In defense of Homecoming and Shattered Memories (some spoilers may apply)

[Project Omega]

Here's some material against Homecoming and Shattered Memories, also explains succintly why I'm against both: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W5-XhBpfqMM

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1W4sHJGQzZ0

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0LSQrzZdBck

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V-fLXS9S4GM

Of course, the entire TRSHE (The Real Silent Hill Experience) series is worth watching.

Thanks for introducing me to the Real Silent Hill Experience. It was very informative. Wish there was something like this for the RE universe.

[Dracarys]

I though Homecoming was great, only criticism was the lack of puzzles compared to earlier games.

Shattered Memories I cannot find a thing to comment positively on.

I can make a list of why SH2 blows that is a lot lot longer than a SHH list.

[Darkmoon]

I can make a list of why SH2 blows that is a lot lot longer than a SHH list.

I haven't played Homecomming, I admit, but this seems like utter madness to me. I demand to see a list of these flaws, so I can debunk them. With science, and if nessecery, napalm.

[Dracarys]

- The 'twist' to the story is told at the start of the game, yet still goes on like it is a twist the entire game.
- Looks like ass, even back when it was new.
- Once you get the iron pipe you are set for the entire game as far as weapon needs go.
- Poor controls
- Poor combat
- Horrible replay/unlockables. You meet all these silly requirements to earn a special weapon but using that weapon the next playthrough means you lose it the one afterwards since you need meet requirements every single time to keep the weapon, using the weapon means cannot meet the requirements however. Stupid.


By comparison, SHH as I said I can only fault for lack of puzzles. Combat, controls, weapons needs etc I found the best in the series.

[Darkmoon]

- The 'twist' to the story is told at the start of the game, yet still goes on like it is a twist the entire game.

No...the twist is you killed the wife. Not that she's dead. The whole story is driven by that hidden guilt. James' refusal to remember is what drives him into Silent Hill.

- Looks like ass, even back when it was new.

That's just crazy talk. For a long time Silent Hill 2 was one of the best looking games out there, and it still beat the snot out of some of the newer games until recently

- Once you get the iron pipe you are set for the entire game as far as weapon needs go.

The difficult curve could have been steeper, I suppose. I never found having a decent weapon at the start to be an issue, though.

- Poor controls

I'm old - I find them easy enough to use.

- Poor combat

It's not brilliant by today's standards. At the time it was average - whack away at things until they died. It was before dodging, quick time events and such were common.

- Horrible replay/unlockables. You meet all these silly requirements to earn a special weapon but using that weapon the next playthrough means you lose it the one afterwards since you need meet requirements every single time to keep the weapon, using the weapon means cannot meet the requirements however. Stupid.

I have absoloutely no idea what you're talking about here, honestly. You get the chainsaw regardless once you've beaten the game, and the Hyper Spray requires mulitple playthroughs to unlock. As far as I remember those are the only two bonus weapons.

Plus there are several different endings, which adds to the replay. It would have been nice to get a few more different or optional cutscenes to activate said different endings, make the actual playthrough more varried, but...

By comparison, SHH as I said I can only fault for lack of puzzles. Combat, controls, weapons needs etc I found the best in the series.

Different strokes, different folks. As I've said, I've yet to play Homecoming, but combat is the least of my concerns. So long as it's halfway decent and fun, I couldn't care less afterwards. It's why FPS games are so boring for me...the meat of a game for me is the story, the atmosphere and the characters. The combat is just a way of getting to those.

[Dracarys]

No...the twist is you killed the wife. Not that she's dead. The whole story is driven by that hidden guilt. James' refusal to remember is what drives him into Silent Hill.

I am pretty sure this is revealed or made painfully obvious early on too, because I didn't spoil the game before playing it and I remember knowing this for sure.

That's just crazy talk. For a long time Silent Hill 2 was one of the best looking games out there, and it still beat the snot out of some of the newer games until recently

We will have to disagree on this.

The difficult curve could have been steeper, I suppose. I never found having a decent weapon at the start to be an issue, though.

It wasn't just the difficulty but the boredom, in Homecoming different weapons all have advantages against different enemies making you switch things about, I enjoyed figuring out what worked best.

I have absoloutely no idea what you're talking about here, honestly. You get the chainsaw regardless once you've beaten the game, and the Hyper Spray requires mulitple playthroughs to unlock. As far as I remember those are the only two bonus weapons.

There are different hypersprays, the better ones having harder (stupidly so) requirements to reach. You need 10 stars for the best one, but if you use the best one your next paythrough after you unlock it you cannot get 10 stars that playthrough anymore, so the next playthrough you now lost it and have a weaker spray until you meet the requirements for 10 stars again.

[Wrathborne]

Homecoming was OK, I thought its biggest flaws were:

That it was too short. It was a long SH game and all, but for a 360 game it was short. I really felt they could have crammed in another hour of gameplay and story in if they gave it more thought.

The game itself was trying to appeal to a broader audience so the combat was updated, which was nice and all...but it did make the monsters a lot less threatening.

Puzzles would have been nice.

If the game actually took place in Silent Hill for more than the final...I think hour. Ever since Silent Hill 3 the next few games followed the same formula where the climax takes place in Silent Hill, but until then you're in another town or city next to Silent Hill.

They used stuff from the movie, Pyramid heads new look and the miner costume from the movie appear in the game...Being that the SH film is a bad memory to me, I didn't want to see anything related to it in the games. So this is just a personal gripe.

All this being said I did really love a lot of the monster designs in this game, the bosses especially looked great.


As for Shattered Memories...Well, even with all the interesting story elements and stuff the game has 3 fatal flaws:

1:No combat whatsoever. The number one thing about survival horror is that you have to defend yourself against all kinds of horrors. Not being able to defend yourself in any way(minus a flare) or even being able to kill any enemies is really disappointing.

2: It wasn't really scary and ended up only being mildly creepy. Enemies can make or break a game, and in this case they broke the game because all you can do is run from them. They also only show up when the town freezes over so until then all you're doing is wandering around.

3: The bastardization of Harry Mason. I got into SH back around 2005 and missed the heyday of the series, but of all the characters Harry was the one who stood out the most. Even with the flat 1998 writing and limited personality Harry was the one character in the series who had the most to lose and was doing everything he could to save his daughter.

You don't see too many father figures in the video game world who you can actually look up too, Lets face it Harry literally went to Hell and back to save his daughter.

In this game they went the other way. Why? I don't know, but I was pretty offended by this myself. Yeah, video game characters aren't real and all, but lets face it: When you spend anywhere from 6-8 hours playing a game you end up bonding with the characters somewhat and their goals become your goals.

So at the end of a game do you really want to find out the character you've been playing who is desperately searching for his daughter goes from concerned parent to Charlie Sheen?

I think not. -_-

[Jimmy Barnes]

I wanted to like Homecoming, but the lack of ammo and the combat system let it down for me. I once made it out of the sewers with minimal health, only to get killed by a dog of all things...

The creepy faceless nurses had an upgrade, at least. This is the only SH game where I actually had to fear the nurses. There were times where 3 would gang up on me in a dark room and get me against the wall. I had no way to fight back.

[Darkmoon]

I am pretty sure this is revealed or made painfully obvious early on too, because I didn't spoil the game before playing it and I remember knowing this for sure.

There are hints, but they aren't smack you in the face huge either. I guess you're just really good at spotting plot twists? It's certainly not as bad as RE for telegraphing plot twists, that's for sure.

We will have to disagree on this.

I suppose we do. I'd still say Silent Hill 2 looks better than some Wii games out today, though.

It wasn't just the difficulty but the boredom, in Homecoming different weapons all have advantages against different enemies making you switch things about, I enjoyed figuring out what worked best.

Sounds cool, as long as it isn't taken too far, and you need to switch for every enemy. Personally I liked Silent Hill 1's approach - a number of different weapons which allowed for differences in attack - fast and brutal with the hand axe, slow and potent with the Fire Hammer, etc.

There are different hypersprays, the better ones having harder (stupidly so) requirements to reach. You need 10 stars for the best one, but if you use the best one your next paythrough after you unlock it you cannot get 10 stars that playthrough anymore, so the next playthrough you now lost it and have a weaker spray until you meet the requirements for 10 stars again.

A bit silly, but I never liked the Hyper Spray much anyway.

[Jimmy Barnes]

That Scarlet Boss is annoying. I had to keep hacking her legs. She's like a large doll thing that just waves her arms around. I finally thought I'd killed her, then she transformed. But in her second form, she killed me cos it's a crappy one-sided fight.

[Pikminister]

I just like to mention that before ppl either praise or take a dump on Shattered Memories, that they make sure to:

a) play it on a proper console (no emulators - they're glitchy as hell),

b) play the PSP or better yet, the Wii version, since those versions are the most faithful representations of what the dev had in mind and...

c) avoid passing judgement on the game based on the watered-down, buggy, ugly, craptacular PS2 version.

Thank you.

[Jimmy Barnes]

I have the PS2 version-I had no idea it was buggy, though. I rarely play it. It's very hard cos of those 'chase' parts...

[Pikminister]

I have the PS2 version-I had no idea it was buggy, though. I rarely play it. It's very hard cos of those 'chase' parts...

I actually meant to say 'glitchy' not buggy. But this happens when you try to play it on the PS3.

Anyway, playing the PS2 version can leave you with a really negative aftertaste. I mean, the gameplay problems you would have with the game are still there in the other versions. But they become more annoying in the PS2 "gimped" version of SM... this IMO.

[Dracarys]

One of my biggest SM issues was the awful motion control use, specifically during chase sequences, honestly why combined turning with the shake off movement? You shake them off and find yourself turned in a bogus direction, then just get jumped on again turning to face the right way.

[killer7ITA]

Homecoming and Shattered Memories? No comment.