Silent Hill Homecoming - 8/10
This is my first ever review, so I hope it’s alright. Keep in mind that there may be a few spoilers in here. I’ve tried to avoid them, but some I found necessary for describing certain things.
Silent Hill Homecoming is a game I both loved and loathed. It feels different to the other games in the series, more like Resident Evil in some regards than Silent Hill. For example there’s one part when escaping the police station, monsters are crawling closer, surrounding the building and the protagonist. That scene for some reason just screamed Resident Evil to me.
In Homecoming some locations, monsters, and the transition to the Otherworld (as well as the overall appearance of the Otherworld) have been heavily influenced by the Silent Hill movie.
For example the Church visited in game is very similar to the Otherworld Church in the movie, both inside and out.
And then there’s Pyramid Head, who is referred to as the Bogeyman in Homecoming. He looks almost exactly like PH from the movie.
Thankfully the story line hasn’t been influenced by the movie, just some of the monsters (the booby nurses, PH, and the Order Soldiers) and some locations (Church and Grand Hotel).
Overall it’s an enjoyable experience, but at times I found it frustrating.
Story
The story follows Alex Shepherd, who fights his way through Silent Hill, Shepherd’s Glenn, and the Otherworld in order to save his missing brother and find out what‘s going on.
The town of Shepherd’s Glenn, apparently once a friendly community, has had a large number of unexplained disappearances prior to the start of the game. By the time Alex arrives in town, there are few towns people left. In their place are countless monsters.
I won’t spoil the story for people, but I must say it was as compelling as the other Silent Hill games.
I found it hard to stop playing because I just wanted to continue a little further, and a little further, just to find out a little more.
Again there are twists and turns near the end which make the player feel all the more sorry for all caught up in this mess.
Characters
There are more characters in this than there are in any other of the series, with 9 NPCs, and our protagonist himself bringing the cast to a total of 10.
I’m only listing four characters because I don’t want to ruin much for everyone.
Alex Shepherd
I really grew to like Alex, and sympathize with him.
A solider, he feels that it his duty to protect people.
He returns home to Shepherd’s Glenn to try to find and save his brother, but he doesn’t know why. He just feels that his brother is in danger.
He seemed to me to occasionally be somewhat naïve.
Joshua Shepherd
Alex’s younger brother. Seemingly their parents favourite of the two.
Every time he is encountered in the Otherword he runs away from Alex.
Adam Shepherd
Alex and Joshua’s father. A retired solider, he seems cold and distant towards Alex in his flashbacks, and favours Joshua. He’s left town, apparently looking for something.
He’s the sheriff of Shepherd’s Glenn.
Lillian Shepherd
Alex and Joshua’s mother. Always acted indifferent to Alex, she seems to be in a near catatonic state when Alex arrives home. She doesn’t say much, and is a little out of it most of the time.
Monsters
As expected the monsters were nothing short of twisted, especially the bosses. I thought the second and third bosses were the worst, until I reached the last one… They were truly a sight to behold, and I shudder at the thought of seeing them on a HD TV while also drool at the same idea.
As I’ve mentioned some of the monsters were taken from the movie, such as the booby nurses, swarmers, and Pyramid Head (called the Bogeyman in the game), while others are original creations.
Each normal kind of monster is introduced in a short cut scene, which I loved because the player could see Alex’s reaction.
Gameplay
One of the obvious differences in Homecoming when compared to the others is the controls.
The left analogue stick is used to move Alex forwards, backwards, and to strafe sideways, while the right analogue stick is used to steer him in the desired direction and control the camera.
This was a bit of a pain at times. When I first started playing I kept accidentally moving the camera too far up or down when simply trying to turn.
Fighting enemies was different too. Holding down L2 made Alex use combat stance, while R2 was then used to fire a gun, and X was used for melee attacks.
A dodge ability has also been added, usable by pressing the O button. Mastering this new move early will prove to be very useful, as some of the normal enemies can be unrelenting.
Graphics
I haven’t played many PS3 games despite having my PS3 for about a year, but I must admit I wasn’t overly impressed by the graphics.
At times the characters looked a little stiff, both their faces and bodies.
And I noticed every now and then their eyes weren’t looking were they should’ve been. One scene, and one character in particular seemed to noticeably suffer from that. In fact I sort of thought she may have been blind in that scene (she wasn’t). But then again that may have been intentional given the scene.
Sound and Music
Again the soundtrack was composed by Akria Yamaoka, with some great songs sung again by Mary Elizabeth McGlynn. Beautiful, yet haunting, every piece works well in setting the mood.
Here's an example:
To be honest there are the only a few songs I distinctly remember. I was too busy either running from monsters or slashing them to notice the background music.
Of course in the Otherworld areas there were more unnerving sounds, less musical and more industrial sounding.
Summary
The controls took a lot of getting used to.
One problem I had was running out of supplies. Most of the time I was avoiding fights because I didn't have enough healing items or ammo. But I may have just missed a lot of stuff.
Unlike the others using an item called Serum will boost Alex's health. Not noticeable at first, but it adds up in the end.
A bit of a let down was the endings though. They were kind of short, and a bit disappointing.
Something that may disappoint some players is the lack of trophies for the PS3 version, while the 360 version has achievements.
I found the first play through hard, even though it was normal difficulty.
Overall I liked the game. Sure there were parts I loathed, but I loved the story, the characters, and despite of being killed multiple times I also loved the monsters and bosses.
I would have to give it 8 out of 10.
Not my favourite of the series, but it was great nevertheless. Just don’t ask my opinion if I’m losing, then the score might drop drastically.
Submitted by Cherrona
17/10/2008
623
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