Silent Hill: Homecoming

Positives:

• A few interesting ideas
• Some of the creatures designs
• Musical score

Negatives:

• Lack of horror
• Gameplay
• Graphics
• Story
• Poorly done psychological elements

Oh my lord. I am possibly the biggest Silent Hill fan I know, I've managed to introduce several friends to the wonders of this series and many of them enjoy it too. I recently received an Xbox 360 for Christmas, and the main reason I wanted it was for this game. I waited months for this game to come out, and having adored all the previous titles (even 4!) I was eagerly anticipating this one's release. I always say that no matter how bad a Silent Hill game is I will always finish it. But I've decided not to finish this one. Honestly, this game is beyond terrible. The graphics were decent and the voice overs were pretty good but that's about all. Besides having a totally boring plot that hardly ties in with any of the previous games at all, the game is crawling with glitches. Just as I decided to give it another chance this morning I walked right into a glitch many others have been having problems with. Therefore I had to start over. Now I just can't be bothered to finish the game, having spent many frustrating hours screaming at the television screen because this game is so damn.. ugh, it basically takes the word frustration to a whole new goddamn level. What really sucks about this game is that they had the atmosphere just right; the town of Silent Hill, the fog, the whole atmosphere was pretty much perfect. Then they threw in the dumb ass combat and it all went to hell. What makes a Silent Hill game for me is not the constant fighting, but the wandering around in the fog, and that helpless feeling you get when you hear a strange noise in the distant. In this game they pretty much took out all of these things and threw in a bunch of extremely annoying enemies that take about fifty hits from the axe to actually kill, that is before they've already knocked you on your ass half a dozen times. Also, weapons and ammo are extremely limited. I'm not saying there was a bunch of ammo everywhere you looked in the previous games, but hell, this is like playing Resident Evil - only even goddamn harder, and you can imagine what that's like. I'm so disappointed at this game, it could have been amazing if the Japanese hadn't handed it to the Americans. That being said, Origins which was also made by the Americans was a lot better than this game, so maybe they just went wrong somewhere. It's a pity really, this could've been a really good game if they'd just fixed a few things. I'm sad that I wasted thirty eight pounds buying this game, but I don't really regret it. I would've bought it anyway at some point, so it's just bad luck really. I've never been so annoyed with a game in all my life, and this one is easily the most difficult SH game I've ever played. Anyone who enjoys action and combat should try this game, but if you're a true Silent Hill fan who still considers the second game the best of the bunch, I'd say rent it. It's certainly not worth wasting any of your hard earned money on. 1/5

After my game in Silent Hill 1999 at the age of 7, where I did not bother to go further than a dark alley, this part, about which I will write, is the first game in the series that I completed to the end already in my teens. I remember that my friend liked this game, and I only nodded in the hope of not losing him, so my opinion did not matter to me. It so happened that now all the previous games have been completed by me, and the gaming experience has disintegrated to give a personal opinion. And I would like to return those wonderful carefree youthful memories, long lost about those times, thereby finally understand for myself: "Was Silent Hill: Homecoming so good?" The developers are the American Double Helix Games, which, as I understand, has not played any part of Silent Hill. Not only do they use most of the monsters from previous parts, where they were projections of individual personalities created by their sick minds filled with grief and suffering, but also the main character in this game becomes a killing machine against enemies such as occultists. How does Alex Shepard react to the murder of several people? No way! The facial animation here is so lousy that sometimes you really cringe from what is happening, and those familiar with the series will be completely... The combat is clumsy and inconvenient. They wanted to follow in the footsteps of Resident Evil, providing third-person action, but ended up on the road to HELL! What I liked about this part is the bosses. Each of them has a story behind them, and each of them looks decent in design.

In general, the result is that I did not return the warm memories of my youth by replaying this game, but only spoiled my mood. There are games that you play as a child, and replay them as an adult, where this time you begin to see many interesting nuances that you are only able to understand as an adult. And these are called immortal classics, which will never bore you, but will only continue to expand your narrow horizons on many things that happen outside of our lives. And this, unfortunately, is not that game. It may be a good horror movie of the "B" category, but a pretty lousy Silent Hill.

As an avid fan of the Silent Hill series, I understandably, had this pre-ordered way back 2 months ago. I received it last week and completed it 2 days ago. That's a miserly 12 hours in all! So, how do I rate this in comparison to the others?? Quite frankly, I don't. It does not come anywhere near S.H 2, 3 and yes, even 4 (which I really enjoyed). All fans of Silent Hill know the formula -it's that oppressive, dark, dense, anxious build up. Claustrophobic and psychological right the way to the end. These elements are synonymous to Silent Hill and were severely lacking in this game. It borrows so heavily from the film and has a Resident Evil feel about it, that doesn't work. The plot, length, atmosphere, quality and overall feel of this game was quite frankly nothing more than an American travesty of something that was unique and brilliant. It is a passable RPG at best. A Silent Hill game? I think not.

The majority of Silent Hill: Homecoming is based in Shepards Glen which is a very risky idea. I found it was more interesting discovering how a second town was rapidly descending to the nightmarish underworld of Silent Hill...

I bought this on PC format for the purpose of my new laptop and I have to say I really enjoyed playing it. Despite some very long loading times between levels & scenes it was quite easy to control, although as much enability you are given to explore the town its too freaky to go of wandering. The monsters are freaky as ever, there are many ways to attack, dodge and tackle them and as you progress through the game its more clear how they behave.

I know most people compare this to Resident Evil but this is what makes your skin crawl...