Silent Hill Homecoming is American developer Double Helix's attempt at a next-gen survival horror game published by Konami. The Silent Hill series is known as a psychological thriller, causing much fear and panic to the game player. Whether it's wandering through the iconic fog repleted streets of Silent Hill, or through the monster laden rusted antique hallways of the Otherworld, they throw a normal person in as a character to fend for themselves against the hellish creatures anyway they can. Like our Xbox 360 reviewer, I have not played the previous Silent Hill games in the past, so this is not from a fan's perspective.
Alex Shepherd returns to his hometown of Shepherd's Glen after having disturbing dreams concerning his younger brother. When he arrives to his childhood home, he finds his mother is in a nearly catatonic state while his father and brother are both nowhere to be found. Alex searches through his nearly abandoned hometown that has the trademark fogginess of Silent Hill, looking for answers that will eventually lead him to his brother. He finds out that Shepherd's Glen is not the town he remembers. The story is good, but nothing to write home about, ending with three different choices near the conclusion that will determine which ending you will receive.
Most of the time you have to confront the enemies attacking you because they're attracted to the flashlight like insects. The combat is very simple but effective by use of light and heavy attacks and a dodge button. These can be used for combos. You'll be mashing the buttons along with holding the target button to slaughter the monsters that try to impregnate you with fear. You can kill most enemies without even suffering a scratch. Besides the combat, there are some button press mechanics, which were disappointing since there wasn't any Six-Axis action on the PS3 version. The game progression seems generic and played out with predictable scares and simple puzzles. You'll be trying to open every single door you can, finding the lock to be jammed, and causing anger to flow through your body every time. Save points are evenly spread out if you want to quit after playing for fifteen minutes at a time.
For a next-gen game, the graphics are well done of what you can actually see. There are many parts in the game where you can only see one foot in front of you with your flashlight. This is annoying at some points even if it is part of the design choice. It looks like some of the darkness was used to hide some of the poor textures in the game. Overall, the graphics and detail effects won't win any awards but they're pretty satisfying to the eye and work well with the atmosphere of the game.
The sound is genuinely awesome, causing you to be paranoid about your surroundings. You'll be wondering what the hell you just heard or if you are imagining it. Some of the sounds will give you goosebumps as you wonder through an area you probably shouldn't be in. The monsters vocalize horrific sounds to let you know they want you dead. Voice acting is above average with no disappointment. Akira Yamaoka's score for the game is no let-down. The soundtrack is one of the best parts of the game. Silent Hill: Homecoming will definitely put your sound system to work.
Fans of the survival horror genre will probably be disappointed with the sixth game in the Silent Hill series. It certainly does not live up to the expectations that admirers of Silent Hill had for it. The game will not give you chills throughout like the previous titles in the series because you find yourself knowing what is coming, when it is coming, and will be adequately ready before you obliterate it in seconds. You're probably better off purchasing Electronic Art's Dead Space if you want your survival horror fix.
Score: 6
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written by air max classic, August 29, 2010
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