Silent Hill Shattered Memories Review

It's safe to say that I am a Silent Hill fan. When the first game came out, I thought it would be a Resident Evil clone but I was way off with that theory. Since then, I've played through each game released in the U.S., on all the systems, enjoying each one in their own way. And yes, I actually dug Silent Hill 4 in different ways. Naturally, you would think that I would totally have enjoyed Silent Hill: Shattered Memories. Well you're right, I did enjoy it…oh wait, NO I DIDN'T! This lack of combat, overuse of sexual tension, crappy controlled, boring characters, lack of exploration game was a total bitch slap to the series.

In Silent Hill Shattered Memories, Climax was looking to do a "reimaging" of the original Silent Hill game. That said, fans and newbies will find the story to be interesting. All that really is needed to know is that Harry Mason is searching for his daughter, Cheryl, in the ever so evil city, Silent Hill. Being that storyline is important, there's really no point to go into details of the story as it's better to discover it on your own. I will say that the story is interesting and does have a deepness to it although it comes in such small bites that you're never really satisfied with it until the very end. I felt that I wasn't driven by the story to beat the game, but rather wanted to simply get the game over with.

Now let's talk about the gameplay, or should I say, "lack of any gameplay" gameplay. What we have with SHSM is a point-and-click adventure game. Yup, that's right, no survival horror here. You can break down the gameplay into three elements; "exploring", "evading", and "psychological". And yes, the quotations are there for the sake of sarcasm because these three things are not fun, exciting, and barely playable.

"Exploring" is what you'll be spending most of the time doing in the SHSM, and it's very disappointing. Maybe the developer, Climax, was making the game with the weakest system in mind, the PSP, but there's no exploration.

In all the Silent Hill games, there have been various locations to go through and see how the town screws with you. With this game, you're completely locked into to a small path that has only a few rooms/building to explore. I find it funny that Silent Hill 4: The Room, a game about how a guy's apartment is haunted and he can't escape it, has more exploration than this game.

Going through the areas is where you find the various puzzles that thankfully, are unique but there seems to be too few of them or maybe I’m used to puzzles being more complex as in the previous games. There are also the "scare" moments that you will mainly find while going through the different areas. However, these "scare" moments are really nothing but a loud noise that makes you jump the first few times. Sadly, these are the only times you'll jump while playing the game.

Next, "evading" or as it is being called, the chase scene. With no combat in this game, that's right NO COMBAT, the only action you have comes from these chase scenes. In another disappointment, when Silent Hill changes into the "evil" Silent Hill, the game changes from exploring to a segment of the game where you run around a few building trying to avoid monsters.

Even though I said "monsters", the enemies are several of the same monster that runs after you using only the one attack that they have. That one attack, a hug, has only one counter measure that Harry can do and that's a push. Yup, a goddamn push. With a game that had several firearms, melee weapons, and a foot to the head to kill the bad guys, this game has sunken to a new low violence-wise.

Some people are saying how this is "revolutionary" or how violence was not a big part of Silent Hill, but it's always been a part of the game. Killing screwed up monsters has been part of the game because it sets the mood. The mood being that an average Joe gets pushed to the edge by an evil city that takes the fears of that individual and manifests them into walking abominations.

I mean come on, let us remember that the most memorable non-major character of the series has been Pyramid Head in Silent Hill 2 who killed people in horrible ways and raped mannequins. It's one thing to take away the gore and violence, but the horror and suspense in this game is on par with a Are You Afraid of the Dark marathon. What we have is a game that has lost all survival horror gameplay elements, and has become a point-and-click game with a chase mini-game mixed in.

Then we come to the final segment designed to enhance the tension of the game. From the beginning, you're warned that the game "plays you as much as you play it" with its use of "psychology". Yeah, that's a bunch of crap. Here's what it boils down to. At the beginning, and throughout the game, you are given various questions and exercises designed to figure out YOU, the player. Your answers then change up the game in many ways from the characters' actions and dialogue to the multiple endings.

At first, it's a surprising on how it noticeably changes up the game. That surprise dies quickly as your next choices don't make any recognizable changes. Are there differences that are the result of your choices? Yes, of course, but you wouldn't know it until you play through again to see how your answers change everything. The results, in the end, are not that much different than the standard moral choices found in most RPGs today, just disguised in the form of psychological tests. As with everything else regarding the gameplay, it's a big disappointment.

Presentation in SHSM is the only positive aspect of the game, or at least, it's not as bad as the rest. Graphics are mediocre with the only thing to note of is the character models which are pretty good being that the game is designed for the hardware with the least power. The city is simply bland to look at without any of the creepiness that the previous games did so well (with the exception of SH4 where the game doesn't really take place in Silent Hill).

Audio is the strength of the game as it has a cast of voice actors that really make you feel for the characters, and the soundtrack is another classic of the series. With the return of composer, Akira Yamaoka, and series vocalist, Elizabeth McGlynn, the music plays well with working to enhance the mood of the game. Problem is everything else doesn't help to create a mood for the music thus making the soundtrack more of a worthy purchase than the actual game.

In conclusion, this game really sucks. From the lack of gameplay, less than thrilling storyline, and absence of any horror, you have plenty to pick from on why to dislike the game. Silent Hill fans be annoyed that everything they've enjoyed in the previous games is gone, and anyone else shouldn't even bother with the game.

With the first playthrough coming in at around 6 hours, the next playthroughs can be completed in half the time. But save yourself the effort and watch the intro, cutscenes, and endings on YouTube. Silent Hill Shattered Memories is a perfect example of an idea being redone by people who think they know better than the fans, putting it along the lines of movie video game adaptations.

- O.G.

article id: 810 | poster: OG