Silent Hill 5 coming along nicely according to 1UP's preview
by Jem Alexander 
{ Jan 9th 2008 at 2:00PM }
For starters, Silent Hill 5 will be a standalone adventure with a separate story and new characters. The game still promises to be a part of the Silent Hill canon, however, and not just in name. Some series mainstays are back, including the crawling fog, levels that transform from light and airy to grime covered and bloody and a permanent grain filter over the action. All of these things have been improved on for the next generation of consoles.
New features will also be implemented into SH5, such as utilisation of the Havok physics engine to allow furniture to be accidentally knocked, alerting your enemy of where you are. The battle system will also have an overhaul, making combat a bigger part of the game than in previous iterations of the series. For the full lowdown on the game be sure to check out 1UP's preview for plenty more SH5 info.
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
(666)Sorrow @ Feb 20th 2008 7:16PM
to hersheldiedwards: First of all how dare you degrade 'Hellraiser' like that! I am a huge fan of both 'Hellraiser' (1 & 2) and all 'Silent Hill' collections. No Silent Hill fan would ever decline newly gruesome ideas for the beautiful demons in the 'Silent Hill realm' nor bash on 'Hellraiser' like that. Why would you influence the creators to siese their new ideas and go back to having blobs of meat walking around to which you cant tell what they once were, what they are. especially with the technology they have now adays, a 'moribundi' creation like Siam is an excelent addition to 'Silen Hill V'
I agree with the comments on the new combat system possibly hindering my feelings about the wanderful world of 'Silent Hill' but with the new console engines and power would you really want to roam around pressing nothing but 'A' or 'X'...? those simple things; YES indeed are what made 'Silent Hill' (apart from the gorgeous scenery and blood and gore and blood!!!! and Demons and outstanding music) and are the reasons why they are making a FIFTH one. but a little change wouldn't hurt. As long as they keep the worry of encountering an enemy alive. for instance military vet or not i doubt he would be able to dodge a demons assault one of which he has never imagined before or trained for. The only creature i disagree with is the Schism creature and it's longated head...... other then that keep up the Art guys!!!
Organic_Shadow @ Jan 9th 2008 2:52PM
Glad to see they are trying to improve on the game as well as make sure it's up to snuff etc., but to be honest I could care less, and am actually a little bugged by, the 'accidentally-bump-a-chair-and-an-enemy-hears-me' thing. Also the combat, while it wasn't that great, I think helped you dread enemy encounters more- which is what you would do in real life, not want to encounter an enemy. I know this guy is a marine or something, so sure, but whatever.
I just think that the SH faults have become a part of the 'original recipe', and adding too many new things and replacing certain ingredients with processed substitutes, so to speak, will just end up making SH start to lose it's identity. Of course, I think it did with SH4 to begin with, so oh well. Guess my fave franchise is moving in a different direction...
Darcy Baston @ Jan 9th 2008 3:16PM
I don't like the direction it's taking. Like Organic_Shadow said, having the game move towards more combat, takes away from the player's ability to digest the environments, the story, and the feel of things because he/she'll spend too much time focused on button mashing and aiming.
I hate that. It's what made SH4 a total bust for me. The fact that there were immortal ghosts that had to be avoided or pinned, and later freed to reclaim the pinning device, seriously took away from my ability to meticulously enjoy every single inch of every texture and how it relates to the story and characters. It frustrated me terribly to have to pin a ghost just so I could stay live long enough to look at a blood splatter on a table. It's beautiful detail! I want time to look at it damnit!
I don't want Silent Resident Evil 4 Hill. In SH1 you could run around many of the enemies, psychological projections, just like you would avoid your own dark thougths. It was perfect. It felt human. And it let me conserve ammo to feel like I battled the bosses competitively. The same was true for SH2 and 3. SH Origins and now SH5 are turning into "this is a fighting game" games. :(
Perhaps I'm taking away too much from the survival part of survival horror, but for me that meant more a personal (in RL) survival of how the story and environments got under my skin at 2am with the lights off. :) I enjoy boss fights and encounters here and there so I can experience the personality of the NPCs, but having an enemy rush in because I knocked over a desk lamp on my way to check out a wickedly bloody gurney, will annoy the crap out of me. SH requires you running-man the edges of walls pressing X to find objects and hints. Now when I do that, I'll risk being in RE4.
I want the freedom to calmly pan the camera and let the environment amplify the music and vice versa for that internal tickle that only the perfect marriage of art forms can give. THAT's what satiates me, not being trigger happy.
It's like touring and art exhibit. If I can't stand back and look at a painting in peace and quiet, I won't be able to experience the painting. Annoying intrusive enemies are like tour guides who can't wait for their next break, "next, next, next."
Hashbrown_Hunter @ Jan 9th 2008 7:22PM
Well they're not totally making it combat-based. They're trying to fix the combat (which has been broken for a looooong time) and then hopefully they'll be able to get the pace down so that it's both atmospheric and fun to play.
It's a tough goal, but it's doable.
hersheliedwards @ Jan 11th 2008 10:05PM
On the contrary Silent hill origins I mostly turn off the flashlight and sneak through areas, which adds a lot of lovely tension. I also liked having almost immortal enemies in 4, that also added fear.
The combat in 4 was a little silly though with on screen hud. I don't like that. It kills the mood as it does in FatalFrame.
SH2 enemies were too easy to kill and not varied enough, the only real flaw for me.
I'm highly skeptical of Silent Hill 5 still. Only one enemy design doesn't scream of obvious and silly fan fiction SH treatment. SIAM is a charcater i can just imagine them talking about representing the pyscho- sexual struggle of both woman and man and also the gender traits/conflict inherent in the character himself, and yet it looks silly and garish like something a 14 yearold that has seen too many hellraiser movies would design. It has no elegance to me or subtlety.
The 'calf' creature in Origins I rally like.. it has a very disturbing presence both in movement and in texture. The nurses are ridiculous, and have lost all creepiness. They are just a cliche now with absurd levels of sexuality, removing all subtlety. I think these guys are very talented technically and I reserve judgment because origins turned out well, but I'm far from convinced.