Silent Hill: Shattered Memories looks to reinvent the series and genre. Does it, or should it be a forgotten memory?
STORY:
Shattered Memories takes an interesting approach to its story. While the main game focuses on Harry's exploits in the snowed in town, at points the story will shift to a therapy session that the player interacts with. The story takes many twists, and culminates in a shocking twist of an ending that, although feels like it comes way too soon, is satisfying and a great spin on the franchise. Other tidbits of story can be found while exploring, via Harry's phone, which gets voice messages and texts, as well as phone calls (even numbers the player themselves can dial). Overall the story is told well, and does manage to play with your brain.
DESIGN:
S.M. is divided into three portions of gameplay, the therapy sessions, which you do little activities that alter the game in a variety of ways, exploration, where you solve logic puzzles and take in the world the developers have created, and the nightmare sections, where you run for your life in frozen mazes of terror. While the three are separate, they all work well to lend the game a truly unique experience that really makes the game has its own place in all the gaming world. In a really interesting design choice, there is no hud, or anything like that. All your options, map, messages are all tied to Harry's phone, a genius touch that really helps keep the player immersed in the world.
A bold move that to some pays off well, and to others is pointless, is the total lack of true combat during the nightmare scenes. Flares are your only moments of safety, and you can hide for short periods of time, as well as knock things down to delay the creatures for a few precious seconds as you try to guide Harry to the exit. In a very nifty move by Climax for these scenes, some of them have a safe room right outside the exit with a puzzle that needs to be solved. However the information is in some of the other rooms, where safety is not a factor. The fabled feature that this title holds is it 'psychoanalyzes ' the player, changing aspects of the game to play on their fears. It works, though not to the extent it could. Some characters will act/look differently, and some paths may be different, but nothing that's super game-changing, as the nightmares are the same. It's a great feature that takes the series back to what it was, a psychological horror game, and it's a feature that I personally would love to see in the future.
GAMEPLAY:
The controls in the game are just about flawless, pointing the Wii-mote at the screen as the flashlight is intuitive and easy, as well as grabbing things and manipulating them. Movement based actions, such as throwing a creature off or some of the other activities you do later in the game are also flawless, and forgiving enough to not be frustrating, but still precise enough to need the general movement idea to pull them off. They are simple, and used fairly sparingly, so the motion controls never feel flimsy. The button layout is almost flawless, it took me a few minutes to get used to a pause menu at 1 and the cell phone at -, but once over that the buttons were not a problem. In fact the only real problem that was experienced was after throwing a creature off and suddenly turning to the right due to the cursor not being properly placed, a minor problem, but still a problem that could have had an easy fix.
GRAPHICS:
Silent Hill: Shattered Memories is not only one of the best looking Wii titles available, but also one of the best looking Silent Hill games available. The models are good, the textures are sharp, the animations, even facial animations, are smooth and look convincing. If a player wants to read something, all they need to do is hold the B button an stare at it. Harry's jacket has just enough of a shine to hint at some kind of leather-looking fabric, and the lighting and shadows are just superb.
The nightmare scenes are another star of the game's visuals. Though not as stunning as the flashlight, the dynamic forming ice looks downright gorgeous, yet still managing to bring forth a frantic terror while running away from the creatures, which although they look very similar (about the same size for all of them), after each therapy session new ones appear along with the old that reflect the latest breakthrough from the session. There's also a very, very cool little touch with the phone that I noticed when I started my second play-through. The cell phone's battery power indicator is actually showing the battery power in the Wii-mote.
The only real hitch in the graphics is the frame-rate. For about half the game, it runs at 60 frames-per-second, though sometimes, especially outside with the flashlight on, it dips to 30, and when in the nightmare world, occasionally the frame rate stutters when going through a door. These issues are not game-breaking in the slightest, but they are noticeable.
SOUND:
The game's audio presentation matches the superb graphics. Voice acting is really good, the sound-track is of the usual high caliber for the series, and the sound effects both bring the world to life and can terrify the player. The cell phone makes smart use of the Wii-mote speaker by default (though it can be shut off in the pause menu), as well as the signature static that sounds when danger or a point of paranormal interest is near. Another nod to great attention to detail, the player can choose between 5 ring-tones for Harry's phone. This game does not fail on the audio front.
FINAL WORDS:
Silent Hill: Shattered Memories isn't perfect, it's short, but not only did Climax manage to make sure nothing in the 6-7 hours of playtime was not interesting, but the psychoanalysis feature keeps the game different for at least a couple of extra play-throughs. It may not be the typical Silent Hill, or even a typical horror game experience, but it's a fresh take on the series and the genre, and shouldn't be missed.
JUDGEMENT:
Content Rating: 8.5 - What is here is amazing, just a shame it's over so fast each time.
Recommendation: Buy - If you a fan of horror titles, this game is for you, if you want a unique game that is on the Wii, get this. If you have any doubts however, rent it, this is a very love it or hate it game.