With the departure of original designers Team Silent (now, sadly, disbanded) the Silent Hill series has two options - capture the spirit of the originals or lose the magic completely. And that's the cross American developers The Collective have to bear, with only composer and part-time producer Akira Yamaoka remaining from the original team.
TNS: “With the recent release of the incredible Silent Hill 2 remake, we reflect on the most underrated game in the series, Silent Hill: Homecoming.”
I didn’t hate it, in fact, I think the hate is unwarranted. It doesn’t have anywhere near the same feel of a Team Silent game, but if this were PTSD fake army man in spooky town: The Game, I think people would have really liked it more.
Now all I want to play is PTSD Fake Army Man in Spooky Town: The Game.... that sounds like a helluva game, lol
Conceptually, Homecoming works. On its surface the narrative is interesting and adds a lot of depth to the lore of the town. The misfire was in its execution i.e aping way too much of its visual cues from the feature film and themes from Silent Hill 2. The developers treated the game as a series of bullet points and checklists of what a Silent Hill game is supposed to be: Cult? Check. Otherworld? Check. Pyramid Head? Check. Trauma? Check. Sexy Nurses? Check. It felt forced instead of genuine and organic. It's a real shame because at its core there was a lot of great material to work with: a fraction of cult members branching off to do their own thing, Alex being a supposed military man, blood pacts and child sacrifice. This is all great stuff. It's just a shame that it never really came together.
Short story: it was mediocre with fun combat.
No memorable characters, no memorable atmospheric set pieces or visuals, lots of in-your-face gore, fucking around with lore by putting PH where he doesn't belong ...
And the ending where Alex also becomes PH and makes a roar was funnier(i remember laughing from disbelief) than the UFO ending in this instalment.
It wasn't terrible. It's one of those "if it didn't have this title" sort of games. It's actually pretty solid, but doesn't live up to the rest of the mainline franchise.
Downpour, however, and I'll die on this hill, is a highly underrated game.
I didn't hate Homecoming. It wasn't as good as 1-4, but it definitely wasn't bad. Downpour I think was just bad. But Homecoming was fine, and the music was really good. It was the game that came out after the movie, so they Americanized it. Pyramid Head was misused and was based on the movie design, not the classic Silent Hill 2 design. The town as well was not consistent with the other games, but rather the movie. The green Welcome to Silent Hill sign from the movie was even in Homecoming.
The sirens are sounding again, beckoning you back to the foggy ghost town as we rank all the Silent Hill games, from the chilling classics to the misguided missteps.
I mostly disagree with Downpour's position. Yeah, the game is not amazing by any stretch of the imagination but is much better than the HD Collection and Homecoming. The main issue is the performance, but that was mitigated by the patches, especially on the PS3. Personally, I put it a little behind Origins and The Room.
Having Restless Dreams as a different entry from Silent Hill 2 is also a choice.
Normally, we would not consider it a different game (Restless Dreams), but since it had a very different critical reception and had new content, it was allowed. As for Downpour, I would agree, but since that one is subjective, we let him make his case for the placement.
silent hill 2 is definitely the best one out of those.
for me personally, the whole ritual/cult stuff was always so weird to me in all the other games.
No disrespect but I put SH2 over 1. 1 is fantastic, but 2 took it all up a level.
Twinfinite: "They said it couldn't be done, be we've tried our best to rank all the monsters in Silent Hill according to their fear factor. Let's go!"
Pyramid Head is my #1 too, despite the fact you don't actually fight him much - and the few times you do are actually super easy. It's all in the presentation & close encounters.
I never thought the monsters themselves were very scary. It was the tension and the unknown, the silent moments that got under your skin that were the most scary to me.
Silent Hill has always been about the psychological horror more than it's gore.
I agree with the article.
1. They took art direction ideas from the movie.
2. They took plot direction ideas from Jacob's Ladder. (which by the way you should see if you're a SH fan - a lot of the effects in the games are taken from this movie)
I realize that with a new team it might be worrisome to be "too" innovative - for fear of ruining the game. Also the fact that SH4 was the worst of the series may play into this. But bleh, I'd like to see some original ideas; not just rehashes from movies and SH2.
Anyway, this is all speculation - and maybe the game will be amazingly scary. Hopefully, at least.
They really rip into the game, but their points are valid. Being a HUGE Silent Hill fan I think they capture the essence of what makes SH creepy and fun. I loved The Room for that original, weird, very creepy story. Making it into a Resident Evil 1.5 would kill this series.
to above, i agree in some cases., in some ways the need to go back to the roots of the game and build on that, new team = new ideas for the franchise hopfully they will and it pays off
Sadly it's true. Enough of the same locations and enemies (how many times must we go the hospital and fight the same-ol' nurses?), and please don't reference the movie too much (especially, all the god awful stuff involving the little girl).
At least it can't be as bad as Silent Hill 4: The Room. Who thought it was a good idea to make a boring 4 hour game with some of the most annoying enemies and pointless objectives, then make the player have to play it all over again while escorting a worthless character. Not to mention there's a "Nemesis-like" enemy who can't die that hunts you down.
Even If 5 (and possibly Origins) sucks, we have Alan Wake, Alone In The Dark, Condemned 2, Dead Space, Fatal Frame Wii, Rainy Woods, Etc. all coming out early next year.
Does anyone know if there's a translation guide or forum for Imabikisou yet? I think I might make a false one for fun since I have little idea of what's happening. If anyone want's to import it then pm me cause I have a $5 coupon from Playasia.com that's going to expire soon, and I have no use for it.
I'm more excited for SH:Origins than SH5 but thats because i'm not at home with my ps3, wii or 360 for the weekdays. Its also the first PSP game I have been excited about for quite some time.
HAPPY HALLOWEEN