Silent Hill: Shattered Memories

Review from Starks - Saturday, 15 May 2010 @ 6:45pm

There’s a lot to say on this game and to my way of thinking many angles that Climax Studios have attempted to build it. I’ll try my best to address everything as clinically as I can.

Silent Hill: Shattered Memories is the seventh installation to the series. Despite this, I’ve never once played a game earlier in the series. This, for me, is a bit of a bonus. I come in with no preconceptions and can judge it for myself. Given it is a thriller, and I’ve never played a video game in this genre, I made sure I played the game at night to ensure maximum effect.

I can’t say it disappointed; it definitely scared me shitless on a number of occasions. But firstly, onto the game play which I believe is the first positive that I discovered for Shattered Memories. Quite simply, the control scheme is brilliant for what the game wants you to do. As a third person adventure, the combination of nunchuck and Wii-mote is exceptional. Using the nunchuck analog stick to control the movement of the main character, Harry, and the Wii-more to act as the head and ‘torch’ for the player, in minutes I felt almost at home with the control scheme.

Blood and a door. You can see where this is going...

Big tick there in Climax Studio’s box as it is probably some of the best use of Nintendo’s unique controls that I’ve personally used.

In essence, I found it very easy to navigate with Harry, use his mobile phone, open and close doors and in some cases manipulate some complex elements within the game. For example, one of the doors bolt-locks, for which I don’t have the technical name, requires some quite complex movement on behalf of the player to open the door. Add to this the tuning of a TV as well, and the use of the Wii-mote is both clever and intuitive.

As a story, Scattered Memories is fairly basic. Harry Mason finds himself in a car accident after running off the road when he hits black ice. (Dangerously invisible transparent ice slicks that forms on roads in extremely cold weather.) His daughter, Cheryl, is missing when he wakes up. Outside of the fact that being named Cheryl is probably reason enough for his daughter to have run away, Harry suspects foul play and decides to go looking for his little girl.

From there, the story develops and cuts in and out of Harry sitting in with a psychiatrist where he is continuously profiled. An interesting element to the game, the quack is very Freudian and asks a lot of questions pertaining to Harry’s sexuality. This impacts on the game as NPCs frame their responses and actions to Harry based on this profile. It’s an interesting element that makes replaying the game somewhat different each time.

Oooh la la!

It also changes the appearance of the little critters you come across in the ‘Nightmare’ phase of the game. Every so often, Harry gets trapped in a ‘Nightmare’, where he has to run for his life from these Gollum looking minions. The more profiled you are, the more ‘phallic’ the appearance of the critters get.

The ‘Nightmares’ are interesting parts of the game. At scheduled intervals the entire town gets snowed in – Which is somewhat bizarre as it is already very snow-filled – and some crazy little deviants come out to play. They will try to grab and kill Harry and unless you run away and find the exit of the ‘Nightmare’ then, well… the game doesn’t progress. The first of these encounters is pretty freaky. but after a couple it becomes more of a game to see how long you can string along these ugly little things before springing free to the world again.

In essence, the hide-and-go-seek element of the game is where the real spookiness is for the game. However, I would also suggest that it becomes predictable as there is a distinct crossover to the ‘Nightmares’ before you cross back. While the small town of Silent Hill is pretty much always creepy, you can always tell when it is going to get actually scary by the static in your Wii-mote. And when you work this out, you become less scared and more interested in the disturbing atmosphere of the town. It looks something out of Texas Chainsaw Massacre. Except, you know, without Leatherface.

My precious!! Where is my Precious!!

Frankly, Silent Hill is like a car accident. You want to turn away due to the anxiety and unsettling nature of the game but you can’t help at looking on. And this is where I was somewhat let down. I finished the game in about a day of solid playing. And it was not straight playing. I had interruptions, like a wander in the park, some work for events and a siesta in the afternoon. Given Silent Hill is a bit of a psychological thriller, I was hoping for at least a week of solid game play and ‘weirdness’ resulting in several complexes being developed by myself. Instead, all I got was a slight twitch and a sleepless night.

Even so I did enjoy the game. It was involving, if a little routine. It was scary, if a little predictable. It was weird, if a little… no actually it was just crazy disturbing. Which is good, cause that’s what it was meant to be doing. Scaring the crap out of me and making me feel uncomfortable. The sort of uncomfortable you feel when you walk in and find your parents getting it on. Yeah, I went there.

*shudders*

I enjoyed the game, but it wasn’t mind blowing. Clever, streamlined and exceptionally well developed – Yes. Memorable and ‘I want to play this until my eyes bleed and I’ve lost my job’ good? Not quite.

What Shattered Memories does very well, however, is involve you. It involves you on an audio, visual, emotional and psychological level. You’re forced to think, to work through some puzzles and all the while keep your head while some demonic goon wants to get all close and personal with you.

The end story, when it unravels, is intricate and prompted me to go back and play it through again the next day. But I must admit that it was a bit like watching the Sixth Sense – Once you find out the end, it sorta ruins it the second time around.

Nevertheless, this is a very solid title that you should play through, if only to enjoy what is a wonderfully immersive exprience.

And you get a course in year 11 biology!

Pros

Awesome control scheme, wonderful immersion and a truly atmospheric title.

Cons

Bit predictable in parts and can be a little too wierd in parts. Also lacks replay ability.