Hands-on: Silent Hill Homecoming

by Andrew Yoon { Jul 17th 2008 at 7:30PM }

Usually, a venue like E3 proves to be a bad venue for a game like Silent Hill Homecoming. The usual hustle and bustle of the E3 show floor makes for a game focused squarely on atmosphere to suffer. So, why was our playtest of Silent Hill Homecoming in a closed room with headphones so uninspiring? There are a number of issues that come to the top of our minds: the lackluster graphics stand out, for once. However, the most frustrating aspect of Homecoming is how familiar it all felt. Returning to Silent Hill on consoles after an adventure like Silent Hill IV: The Room is strange. Regardless of the execution found in that last Silent Hill title, one couldn't deny the interesting premise which took the series in a slightly different direction. Homecoming, on the other hand, plays it safe and feels like an HD remake of Silent Hill Origins (PSP).

For those that are hankering for a new Silent Hill game, perhaps this by-the-numbers offering will satiate that itch. However, the setting is much too familiar, and the setup is just not that compelling. Waking up strapped down in a hospital bed, our protagonist Alex Shephard must break free and find clues on his missing brother. Combat works just as it has before: lock on and swing various melee weapons found in the environment.

Gallery: Silent Hill: Homecoming

Once again, Alex will find an endless array of locked doors and must navigate a convulted series of delapidated passages to solve random puzzles that get in the way. There are a few things of note that make the adventure a bit more intuitive. The map is taken from Origins, and informs you of where you've already been. The added physics engine makes interacting with the environment even creepier than before: walking into a bottle may make it fall down and the sudden noise may cause you to jump. Of course, the sound design and music are just as incredible as ever.

If it were five years ago, we may be glad to see the inclusion of QTE elements in Silent Hill Homecoming. Players will interact with certain objects and on-screen indicators will have players mashing the corresponding buttons. While the added drama is appreciated, it's far from revolutionary.

The monsters we've seen in the game range from the familiar to the dramatic. All of the enemies we encountered were animated beautifully (if beauty is synonymous as grotesque). One particular enemy stood out above others: a smog creature that has a glowing red lung. It thrust around violently, moving erratically. The music got our pulse pumping as we tried to shoot at its much-too-obvious weak point.

Unfortunately, the build we played on PS3 was rather unstable. At random times it would crash. After two crashes, it got a little too frustrating to repeat the same sections over again. Obviously, Konami will fix this before the game's release later this year. For fans of the franchise, Silent Hill Homecoming may offer everything they need. However, after so many iterations, we can't help but feel like this is a tired game.

Tags: e308, joystiqfeatures, silent-hill, silent-hill-homecoming

Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)

Reckoning @ Jul 17th 2008 7:39PM

Drake is always up for some zany adventuring....

ultima_omega @ Jul 17th 2008 7:40PM

It just dosen't look good for this game at all. It is a shame, it could have been so good. At least we are getting Siren.

Gambit07 @ Jul 17th 2008 8:22PM

Probably the reason they removed the 5 from the title.

ryan @ Jul 17th 2008 9:04PM

Be sure to blame developer Double Helix, not Konomi, on problems with the game regarding graphics, frame rate, and crashes.

Double Helix is having problems with the PS3 port. (when they were known as The Collective, they still hadn't known anything about the PS3 architecture.)

and yes, i think it was wise to drop the "5" in the title. maybe the actual Silent Hill 5 can be made by Konomi in the future.

Orlando Orellano @ Jul 18th 2008 12:17AM

Every other game that The Collective/Double Helix has developed has been reviewed as being mediocre. It was bound to have problems in terms of it's game play at least.

Orlando Orellano @ Jul 18th 2008 12:20AM

I will not try to bash it in terms of story, but the fact the pyramid head is in the game is disappointing, I thought that he was personally created as a symbol of punishment for James in Silent Hill 2.

ryan @ Jul 18th 2008 11:11AM

nope he was personally created for the fans of Silent Hill apparently...stupid that he is in everything SH these days...

Darcy @ Jul 18th 2008 1:00AM

The enemies are just way too reflective. It's gimmicky. The rabbit doll looks like a Photoshop Elements "plastic wrap" layer effect reject. Yuck.

I don't want to see past Silent Hill enemies reworked to mimic the movie which was a mash of multiple SH titles, totally murdering the storyline. I want to see what Alex manifests uniquely on his own from his own psyche. How can I identify with him, and his UNIQUE experience, if he's just flipping through a catalog of SH marketing?

I'm a fan though, and will take what I can get. I'll buy it and enjoy whatever's new in the game just the same, but I may have trouble immersing myself in Alex's journey. Poor Alex; stuck walking in the footsteps of others and having to deal with their issues more than his own.

Jezreel @ Jul 21st 2008 2:50AM

Anything that distances this game from SH4 and makes it feel like a return to the older titles is most welcome by me. SH4 reeked of lousy J-horror influences that were too obvious and ghost-driven, whereas the previous games had always impressed with an ambiguous, psychological approach that masterfully evoked a New England pathos despite its Japanese creation and development.