Forum > Gaming Discussion > Silent Hill Shattered Memories: 9.5 Destructoid, 9/10 Eurogamer, 9/10 Nintendo Life
Silent Hill Shattered Memories: 9.5 Destructoid, 9/10 Eurogamer, 9/10 Nintendo Life
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Wed, 13 Jan 2010 02:18:49
Just started playing this. It's good. I didn't expect to see something this different done with a franchise game.
It's kinda like playing an old point and click adventure game - but the integration of the controls and elimination of any meters or icons improve the genre. I like that the puzzles are integrated into the game but they are way too simple so far - would like a little bit more myst style or something. This is the type of experimentation I was hoping for with the wii early on.
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Wed, 13 Jan 2010 03:33:24

angrymonkey said:
Just started playing this. It's good. I didn't expect to see something this different done with a franchise game.
It's kinda like playing an old point and click adventure game - but the integration of the controls and elimination of any meters or icons improve the genre. I like that the puzzles are integrated into the game but they are way too simple so far - would like a little bit more mtys style or something. This is the type of experimentation I was hoping for with the wii early on.

So while you're running from face suckers you've got to do algebra while writing an essay on rocket populsion and feminism?

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Wed, 13 Jan 2010 05:49:29
Beh - my stupid stubby typing fingers.
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Wed, 13 Jan 2010 07:21:29

angrymonkey said:
Beh - my stupid stubby typing fingers.

I didn't mean to highlight the typo, but the game in question! Grinning

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Wed, 13 Jan 2010 10:33:29

angrymonkey said:
Just started playing this. It's good. I didn't expect to see something this different done with a franchise game.
It's kinda like playing an old point and click adventure game - but the integration of the controls and elimination of any meters or icons improve the genre. I like that the puzzles are integrated into the game but they are way too simple so far - would like a little bit more myst style or something. This is the type of experimentation I was hoping for with the wii early on.

Yeah me too, its taken so long for developers to do stuff like this. I think Wii is a perfect platform for detective/adventure games. Do them in 3D though, maybe going into first person for the investigating and staying third person for general movement. It could zoom you in like when you go from morph ball to suit in Metroid Prime.

Have you faced the chases yet though? This is what most people hate. If you have trouble with it, check the last few pages there are solutions there.

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Wed, 13 Jan 2010 21:11:09
I've done the first two chases. I don't mind them so far. Keep in mind that I love Mirror's edge and the idea of quick desperate running. I think it's totally ripped off from ME. They both give you colored indicators on where to go and you can die a lot.
It's more difficult in Silent Hill figuring out where you have to go. But damn - I'd like to see where else they could go with the concept.
I've read complaints from people that you don't have time to check out the areas you're running through but that would only seem relevant if there was stuff to check out.  I like the idea of run and don't stop or you're dead. Very basic - very horror related.
And yeah it's creepy so far but not really scary. It's close. But I don't think the monsters appearance or combat have anything to do with that for me  though. The story needs a little more tension, maybe more sound work maybe even a couple of cheap scares. I can understand if you can't have monsters in the exploration parts but there needs to be something. Chased by a dog - I don't know - something. It reminds me of the awake part of fatal frame 3 ( when you were just in your city apartment) - except those sections worked to keep tension up because there was some hint of supernatural stuff and they were not long sections.  I guess I'm thinking that there need to be other signs that something is wrong without being too overt about it. Really, it's still just a guy looking for his daughter coming across some strange occurances. Maybe it needs a little more jacob's ladder.
But this is nitpicking - I'm still amazed that this franchise game got greenlit and only on the wii (essentially)
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Wed, 13 Jan 2010 21:17:18

Awesome impressions. I get what you mean, the chase bits aren't designed for investigating so there is no reason to stop.

Have you tried dropping flares at your feet then checking the map? I hear you can zoom the map full screen and it pauses the action so you don't have to worry about being attacked.

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Wed, 13 Jan 2010 22:59:04
I've tried checking the map - it's useful in a general idea of where to go. And yeah, I get jumped half the time I try to check so the flare would help.
The second chase scene was so long though, I saved the flare until I got piled on and then used it to escape. I've never found more than one, so I've never used one up to check the map.
I like the psychiatrist sessions so far. It's like having a cutscene to set up or advance the story but actually make it interactive and part of the game. And not just questions. Good idea!

I think some adventure game makers should seize on this as a model. Some have been trying to jazz up their text heavy adventure games with some sort of action sequences - this might be a way to try to get a larger audience in a dead genre.


gamingeek said:

I get what you mean, the chase bits aren't designed for investigating so there is no reason to stop.



  All the other horror games i can think of have you move so slowly to build up tension and fear of what is around the corner - or to emphasize your danger when you can't run away from everything.
I would amp up the speed and try for a fast moving horror game. Opening level of res 4 where you're running around the village looking for cover or a safe corner crashing through doors and windows while being chased. A lot of that feeling. Maybe being a little easier on the dying part. (I haven't played Left4dead yet - not sure what that is like.)

Edited: Wed, 13 Jan 2010 23:18:31
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Thu, 14 Jan 2010 02:40:13
I didn't find RE4 scary at all! It was very tense, but there definitely nothing scary about it. There was a fear of what was around the corner, but it was extremely minimal and when you found it there was never any pay off.

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Thu, 14 Jan 2010 06:42:06
Well, when I mean scary I don't really mean wet your pants screaming scary - no game has done that to anyone.
To me that beginning village was scary(small s) because you didn't know what you were getting into, they were roasting cops on a pyre, speaking threateningly in a language I couldn't understand and yelling and coming at me like zombified maniacs when they saw me. I guess if you were a good player and could handle it all very calmly and not run like a chicken while yelling where the hell do I go it might not do that much for you. I would not call the game a horror game and agree that it is mostly a tense action game.

And people have different tastes anyway - it's the same with horror movies.

I find that any of the fear I have ever experienced in a game has mostly been the dread of something appearing and not knowing where it's going to come from and the milisecond when it appears. The actual encounter I would never call scary.
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Thu, 14 Jan 2010 09:17:38
Yeah, possibly not that the encounter is scary, but that it takes the danger to the next level. On RE4 there wasn't really a difference inh ow dangerous a situation felt for me whether I was walking along or there were 50 zombies attacking me. That wasn't really the case in the older REs or even something like Eternal Darkness.

Silent Hill is the only game I'd say was really very scary, but I was quite young when I played it, so... Nyaa

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Thu, 14 Jan 2010 11:24:39

I hear if you turn off your torch in chase sequences the monsters dont chase you as much and that you should knock over every bit of furniture you can.

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Thu, 14 Jan 2010 13:53:11

angrymonkey said:
Well, when I mean scary I don't really mean wet your pants screaming scary - no game has done that to anyone.

I peed myself a little with Fatal Frame II, and another bit with Siren: Blood Curse. I haven't finished either.

Ok I was joking about peeing myself.

Or was I?

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Thu, 14 Jan 2010 14:04:53

SteelAttack said:

angrymonkey said:
Well, when I mean scary I don't really mean wet your pants screaming scary - no game has done that to anyone.

I peed myself a little with Fatal Frame II, and another bit with Siren: Blood Curse. I haven't finished either.

Ok I was joking about peeing myself.

Or was I?

The stains on your pants say NO.

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Thu, 14 Jan 2010 18:52:04

Foolz said:
. That wasn't really the case in the older REs or even something like Eternal Darkness.

Silent Hill is the only game I'd say was really very scary, but I was quite young when I played it, so... Nyaa

I love the horror game genre. I was playing that old cthulthu game(dark corners of the earth) on pc before xmas. it's pretty good - early on to signal that everything has gone to shit you get a hectic chase scene. If you get the chance you should try fatal frame 1 or 2. I'll probably try Siren when I get the chance.

And I'm amused by a Konami rep talking up this game for  the uk  javascript:nicTemp();when they released it in north america with no fanfare at all. Maybe the metacritic score has prompted them to half heartedly support it.

gamingeek said:

SteelAttack said:

angrymonkey said:
Well, when I mean scary I don't really mean wet your pants screaming scary - no game has done that to anyone.

I peed myself a little with Fatal Frame II, and another bit with Siren: Blood Curse. I haven't finished either.

Ok I was joking about peeing myself.

Or was I?

The stains on your pants say NO.

but uh.. how do you know what kind of stain it is?  Do you have this movie in your collection Steel?  kissed - javascript:nicTemp();


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Thu, 14 Jan 2010 20:43:02

gamingeek said:

I hear if you turn off your torch in chase sequences the monsters dont chase you as much and that you should knock over every bit of furniture you can.

Thanks -I forgot about the furniture thing. I haven't really noticed much of it to knock over. And I'll try turning off the flashlight.

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Thu, 14 Jan 2010 21:26:13
That mcv article is interesting because from what I hear, Konami basically didn't support it with heavy marketing in the US.

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Thu, 14 Jan 2010 21:39:32
yeah, I didn't see anything for it at all.
But to be honest I don't remember much for the previous two games either. Although homecoming had more of an internet buzz I believe. It might as well have been skycrawlers - which I'm picking up on the weekend I think. Boy is that going to tank hard.
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Fri, 15 Jan 2010 02:18:13

angrymonkey said:

Foolz said:
. That wasn't really the case in the older REs or even something like Eternal Darkness.

Silent Hill is the only game I'd say was really very scary, but I was quite young when I played it, so... Nyaa

I love the horror game genre. I was playing that old cthulthu game(dark corners of the earth) on pc before xmas. it's pretty good - early on to signal that everything has gone to shit you get a hectic chase scene. If you get the chance you should try fatal frame 1 or 2. I'll probably try Siren when I get the chance.




Such a shame IV wasn't released in the west. Sad

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Fri, 15 Jan 2010 09:25:32

angrymonkey said:
yeah, I didn't see anything for it at all.
But to be honest I don't remember much for the previous two games either. Although homecoming had more of an internet buzz I believe. It might as well have been skycrawlers - which I'm picking up on the weekend I think. Boy is that going to tank hard.

This is suppossed to be a re-invention though, they should push it more.

I see adverts all the time for Darksiders, Assasins Creed 2, Bayonetta. If I ever, ever see an advert for a wii game its either some crappy minigame or a Nintendo published game.

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