Silent Hill: Homecoming

Each entry in Konami's "Silent Hill" franchise has explored a deep and dark portion of the human psychological makeup. The original game was about a father, desperate to find his lost daughter. The second game focused upon a man in perpetual grief, who comes to the haunted town to find his missing (and deceased) wife. The fourth game had a number of layers. Each game has that sort-of Grimm's fairy tale quality- there is always a moral, no matter how hard the trials may be, and "Homecoming" is no exception. It tells a tale about loyalty and love within the family unit, set within a hellish facade of horror and mayhem.

Being that this is my first review of a video-game, I'm going to do things differently- I'm going to give a brief, spoiler-free plot synopsis, and follow it up with an analysis of each major aspect of the game. (Graphics, sound, etc.)

The game follows Alex Shepherd, a soldier who returns home from battle to the small town of Shepherd's Glen. He has had a troubled relationship with his family- he cares deeply for his younger brother Joshua, but has grown distant from his mother and especially from his strict and seemingly emotionally abusive father, Adam, also an army man, who lives by the strictest of rules.

Alex notices that something is wrong the second he arrives. His town is covered in a thick fog, and everyone seems to be missing. Running into his childhood friend (and token hot female character) Elle, he learns that people have slowly been disappearing from the town, and that fiendish and otherworldly creatures have arrived, making travel dangerous. He also learns that his father and Joshua have gone missing. Feeling a special bond with his brother, he decides to go look for him, starting a quest that will take him to the bowls of hell and back, and eventually to the dark town of Silent Hill itself, on a mission to save the one family member that truly seems to appreciate him.

That's the basic plot, now here's a breakdown of actual game mechanics and facets, rated on a 1-10 scale:

Graphics... 7 out of 10 The Graphics in this game are, for the most part, superb. Characters almost look real, especially when viewed on a high-deff TV, and the creatures (more on those later) are incredibly designed. That being said, I have some complaints. For one, it seems to be a trend that no matter how good a character looks, their teeth are always... unnatural. This holds true for Alex, who looks like an animal with bared teeth during conversations. Also, some of the graphics become a little redundant, and there are some cheaply and quickly designed areas. And some cliché design. But overall, good, presentable graphics.

Sound... 6 out of 10 The voice acting is what kills the sound category. I know voice over work has never been a highlight of the series, but "Homecoming" boasts some of the worst the series has had to offer. The actors really seem to be just reading their lines, and not actually, well, acting. Thankfully, the rest of the sound work is great, and makes up for it. And as always, Akira Yamaoka's score is haunting and poignant. Sound effects are great for the most part, as well, although some of the creature sounds are a bit lame. Overall, average sound work that could have been perfect with slightly better performances.

Controls... 4 out of 10 Here we go. "Silent Hill: Homecoming" controls beautifully when your exploring areas and searching for clues. But the second combat begins, prepare for frustration. The combat controls dropped this category from a solid 8 down to a 4. I've never seen a system so clunky... so unresponsive... so- - - WRONG, in my life. The developers tried to make this a more action oriented game than previous entries, and therefore beefed up the combat system, adding new attacks, new weapons, a new "evade" button, and more. And nothing works. I can't tell you how many times I used the evade button and it failed, or how many times I just flat-out missed my target due to bad controls. Prepare to be killed... a lot, due to the poor combat system.

General Gameplay... 7 out of 10 The general gameplay is similar to other entries in the series. Explore an area, look for clues, proceed to the next area and do the same. Fight some monsters and get some new ammo and health, and continue the cycle, occasionally encountering a cut-scene or two. It's a very "true to formula" entry, although that's what I wanted, hence, I can't complain. Basic gameplay is solid.

Story... 6 out of 10 Everyone in a "Silent Hill" game seems to be looking for something on the outside, and something on the inside. This game is no exception. While the story is essentially a watered-down retread of the first two entries, it is enjoyable enough, although the characters are underdeveloped. But it works, and works well. Some of the twists and turns are predictable, but I didn't mind. Also, you can tell this game is from an American developer as opposed to the Japanese developers who worked on previous entries, because despite similar styles and themes, the game does feel more "American", and as with American cinema, the game just isn't a subtle as the first few entries. But for their first "Silent Hill" game, they did a great job, and stayed true to the spirit of the game.

Overall, I give this game a 7 out of 10. It's very enjoyable, and fans of the series should like it, I know I did, and I've been playing the series since its debut. Get ready to get your mind messed with once again!

Oh my lord. I am possibly the biggest Silent Hill fan I know, I've managed to introduce several friends to the wonders of this series and many of them enjoy it too. I recently received an Xbox 360 for Christmas, and the main reason I wanted it was for this game. I waited months for this game to come out, and having adored all the previous titles (even 4!) I was eagerly anticipating this one's release. I always say that no matter how bad a Silent Hill game is I will always finish it. But I've decided not to finish this one. Honestly, this game is beyond terrible. The graphics were decent and the voice overs were pretty good but that's about all. Besides having a totally boring plot that hardly ties in with any of the previous games at all, the game is crawling with glitches. Just as I decided to give it another chance this morning I walked right into a glitch many others have been having problems with. Therefore I had to start over. Now I just can't be bothered to finish the game, having spent many frustrating hours screaming at the television screen because this game is so damn.. ugh, it basically takes the word frustration to a whole new goddamn level. What really sucks about this game is that they had the atmosphere just right; the town of Silent Hill, the fog, the whole atmosphere was pretty much perfect. Then they threw in the dumb ass combat and it all went to hell. What makes a Silent Hill game for me is not the constant fighting, but the wandering around in the fog, and that helpless feeling you get when you hear a strange noise in the distant. In this game they pretty much took out all of these things and threw in a bunch of extremely annoying enemies that take about fifty hits from the axe to actually kill, that is before they've already knocked you on your ass half a dozen times. Also, weapons and ammo are extremely limited. I'm not saying there was a bunch of ammo everywhere you looked in the previous games, but hell, this is like playing Resident Evil - only even goddamn harder, and you can imagine what that's like. I'm so disappointed at this game, it could have been amazing if the Japanese hadn't handed it to the Americans. That being said, Origins which was also made by the Americans was a lot better than this game, so maybe they just went wrong somewhere. It's a pity really, this could've been a really good game if they'd just fixed a few things. I'm sad that I wasted thirty eight pounds buying this game, but I don't really regret it. I would've bought it anyway at some point, so it's just bad luck really. I've never been so annoyed with a game in all my life, and this one is easily the most difficult SH game I've ever played. Anyone who enjoys action and combat should try this game, but if you're a true Silent Hill fan who still considers the second game the best of the bunch, I'd say rent it. It's certainly not worth wasting any of your hard earned money on. 1/5

The majority of Silent Hill: Homecoming is based in Shepards Glen which is a very risky idea. I found it was more interesting discovering how a second town was rapidly descending to the nightmarish underworld of Silent Hill...

I bought this on PC format for the purpose of my new laptop and I have to say I really enjoyed playing it. Despite some very long loading times between levels & scenes it was quite easy to control, although as much enability you are given to explore the town its too freaky to go of wandering. The monsters are freaky as ever, there are many ways to attack, dodge and tackle them and as you progress through the game its more clear how they behave.

I know most people compare this to Resident Evil but this is what makes your skin crawl...

The game itself is a huge leap as it changes the combat system entirely from 1 and 2 (I didn't play 3 or 4 I'm assuming they're the same). For starters the game is more combat oriented with the introduction of using various combos and finishing moves to kill your enemies, you can also aim the gun yourself giving you the freedom to place a few pellets in certain monsters critical zones which can be really handy when your conserving those last 4 bullets that you 'wasted' 2 minutes ago fighting another creature.

The horror factor stands up to the silent hill name, really gory, really twisted and leaves you feeling cold due to the attention paid to certain details. The characters are likable and are great to interact with due to the new speech system allowing you to take complete control over certain dialogues. It's also great how you can have a combat buddy fighting alongside you, blasting monsters back to back.

My only complaint is the fact that the game is really anti-climatic towards the end, in many cases it feels that the designers just got bored and didn't bother with some greater in depth story line unlike in SH2 where you get two bosses and a scene explaining more of the story.

Overall the game is good and I give it 8 stars for the reason that the ending wasn't as good as it could have been, but it is definitely worth the look.

Positives:

• A few interesting ideas
• Some of the creatures designs
• Musical score

Negatives:

• Lack of horror
• Gameplay
• Graphics
• Story
• Poorly done psychological elements