerie atmosphere, and have our mind's fucked with.
So, here comes Silent Hill, Shattered Memories. The music is done by Akira Yamaoka, who did the music for the entire series, and is considered the creative genius behind the first few games. I've listened to the soundtrack, and rather enjoy it. So, in the sound department, things look pretty good.
And now to the gameplay. It is on the Wii, which means the control is going to be very different, but there is a chance it might not suck, unlike every other Silent Hill game, ever. It uses the cell phone as a menu system, so decisions must be done on the fly, similar to Silent Hill 4, and there is no combat, just running and hiding.
I personally like this idea. But it gets better.
The game starts with a personality test, given to you by a certain Dr. K, who I assume is Doctor Kaufmann, although in a very different form. The original Dr Kaufmann was a corrupt cultist posing as the administrator of a hospital, which he used to traffic massive amounts of drugs and finance the cult, but this Dr. K appears to be a friendly psychologist who wishes to discuss the events that happened to you in Silent Hill. The results of your personality profile, as well as your responses to his questions help shape your character's appearance, the appearance of the world, as well as the paths available to you. From what I've heard, no game is the same- if you respond one way, you will be able to go here first. If you respond another, you wake up in another location, and the monsters look different. Your choices during the game continue to dynamically shape everything, and there is a very good chance of multiple endings.
So, thus far it looks pretty good. The things I don't like are the ability to call NPCs. Silent Hill is supposed to be about isolation, but by allowing you to talk to people, it cuts that short. However, by taking away that ability, I think they could really do some good- imagine, you need to call someone to get to a new location, but suddenly your phone isn't getting reception. Oh, and now there are monsters and you can't get in touch with the person you needed to unlock the door to the next area for you. Damn AT&T.
Another thing I don't care for so much is the ice. Instead of the rusty bloodbath that Silent Hill normally has as it's otherworld, it's this snow covered wonderland of pain and fear, which on some levels is fine, assuming the character has some sort of psychological aversion to ice, or possibly bad memories of a snowstorm, but the hardcore Silent Hill nerd in me is screaming in nerd rage.
Even so, if it scares me, all is forgiven. Which brings me to my next section, a review of the Silent Hill games. This is more for myself, as writing these things down helps me to solidify my thoughts on them. Spoilers, so be warned.
The first Silent Hill game was titled, aptly, Silent Hill, and followed Harry Mason as he searches for his daughter in the snowy town of Silent Hill. He attempts to follow her, but soon finds the town is overrun with bizarre monsters, and eventually finds out the truth- His daughter is an avatar of sorts of a girl born years earlier, who was burned by her own mother, Dahlia, one of the lead members of the town's cult, but despite the horrific burns, she lived, empowered by the god living inside her, another result of the cult's activities. However, her wounds never fully healed, and her psychic powers began to manifest, creating monsters and turning the town into the hellish rusted world which Harry has to fight his way through, encountering various other lost souls, including Lisa, a frightened nurse, Doctor Kaufmann, the corrupt hospital administrator, Dahlia, a strange cultist, and Cybil, a rather dykish cop. As the game continues, depending on the choices you made in the game, various things occur, but in the cannon ending, the 'god' is born from Alessa, and Harry defeats it. Alessa is reborn as an infant, and Harry raises her as his own. Mind you, I haven't played this game in ages, so I am a bit rusty on it, although I intend on playing it again soon.
Silent Hill 2 has nothing to do with the predecessor, but is quite possibly the best game in the series. It follows James Sunderland, a normal guy whose wife died of some unnamed disease years ago. He gets a letter from her, claiming she is waiting for him in Silent Hill. Unable to go on living a normal life after his loss, he decides the best course of action is to seek out his dead wife in Silent Hill. Once there, he meets a number of lost souls, as well as a woman that looks strikingly like his wife, but has a rather slutty personality. He also encounters a number of monsters that have a disturbing feminine quality about them, as well as a horrible demon that rapes and murders said monsters, then goes after you- the aptly named Pyramid Head, who has come to be the sex symbol, mascot, and most frightening aspect of the series, and has gone to appear in Homecoming and the film, despite having no place in either. As the game progresses, it becomes apparent that James, along with most of the lost souls there, is losing his sanity, and at the end he comes to the horrible conclusion that he euthanized his wife a week earlier, and is delusional. Finally, he defeats Pyramid Head, who represents his guilt, and faces a twisted Maria, or Mary, depending on the ending. There are multiple endings to this game as well, and depending on your choices, you can leave with Laura, an 'innocent' (very annoying) little girl Mary wanted to adopt, kill yourself, attempt to resurrect Mary using cult rituals, get abducted by aliens, or a number of other endings.
Silent Hill 3 takes on the plot of the first game, as you play a teenage girl named Heather whose life is turned upside down when a normal trip to the mall turns into a trip to the rust covered nightmare world of Silent Hill. It becomes apparent that Claudia, a member of the cult believes that Heather has god inside her, and soon it is revealed that Heather is the infant that Harry found, all grown up, but still containing the evil inside her. Claudia kills her father, driving her to go to Silent Hill to seek her revenge. Aided by Douglas, a detective hired by Claudia to find Heather, and Vincent, a corrupt member of the cult, she eventually manages to destroy the 'god' inside her, which Claudia ingests and births, killing her. Heather finally kills the god, and along with that, the faction of the cult, as Vincent is killed earlier. The game has good storytelling, and a likable protagonist, capable of turning into a sailor moon type character, and some of the most disturbing scenery of the game. It also features one of the best lines in the Silent Hill series, "Monsters? They look like monsters to you?"
Silent Hill 4: The Room is generally seen as the turning point for the series, as it is nowhere near as good as the previous games. It has a great amount of potential, despite not initially being written as a Silent Hill game, but being roughly adapted into one simply for the potential of marketing it as such and making a greater profit. The plot follows loner Henry Townshend, who finds himself stranded in his apartment, only able to escape into nightmare worlds where he witnesses murders. Eventually, it is revealed that a cultist from the Silent Hill cult believes the apartment to be his mother, and is using it as a nexus for some ritual to birth one of the cult's gods. To put it frankly, it's really weird. Still, the biggest fault of the game is that it is unfinished. Terrible combat, horrible repetitiveness, and a general feeling that, 'they could have done so much more' haunt this game, and make it an overall very difficult game to like. Despite this, it has some really amazing scenes that are disturbingly gross, but utterly fascinating at the same time. Still, the biggest fault is that it simply doesn't make sense most of the time, and seems like it tries too hard to be art instead of horror. The biggest frustration is that, with more development, it had the potential to be a truly great game, but blew it by releasing too early.
After Silent Hill 4, it was announced that there would be a prequel to the Silent Hill games, done by an American studio. I saw screenshots from it and was thoroughly unimpressed. Thankfully, said American studio had it wrangled from them, and given to a British studio that actually knew how to create games. The result was a game for the PSP called Silent Hill 0rigins. Many people complained about this game, but I felt it was a call back to the first three games, and while lacking the story depth, or incredible scares of the earlier games, it got the atmosphere, feel, and look of Silent Hill down superbly. Even so, people love to say it was a terrible game, and while I have to admit I enjoyed it, it had it's flaws. Still, it is the best survival horror offering I've played on a handheld console, so in that respect, I give it props.
After that, Silent Hill 5: Homecoming was released. This game was terrible. It relied on cheap scares, combat, and oversexualized graphics instead of atmosphere, good writing, and horror. It follows a veteran, Alex Shepherd as he returns to his hometown... Not Silent Hill. Some other town, near Silent Hill. His hometown is slowly being taken over by the evil of Silent Hill, and it is revealed that his family is part of a counter cult to the evil of Silent Hill, and throughout the game he comes to this fact, and finally strikes a killing blow at the cult, all while trying to find his brother, who turns out to be dead, accidentally killed by him. Oh, and he never was in the military, he was institutionalized. And pyramid head kills his mom. Terrible game. And horrible graphics- the hair goes through someone's face at one point, and for the most part looks like it is made out of plastic. I know the xbox is capable of creating believable hair, which is why this is so frustrating. But what is even more frustrating was how bad the game was.
And now, we have Silent Hill: Shattered Memories. I did not have high hopes for this game, seeing how bad SH5 was, but after seeing trailers, reading articles, and whatnot, I have to say I am intrigued. I will not be overly sad if it sucks, but from what I've heard it's a good game. It isn't anything like any Silent Hill game before it, but at this point, I don't mind. Silent Hill has to evolve. If I want to play a game that is like Silent Hill 1-3, I'll play Silent Hill 1-3. All I want is for this game to get under my skin, scare me, and mess with my head. Getting the atmosphere right would be nice too. But really, that's all I want. Scare me, please.
Germboy, out/Peace.
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