Silent Hill: Homecoming
Silent Hill: Homecoming (PCDVD)
Silent Hill: Homecoming is the fifth installment in the venerable Silent Hill genre, a series that prides itself on creating a horror gaming experience. Unfortunately this title fails in this aspect, in no small part due to many technical issues.
Gameplay
Silent Hill Homecoming (from hereon referred to as SH:H) puts players in the shoes of Alex Shepherd, a soldier, searching for his kid brother, Josh, in his American hometown of Shepherd's Glen. This is odd for a horror game. As a soldier some of the scare factor is lost as you feel confident in the knowledge that you are a master of melee and firearms, and a member of the premier US Army (oorah, etc.).
Happily for people expecting a horror game, Shepherd's Glen has been overrun by monsters so you can be killed.
The gist of the game is that you run around this town with the ultimate goal of finding your brother, Joshua, in a linear story arc. As to be expected the plot is drawn out with you having to chase after townsfolk who might know where your brother is, assisting friendly townsfolk and chasing after your brother, of course having to fight monsters along the way.
From what I have written you may be saying, "wow this game sounds great. Monsters, sweet! Soldier PC, oorah, let's get it on!" Unfortunately this game fails in its execution.
First the story does not have an emotional draw to it. Trying to find your kid brother might sound as if it would tug at your heartstrings. I have a brother and I'd spaz out looking for him if he went missing. However this brother, Josh, is a seriously unsympathetic character. Often in the game Josh will be a few paces in front of you but instead of him coming to you, he runs away, prolonging the game. It is extremely frustrating. Here I am, risking my life fighting off all these monsters trying to rescue you, and you are running away!! OMGWTFBBQ! YOU SPOILT BRAT! I DISOWN YOU! At some point you give up caring for this SOB brother.
You also meet up with the rest of your family during the game. However your mother moves from place to place by sliding along the floor, leaving a sluglike trace, which is to be frank, gross. Thus the family emotional element of the story is lost due to them being all-around unlikeable.
A good story is a nice thing to have, but a game can still stand without one. For a game like SH:H the most important thing is, does it give me the chills?
Again, no. This is due to the exceptionally poor monster design and realisation. There are something like 8 monsters in the game with a few unique boss enemies. Two monsters are ludicrously unscary: the "Nurse" and "Schism", and worse, these are commonly found in the game.
Let us take up the "Nurse." Here I am, Alex Shepherd, master soldier, veteran of Iraq, being attacked by nurses. This is about as scary as being attacked by girl guides. Worse the art direction of the nurses sends out a conflicting message. The nurses' uniforms have prominent cleavage. When being attacked by nurses then the player is thinking: "should I have sex with it or should I be scared of it?"
The "Schism" monster is another goofy monster. It is sort of a walking hammerhead shark (i.e. hammerhead shark head, plus a human body). This elicits a similar reaction to encountering sharks with lasers in a horror game.
The Fitch boss is worth a special mention for unscariness. I kid you not: it is a giant doll. Perhaps the designers did not realise Ghostbusters, with its giant Marshmallow Man, was a comedy not a horror movie when casting about for inspiration
These monsters irretrievably spoil the horror mood of the game.
Graphics
SH: H is a mixed bag in terms of graphics. The lighting effects are solid with a nice diffuse beam coming from your flashlight and good use of shaders. At the same time texturing is abysmal, with environments either a flat grayish or rusty paste.
Draw distance is very limited. At 20ft the surroundings are already obscured by fog! This just does not cut it in today's market, where titles like Call of Duty exist. Environments are cramped. Shepherd's Glen is small with broken bridges or roads being used to "conveniently" limit the size of the town.
These graphics limit the believability and enjoyment of the game.
Sound
Sound is extremely important for a horror game, imparting oodles of atmosphere. Unfortunately audio in SH:H is hampered by crippling technical issues. There is a persistent static in the audio track. This gets worse when you fight a monster, which is of course when sound is most important.
Conclusion
Silent Hill: Homecoming is another disappointing 2008 horror title. The "big three" of 2008: Dead Space, Left 4 Dead and SH:H have all failed to come up with the scares. Dead Space, because it was so much fun to dismember monsters, Left 4 Dead, because you have three other heavily armed compatriots packing heat next to you and now SH:H, because of fatal monster design decisions and technical issues.
Final Score:
90/100
Originally Posted by VOP2288
