1. Lambo442

   9

   So far I'm absolutely loving this game. It got below par reviews and I have no idea why. It's the closest to the original so far - in the way that it feels less 'linear' as you run around town looking for clues etc. The graphics are excellent and the story is pretty decent too. The only thing that niggles me slightly is the fact that now and again the music becomes noticably 'un-scary.'… Expand

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     1 of 1 users said yes
2. CalebH

   6

   Silent Hill Homecoming is the 6th installment in the world-renowned horror series Silent Hill. The simple mission of SHH is to take you back to where it all began. Does it bring back beautiful memories or disturbing images of the past or both? My venture into the world of Silent Hill began in 2003 at my grandmother’s house. I was 12 years old and my cousins and I had to find something to do. My eldest cousin was out for the week and left his Playstation behind with several games included, and one being Silent Hill. This peeked our interest the most because we thought it would be fun to curl up around the television at midnight and get the pants scared off of us. That is indeed what happened and it was one of the best moments of my life. I remember getting stuck on that ungodly annoying piano puzzle, so I woke up at 6 A.M. to beat it so when everyone else woke up, we would be past it. My cousin, Chelsea, sent me a copy of Silent Hill 4: The Room for my birthday the next year with a strategy guide included. I had heard about the game and watched some videos. I was literally terrified. The original Silent Hill didn’t affect me much, but this one was disturbing on a whole new level. Well, since my cousin spent the money and put the thought into getting me this game there was no way I couldn’t play it. That was probably one of the most freakish rides I’ve ever been through. The combat was a bit stiff and the camera was slightly malfunctioned, but it never took away from the haunting experience. So as you can tell from my long story, the Silent Hill series is near and dear to my heart. Silent Hill: Homecoming lived up to my expectations, but that’s about it. Silent Hill: Homecoming starts you off chained to a bed, in a hospital, covered in blood, in the middle of the Vietnam War. After freakish hell demons suddenly attack the doctors around you, you’re protagonist, Alex Shepard, (A middle aged soldier in the war) decides it’s time to break the chains he’s bound to. As soon as he steps out of the Emergency room, all hell breaks loose, and I mean ALL hell. Alex is on a mission to find his brother, Joshua, who ran away from home because of reason that would ruin the story if I told you. After running through hell hospital and fighting several creepy creatures for a while, you run into Joshua drawing a picture of his favorite toy, Robbie the Rabbit. You walk to say something to him and…turns out that the whole Hospital thing was just a dream! Alex wakes up in an eighteen-wheeler where he fell asleep after being picked up by a kind trucker. After getting dropped off, Alex returns to his hometown of Shepard’s Glenn to find out that something has gone terribly wrong. This game takes you through the troubling past of Silent Hill and some unsettling locations that have been a staple in the series since the beginning. This leads me to my first observation. The levels in Silent Hill: Homecoming are expertly crafted. The only problem is that most of the development team’s inspiration for the levels comes from the Silent Hill movie and not so much the past games; however, that doesn’t take away from how amazingly thorough and spine-chilling they are. On another note, this series has always had a love affair with locked doors. I’ve just about had it with all the bolted rooms I can’t enter! This game doesn’t skimp on extras and easter eggs even though there are so many places you can’t enter. On the issue of easter eggs, I only found a few my first play through and none of them included Silent Hill 4. It would have been so easy to throw an easter egg about that game in this one because of how many room 302’s you visit. Never mind my personal grievances, these maps are grotesquely gorgeous. The best and worst part about the game is the story that falls flat at the end and shine’s brightly in the beginning. As every fan of Silent Hill knows, there are alternate endings to every edition of Silent Hill and this one is no exception. Even though those endings are different, the overall conclusion to the story isn’t. It feels like a big giant slap in the face. My first time around I got the #4 ending which wasn’t a good ending. There are several moments in the game where you have to make crucial choices that will effect the outcome of the story; basically, the ending. As for everything else, you get a good look into the past of Silent Hill and how hell was brought upon the town. Not only that, but we actually have a protagonist that we can relate to and care for! It’s about time, because Henry wasn’t doing it for me. The dialogue suffered sometimes and it seemed like not much thought was put into the words they spoke. One thing that drove me crazy were Alex’s reaction to the monsters. Upon first sighting of these monsters, Alex looked un-phased and following that battle, his conversation with a patron in town didn’t even relate to the monsters. The first time you have a boss battle is the first time you see him genuinely react to the nightmarish beings that have been around him since he arrived back in his hometown. I’m sorry, if it were me in his shoes you probably would want to turn down the voice volume, because I wouldn’t stop screaming, ever. Sound production on this game will drive you loony, in a good way. This was the first game I played on our brand new surround sound system. Keep in mind that we’ve never had surround sound at our household so this was new to me. I think I made a great choice on the game to try it out with. I haven’t felt that claustrophobic since the time I was on the last level of Condemned: Criminal Origins. Everything you do makes a sound. If you bump into a chair, that chair will fall over; if you slow your run down to a walk, you steps are quiet; if monster falls from the ceiling out of nowhere, it sounds like it’s coming down on top of you. The music in the game is very memorable and as always perfectly timed with the game. It’s not as bone chilling as Silent Hill 4’s, but it gets the job done. Gameplay has finally improved and completely out does Silent Hill 4 on all levels. Combat is the second best part of the game. The static camera angles the series has been known for has been thrown out the window. It has been replaced with a more traditional and effective free moving camera which you control using the right analog stick. The weapons of choice include a crowbar, sledgehammer, butterfly knife, baseball bat, and of course your limited arsenal of firepower. Speaking of limited, this series has always had an issue with giving you ammunition for your firing weapons. Not only are the quantities given in very small doses, but these doses are also awkwardly spaced apart. This makes beating the game a chore, especially when most of the enemies don’t die easy and some can even block bullets. The games countering system, when using hand-to-hand weapons, works well for the most part. Its only issue is that enemies are a bit to smart. Sometimes the enemies will beat you to the punch and still land an attack even if you’re in the middle of dodging. Is it a glitch? It very well could be. The worst part about the game are the puzzles. Oh dear lord the puzzles. Only one is actually clever and well thought out. The others are nothing more than time wasters and involve nothing more than trial and error. We like to call these little nuisances experimental puzzles. These should have never been included and are a shame to the brilliant puzzles of past Silent Hill games (not including that freaking piano puzzle!) The only thing holding this game back from a purchase recommendation is how short it is. The game ends so abruptly and it felt like it needed one more level to give it that extra juice. It seems like the developers just said, we’ve done enough, when the sad truth is they were so close. Silent Hill: Homecoming tries to bring Silent Hill back to its roots, and it accomplishes that goal to some degree. You have your creepy locals and disturbing monsters, but at the very core of this game is a story that never truly fleshes out and leaves you wanting more. That being said, for the first time around for new developer Double Helix, I think it’s worth a trip back to Silent Hill.… Expand

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3. SteveM.

   0

   Boo...an unworthy addition to the Silent Hill franchise. Just rips from the movie and panders to obsessed Pyramid Head junkies....obliterating any symbolism and theories established and considered since Silent Hill 2. Leave Silent Hill with Konami - they know what to do with it.… Expand

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     2 of 3 users said yes

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