Review: Silent Hill – Shattered Memories
I remember playing the demo of the original Silent Hill at a friends house when I was younger. I went over to his place after school one day and after playing a few hours of Abe’s Odyssey, he pulled out a demo disk that came with an old issue of the Official PlayStation Magazine. After turning out the lights, he passed me the controller and told me to play it. I was never so scared playing a video game in my life up to that point.
Silent Hill: Shattered Memories is not a remake, but rather a re-imagining of that same game I played so many years ago. In fact – it doesn’t even fit into the canonical universe of Silent Hill. It is it’s own brand new game with very little in common with the game it’s based upon. Those of you expecting to see Pyramid Head or references to the occult will be in for quite a shock. It uses the same general plot, in so far that you are Harry Mason searching for his daughter Cheryl following a car crash in the town of Silent Hill – but aside from the character names, Shattered Memories is truly a unique and rewarding experience.
As you begin to play the game, you’re presented with a warning. It’s not the usual “violent and disturbing imagery” warning that is usually associated with these kind of games, but rather the game informs you that “you play the game just as much as the game plays you.” An interesting thought – but what exactly does this mean for you? It means that the game dynamically changes depending on how you play. How careful you are when you’re exploring, what objects you take an interest in and examine, where you are looking when talking to other characters – these are all factors, among others, that the game uses to profile you.
You'll be spending lots of time with Dr. K
There are also more obvious examples, such as your therapy sessions with Dr. K that take place in between the exploration sections of the game, where he runs you through a series of non-linear psychological tests. Now, many games might boast that they “learn and adapt” depending on how you play, but this generally amounts to how difficult the enemies are. Not so with Shattered Memories – your choices and actions determine which areas of Silent Hill you get to explore, how characters look and act towards you, and ultimately will determine the ending you get at the end of the game. The best part is, while the credits roll it gives you a nice long psychological report on you, based on how you played the game. This is adding at least some re-playability, and personally I know I will play the game through multiple times.
Originally coming out on the Nintendo Wii, the motion controls feel intuitive and responsive, with the flashlight mechanic being one of the best used and easy to control in any game so far. The Wii remote is also used to grab and manipulate objects to solve certain puzzles, but these often feel tacked on, such as needing to remove a door peg in order to unlock a door. These puzzles carry over well to its PS2 and PSP ports by simply using the analog stick to move a pointer around the screen to grab objects.
Your on-screen map comes in the form of a cellphone which you pull out when you need to find out which direction to go.
The look and feel of Shattered memories is vastly different from is predecessors as well. Instead of the rusty, hellish nightmare world of the previous games, Shattered Memories opts for a frozen, warped dreamscape, where you are constantly hunted by deformed monsters. It is admittedly less horrifying than previous incarnations, but the effect is still eerie enough to make you nervous and edgy.
In Shattered Memories, combat is non-existent, with the emphasis being on exploration and evasion rather than straight up fighting. This is an excellent idea, but the execution can sometimes be frustrating. Enemies continuously chase Harry as he tries to find his way through the nightmare world, and he has the ability to look over his shoulder to track just how many enemies he has trailing him. Enemies can latch on to Harry as he’s running, and players can shake them off by either using the Wii motion controls, or a quick button press, depending on what platform you are playing on. If you take too many hits, you will eventually die. The irritating part is trying to navigate your way through the twisting hallways and maze like structure of the nightmare world.
While Harry is able to access his map, he is unable to run while using it which makes basic enemy evasion in the nightmare world nearly impossible – and even though open doors and climbable ledges are highlighted, it is never really clear which way is the correct path. This can sometimes lead to running in circles while enemies continue to gather in numbers behind you. At first, it was a nerve wracking experience, but over time it can turn into a frustrating exercise in trial and error.
There are ways, however, to slow enemies down. Certain objects can be pushed in the path of your pursuers to stop them from gaining ground on you so quickly. These objects are nicely highlighted and are easy to spot. You can also pick up flares that will temporarily blind enemies, allowing you an easy escape. Thankfully, these short chase sequences are only a small part of the Shattered Memories experience.
The “normal” version of Silent Hill is modeled after a normal American small town, and the attention to detail is very high. The interiors of each of the buildings look exactly as you think they would: bars, pet shops, malls, clothing stores, homes – they all feel very real and familiar.
The environments are nicely rendered, and the shadow effects caused by Harry’s flashlight look excellent. One other thing of note is that nearly all of the text in the game is legible. Harry can easily make out small print found on posters and graffiti throughout the game, and these often give clues as to how to solve certain puzzles and riddles. There is a lack of text boxes however. Instead, Harry actually tells you his thoughts out loud, which is something that really keeps you in the experience. Thankfully, all of the voice acting is, for the most part well done and I have no complaints. Harry also has a cell phone, which replaces the inventory menus from the earlier games. From here, he can access his GPS, make calls to other characters and numbers he finds written down throughout the game, receive messages and take photos. All of these mechanics are used throughout the game, and not just added on for no reason.
Throughout your exploration of Silent Hill, you can find mementos left behind by by the towns previous inhabitants. While I found myself actually trying to track them all down, there is no real reward for doing so. This should however appeal to completionists, and adds a little length to the 8 or so hours you’ll spend exploring the game. Lastly, with the return of series composer Akira Yamaoka and the haunting vocals of Silent Hill veteran Mary Elizabeth McGlynn, the soundtrack in Shattered Memories is just as haunting and eerie as other games in the series, and if you pre-ordered the game you were treated with some nice vocal tracks as well on the pre-order bonus soundtrack.
Silent Hill: Shattered Memories is certainly a unique take on the series, and I can honestly say it was a welcome one. It offers a fresh and unique experience to it’s harshest critics, the veteran players of Silent Hill while being a totally enjoyable game for new comers as well.
Rating: 
Those are some awesome graphics for the Ps2 o.o
All of those screenshots are from the Wii version, but the PlayStation 2 version looks just as nice.
I can also confirm that the PSP version looks stunning, the lighting engine with the torch beam in the environments really stands out.