Silent Hill: Homecoming

"A solid enough SH game, for newcomers and fans alike"

Overall, this is a fairly solid SH game, in my opinion. Perhaps it explained the mechanics of silent hill a little too much - just like that horrible movie the game is copying every now and again, but it still manages to capture the atmosphere of Silent Hill. The overall plot is a lot more spelled out, however. You may not know everything for most of the game - but by the end there really isn't very much guess-work to do. That's one thing the previous games did better - they left a lot of things out so you had to guess. Why is this happening. IS this happening? Is that person real? Does that person see what I'm seeing? You can play this game without playing previous SH's and never wonder some of the questions the old games would have you wondering about. That's not really a good thing, imo.

Also missing is the bomb siren. One of the creepiest, most iconic elements of silent hill has been reduced to a quick, rising pitch siren blare for the few scenes in the game where you are awake when the world becomes the 'otherworld'. If you've seen the movie, the part where the chick walks down the stairwell into the darkness and the world starts changing, and you hear the bomb sirens - that is literally STRAIGHT out of the original Silent Hill. Easily the best part of the movie. Unfortunately, it followed up with a swarm of flaming babies. That sucked butt.

Anyways, bosses are predictably excellent, and the gameplay itself is fairly basic but doesn't get too old. To be honest, I didn't notice much difference in the combat from the other games, except for the gun fighting. A lot of people were worried it would turn into an FPS - but don't worry. You NEVER have enough ammo for that. Ammo even on normal mode is pretty damn scarce, and you can barely carry any.

The puzzles are dramatically easier than they have ever been - completely doable without a walk-through. There's no arbitrary 'pour the orange juice down the laundry chute' puzzles in this game, although when it comes to the multiple endings - unless you want to play through five times - break out gamefaqs walk-throughs.

So, if you like creepy games, have some time, and want a game that you might be able to play with your girlfriend in the dark - then you should grab this.

Reviewer's Score: 8/10, Originally Posted: 10/27/08

Game Release: Silent Hill: Homecoming (US, 09/30/08)