Silent Hill: Homecoming

Game Info

Publisher: Konami

Developer: Double Helix Games

Genre(s): Third-Person Adventure, Survival Horror

Players: 1

ESRB Rating: M (Mature)

Release Date: September 30, 2008

Summary

The game thrusts players into a shadowy world of chaos and terror with atmospheric graphics and an original storyline that sheds new light on the desolate, fog-shrouded town of Silent Hill. Silent Hill: Homecoming follows Alex Shepherd, a war veteran returning home from an overseas tour of duty to investigate the mysterious disappearance of his younger brother, Joshua. His travels lead him through the small, insular community of Shepherd's Glen and eventually through the hauntingly empty streets of Silent Hill. Building upon the series' trademark foundations of atmosphere, adventure and storytelling, Silent Hill: Homecoming introduces players to a frightening new experience. When confronted by the perverse incarnations of evil that roam Silent Hill and Shepherd's Glen, players are able to utilize an enhanced combat system and execute a number of offensive and defensive maneuvers as they experience every terrifying encounter with the game’s numerous nightmarish creatures. Players also have to solve a variety of puzzles as they progress through the highly atmospheric game world, using cues from the environment to unlock Silent Hill's darkest secrets. Continuing the series’ tradition of standout music and sound design, Silent Hill: Homecoming features an original soundtrack by famed composer Akira Yamaoka. [Konami]

Also On Metacritic

GAMES: Silent Hill 2: Restless Dreams Silent Hill 4: The Room

Cheat Codes & Hints: Cheat Code Central

Also On The Web: Kotaku Review Official Website

What The Critics Said

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What Our Users Said

Vote Now! The average user rating for this game is 7.6 (out of 10) based on 76 User Votes

Note: User votes are NOT included in the Metascore calculation.

GaryMac gave it an8:
This game is a must for horror lovers. If I were to say this game had faults it would be the terrible torch alex has through the whole story, i had to check a couple of times to actually see if it was on in some dark places. Secondly would be the lack of ammo which is kinda annoying but more realistic and challenging to the gamer. Thirdly would be the lack of achievements, I havent finished the game yet but I got around 20 something from 39. but getting the moaning out of the way, I think this game deserves much more from some of the critics reviews. I HATE resident Evil 4 and now resident 5 style of play. Action /adventure?? it's ment to be a bloody horror game where the hells horror. There is enough shoot em ups out there. Please Silent hill makers dont change.

Caleb H gave it a6:
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.

Patrick R gave it a9:
First let me just say that i love me some silent hill. the atmosphere, the creature design, the sound effects and scares that dont simply rely on "pop-out" scenes. Double Helix should be proud of themselves for capturing all of this, but most of all for capturing the real star (for me) of the silent hill games: the story. Silent hill is all about the troubled past of the protagonists either through personal pennance for forgotten sins or simply finding out what dark connection they share with silent hill. The story and endings are just what a silent hill fan would want. It's right up there with silent hill 2 (the best plot twist in a video game ever in my opinion). Just like in the sixth sense playing this game a second time through you'll notice the nice hints towards the ending you thought you may have peiced together. If you love silent hill games, dont fret, because this is certainly a silent hill game, more so than "the room".

Anthony A. gave it an8:
As a huge fan of Silent Hill, I was expecting a lot from this game. The tone, music and horror elements live up to what Silent Hill is supposed to be. The game holds your hand through the story and the enemies this time around are crazy unforgiving. My one gripe about the game is the distances between save points. If you are a fan of the series, don't pass it up. It's better than "The Room" and "Origins", because it feels like a real Silent Hill game.

Josh S gave it a10:
This is the first Silent Hill I actually enjoyed playing rather than watching! The camera is an improvment and I only seen it mess up once. The health drinks and save points are far away but can you really complain about that? Challenge is what the Silent Hill games need. 2,3, & 4 were WAY too easy.

Aramis G gave it a5:
I made it all the way to the sewers when a "glitch" forced me to restart the game from scratch. This wouldn't have been the end of the world if Homecoming wasn't such a blah Silent Hill. Even worse than encountering a game ending glitch is the combat system. Every enemy becomes a drag to encounter. Instead of being scary enemies become more an issue of chore management and timed ducking. What were the developers thinking? It is really a shame too because some of the boss fights later in the game (asphyxia and end boss) are truly some of the scariest looking things in any Silent Hill game. Strike one (The Room), Strike two (Homecoming).

Randy M. gave it a7:
Silent Hill, being one of my favorite game series, I came into Silent Hill: Homecoming hungry for a great horror experience and expecting improvement over the previous titles. What I got was a mixed experience. The controls, while innovative, make the game seem more like an action title rather than a horror game. The graphics were outstanding, but it got a little buggy while squaring off with some of the monsters. (Particularly the Smog creature) The story was ok, but I was hugely disappointed in the endings and it seemed all too similiar to Silent Hill 2. My final verdict? As a Silent Hill fan, you'll most likely enjoy it, much as I did. If you can look past the unoriginal storyline and buggy gameplay.

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