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The creatures we grappled with are scary and grotesque. The effort placed in this game is tremendous, and it did provide a scare at times. It was not that other games sucked, but SH had always been different, rendering it special. I have always favoured SH to any 'Resident Evil' installment.
But that's about it, I'm afraid. When I heard of the new SH: Homecoming' being released, I mistakenly thought that with the term 'Homecoming' in the title, Konami would like to retrace back to the original SH1 as a sign of homage to the original and as the first input of SH by Konami to the next generation platforms. Do not get me wrong, Homecoming has excellent graphics; it clearly shows the capabilities of the PS3, and the leap in technology. Since the release of 'Silent Hill' 1 on the Playstation, I have been a collector and an avid fan of the 'Silent Hill' series. Not all locations you visit transform to the dreaded 'Otherworld', which I believe is a big let down. The game reminded me a lot of the 'Suffereing 1', some from 'Forbidden Siren'. In Homecoming, however, it didn't matter whether you had your flashlight on or off, the SH goons still attacked you.
How wrong I was. And you don't get to visit 'Alchemilla Hospital'. Gone is the siren signaling the shift between worlds. Especially as the SH series has taken a turn with the release of SH4, only to be put back in track with the superb but short 'SH5: Origins'. Whenever word broke out that 'Konami' was releasing a new 'Silent Hill' adventure, my brother and I would await with frenzy to get our hands on a copy. Despite the fact you engage in combat with busty, voluptuous nurses at the very beginning of the adventure or misadventure. 'Conehead' makes a very brief appearance, he is sighted strolling through a corridor of the 'Grand Hotel' dragging his goliath butcher's knife, we assumed maybe he is tired and decided to take a nap in one of the rooms, as we didn't get to see him again. the creatures have clearly been working out as they have speed an agility to catch up to you when you decide to outrun them.
The sound is second to none, as it adds those layers of sonic eeriness. The story line was not engaging as previous SHs. There were huge locations in 'Homecoming' that we explored where we did not bump to any monsters, when suddenly you are greeted with 3 or 4 goons in one tight room. 'Silent Hill' always provided a distinct flavour to other survival horror/role playing games. In the old SH, when you switched off the light you were not detected by the denizens of SH.
The flashlight was of no use at some locations, rendering it useless. The boss fights were annoying and frustrating, leaving you to discover how to injure them with an inventory of very useless weapons. But sadly, it failed to conjure up any 'Silent Hill'. It gets confusing. The everlasting shroud of fog that greets us upon entering SH, the penetrating shrill sound of the siren signaling the encroachment of the 'Otherworld' (alternate) and of course the sight of 'Cone Head' or 'Pyramid Head' that sends a shudder down your spine.
At some point of the game you were left without any 'Health Drinks', "First Aid Kits' and 'Serums' no matter how hard you tried to scout the streets of 'Shepherd's Glen' or 'Silent Hill'. From the onset, you are thrown in the ever eerie nightmare that looks like SH, leaving you to discover the new controls, which have significantly changed, where as in previous SHs the controls were one and the same. There were times when we were suffering from motion sickness from all the ducking under, squeezing through, the climbing and dropping down. The locations of the red, glimmering 'Save point' were sporadic and scattered at times. However, if you're looking to extend your 'Silent Hill' experience with 'Homecoming', forget it, because it isn't 'Silent Hill' - it is a horror game called 'Homecoming'.
This game is very fun.I'd give it a 4.5 star rating.As for the company Konami, I'm getting a little annoyed at these limited mfctr'ing runs on games.Each Silent Hill game is selling for over $70 b/c of limited production runs.Maybe they're just really smart & know how many to make, if that's the case, I wouldn't know & don't care enough to do the research.As for now, being someone who is late to get into this series, I'm just not going to buy the older games for that high a price. I'm not going to buy them used either b/c Gamestop charges damn near full price for used games, the punks.Oh well, just get Konami games when they're new is my advise, or you'll be paying high for them, like on this one. This game is good but I wouldn't pay over $40 for it.
The story, while mildly interesting at times, is a take off of the past games in the series. Is it the value of money or "selling out" over artistic credibility. Some people may think that is a good idea, since the last true Silent Hill game (The Room) was so poorly received. The game is extremely flawed in a number of different ways. It is a bastardized version of the Zelda: OoT combat system, but more sloppily executed. Homecoming is Silent Hill in name and concept only. It is quite possible that any of these answers are true, but I think that there is a far more simplified answer here - this isn't Silent Hill.
Think about it. If the original development team (Team Silent) was replaced by another development team (Double Helix), then that means that the original team who came up with all of the ideas that we initially loved about the series in the first place are no longer in charge of the direction of the series. My hypothesis is what happens to a certain series, band, or artist who was once great but somehow lost it along the way. It is Silent Hill the brand name, not necessarily the series. Not to say that Homecoming is a terrible game per se, because that is not entirely true either, but it does not exactly feel like a Silent Hill game. First of all, the combat system is extremely frustrating. Still, if you are a fan of the series and want to quench the thirst for anything new Silent Hill, then I would still recommend Homecoming. Dare I say that it is the only thing that still feels "Silent Hill" about Silent Hill: Homecoming.
Is it just that the creators are running out of material in a series that revolves around an ambiguous town covered in fog. It almost has the feeling of being deliberately manufactured to appease the almost universal adoration of the second installment in the series rather than an original idea in itself. However, I think of Homecoming, Origins, and now Shattered Memories as spin offs of the original series. It's Konami milking an already dead series that even its original creators have abandoned for other prospects because a few die-hard fans are still guaranteed to shell out the money with each consecutive release. The only truly stand out thing about Homecoming is that once again Akira Yamaoka offers up an atmospheric soundtrack. Despite its large number of flaws, it is still an entertaining game.
first of all for the low star rating people, this is just my opinon, if you gave it a bad rating I respect that even if it's becacaues the game sucks or the controls are hard or if you think that the boss and other things that you have trouble within the game just know that there are alternatives in getting information for getting stuck in the game trust me I know, see when I first got the game I thought that it wouldn't last long before I'd quit the game and get mad about it, but then after a while I beat the game about 4 times and figured out how to get it done the easy way, for example what I did when I got to the doctors office in sillent hill homecoming and saw the amount of nurses that were there I got syced thing my character would die fast,luckly know that the knife had fast blows when used, the easiest way to avoid them useing fast blows on you is to not give them the advantage to do that, but don't just run at them just lewer them one by one into the room that you found the small locker, for the boss that looks like a doll strieght out of the hellish part of sillent, figured out that there was a motion for avoiding the arm blows and the atacks when it changes, bottom line is that no matter how hard it may seem when you learn the trick to beating sillent hill homecoming its really easy.
Excellent game, keeps you under an atmosphere of suspense and action. At any time you can die of a heart attack with the shocks that you get in this game. Great for play at night, low light and with a 42 "screen and a good powerful sound system.My review: Simple: 100
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