Silent Hill: Shattered Memories and why it is awesome
Hey, I haven't posted in a while, but I've been wanting to write something up on Silent Hill: Shattered Memories for a while. This'll be done without spoilers, so feel free to read.
Personally, I see Shattered Memories as one of the most important games of last year. It was just so original that reviewers really didn't know what to think about it, and it got everything from terrible reviews to great ones. It's a new kind of game that really focuses on the experience that goes with it above everything else. Reviewers seemed to dislike how easy the game was and many of them didn't care for the exploration segments that made up the majority of the game. They argue that, since you know there are no monsters to get you, it wasn't very scary. I feel like they missed the point.
Too many people went into this game expecting a Silent Hill experience. The developers tied the game in with some of the older ones beautifully, in my opinion, but the game really stands on it's own. It's incredibly different. First of all, it's not even a survival horror (who says every horror game has to be?). Too many people went into the game expecting that it would be, and were disappointed. There is no survival. You are safe the entire game. What few monsters you encounter during the game merely cling to you until you faint, only to wake up in a safe area. Sure, this makes the game incredibly easy, but that isn't the point. The entire game is seamless. There are no "Game Over" screens or traveling back in time to fix your mistakes, and I believe this was very important to the experience.
The removal of combat alone made you feel helpless during the chase scenes, even without the fear of actually dying. In Silent Hill 3, I always found myself getting frustrated with enemies and not so much frightened of them, and they were always slow enough to get away from. Combat worked in that game, and fit in with the story. Silent Hill 3's story was a lot more violent and Heather was a much angrier person than Harry. It was a revenge game, after all. In Shattered Memories, Harry knows absolutely nothing, and neither do you. With running or hiding being your only options, and with enemies faster than yourself, it can get pretty nerve-racking. The AI is much improved, as well. Enemies no longer come at you in a straight line, and they work together to cut you off, so it's a whole lot more immersive. The game is 90% exploration. The nightmarish chase segments were all fairly short, unless you ran in circles. Yet, I've beat the game several times. There is very little to the game aside from exploring, but seeing what new things you can find or what changes each time you play is very interesting to me.
The big feature of this game is it's psychology profiling. Every now and then you will be given a test by a therapist which will affect the game. Rooms will change, you'll get different messages, and most importantly, characters will be portrayed in different ways. The game will also look at your play style and what you examine. The basic story stays mostly the same no matter what you do, but how the characters are portrayed can change everything. Part of the genius of the game is how basic everything is. The game will not show you good or bad people. That's all up to you to decide. It took me two playthroughs to realize anyone can be the bad guy, really, and it's not up to the game at all.
I guess that brings me to the story. Silent Hill games, or the first few anyway, have been known for their great stories and characters. Though they did have great, deep stories and less cliche characters, I'd really say Shattered Memories blows them out of the water when it comes to realism. Every character, even the minor ones, seem like somebody you'd run into in a small town. They seem a lot less like cliche, over-acting game characters and more like real people. On top of that, the acting and animation are amazing. Characters will react with even the slightest movement to give them a real sense of emotion. For instance, early in the game you'll meet a man and his wife at their house. Though they are very friendly, your persistence will cause them to become uneasy. Even though they are minor characters, they are animated amazingly and really seem like emotional beings.
Probably the best part about the story is how easy to relate to it is. After all, this is a game that models itself around you. Considering Konami's target market isn't wife-killing psychopaths or teenage girls out for revenge, another story about cults and demons wouldn't have cut it, and though I love the older games, this was one of my favorite changes. Homecoming just got ridiculous, with it's terrible story and focus on cults. I could just not get into it. Now in this story, I found myself trying to figure things out the entire game. People were friendly, they seemed to think nothing was wrong, the nightmare world came and went. Everything was all right, and yet it wasn't at the same time. The ending tied everything together and made sense of everything so fast that it was a total mind fuck. Nothing was put into the game for no reason. It all fits together amazingly, and, depending on the ending you get, it can be very touching. The game really sucks you in in order to deliver that final punch. The story relates to things we all have to deal with, so it should really get to anyone who finds themselves immersed in this world. And the best thing is, as crazy as it sounds, the story itself is realistic.
Now, I'm sure I missed something, but I guess I'll leave it at this for now. It seems like Heavy Rain is trying to do the same thing, but they might be trying a little too hard. We'll have to see. All I know is the acting can be fairly horrible, and the scenarios don't seem all that realistic at all. I'll have to play it before I can really judge it. Hey, I thought Shattered Memories would be bad in the beginning, too.
Personally, I see Shattered Memories as one of the most important games of last year. It was just so original that reviewers really didn't know what to think about it, and it got everything from terrible reviews to great ones. It's a new kind of game that really focuses on the experience that goes with it above everything else. Reviewers seemed to dislike how easy the game was and many of them didn't care for the exploration segments that made up the majority of the game. They argue that, since you know there are no monsters to get you, it wasn't very scary. I feel like they missed the point.
Too many people went into this game expecting a Silent Hill experience. The developers tied the game in with some of the older ones beautifully, in my opinion, but the game really stands on it's own. It's incredibly different. First of all, it's not even a survival horror (who says every horror game has to be?). Too many people went into the game expecting that it would be, and were disappointed. There is no survival. You are safe the entire game. What few monsters you encounter during the game merely cling to you until you faint, only to wake up in a safe area. Sure, this makes the game incredibly easy, but that isn't the point. The entire game is seamless. There are no "Game Over" screens or traveling back in time to fix your mistakes, and I believe this was very important to the experience.
The removal of combat alone made you feel helpless during the chase scenes, even without the fear of actually dying. In Silent Hill 3, I always found myself getting frustrated with enemies and not so much frightened of them, and they were always slow enough to get away from. Combat worked in that game, and fit in with the story. Silent Hill 3's story was a lot more violent and Heather was a much angrier person than Harry. It was a revenge game, after all. In Shattered Memories, Harry knows absolutely nothing, and neither do you. With running or hiding being your only options, and with enemies faster than yourself, it can get pretty nerve-racking. The AI is much improved, as well. Enemies no longer come at you in a straight line, and they work together to cut you off, so it's a whole lot more immersive. The game is 90% exploration. The nightmarish chase segments were all fairly short, unless you ran in circles. Yet, I've beat the game several times. There is very little to the game aside from exploring, but seeing what new things you can find or what changes each time you play is very interesting to me.
The big feature of this game is it's psychology profiling. Every now and then you will be given a test by a therapist which will affect the game. Rooms will change, you'll get different messages, and most importantly, characters will be portrayed in different ways. The game will also look at your play style and what you examine. The basic story stays mostly the same no matter what you do, but how the characters are portrayed can change everything. Part of the genius of the game is how basic everything is. The game will not show you good or bad people. That's all up to you to decide. It took me two playthroughs to realize anyone can be the bad guy, really, and it's not up to the game at all.
I guess that brings me to the story. Silent Hill games, or the first few anyway, have been known for their great stories and characters. Though they did have great, deep stories and less cliche characters, I'd really say Shattered Memories blows them out of the water when it comes to realism. Every character, even the minor ones, seem like somebody you'd run into in a small town. They seem a lot less like cliche, over-acting game characters and more like real people. On top of that, the acting and animation are amazing. Characters will react with even the slightest movement to give them a real sense of emotion. For instance, early in the game you'll meet a man and his wife at their house. Though they are very friendly, your persistence will cause them to become uneasy. Even though they are minor characters, they are animated amazingly and really seem like emotional beings.
Probably the best part about the story is how easy to relate to it is. After all, this is a game that models itself around you. Considering Konami's target market isn't wife-killing psychopaths or teenage girls out for revenge, another story about cults and demons wouldn't have cut it, and though I love the older games, this was one of my favorite changes. Homecoming just got ridiculous, with it's terrible story and focus on cults. I could just not get into it. Now in this story, I found myself trying to figure things out the entire game. People were friendly, they seemed to think nothing was wrong, the nightmare world came and went. Everything was all right, and yet it wasn't at the same time. The ending tied everything together and made sense of everything so fast that it was a total mind fuck. Nothing was put into the game for no reason. It all fits together amazingly, and, depending on the ending you get, it can be very touching. The game really sucks you in in order to deliver that final punch. The story relates to things we all have to deal with, so it should really get to anyone who finds themselves immersed in this world. And the best thing is, as crazy as it sounds, the story itself is realistic.
Now, I'm sure I missed something, but I guess I'll leave it at this for now. It seems like Heavy Rain is trying to do the same thing, but they might be trying a little too hard. We'll have to see. All I know is the acting can be fairly horrible, and the scenarios don't seem all that realistic at all. I'll have to play it before I can really judge it. Hey, I thought Shattered Memories would be bad in the beginning, too.