I Loved SH Homecoming!

[Jill Lover]

Well i decided to open this thread to make my own review on which i consider to be, a really good silent hill game after SH3.

PLOT:
I think most reviews i read so far, were so mean with this game.. they were nitpicking at everything. And to be honest, i found the game's plot really interesting, with a surprising ending and good touch of fear and shock to the main character after the story gets revealed. Also, many things from the movie were featured this time in the game, which i somehow liked too.

CONTROLS:
Most people complained about its controls, and i have to agree on that, i had a hard time with it, but once you get used, you can really handle it. Sometimes it is really frustrating to fight with some bosses, and also found really annoying the aiming system ala RE5.

ENEMIES:
I really liked them, especially some bosses, like the pregnant one at the end of the game. The order guardians were a headache for me, they killed me several times, so i found myself running to avoid them everytime i encountered them. Then, classic infected dogs, and some other oddities around Silent Hill that were really amazing.

CHARACTERS:
There were nothing special this time, though i really liked Elle. I also notice there are not as many as the previous games. Did anyone notice that Alex's mother has the same face model as the Jury in the game?

GRAPHICS:
Well, sometimes it seems it's a PS2 game, graphics were not that great in this game, since it's a next-gen game it could've been better, but oh well. Some cutscenes animations were really bad, as some mouth movements, they were pretty far from impressive.

Overall i really liked the game, don't know why people complained so much about it, i believe they overreacted about it. Something really interesting is that Beta of the game, Alex had his hair shorter than the final version, and some other characters suffered from radical changes on their textures, some changes were good and others not so much.


Thanks for reading!

[Karui]

I watched a playthrough recently and I loved it. It was the first game in years to give me nightmares. I thought it was a twisted, sick story in a good way. I love how SH goes places most are afraid to go. The twist at the end was also surprising. Definitely worth buying.

[Rombie]

I'm sorry I just don't agree with your comment overall. Homecoming was the weakest title in the series for me for numerous reasons. Just to be specific on the categories you outlined here are some of my thoughts:

Story
Emotively I found it hard to connect with Alex as a character for quite some time because it actually took some time to find reason to follow him into what was happening. Harry had a missing child, James had a letter from a dead wife, and even Heather was attempting to escape something that was clearly an inevitability. I could only start doing this about half way through Homecoming because it was only then that the pieces of his story and what his family meant started to really come though. And that's far to long to get into the story.

Homecoming also drips and drabs a lot of it's story far longer than it needed, and while it improves in it's final 3rd (which I can't say for a lot of games) it's not a deep as all the titles before it overall. The twist was not bad, but also very obvious if you spent a lot of time reading things in the environments.

Controls
Very much the weakest thing about the game, between sloppy movement, hard to use combat options, and poor camera control the game is clunky. I give the studio credit for trying to change from the previous titles in the series, but there should have been a point where they realized it wasn't working and it would have been better to stick with tried and true (if somewhat flawed) than broken. There isn't a single positive thing I can say about it.

Enemies
While I did find the enemies a little less inspired than Ito's work on the earlier games (to be exact it was an attempt to build on his work which in itself is really an amalgam of several artists styles), they were passable. What I didn't like was the neon colors appearing out of the fog which just really ruins how the game would have worked. I guess the only benefit of this is that with the horrible controls you kinda needed the advantage. They really downplayed the use of the static/radio noise and light a lot due to it all as well.

Additional to this is the overuse (and the game had this in spades in general) of hashing the movie into the game environment. Between the razor wire and the peeling paint effect, the worst bits were the movie nurses for almost no reason, and then the blatant fan wankery that was the Pyramid Head appearances. Someone else on this forum tried to justify it for me, but just didn't click with me. It was purely for a cash/fan grab. Which backfired. As this game sold horribly, and is in general poorly reviewed.

Characters
Another sticking point. Due from generic designs, writing, and acting; they're mostly forgettable. Additionally adding in the cross over for Origins as well didn't help. The characters that made the final third are the best, and even Alex's dad is good - benefiting on him being such a important plot point through out the game and not actually appearing all that much.

Graphics
Another sore point. Some of the texture and design work was really good, but overall the game was fairly poor. The characters in particular suffered poorly, and overall the game looked worse than Silent Hill 3 - a PS2 game almost 6 years older.

Against everything I said, there are shining gems of things. The atmosphere was frequently just as correct as anything in the series. I liked the fact you cut, hacked, and shimmied your way through small areas. The story fit well within the universe on the surface (even though I don't agree with all the movie add ins and the Pyramid Head's appearance especially). And the drill sequence still is one of the most horrific things in general I think has every existed in a game (and doesn't surprise me the Australian censors kicked up a fuss about it).

[randomwab]

Rombie says what I feel. I still find it hard to tell if I dislike Homecoming because of my Japanophile Silent Hill elitism or if it's a bad game. I'm feeling the later more these days because I actually really enjoy Origins now, which I didn't before.

But what's this?!?! A challenger appears!

[Jill Lover]

LOL. I haven't played Shattered Memories yet, but i'm planning to. I really love the SH series, and Rombie really had a point, but i don't find the game that bad as everyone claims. It might not be that great as SH3 or SH2 but still it's a great game... i reall enjoyed it, more than Origins (which i consider to be the weakest in the series and really bad as a prequel). What i mean is, after reading some Homecoming reviews i was really pushed back and decided not to play it just for what the review said. Now i really regret my decission because Homecoming was really a great game, and not rubbish as some SH fans called it. I do respect their opinions, though.

[Enrico Marini]

Homecoming was ok though I felt it was too much of a throw Silent Hill 2 and Silent Hill movie into a blender and see what came out. The story felt like it could have belong in the SH universe but it overall felt weaker than Silent Hill Origins.

I would love to play Shattered Memories. Especially after seeing climax's presentation (in person, a perk of my Uni Course) of how they developed the concept. They actually sent some of their staff to Psychiatrists as research.

[randomwab]

I would love to play Shattered Memories. Especially after seeing climax's presentation (in person, a perk of my Uni Course) of how they developed the concept. They actually sent some of their staff to Psychiatrists as research.

That's sounds pretty awesome.

[GuardhouseMusic]

Too bad the game has next to no atmosphere, though perhaps I've been spoiled by 1-4.

Shattered Memories was fun, but in my opinion it'll not only go down as a conceptual failure but the worst in the series as time goes on. There's a great level of emotion in the story and the psychological aspect is alright, if a little too technical and off the mark from what the rest of the series gave us. Nonetheless the monsters are probably the least memorable in any game, the nightmare sequences are nothing more than aggravating chases, and the environments seem stock.

Again, perhaps I'm short selling what is in fact the only game that had me crying by the end. The story has some powerful sentiments and these themes are applied cleverly here and there in the gameplay, but that's really all there is.

[Gradon]

Shattered Memories floored Homecoming.

[Canas Renvall]

I enjoyed both. In fact, I enjoyed the whole series. Sure, Homecoming isn't my favorite, but it's by no means bad.

[randomwab]

I'm a decent length into Shattered Memories, and I want to kill something. I can't wait to finish this so I can lay into it. And this isn't a story gripe, I'm digging the story. This is all gameplay, way to fucking destroy all gameplay, Climax. FUCK.

[Ray]

I'm planning on getting Shattered Memories, and I was just wondering: was the story really that good? I'm more of a story person, and generally won't mind the gameplay.

Back on topic, I thought Homecoming was okay. I mean, I haven't played it, but watched up close somebody else play it. The graphics were a little irky, and the elements odd (like a mash up of the movie and Hostel... but the SH movie wasn't too bad, it's just that many things were randomly thrown in), but the gameplay wasn't too bad, and the story, in my opinion, I enjoyed (wasn't too surprised at the end, but it was a good lil' twist.

[Jill Lover]

Well i think Homecoming didn't want to be similar to the previous games. It was focused on the movie and tried to tell a strong story involving family as SH2 did. The game is okay,
The ending shocked me because i didn't read any file or found any evidence that confirms it was going to end that way. I thought the guilty one was his father oh come on, he seemed suspicious... killing things in the basement and all.

Ray, it's not the same watching than playing ;). you should give it a try.

[Ray]

^ One day, I'll have a non-Wii next gen system for myself. When that day comes, Homecoming will be my first.

[Beanovsky Durst]

I'm planning on getting Shattered Memories, and I was just wondering: was the story really that good? I'm more of a story person, and generally won't mind the gameplay.

Back on topic, I thought Homecoming was okay. I mean, I haven't played it, but watched up close somebody else play it. The graphics were a little irky, and the elements odd (like a mash up of the movie and Hostel... but the SH movie wasn't too bad, it's just that many things were randomly thrown in), but the gameplay wasn't too bad, and the story, in my opinion, I enjoyed (wasn't too surprised at the end, but it was a good lil' twist.

Shattered Memories a great experience for a Wii game. And sometimes it really screws with your head. I won't spoil it but when you reach the end is a complete WTF moment.

Now, Homecoming was an ok Silent Hill game. I think it was a nice game, even if it was buggy as hell. The story was normal, not a narrative masterpiece but delivers. I thought that the "SH movie" influence was ok, since the movie's hellish world looks inspired by the first game...