Gameitall Hello ghouls, it’s time for another edition of Reviews from the Crypt. Today comes a story of a loving family torn apart by dreaded decisions in a mid-western town, where you dark past will come back to haunt you in SILENT HILL: SHATTERED MEMORIES.
Silent Hill: Shattered Memories isn`t a remake as some people call it, more like a retelling. Gone is most of the stuff like the cult who made Silent Hill into the hell that it is, the series fog which creates a major tension when going up against monsters, and combat. What you get in return however is a horror game with no way of protecting yourself except for running like hell, and a much deeper psychological thriller than the previous series. This game will play you more than you will play it.
You play as Harry Mason, on a trip to Silent Hill with your daughter Cheryl, you crash your car due to the massive snow storm, dodging out of the way in fear of hitting another little girl in the middle of the road. At this point, if you`ve played the original game or watched the movie, you would know that Cheryl goes missing. Traversing Silent Hill, Henry has a bad case of Amnesia, and his daughter is the only thing that he can remember. Armed with only his Cell Phone and flashlight, he learns that not everything is as it seems, fearing for his sanity with a slew of characters who disappear, identity switch and die in front of Henry.
Not helping his Sanity, is the fact that he keeps getting pulled into Dark Silent Hill. Here, monsters of his past sins attempt to kill him and break his mind.
The Story for Shattered Memories is extremely deep, more so then the series is famed for, and feels much more personal due to some gameplay choices they give in the intermission stages of the game. There are 4 possible endings, and a big twist near the end that makes you want to really pay attention to the game.
The game breaks into three different play styles, as Henry traversing Silent Hill, using his flashlight to guide his way and his phone as a map, camera (unlockables and puzzles) and… Well… a Phone. During these stages it doesn`t feel like there is any rush or immediate danger, and the only difficulty that you would find in these areas are puzzles.
This all changes when Dark Silent Hill comes into play, you know your then when the area is covered in ice that freezes over most of the world. At these points, it`s a race to get to point A to point B as fast as possible, with out getting killed by the creatures. Like in previous Silent Hill games, a flashlight and Radio are your best friends… Until they rat you out to any monsters that hear or see it.
Finally the game breaks into the more Psychological part, sitting in the Psychologist office telling him the story of your experience in Silent Hill. The Doc, doesn`t seem like a nice guy, hell I`m pretty sure he isn`t, giving you tests that are quite unorthodox, like pick out which people are asleep and which ones are dead out of a series of pictures, I`m pretty sure that not a normal psych evaluation there. However the choices you make on these parts affect what happens in the next part of the game, to the point of colour examinations, to what was your favorite class in school, this will change the game to mess with you, which is the exact reason why the game plays you more than it.
The controls are a big part of the game, all motions in the game are controlled by the Wii-remote, from pointing the camera, to picking up phone calls. Most puzzles are done by controlling the Wii remote in some way that allows your to pick up, rotate, drop and insert tools and items.
Silent Hill: Shattered Memories may not be the Silent Hill game we expect from the series, but taking out some of the weaker parts of the series to focus on the strong points really makes it one of the essential for the series.
Silent Hill: Shattered Memories – 8/10
Pros – Deep Story, Psychology is done quite well
Con – Short, horror seems restrictive to Dark Silent Hill.
