E3 2009: Silent Hill: Shattered Memories impressions
posted:
6/8/2009 7:55:00 PM
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E3 2009
Konami’s Silent Hill series has one been one of their best selling series for the company and they are bringing a new title to the Wii. Get ready for Silent Hill: Shattered Memories and get ready to return to the game in a brand new way.
Silent Hill: Shattered Memories is a reimagining of the first game. Those that play the first game might see a few familiar things but it’s going to be an all new experience. The game plays with a third person perspective and you play Harry Mason in search of his daughter. A lot of what was shown in the demo took place in a snowy environment which is something that wasn’t in the first game if I remember correctly. Forgive me if it is as I didn’t play the first one that much.
Something unique about Shattered Memories is that the game will tailor the nightmares based on a psych profile it builds up on you. Depending on what you pay attention to and other factors, the game might play out differently for you than others. This should lead to some good replayability as you can adjust the way you play and see the game change for you.
With the WiiMote controls, it would be natural to build a scheme where you hold a flashlight with the WiiMote to see in the dark and this is exactly what Konami did with Shattered Memories. Harry Mason will be holding a flashlight in one hand and you can guide the beam by pointing it at the screen. You’re going to need to keep your light moving at all times and search around.
As with all Silent Hill games, there are going to be horrible monsters chasing you. The demo showed these faceless apparitions running after you as Mason tried to make his escape. A nice little gameplay element is the ability to quickly look behind you with the flashlight so you can see who and how many things are chasing you. You have no combat abilities so you’re going to spend a lot of time trying to get away from the monsters. It’s an element used to create a heightened sense of horror and suspense but I don’t know if this will work or frustrate the players.
You can do a few things to try and elude your attackers such as hiding or picking up flares. Just make sure you are not in the line of sight of one of these monsters when you hide. I saw in the demo a cool sequence where Harry tried to hide underneath a bed only to have the monster grab Harry by the leg and pull him out and be attacked. Another sequence I saw had Harry successfully hide in a closet. It was pretty suspenseful to be only able to see through the slats and hope the monster doesn’t open the closet and attack you. The monsters are afraid of light so having a flare handy can buy you some time. You can also overturn furniture behind you to slow them down if they are hot on your trail. Silent Hill: Shattered Memories is all about survival and seeing it in action, you can tell it can get pretty intense.
To help immerse you in the game, there is no HUD. To know how well Harry is doing you have to see if he’s walking well. When he’s limping you know his health is getting low. There is a cell phone that has all the menu options as well as being a part of the story. If you get calls they even come through the WiiMote speaker which is a pretty cool feature. The game doesn’t stop when you have the cell phone out so you always have to make sure you are in a safe place when you activate it.
For a Wii game, the graphics looked really good. While it’s not the quality of say The Conduit it’s still up there in terms of what I’ve seen on the Wii. The engine does a great job at modeling the characters and it has the ability to do some really great dynamic lighting from the camera. I even saw the snow casting shadows as it fell from the sky.
Silent Hill: Shattered Memories impressed me from the brief demo I saw. I’m still holding judgment on whether being constantly on the run can be fun for a long time though but if you are looking for a game with a sense of dread, terror, and some downright scares on your Wii, this game might just fill your need. The game is also set for the PSP.
Silent Hill: Shattered Memories is a reimagining of the first game. Those that play the first game might see a few familiar things but it’s going to be an all new experience. The game plays with a third person perspective and you play Harry Mason in search of his daughter. A lot of what was shown in the demo took place in a snowy environment which is something that wasn’t in the first game if I remember correctly. Forgive me if it is as I didn’t play the first one that much.
Something unique about Shattered Memories is that the game will tailor the nightmares based on a psych profile it builds up on you. Depending on what you pay attention to and other factors, the game might play out differently for you than others. This should lead to some good replayability as you can adjust the way you play and see the game change for you.
With the WiiMote controls, it would be natural to build a scheme where you hold a flashlight with the WiiMote to see in the dark and this is exactly what Konami did with Shattered Memories. Harry Mason will be holding a flashlight in one hand and you can guide the beam by pointing it at the screen. You’re going to need to keep your light moving at all times and search around.
As with all Silent Hill games, there are going to be horrible monsters chasing you. The demo showed these faceless apparitions running after you as Mason tried to make his escape. A nice little gameplay element is the ability to quickly look behind you with the flashlight so you can see who and how many things are chasing you. You have no combat abilities so you’re going to spend a lot of time trying to get away from the monsters. It’s an element used to create a heightened sense of horror and suspense but I don’t know if this will work or frustrate the players.
You can do a few things to try and elude your attackers such as hiding or picking up flares. Just make sure you are not in the line of sight of one of these monsters when you hide. I saw in the demo a cool sequence where Harry tried to hide underneath a bed only to have the monster grab Harry by the leg and pull him out and be attacked. Another sequence I saw had Harry successfully hide in a closet. It was pretty suspenseful to be only able to see through the slats and hope the monster doesn’t open the closet and attack you. The monsters are afraid of light so having a flare handy can buy you some time. You can also overturn furniture behind you to slow them down if they are hot on your trail. Silent Hill: Shattered Memories is all about survival and seeing it in action, you can tell it can get pretty intense.
To help immerse you in the game, there is no HUD. To know how well Harry is doing you have to see if he’s walking well. When he’s limping you know his health is getting low. There is a cell phone that has all the menu options as well as being a part of the story. If you get calls they even come through the WiiMote speaker which is a pretty cool feature. The game doesn’t stop when you have the cell phone out so you always have to make sure you are in a safe place when you activate it.
For a Wii game, the graphics looked really good. While it’s not the quality of say The Conduit it’s still up there in terms of what I’ve seen on the Wii. The engine does a great job at modeling the characters and it has the ability to do some really great dynamic lighting from the camera. I even saw the snow casting shadows as it fell from the sky.
Silent Hill: Shattered Memories impressed me from the brief demo I saw. I’m still holding judgment on whether being constantly on the run can be fun for a long time though but if you are looking for a game with a sense of dread, terror, and some downright scares on your Wii, this game might just fill your need. The game is also set for the PSP.
