Comments on: Silent Hill: Shattered Memories Thaws In December

By: Mr_Qoo

Mr_Qoo — Thu, 12 Nov 2009 20:15:38 +0000

If it bombs, you'll come crawling back. We all do. ;) Seriously, though, I may be one of the few that didn't mind Homecoming all that much. The combat wasn't typical Silent Hill but the game itself touched on a lot of the little things that SH has done spiritually. Dealing with guilt, especially. If anything this game just didn't have the right balance of character depth and Silent Hill Town depth. There's a right mixture and I think they actually leaned on a lot of the psychological aspects with Alex Shepard over anything else. It was sort of a cash-in to use Pyramid Head again as one of the manifestations of Alex Shepard’s guilt (matching SH2) but overall I enjoyed the game. The main part was there is a ton to read into with these games and that always makes them interesting and fresh to me. The hints throughout the series can also be taken multiple ways, which is even more perplexing yet entertaining all the same. I'll shut up now.

By: MisterNiwa

MisterNiwa — Thu, 12 Nov 2009 18:46:18 +0000

Oh! So they did Silent Hill Origins! I really liked that one! But Homecoming was good aswell.

By: matty

matty — Thu, 12 Nov 2009 16:45:32 +0000

Climax Group did Origins is also behind the new SH game. Double Helix did Homecoming.
One of the weakest aspects of Origins was the combat and puzzle. Shattered Memories has done away with combat and the puzzles (from what I saw of the demo) makes a little more sense, so that hopefully takes care of that.
I'm fairly certain that we'll never get a SH game that reached the first two, but SM sounds promising, and if it bites the big one then I'll hang my pyramid helmet on the rack.

By: matty

matty — Thu, 12 Nov 2009 13:10:03 +0000

Very interesting! I've always liked Yamaoka and he's right about how horror is dealt between the two cultures. Then again, I don't want to see the series exhaust itself, but they kind of did starting with 4 (they pulled it off well enough despite not originally being planned to be part of the series). Not to mention the Silent Hill Arcade game. I want to play it, but come on, really? :P

I'd rather see them focus on a new series if they've run out ideas for Silent Hill. Just look at Siren, part of the SH team went on to work on that and it became a horror marvel in it's own right.

By: matty

matty — Thu, 12 Nov 2009 12:43:10 +0000

Yeah, I see what you're saying. Silent Hill build itself a lot of history, character, depth, etc. that Homing and Origins didn't catch. Personally, though, I'd say that the series started it lose it's stride on 3 and 4, too. Those were fun games that I played numerous times, but like what you listed, I didn't see it all there either, you know?
With Shattered Memories, I feel this is like a make-or-break. I'm hoping it'll turn out great, if not the same ink of the previous titles then at least something that makes it worth playing. If not, then I really don't mind seeing the series just end there.
We'll see.

By: matty

matty — Thu, 12 Nov 2009 12:25:09 +0000

I said the same on the last article about SH: SM here, too. Well, it doesn't have a pointer, but theoretically you can still click and point on the Wii!

What actually reminds me the most about CT in this new SH game is that you simply have to play defense as opposed to coming out shooting every poor dog demon left and right.
I don't really feel some games deserves to be called “survival/horror” if you are able to carry a uzi or bazooka.

By: Tokyo Guy

Tokyo Guy — Thu, 12 Nov 2009 12:24:03 +0000

Hmm...isn't is somewhat misleading to say this game is by Konami? If not mistaken, isn't it made by the same (IMHO horrible) company that made Silent Hill Origins and Silent Hill Homecoming?

Personally, I'm so disappointed that the Silent Hill series has gone down the drain. I still remember back to being scared out of my wits with the original, and then marveling at Silent Hill 2 which is, IMHO, one of the best PS2 games on the whole. Then Silent Hill 3 came which returned to the horrid story of the original, and I don't know what the hell the mess that was Silent Hill 4 was suppose to be (then again, what do you expect when the MUSIC COMPOSER is doubling as the DIRECTOR). Still though, they all had a certain level of quality...

Then fast forward to the two latest installments...Homecoming was just a joke really, when it could have and should have been the rebirth of the series. (For those who don't know, Konami recently canceled the Japanese release no doubt due to the sheer lack of quality).

While I like what I've heard about this remake, it would hardly come as a surprise if the game is a stinker...

By: Mr_Qoo

Mr_Qoo — Thu, 12 Nov 2009 12:15:38 +0000

By: MisterNiwa

MisterNiwa — Thu, 12 Nov 2009 10:46:18 +0000

Oh! So they did Silent Hill Origins! I really liked that one! But Homecoming was good aswell.

By: matty

matty — Thu, 12 Nov 2009 08:45:32 +0000

By: matty

matty — Thu, 12 Nov 2009 05:10:03 +0000

I'd rather see them focus on a new series if they've run out ideas for Silent Hill. Just look at Siren, part of the SH team went on to work on that and it became a horror marvel in it's own right.

By: matty

matty — Thu, 12 Nov 2009 04:43:10 +0000

By: matty

matty — Thu, 12 Nov 2009 04:25:09 +0000

I said the same on the last article about SH: SM here, too. Well, it doesn't have a pointer, but theoretically you can still click and point on the Wii!

By: TokyoGuy

TokyoGuy — Thu, 12 Nov 2009 04:24:03 +0000

By: badmoogle

badmoogle — Thu, 12 Nov 2009 00:04:23 +0000

I think that at least Yamaoka himself seems to FINALLY getting what made SH unique in the first place.
This is from an interview he gave to Music 4 Games:

[QUOTE]M4G: Compared to previous Silent Hill games, Homecoming was not as well received. Why do you think this is?
Akira Yamaoka: I think it lacked the feel of the Silent Hill series or the elements that were required for Silent Hill. The theme of the series is a sort of a silent / unspoken fear (it’s hard to describe…). Homecoming might have lacked the identity of Silent Hill such as psychological fear. Silent Hill in the past depicted things that Japanese people fear using the foreign town environment and it had been well received. It might sound kind of ironic, though.

In the Silent Hill series, the feeling and sense of Japanese people are combined with the foreign cultures and environment, so people sometimes feel uncomfortable or strange. But it actually created the unique horror and universe. I think Homecoming lacked such feel. We need to provide the unique feel and horror of the series. If we provide normal horror and gameplay that users can experience with any games, we can’t expect user support. I think this will be a challenge for us.
Quote:
M4G: Do you think there will be another Silent Hill game developed in Japan or is the future of the franchise now firmly in the creative hands of the US developer?
Akira Yamaoka: This is a difficult question. I think that Silent Hill has to have Japanese blood or a sense which only Japanese people have and can depict. Even if it is hard for people from different cultures to understand, it has been well accepted and has become the originality of Silent Hill. So I think there may be another Silent Hill game developed in Japan someday. But I also think we will still have more Silent Hill games by the developers outside Japan.[/QUOTE]
http://www.music4games.net/Features_Display.asp...

Personally i have absolutely no interested in Shattered Memories.As Silentg said the series needs a major reinvention and not a re-imagination.Konami should stop making more cheap cash-ins from this game and finally treat the series with the respect it deserves.
They should bring the series back in Japan and if it's possible get back some of the creative minds behind SH2,especially Takayoshi Sato and Masahiro Ito.