Silent Hill: Homecoming Review

Silent Hill: Homecoming (Also known as Silent Hill 5 or Silent Hill V) is the 6th instalment of the famous horror series, Silent Hill. Silent Hill: Homecoming follows the story of a soldier returning home from war, Alex Shepherd. The story follows Alex’s search for his brother through his hometown of Shepherd’s Glenn, which on Alex’s return home after being discharged from the Armed Forces, is now a hellish nightmare filled with strange disappearances and, of course, monsters.

There has been a lot of scepticism about Silent Hill: Homecoming’s development, as it hasn’t been made by series developer Team Silent in house at Konami, but instead by American developer Double Helix, part of a merge with Shiny Entertainment & The Collective (Marc Eco’s Getting Up, Star Wars Episode III). Looking at their past games library, and the fact that they aren’t Japanese like the original developers, it’s easy to see why lots of fans have been sceptical and generally against the idea of a full console Silent Hill being developed by them.

Some genuinely creepy moments at this part – arguably one of the best bits of the game.

However, the end result of a different team isn’t a complete disaster, but isn’t 100% perfect either. What has remained story about the Team Silent touch however is Team Silent member Akira Yamoka and his music. Silent Hill: Homecoming’s sound track is excellent and is very much up to standard in comparison to the other Silent Hill games. The soundtrack ranges from industrial during a boss encounter, peaceful and calming when you’re talking to a friend (Like the cut scene with Elle) and tense and ominous like during a boss battle. There is very little or no complaint with the sound track, voice acting included, which is also pretty good.

The combat system has very clearly been changed, and has definitely increased the speed and the action during the combat parts of the game. The first thing to say about this is that it does not affect the horror, and the more action oriented fighting doesn’t mean the rest of the scary bits aren’t scary. The battle system itself though, does have its issues. Dodging attacks can be pretty frustrating at times, because the time between you pressing O and Alex actually moving is sometimes a little bit delayed, which can make precise dodging nearly impossible, not because you couldn’t learn the press it just that bit earlier to compensate for the delay, but because sometime it is delayed and sometimes it isn’t. The other annoying thing about dodging is that sometimes it doesn’t move you in the right direction, or at all. Also, if you’re fighting a monster and try to dodge while you’re in a corridor, you’re definitely going to get hit and there’s very little you can do other than shoot or run. The good thing about the combat system though is that it makes fighting the monsters much more fun… when you’re winning, of course. Pulling off combos and beating the monsters into a bloody mess then finishing them off by stabbing the pipe through their head or chopping their head clean off is a very welcome addition. The battle system, by combination of the real-time damage effects and great sounds, really makes you feel the crunch of pipe into that Nurse’s skull. Lovely. For the most part though, I’d have to say the combat is as good as the previous games to control, but with harder monsters and added things like combos, finishers and dodges (If it works).

Another change to the original Silent Hill gameplay mechanic is the aiming. Silent Hill: Homecoming now adopts a more Cold Fear / Resident Evil 4 camera angle for the shooting. As soon as this was revealed, people instantly though “Omg it’s a rip off of Resident Evil 4�. This isn’t the case, this new angle merely allows you to actually see what you’re firing at instead of blindly firing into the next screen, which is a nice change. The only gripe with it was the fact that L2 is aim and R2 is shoot which was a little weird to get used to at the beginning.

The overall controls are pretty solid and pretty average. They’re not bad or really amazing either. Alex turns a little bit too slowly still, and as I can’t seem to find a quick turn button, a very creepy scene was pretty much ruined, as the event had happened before I got a chance to turn around. Slight more freedom over the camera is a very welcome change, as you can really look at the environments clearly, which brings me to my next point. The game is dark, very dark. Some people are going to love this, as I remember a lot of forum members loving how dark Silent Hill 1 was during the “hell� states, but this is the kind of dark you’ll hate. At selected times; the torch just doesn’t do anything. You’ll be in one room, see a door in the corridor and run towards it, then for no reason the hallway will just be pitch black and the torch just doesn’t shed the tiniest bit of light on the door in front of you. It seems more of a bug than anything, because in some areas it really works and looks great, but in others looks like it isn’t even turned on.

However, the use of the torch can be really good at times. During the Hotel Level I came across an unusually aggressive Nurse which killed me every time I tried to fight her, so instead I decided to turn my light off and creep around her which worked perfectly. She stumbled down a corridor as I hid in the shadows and stopped in the middle of this open area, perfectly still like a terrifying nurse statue. All I could see was her outline in the blackness, not moving an inch. I crept passed her and she didn’t notice me and I really thought this element is a fantastic edition to the series.

The graphics rather strange in Silent Hill: Homecoming. Sometimes they are really impressive, showing off what next-gen consoles can do. The nurses in particular look very detailed and the real-time damage looks more than little red lines like it used to and more like bit splatters of blood when you hit something in the back with the crowbar. The transitions to the hell world are also pretty cool looking. However, the very noticeable and disappointingly terrible graphics on every character but Alex’s hair is far below what the PlayStation 3 is capable of, and at times looks nearer PlayStation 2 graphics than PlayStation 3.

The storyline is pretty good, and definitely on par with the others. It remains solid throughout the game, despite the game dwindling in the middle (Which it then picks up again nearer the end). The main ending of the story is pretty unpredictable, and it’s not what you think. The first time I played it through I got the UFO ending, so it really wasn’t what I expected, but the reveal before the end of the game is good. I thought I’d guessed the ending when I saw the intro which was obviously inspired by Jacob’s Ladder and assumed they’d use the same kind of theme as Jacob’s Ladder, evidently they were more creative than that, which is great. The only kind of thing I didn’t like about the story progression was small things, not to do with the story, but at times like at the start, when you have to fill the empty can with petrol you go to Travis’ truck the alley and just somehow put it in your can… no siphoning or anything. He just somehow filled the can up without a tube or anything, it’s not as though he could tilt the truck and pour it in, is it?

SH:H introduces some new game play mechanics using your weapons, like breaking down wood nailed to some doors, and prying doors open with the steel pipe.

In summary, Silent Hill: Homecoming has an impressive, compelling storyline but the bugs I have encountered literally stop you from being able to play sometimes. On return to Alex’s house, I hacked down a door but there was no “X Open Door� icon, so I went outside to try to reset the room and the same happened from the door to actually get into the house. This is a minor technical issue which I really hope that Double Helix will patch, but as for the game itself it has plenty of the Silent Hill “touch�, a great sound track, a good set of characters, a (slightly) improved combat system and lots of endings. It also has a pretty good length in comparison to the previous games, and certainly compared to Silent Hill: Origins’ average of 4 hours. It’s worth playing the game for the storyline at least because I loved pretty much every cut scene. I recommend Silent Hill: Homecoming to the Silent Hill fans, and very much to horror fans just looking for a scary game. Some parts are really creepy while still keeping the Silent Hill effect.

Score: 8/10

Reviewed by Furin using the PlayStation 3 version (With DualShock 3) on a Sony Bravia 26″ 720p HD TV

Second Opinion

By SilentHiller – (PlayStation 3 version)

Silent Hill: Homecoming (which was previously titled Silent Hill 5/Silent Hill V) is the long awaited next chapter in the psychological horror series. In Silent Hill: Homecoming you play a new protagonist named Alex Shepherd, a young soldier who after recently leaving behind his troops overseas decides to return to his hometown of Shepherd’s Glen when he senses something is seriously wrong with his brother Joshua and experiences disturbing visions involving him.

Silent Hill: Homecoming’s development has been controversial upon it’s official announcement back in July 2007 at E3 during Konami’s press event when it was confirmed that Double Helix (they were known as The Collective then before the merge with Shiny Interactive took place in late 2007 creating the combined studio “Double Helix”) would be handling the development duties of the title. Many fans were concerned and even angry about Konami ultimately handing over a highly treasured game series to a relatively unknown development studio. Double Helix are mainly known for their work on Buffy The Vampire Slayer for the XBOX, Marc Ecko’s Getting up and Star Wars Episode III which have all received very mixed reviews from low, average to above average scores. So a lot of fans were worried judging by the studio’s past catalogue of projects as to whether they could tackle a complex videogame series like Silent Hill, which many believe the original Silent Hill titles from Team Silent are hard to capture in terms of atmosphere and art direction.

The fans can rest easy as Double Helix has not only delivered a well crafted Silent Hill game but they have proven that a Western developer is just as capable in creating a memorable Silent Hill experience but with a few notable flaws.

One of the new additions to the series that Double Helix wanted to improve upon from the beginning is the combat in the game. The new combat system works pretty well for the most part and it’s the first time I can honestly say the fighting aspect of a Silent Hill title has ever been actually fun and enjoyable to participate in. Alex can pull off a number of different attacks that vary in strength, for example the knife is quick to cause damage to monsters like a Feral or the Nurse but other weaponry, like an axe for example, takes longer to hit them and you are more likely to be hit when trying to take a swing at a monster.

However, most monsters are vulnerable to certain types of attacks. For example, the Lurker can be finished off quickly by brutally decapitating its head straight off with an axe, and Smog can be taken down with just a few well placed gun shots when it expands its pulsating rib cage. Of course, the monsters themselves have increased A.I. and some can block just as much as Alex which makes them far more deadly than past instalments. You will lose health pretty rapidly if you don’t take advantage of the block action button (although you could partly perform this in Silent Hill 3 as well but not as effectively). To block you simply press the circle button to avoid incoming damage but it’s somewhat of a hit and miss affair, as sometimes you attempt to block but an enemy will still manage to reach you and inflict injury which can make certain situations frustrating especially when facing some of the bosses in the game in which they can dish out pretty hefty amount of damage with just a single hit.

Speaking of bosses, they are one of highlights of the game. In previous Silent Hill games you would simply run reload and shoot with no really strategy involved, Silent Hill: Homecoming improves upon this area where the boss encounters are large Zelda style battles, and depending on the players skill, can be quite challenging. With some bosses it’s not as simple as constantly attacking them until they die because a few will take another grotesque form which you will also need to defeat. When a boss collapses you will be prompted to jump on top of them and finish them off with your weapon, similar to the boss fights in Resident Evil 4. There aren’t that many bosses you will face in the game but they’re are highly detailed epic boss encounters and many of their designs are easily some of the most bizarre and disturbing yet to be featured in a Silent Hill title. Some of these beasts you won’t forget in a hurry, but I will leave you to discover them yourself in the game.

Another notable change to the game this time around is the free view camera position which allows you to observe everything from all angles at any time. You can also press the analogue stick to view your surroundings from a 1st person perspective, however you can’t physically move when looking through this camera angle. Alex can take a rather long time to spin around to reposition himself in another direction and his running ability is a bit slow (Alex runs as a default action) but all in all the controls are good and by no means absolutely perfect but they’re a real improvement from before, even though the slow response time in between dodging is a little flawed at times.

Another complaint many had with the first Silent Hill games is the unpredictable and rather clumsy shooting aspect of the gameplay. Often when trying to fire at a monster rushing towards you your firearm would blast into thin air completely missing your intended target. Luckily this area of the game has been addressed and reworked for the better. Now when aiming you zoom in close into a “over the shoulder” like style camera angle you can move freely when engaging in the gun combat and aiming is far more smoother and precise this time around.

Akira Yamaoka comes up strong again with the audio in the game. The creepy industrial noises are back with soothing, calm, chilled out music productions. The voice acting is excellent and it is probably the best featured in the series, even if the dialogue script isn’t always of the highest quality.

The visuals in many areas of the journey into Silent Hill are very solid and at times quite stunning. When in the “Otherworld” state it becomes apparent to how enhanced the graphics are from the past titles. The use of HDR lighting is gorgeous and the environments are rich in detail from the veins on a Lurker’s body to aging rust on pipes. The “Otherworld” transitions have never looked so good, all of which take place in real time. The melting and decay of the world around you unveils before your eyes, which is one area Silent Hill: Homecoming borrows inspiration from the Silent Hill movie. The game also takes influence from various key locations you will travel through which further inspirations are taken from the Silent Hill film.

However one area of the visuals that aren’t too impressive is undeniably many of the main character models in the game. Alex himself is highly detailed, but other characters such as Judge Holloway or Lillian Shepherd look clearly unfinished, rough around the edges and obviously weren’t paid as much attention to. The quality of their character models are almost bordering on Playstation 2 standards at times. Occasionally you will come across some flat dull textures, like papers scattered on a table or blurry numbers on a set of buttons in an elevator. These are just some minor complaints but overall the visuals are excellent and hold up well through most of the duration of the game.

The story line in Silent Hill: Homecoming takes a good while to get going, it’s a slow burner. However when you get much deeper into the game though everything starts to become much clearer and there are enough twists, turns and home truths to surprise and shock the player well after the credits roll. The plot in Silent Hill: Homecoming is easily the most clear cut and least complex tale in the series but this not to say the story line is in anyway weak or lacking because it isn’t. However the chances are you won’t be as confused about the events that unfold throughout the game as you might in past titles, you will piece everything together by the game’s end. It isn’t until much later during the 2nd half of the game that you discover the truth about the dark history of Shepherd’s Glen ties with Silent Hill and how Alex’s father plays a big role in the madness. Double Helix came up with a pretty disturbing yet tragic memorable story that is just as good if not better than the previous Silent Hill games.

Silent Hill: Homecoming’s development was in some real doubt with a new developer at the helm, like with Silent Hill: Origins in its original stages, but again another Western developer has managed to recapture the real feel of a Silent Hill title. Silent Hill: Homecoming succeeds in delivering a solid Silent Hill experience. While being more action focused than before, it still retains the classic formula of its creepy atmosphere, quirky characters, disturbing story and giving the series a visual make over for the next-gen systems. The game, upon the first play through, will last a good 10-15 hours and the replay value is pretty decent with a handful of alternative costumes to unlock (some are quite humorous) and there are at least 5 endings to achieve. Some dodgy looking character models lacking polish, occasional unresponsive dodging system, and notable glitches are my only gripes upon my time playing the game; however none of these factors are severe enough to ruin the experience. Fans of the series should check out Silent Hill: Homecoming as soon as possible as it’s a great entry in the franchise, and newcomers to the series will benefit from the story being stand alone so no past knowledge of the previous chapters is needed in order to have any understanding of the story and general survival horror fans will likely enjoy it aswell.