I know that it is May 28, 2009. I realize this game came out eight months ago and I am just now getting into it. I have come to terms with the fact that I don’t sound like much of a Silent Hill fan for playing it so late. My excuse is that after the first twenty minutes of playing it back in October, I absolutely couldn’t stand it. Please understand I don’t like to complain and I will not rant often, but since I’m in the middle of playing this game I figure this is a healthy (and productive, even) way of releasing my built up frustration.
I remember the day almost perfectly. I was browsing my local Gamestop one summer evening when I found Silent Hill 3. I had heard of the series, but I never got around to picking it up because I never really knew what it was about. As soon as I popped it in I immediately fell in love with the puzzles, horrifying creatures, and kickass soundtrack. I couldn’t believe I’d never played this before! Over the next couple months I picked up Silent Hill 2, Silent Hill: The Room and borrowed the original Silent Hill. This was the blossoming of an exciting new relationship unlike anything I’d ever experienced before.
Almost every gamer knows of Silent Hill‘s legacy, especially #2. Many consider it one of the most well-written games in history. The Silent Hill series attracts many for their twisted, unpredictable plots, gruesome characters and seducing soundtracks. Hollywood even recognized its popularity and in April of 2006 a Silent Hill movie hit the big screen. In 2007 and 2008 Konami debuted Silent Hill: Origins for the PSP and PS2, respectively. Although it wasn’t the best installment in the series, it tided us SH fans over until the fall 2008 release of a new full-length game, Silent Hill Homecoming. It had been four years since a real Silent Hill came out, and Homecoming was the answers to our prayers! …Or so we thought.
I’m not really sure where to begin my complaining, so I guess I’ll start with whatever comes to mind…
The Damage Meter. I’m not the best gamer in the world, but I’m not the worst either, so there is no reason I should constantly be dying every other scene. It is getting better now as I am mastering the dodge technique, but I don’t even want to know how many times I have died in this game so far. Alex Shepherd, the main character, a soldier, takes more damage than any other Silent Hill character so far. Heather, the 17 year old wearing a skirt and a sleeveless vest from Silent Hill 3 took less damage than Alex does. Come on.
The lack of items. Especially first aid kits/health drinks. I liked having an average of 3 health drinks/2 first aid kids and just enough ammunition in the previous games. Normal mode was balanced, and if I wanted to go without health drinks and ammo for long periods of time I would just play a harder difficulty. I am currently playing on normal difficulty and the lack of helpful items is astounding. I know survival horror games are supposed to challenge the player with minimal supplies, but Homecoming reminds me less and less of a survival horror game.
The emphasis on combat. This game is completely different from any SH game up to this point. If I wanted to focus on fighting I would play Killzone or Gears of War. I feel like you no longer need to use any logical thinking skills to debunk any of the puzzles, but rather know just when to press circle.
The connection between Alex and Silent Hill. Harry Mason (SH1) lost his daughter in Silent Hill. James Sunderland (SH2) and his deceased wife had special memories in Silent Hill which is why he returns. Heather (SH3) has an obvious, direct link to Silent Hill (I won’t spoil the plot if someone hasn’t played it). Then from SH4: The Room and on the creators tried desperately to think of any way possible to link the lead protagonist to the town. With Alex in particular, he was living in the town next to Silent Hill his whole life and finally realized it was sort of mysterious… seriously? Isn’t that something you’d pick up on over the years? I’m hoping Silent Hill: Shattered Memories (2009, for the Wii, PSP and PS2) will redeem this quality in the series and start to make more interesting correlations between the town and its peoples.
Too many movie references. I was as skeptical and worrisome as a Trekkie walking into the 2009 Star Trek when I walked into the theater to watch Silent Hill for the first time, but I wasn’t really disappointed. There were a few things that needed edited, but that is a topic for a later post. In Homecoming I felt like the creators were diverging too much from SH’s roots. It’s like they were trying to impress the audience that picked up the game because of the movie rather than the fans who had been interested in SH for years. For instance, there is absolutely no reason Pyramid Head needs to make an appearance. This enemy is a central character and a phenomenal metaphor for Silent Hill 2, and only Silent Hill 2. Yes, he is probably the most badass antagonist in the series, but he is really only pertinent to the 2nd installment.
Maybe I’m upset because the link to the town of Silent Hill has been effed with too many times. Maybe I’m complaining because I had extremely high hopes for this game and even the slightest let down feels like my series is waving goodbye. Maybe I’m bitter because I chose to play the PS3 version and I’m not receiving achievement points. Silent Hill will always maintain its allure to me no doubt, but I feel like I’m a mom watching their child grow up and my precious baby chose to pierce everything piercable, flunk out of high school and have two kids by seventeen (no offense to anyone that did do those things). “I’m not mad, I’m just disappointed.”
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