Silent Hill Homecoming

Silent Hill: Homecoming proves to be a welcome step forward in the series without breaking the foundation that has made it a success. By staying true to the series’ roots and not trying to rely on unnecessary mechanics or gimmicks, Double Helix has created yet another unsettling gaming experience that is sure to stick in the minds of players long after the end credits roll. Fans of the series are sure to be pleased, as well as spooked, by the expected, yet unexpected twists the plot takes as Alex searches for his missing brother and father. Newcomers will also appreciate the ability to pick up the game without needing to know the full history of the franchise, but some may feel a bit overwhelmed if they aren’t prepared for what the Silent Hill experience has to offer. By this I’m referring to the deliberate tension and anxiety that engulf players as Alex struggles to push forward into his living nightmare. Those wondering if Konami has run out of ideas for its long-running series can rest easy—well, maybe not too easy—as Silent Hill: Homecoming is sure to muster up some of our darkest fears for some time to come…

Even worse are the sections where the title continually triggers a number of respawning monsters until you move to a certain portion of the environment and trigger a cutscene.

Characters in cutscenes do have a tendency to perform their lines with poor lip synching, and although their faces may be rather expressive at times, their clothing looks flat and generically textured. Finally, the game does employ a scratched film filter for the Otherworld that looks rather good, but the fog filter that's applied for the "real" world can make character's skin look unnatural. This also seems to contribute to shadows that move unrealistically, with the shadows seeming to vibrate and become pixilated and in motion even when a character is standing still. The 360 has less instances of this, but clipping of objects and items like hair seems much more frequent in this version than the PS3.

As a fan of the entire Silent Hill universe and someone that has every game associated to the property, I was hoping that Homecoming would be an excellent step forward for the franchise. Unfortunately, I admit that the game feels like a bit of a letdown. The gameplay has been reduced from a tense psychological experience fraught with spine tingling jumps and scares to a generic, predictable action title set in the location with good graphics and a great soundtrack. If Alex had been limited in some way, or even if there was an adjustment to the fearful aspect to the title, this could've been a solid game.

mitch wrote:

Gandalf wrote:

Hero of Canton wrote:Actually, I've been thinking about the whole Pyramid Head thing...

Considering he's meant to be a manifestation of someone's guilt, it doesn't make sense for him to have the same name in this one. Perhaps there's a reason why guilt is realised in that form. Maybe we'll find out that reason in the game?

Actually, that does make sense.

Guilt doesn't really manifest in that form - guilt brings you to Silent Hill to face your judgement, after being summoned by the demon - and Pyramid Head is the old town executioner making you face what you have done.

Our main guy here has probably done something naughty in the past as a soldier - or since they are copying the film so much the pointy one is just in it for some thrills.

samoza wrote:That's a worrying score. I am not a huge fan after number 2 so I will wait for it to come down in price. Looks like they have once again stopped a game being scary by allowing too much combat.

Gandalf wrote:

mitch wrote:

Gandalf wrote:

Hero of Canton wrote:Actually, I've been thinking about the whole Pyramid Head thing...

Considering he's meant to be a manifestation of someone's guilt, it doesn't make sense for him to have the same name in this one. Perhaps there's a reason why guilt is realised in that form. Maybe we'll find out that reason in the game?

Actually, that does make sense.

Guilt doesn't really manifest in that form - guilt brings you to Silent Hill to face your judgement, after being summoned by the demon - and Pyramid Head is the old town executioner making you face what you have done.

Our main guy here has probably done something naughty in the past as a soldier - or since they are copying the film so much the pointy one is just in it for some thrills.

If that's the case, then I'm confuzzled? I started watching the first hour of the film last night, so what did Rose do wrong to be sent to Silent Hill to face judgement?

Hulohot wrote:**** loads of new songs! This is the whole version of the song heard in the trailers! Immense. It is called "One more soul to the call."

Neo Cortex wrote:

Gandalf wrote:

mitch wrote:

Gandalf wrote:

Hero of Canton wrote:Actually, I've been thinking about the whole Pyramid Head thing...

Considering he's meant to be a manifestation of someone's guilt, it doesn't make sense for him to have the same name in this one. Perhaps there's a reason why guilt is realised in that form. Maybe we'll find out that reason in the game?

Actually, that does make sense.

Guilt doesn't really manifest in that form - guilt brings you to Silent Hill to face your judgement, after being summoned by the demon - and Pyramid Head is the old town executioner making you face what you have done.

Our main guy here has probably done something naughty in the past as a soldier - or since they are copying the film so much the pointy one is just in it for some thrills.

If that's the case, then I'm confuzzled? I started watching the first hour of the film last night, so what did Rose do wrong to be sent to Silent Hill to face judgement?

Same thing as Harry Mason...

theinfinityissue wrote:INITIAL IMPRESSIONS GET!

hoo boy.. this is some tense stuff. the SH atmosphere is there in force, and I am really relieved to see that. the sound and music is immaculate, brought in and out at exactly the right times. if you aren't playing this with no one around and the room as dark as you can get it, you are doing it wrong. whether or not its scary to you will probably depend on how well you get into your character's head. for me, it's got me pretty anxious. movement and combat controls like a strawberry floating champ tho, responsive and tight but without RE4's annoying "turret" turning that makes you feel like you're driving a robot. voice work is a little shaky at this point; it's odd, like every other sentence alternates between dead-on and awkward. the noise filter looks strawberry floating awesome, and the weird effect used to highlight items is extremely cool looking. just as I thought, the noise filter totally must have thrown off reviewer's takes on the graphics. these people are used to counting pixels in teh haloz, not appreciating art. oh, something awesome happened during a fight. a nurse took a swing at me, and I used the evade command and the guy ducked down and left and came up at her side, then I plunged my knife in her and she absolutely shrieked and went down. I'm not sure if positional combat actually does more damage or not, but it was still freaking awesome. the nurse movement is suitably disturbing. oh, I also really like Alex's comments on his surroundings, a vital part of forming a link with a SH character. branching dialogue actually has some surprising options in it, and both options don't essentially seem to mean the same thing like in most branching dialogue games.

alright, now that I'm comfortable that they didn't ruin my favorite game series of all time, I'm going to get to the nitty gritty and be a lot harder on it. more later.

Anung Un Rama wrote:Oh gooseberry fool, getting hyped!!

brandonh83 wrote:This game is fantastic so far. Combat is so much better, it's actually fun to fight stuff and if you ask me the enemies are still scary and threatening, maybe moreso than ever. The nurses' walking animations are creepy as hell and they can actually be dangerous. I knew the game was fantastic the second I had the option to actually try and sneak around nurses with my flashlight off, to still explore the area and be really slow and quiet while doing so and trying not to attract their attention. THAT is awesome, and intense.

Dante wrote:For you importers who haven't ordered - 365games.co.uk have copies in tomorrow which means you'll have the game saturday morning (never have they taken more then 24hours for a delviery on arounsd 15 import orders)

Really worth getting from, cannot recommened them highly enough

Tragic Magic wrote:

Neo Cortex wrote:

Gandalf wrote:

mitch wrote:

Gandalf wrote:

Hero of Canton wrote:Actually, I've been thinking about the whole Pyramid Head thing...

Considering he's meant to be a manifestation of someone's guilt, it doesn't make sense for him to have the same name in this one. Perhaps there's a reason why guilt is realised in that form. Maybe we'll find out that reason in the game?

Actually, that does make sense.

Guilt doesn't really manifest in that form - guilt brings you to Silent Hill to face your judgement, after being summoned by the demon - and Pyramid Head is the old town executioner making you face what you have done.

Our main guy here has probably done something naughty in the past as a soldier - or since they are copying the film so much the pointy one is just in it for some thrills.

If that's the case, then I'm confuzzled? I started watching the first hour of the film last night, so what did Rose do wrong to be sent to Silent Hill to face judgement?

Same thing as Harry Mason...

Yep. Not everyone goes to Silent Hill to "face judgement". In fact, I think that only applies to James. Harry went because he was with his daughter when she was taken into SH, Heather went because she was brought to SH to birth a God, Henry ended up in SH purely because he was unlucky enough to live in the apartment he did and Travis ended up there as he had to face his past which he'd been running from all his life.

So yeah, the only character that "faced judgement" was James. And I wouldn't even say he was either. He was just brought to Silent Hill so that he could face the truth of what happened all those years ago and come to terms with it. He wanted to be punished and that's what drew him to SH but I wouldn't say he "faced judgement" really.

Sorry for the geek rant (edit - wasn't a rant really) but I just like to voice my opinion.

Feel free to challenge me with your own ideas though. Silent Hill is a good thing to discuss in such a manner.