When I started playing Silent Hill: Homecoming I fell in love with the game and felt it deserved the perfect 10, BUT...
But firstly, let's start with a list about the overall aspects of the game:
GRAPHICS: 9.5
Great graphics, although the game was released in 2008 and it doesn't have the same visuals we find in nowadays video games.
SOUND: 10
The soundtrack is great, once again, Akira managed to create the perfect piece of music for each moment in the game.
STORYLINE: 9
Of course, another lost kid. I'm so sick about it. But what else can you expect? This is Silent Hill, it's like Neverland for strange kids. Fortunately, you'll have to make decisions that will drastically change the ending, and there are some unexpected twists that make the storyline as immersive as Silent Hill itself.
ENDING: 10
As in any Silent Hill game, the ending will depend on the desicions you make throughout the game. I only finished the game once, so I don't know the other endings, but the one I got left me stunned.
SCARES: 10
As I said in my first review, if it's a scary game then I need to dedicate a whole paragraph about the scares. What I really liked was the perturbating psychological horror. The game puts you in the spookiest places you've ever seen, such as the foggy and dangerous streets of Sheperd Glen and the dark and mysterious corridors of the prison. But still, the game doesn't lack of sudden scares; Siams will jump out of nowhere when you less expect it, and Needlers will crawl from the ceilings.
This made the game scary enough, but the world of Silent Hill also made me go through the most tense moments of my life. I'm walking out of a room when suddenly five nurses appear in the corridor. I can kill them, but facing them with a meele weapon would be a regretfull mistake and wasting bullets would leave me too vulnerable if I encounter a Siam. There's only one solution; walk past them. But this more harder than what it sounds. In order to reach the other room safely, you need to do it slowly, carefully, extremely quiet and in the shadows. SCARIEST. SH**. EVER.
So far, the game seemed perfect. But there's something I haven't mentioned yet. The difficuty. Once you master the combos and know how to dodge the enemies attacks, it isn't that hard. But in Silent Hill Homecoming, you'll die hundreds of times!
Firstly, the amount of healing products is ridiculous. You'll get attacked by many needlers at the time, schims will corner you and destroy you and ferrals will jump at you and lower your health drastically. And they only give you one health pack and a couple of drinks if you're lucky enough. This is so frustating I almost sold the game.
But as if that wasn't unfair enough, you'll barely carry some ammo with you. Siams are extremely dangerous, and the only way to kill them without getting hurt is by shooting the crap out of them. But how can we do that if we only have 4 pistol bullets? Again, this really pissed me off.
REPLAY VALUE: 6
Once you finish the game, you don't feel like going through all that again. Maybe if you want to see what others endings you can unlock, you may want to play the game again, fortunately you are given better weapons. But I know I'm never playing this game again. Not because I didn't enjoy it, but because it can be too stressfull in certain times.
-FINAL SCORE: 8.5-
All in all, this is a great game, but the ridiculous difficulty ruins part of it unless you are a skilled player or you're looking for a challenge. Anyways, if you want to play a really scary game and you haven't tried Silent Hill: Homecoming, I recommend you to do so.
Sorry for my english.