Silent Hill: Shattered Memories
Tuesday, January 19th, 2010
Posted in Reviews by Brendan Saricks
It seems like every year we are given a game with amazing design concepts and lackluster execution. Like 2008’s Alone in the Dark, Silent Hill: Shattered Memories is a game greater than the sum of it’s parts, but that doesn’t stop it from being a great game.
Pitched as a reimagining of 1999’s PSX classic, Silent Hill: Shattered Memories is a completely different game than its source material. Climax Entertainment, developer of 2007‘s Silent Hill: Origins, has birthed a different kind of Silent Hill game both in concept and appearance. The only thing this game shares with its predecessor is it’s character’s names and archetypes (and even those are altered in certain circumstances). Harry Mason, 30-something father of one, has gotten into a car accident. When he awakes face down in the snow, his first thought is his daughter Cheryl who was riding with him. She is, of course, no where to be found so Harry must set off into Silent Hill in the hopes of finding her.
The first thing you will notice is that the game has two distinct narrative motifs. One where you play as Harry while the other has you, the player, being psychoanalyzed by Dr. Kaufman. The opening of the game takes place in Dr. Kaufman’s office where you, in the first person, are asked questions by Kaufman in the hopes of learning more about you. These sequences repeat at certain times throughout the game and every time, Kaufman has a new set of questions or activities for you. Anyone paying attention probably realizes that these have an effect on the game proper. Your first hint being the corny red “warning” screen as the game loads up proclaiming the “game will play you as much as you play it!” Sometimes these effects are obvious. At one point, I was asked to color in a house and family only to have it realized the next time I took control of Harry. Other effects are more covert such as what a character is wearing or what they say to you. Everything, including the ending, is affected by your answers. Silent Hill games are all about the town messing with the mind of the protagonist, and this concept certainly acts as another stanza in that song. It is impossible to know how effective the analyzation is, but it is effective enough that different answers can produce completely different set pieces or character interactions. On top of that, my first run through, where I answered everything truthfully, was a great deal more enjoyable than my second, where I lied about things.
When you aren’t on the couch with Dr. Kaufman, you are out on the town controlling Harry from a very tight third person perspective. The town of Silent Hill is caught in a terrible snow storm. It is dark and deserted, and Harry has only his flashlight to protect him.
The flashlight is the most important design element in this game. It acts as a beacon that focuses the player’s attention on certain portions of the frame rather than the frame as a whole. Climax should have exploited this ruthlessly. For example, while the player is focusing on the beam of light, the developers move something in the periphery and cause the player to whirl around and try to see what they missed. Or, even better, while the player investigates something, you produce the scare (monster, body, whatever) right in the middle of the beam. Neither of these ever happen. What the flashlight does do is cast long shadows that seep into the corners of rooms, adding more ambiance to the spaces. The game never gives you a proper monster scare with the flashlight, but it does give you a couple shadow based ones. It’s a solid mechanic even if it isn’t utilized to it’s full potential.
The other interesting design element lies in the way you open the doors of Silent Hill. You approach the door and, unless you are running, are instructed to press A to open it. Harry grabs the door knob, and then you control the speed in which he opens the door with the analog stick on the nunchuck. The buckets of terror gold that could have been mined from this mechanic, but weren’t, is mind boggling. Imagine this: You open the door slowly, Harry’s face just in the frame, and as the door reveals the room beyond it, something scampers past. Or, better yet, something scampers onto the door itself, slamming it shut on Harry’s (and in turn the player’s) face. But Climax had other ideas for scaring you.
They have completely separated the terror moments from the normal gameplay moments. At certain beats in the narrative, the world becomes encased in ice, and Harry is forced to forget about methodical exploration and, instead, just run. You are chased by faceless effigies through the streets and corridors of Silent Hill until you reach a marker on your map that will act as an exit from the nightmare world. You have no weapons, and the only way to slow your attackers is the occasional flare (something that scares them until it extinguishes). If you are caught by one of your pursuers, you must use the wiimote and nunchuck to literally throw it off of you before you can start running again. This feels real. I struggled like a trapped Harry every time one of them jumped on me. And every time, I swore at the screen and asked where the exit was. Those moments are terrifying. Some would argue that the separation of exploration and danger was a foolish choice and, in terms of a traditional Silent Hill game, I would agree. However, I cannot agree with the fact that it isn’t a highly effective scare tactic. It can be terrifying.
But the question every Silent Hill fan has is whether or not this is a faithful entry to the series. A better question would be “is it a typical Silent Hill game?” Absolutely not. Climax has had the torch passed to them by Konami, and they are remaking Silent Hill in their image. Purists will almost certainly discount it, but this is a mistake because there is another question you should be asking. Is this an effective Survival Horror game? Absolutely it is. Yes, the game does drop the design ball in places, but it still elicits genuine fear and terror which is the mark of any good Survival Horror game and, in turn, any good Silent Hill game.
This game is worth your time, buy it.
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