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As every Silent Hill game has done so far, this game experiences the horrors and weird happenings of Silent Hill but experienced from another character’s point of view, inside of another character’s story. What has stayed the same though is that all of the Silent Hill’s have taken a familiar route of exploration, looking at clues, and adventuring with an ongoing theme of physiological horror. Silent Hill has been known for its orthodoxy, catering mainly for its solid fan base which had flourished during the original, however the last few from the series have been thinning the audience slightly as they move onto bigger and ‘better’ next gen games. But now Silent Hill: Homecoming has been released for the current generation systems, will this mean Homecoming will be ignored because of its age or will it fit in with the young and hip?
Gameplay:
Silent Hill Homecoming is the second game in the now six game series to be developed by an outside company, outside to the original creators called Team Silent, and so far the games fair well to their original counterparts.
If you have never played a Silent Hill game before, then you may not be aware that these games generally follow the action/adventure, although that seems way too tame as a genre description – as you might be thinking Zelda – this game is seriously quite the opposite. The best comparison I can make for the audience of this generation is think Resident Evil but re-balance the scales of that game in favour of adventure, and the more suited horror genre. The major difference here though is that the story is a tad bit stranger to follow, and it never really does its best to allow you to understand what’s going on.
The sequence generally goes like this; you’ll be confused, you’ll run around, you’ll investigate, you’ll hit a demon on the head with a crowbar, and then you’ll get confused some more. This is not giving a great first impression but is really the idea of Silent Hill, experiencing the unknown.
The first glimpse of clarity you’ll get is that you’re a returning soldier named Alex Shepherd who finds out the town he once lived in has had something happen to it. Most of its population has gone missing and/or insane and your brother is one of those missing people. You then make it your job to go out and find him, knowing that somehow he’s still alive. You’ll meet a number of other characters in the game, most of which are odd and seem possessed, but for the majority of it you’re on your own.
Homecoming has a lot of buttons to use, and this game is on the verge of being clumsy in parts, and if it wasn’t for a generally good layout and reused buttons then it could have been a headache to work out. Fortunately though, for any occasional 360 gamer they should be easy to fathom. ‘A’, as it is in many games, is the action button, ‘LT’ is the hostile posture (holding this will allow you to aim or be ready to swing with malice!) ‘B’ is the duck/roll button for dodging those lethal attacks; ‘Y’ is the map and objective menu. ‘RB’ is the weapon menu, and lastly ‘LB’ is the item inventory. The reason this game is on the verge of being a right hassle is because of the amount of menus there are, technically there are 4 menus in this game, 3 of which you’ll use frequently. I really don’t understand why the item and weapon inventory couldn’t have been merged into two tabs, but as it is you’ll have to separately switch between the two.
Silent hill has always split itself between combat and exploration, and always in favour of exploration – quite thankfully. This is not because the combat mechanics are bad at all, it’s just nice to have a break from the old trigger happy shooter, but this would be just mere preference. The action and fighting mechanics are of a singular lock-on fighting style, meaning you can only really attack one enemy at a time with your trusty melee weapon, and your melee weapons will be your favourite weapon in this game as the ammo needs to be rationed. So holding your ‘LT’ trigger and pressing ‘A’ will let you go for a small swing or stab, pressing ‘X’ while holding ‘LT’ will throw a strong attack. It’s simple but effective; the only real skill is to dodge at the right time. Going into your ‘hostile posture’ - as I called it- will switch the camera to a sideways view while showing your health bar, this is slightly constraining and forces you to view only the monster you're fighting with at the time. Enemies tend to keep away when you’re fighting another, but that isn’t the point as it would have been nice to switch enemy on the fly.
Most of the time before fighting an enemy you won’t actually see it coming; those who are well known to the physiological scare factor of the series will know that when you’re inside, it’s extremely dark and only viewable with a flashlight, and then when you’re out in the open it’s overly foggy and you can see about a meter in front of you. The reason for this is that this game relies heavily on sound, beckoning you to turn your lights off and turn the volume up to experience this game to its full potential. What’s clever about this is that it's what makes the game spookier, as you have no idea what could be running at you until it’s too late. That may sound great, but sadly Homecoming has been a little dire in this aspect, it’s still there – the amount of times I didn’t know whether to run like crazy or stand statically still when my radio went fuzzy, it can really get to you. When you’re outside you can guess what’s going to be coming at you, whether it’s because you’re attacked so often, or because it tends to be the same enemy type, you most likely won’t jump out your seat as much. Inside, on the other hand it’s a different story, and not for the claustrophobic or the queasy. Silent Hill plays with your mind, you’ll walk into a draw for example and it will bang against the wall. Thinking it’s something else, you’ll spin around. Or opening a door to an unexplored room, the door slams, and you fall off your chair, okay... maybe not to that extent, but it can make you jump Oddly enough, this happens often. This is what Silent Hill has been known for and it’s what makes Silent Hill a fantastic series, its hold on you and the ability to make you jump just like any horror movies, is what puts Silent Hill within a world of its own.
Another element well known to the Silent Hill collection are the cut scenes which string the story together, these points are the only times where the story makes any sort of sense... in a way. Probably the most interesting of these cinematic clips are the reminiscent flashbacks of your past, back to when the town was less weird. These moments share insights into the relationships you have with the characters you meet, but don’t really explain clearly what’s going on at that moment, although things do piece together slowly. The interactive elements between the few characters you meet in the game are convincing and well acted, none of it really seems as cheesy as we’ve been used to in video games, although I do get a little discouraged by the under reaction of some of the characters, especially Alex, who hasn’t at all been completely bothered to what’s happening around him, instead just clinging on to finding his brother.
Exploration and confusion are two words which pop to mind while playing Homecoming, and probably in that order as well. If you’re not into aimlessly wandering around searching for clues and solving puzzles, then I can straight away recommend you to look elsewhere. This is the foundation of the game’s play time and as well as searching for your brother, searching for items is a recurring plot device. Although the puzzles and Sherlock Holmes spins are definite welcomes, I cannot help think that more thought could have gone into the puzzle elements of the game. Arguably, you could say this game is all one big sophisticated puzzle which ends up sliding into place, but those more literal sliding puzzle games are unfitting. The first time I bumped into one of those I thought they were just introductory to the later more challenging and effective pieces of the game, but no, there are a few of these block sliders that rely on just trial and error. Understandably, this is the first game on this generation and so a lot of new players will need to be eased into the game, but it's a regrettable sacrifice for the more familiar players out there.
Confusion seems to be a shared state in Silent Hill Homecoming, the very few moments you’re followed by AI characters they have had a troubled time keeping up with you and passing certain obstacles. Elle, who is one of the previously known characters to Alex and who follows him, had gotten stuck a number of times forcing me to reload a previous save. Other than breaking up the game’s lonesome journey a bit, she was pretty useless. Nothing shatters the immersion more than when you witness an AI character constantly running into a wall; thankfully these joint character sections are rare.
Graphics:
There has been a genuine argument and slight misconception in the graphics department - applying to all games of this generation – and it’s spiraled out of control, even more so as graphics quality and its expectations of this generation increase. Gameplay maybe the key factor of any game, or at least a majority, but depending on the title, graphics can affect the gameplay due to its ability to be more convincing and therefore making the experience more immersive. Silent Hill is one of those titles that need this characteristic, this as well as a consistent art style which portray the disturbing scenes Silent Hill’s known to be filled with.
Homecoming might not have the best looking engine of its current generation, but it's detailed enough to make you feel wary and disturbed at some of the environments and enemies it presents.
Other than them both being 3rd person, there’s only one similarity I can think of between the original Gears of War and this game, its colour palette. With Gears of War it started to wear thin and make the game seem dull, this game wouldn’t be Silent Hill without its Gritty, dark greys, and brown textures with its unsaturated and grained film look. It’s a perfect outlook for a bizarre and twisted setting Silent Hill perceives itself to be.
As with many games, there are sacrifices, loading times can be found in this game but they aren’t that painful to endure. When you do bump into a loading screen, they aren’t very long – anything up to 10-15 seconds, and for a game of this stature there aren’t as many as there could be. Another minor issue would be the frame rate drops when initially walking into a new area, it’s noticeable, but because it’s a fairly slow paced game it thankfully isn’t problematic.
Sound:
Without this section of the review, Silent Hill’s true quality would never be able to be expressed. Its musical score and effects have always been distinct and fitting to its bizarre and horror filled setting, making it a known and critical point of delivery to the game’s name.
The soundtrack does not falter here and keeps a hold of its acclaim, there is one unusual rock piece which I thought was a bit unusual, but otherwise all the right music comes at the right times while playing.
But of course, to back what’s already been mentioned, it’s not just the soundtrack that has you on the edge of your seat, the sound effects are also on the same level of eeriness and contain a high tension value. Most noises are over emphasised to give you those unexpected ‘jumps’, whether they’re your own actions, other characters, or the enemies out to take you down, it’s all there to make your spine tingle.
Longevity:
Silent Hill has always completely been about the single player experience, and I couldn’t imagine having any form of multiplayer mode or even a co-op partner, as it would just ruin the isolation the series has already successfully nailed. So it's no surprise here, there is only a campaign to experience, but what there is of the campaign though is fantastically produced. I could quite accurately compare this to watching – or in this case playing – a horror movie, but just extend it by another seven hours. The experience here outweighs its length making it worthy of its retail value.
In terms of replayability, I’d say you could probably go through the game once more after completion. Unsurprisingly you won’t obtain the same experience, as this is all about the unknown and because it’s linear its consequently heavily scripted; you’ll be seeing things you saw before. However, there is a normal and hard difficulty setting and there are collectibles to work for, so to go through once more for that would still be enjoyable.
Overall:
Silent Hill: Homecoming has been a hell of a roller-coaster ride to play through (mind the unintentional pun), with a lot of high moments such as the more than convincing cut scenes which are scattered throughout from start to finish, the well organised and responsive controls, and the commendable effects which capture the game’s freaky atmosphere - Double Helix should be applauded for that especially. The few low moments are also regrettably noticeable as well, such as the slight loss of psychological intensity that Silent Hill is well known for, and the puzzles, although being a refreshing break upon this shooting oriented generation, after a while they become ever so similar in method and shallow in concept. (The constant sliding puzzles; it’s like playing with a kid’s toy in an 18+ title). It was also disappointing and unacceptable to find that the AI couldn’t follow you properly, and albeit the characters being ‘disturbingly’ interesting to watch, the story seemed ever so familiar to a strangely indifferent title name... the original Silent Hill anyone?
Although there are issues with Silent Hill: Homecoming, Double Helix has done well to revitalise a slowly decaying series, it brings me back to my old Silent Hill days of having to pause the game for a boost of encouragement (which is a sign of a successful horror in my eyes), and having a game that paces itself with well balanced puzzles, exploration and action sequences is most welcome. All of this may bore true fans of the Silent Hill series, but it’s first time being on a next generation system and being unfamiliar with the majority of its audience might be why I – and others – act so genuinely pleased with its presence.
So, for any gamers who come across slightly derailed by my take on this, don’t be. The apparent problems I have mentioned with this game shouldn’t be over emphasised, for they are just minor dips in a mostly consistent heightened ride of psychological horror. Silent Hill enthusiasts can be happy that it’s accurate to the original Silent Hill, but those who grew tiresome of the series I can safely bet this won’t be anything new. To anyone else interested, I can’t assure you’ll be as understanding when playing the game itself – as it is an odd one. Silent Hill: Homecoming will not disappoint in quality, whether you’re returning traditionalists or even a curious newcomer, Silent Hill: Homecoming is an honorable addition to a defining franchise.
| Review By: Lee Burton - Overall Rating 8 (out of 10) |
| Gameplay: |
8.5 |
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| Graphics: |
8 |
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| Sound: |
9.5 |
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| Longevity: |
7 |
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| Overall: |
8 |
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