The Review Thread

[SPRINGS02]

^Yeah well i'm straight so that experience would be horrifying and scary for me, and would leave me scarred. I don't think i want shattered memories to molest me like that. I would call the cops on it. Hell if i knew shattered memories was gonna try to do things like that to me i wouldn't of let it in my house, i would of been like:


But seriously though I don't like shattered memories nearly that much but your review kicks ass.

[AuraTwilight]

Have you ever been in a room with no windows, a closed door, and no air conditioning, with more than five people at a time? Eventually, it's going to get hot. Somebody is going to fart (the inevitable), and you want to open the door and get the hell out before someone farts again. But you can't.

Know why? Because Origins, Room, and Homecoming are blocking the God-fucking door. You stand there. Waiting for death to come. The oxygen is depleting. YOU ARE GOING TO FUCKING DIE.

But then, a loud knock is heard on the door. A low voice is heard. "Time to kick some mother-fucking ass." The door explodes, and the wood impales Homecoming, Room, and Origins. They lay on the ground, bleeding to death. Shattered Memories greets you. "Wassup, babe? Wanna have a ride on my motorcycle?" Shattered Memories whisks you away from hell as you ride across the Mohavi Desert, Antartica, Poland, Africa, Japan, with his awesome motorcycle. Then, he gives you wild night of fucking in Atlantis, the best you've ever had.

"I'll be here for you whenever you need me to." He whispers, as he warmly nibbles on the top of your ear. Then he takes you back home.

10/10.

That was so beautiful I cried.

PRIME_BBCODE_SPOILER_SHOW PRIME_BBCODE_SPOILER:

with my penis.

[Mango]

To the quotable notables thread! LOL. simeonalo, that review was hilarious

[Uncensored]

Story- 5.0
Was alright, but i did not like how its a reamaginimg

Gameplay- 9/10
Fun as hell, loved all the features, including the hidding spots and thebcell phone.

Graphics- 7/10
The best for the wii.

scarieness- 7/10
The chase sceans were intence and the eco photos and messages were pretty scary.

Overall- 9/10
The best in the sires, but why did Konami put so much sex in it? And yes, this seems like a short review

[AuraTwilight]

why did Konami put so much sex in it?

There's really not more sex in it than there's been in like, most of the Silent Hill games, really. And one of the endings you can get justifies why it's all there.

[simeonalo]

So much sex? Come on, compared to other games in the series, this had barely any. At least there were no vagina-mouthed tall monsters swinging their club-penis arms at you

Or having boobs jiggle as you stab them with a ceremonial knife.

[lain of the wired]

This is due to outside circumstances and interests, but this is now my all time favorite game ever. I've never seen so many people so personally effected by a game. I'm totally doing my thesis on it. Going solely by the gameplay, story and overall feel of the game, it definitely rivals SH2 as favorite.

The story was great. I really felt like they took the best elements of the series, the things that made us fall in love with Silent Hill, and put them together exactly the right way. The basics of the strange, unexplained powers of the town without trying to explain them; the gritty realism of relationships gone bad; the total mind-fucks that make you question what's happening entirely; the end twist that blows your mind... not to mention the whole game focused on my personal pet theory, "the town as therapy."

The game mechanics were honestly the best use of the Wii controls in a gamer game I've ever used. I can't imagine the part in the hospital where you're in a wheelchair as having any sort of meaning played on a regular controller. The speaker in the controller as the phone was a great touch to provide greater immersion to the player. As for the monsters, I haven't been so scared in a long, long time: not since being unable to kill PH. Being forced into getting chased rather than working myself up for a fight is just emotionally draining, which is exactly what a horror game should do. If I can in any way work up my courage and turn to fight, it presents the possibility that I could work myself entirely out of being afraid. If I'm not scared, why am I playing a horror game? I may as well be playing something else.

The constantly changing imagery, story and characters played out all the more beautifully when you take into account how memories actually work. There's no file cabinet in your head where photos and videos of events are stored- every time you "remember," you are rebuilding the event piece by piece. Because of their highly fluid nature, then, memories can change minutely every time you "recall" them. This game captured that PERFECTLY. It gives SO MANY new layers just to the title! Finally, by presenting so many options presented as options rather than seemingly arbitrary acts within the game, replay value is really high to see if you can fool the game.

I'm giving it 10/10. I adore this game so, so much. ♥

[Doctor Eggnog]

I would've liked simeonalo's review better if it had just been 4 and Homecoming getting impaled. But still awesome.

[Agent of God]

^Same here, but just Homecoming for me.

[simeonalo]

I was going to have 4, Origins, and Homecoming get violently raped in the a$$ by Shattered Memories.


But you know. Too extreme.

[SPRINGS02]

If it was just origins and homecoming that would of been fine. But you leave sh4 alone!

[eddieatemypizza]

I like the idea of no combat and trying to make it seem "real" in real life we would just run away from monsters. But this gets old and boring really fast. I love the twist they did on the ending. Overall i give it a 7 out of 10.

[simeonalo]

If it was just origins and homecoming that would of been fine. But you leave sh4 alone!

Well I personally hate Silent Hill 4, with its stupid gameplay, the bad voice acting and characterization, the lackluster (yes, it's mediocre to me) story, though creative, but that only sinks in after reading some trivia and theories on it, and many other things...even though it was made by TS, I totally hate it. But this is the SM review thread, so I won't go into that

[Breaka]

Finally got a copy and I absolutely loved it.

The things I liked were..

> The time you spent just travelling around the town. Either on foot or driving. It just made it all feel so real. Like you were lost in this big town, all closed in and shut down my the snow storm. Just a little normal human interaction made it so much more immersive. Also exploring with other people has been seen countless times in Silent Hill, so it's good to see this aspect includes and developed.
> The first person stuff. Borrowed from SH4, and greatly improved upon. Again all the stuff in the cars, and the swimming were great ways of bringing your a little closer into the situation.
> The massive hole in the ground at the end. Love those impossibly big, deep, dark spaces that you descend into in Silent Hill, and it's good too have them included.
> The whole psychological element. Absolutely genius idea. Loved the way it broke up the story, and was then employed very subtly.
> The tactile interaction, was originally a wii gimmick, but it did make the experience a bit more fun, and again more immersive.
> Not having an inventory, and not having to be constantly concerned about finding the right items, or managing health and ammo meant that you just stayed focused on the plot the entire time.
> The lack of monsters, was good and bad. But much better to have just a few, then fighting through countless respawning baddies the entire time. It was refreshing to focus on the emotional side of things instead, which was quite dark without.
> The trippy weird stuff at the end. Fuckin awesome.
> The detective style puzzles really helped you to build an understanding of the residents of Silent Hill. Climax have a really good way with the puzzles.
> Underwater stuff. Incredible.
> The phone was really successful in keeping you immersed as well. Really liked the way the pictures, voicemail, phone call and texts built up all these various background stories. And that to me is what silent hill is about. It's about the unsettling things in the background.
> The lack of cult, and endless notes on town history. That stuff is ok, but that should be a little thing right in the background IMO. Much more interesting to focus more on the here and now.
> The presentation was really good. You jump right into the home video, and the menus are like camcorder menu's. Like all the static and stuff.

The things I didn't like were,

> The monster design was the worst yet. Fuckin pink monkeys? The hell was that. Although I like the idea of monsters based on your psych profile, it just seemed from the kick-off you get one set and that's it. And the way they move, the overall look etc.. just didnt do SH justice. Uninspired and dull.
> The nightmare sequences were just too disjointed. The whole idea of hiding from a pink money in a cupboard is just rediculous. And it was all just running away. All just a bit shallow isn't it. Much prefer the SH2 style, of these poor wind-up, disfigured creatures that gradually mob you as you try to pass through their lair.
> Having to play the game through numerous times to see the effect of all the psych stuff. Personally I'm a one time man. Rarely will I play a game through twice. So I would of liked to have got more of the experiences the first time.
> Too much sexual reference. Don't get me wrong, I wasn't shocked or offended, it just seemed a bit over the top the the point of rediculous. Like there was another copy of hustler with every other step.
> Sound design wasn't the best. And that's a big thing for me.
> Wayyyy to short. Took like like 2-3 nights.
> That bit with the wheel chair was daft, almost comedic.
> I still miss the fixed camera angles. 3rd person just aint as dramatic and scarey. The inclusion of 1st person was nice, but fixed angles when exploring I'd of preferred.

So to sum up I loved it. One of the best Silent Hill's. As good as, mabey even a bit better than 0rigins. Also it took the stuff I liked about SH4 and did it even better this time. I refuse to play Homecoming cause it looks like shit, so I can't comment on that. But on the SH scale I'd put SH1-3 best, then SHSM, then SH0, then SH4. From a quality, and gameplay/interaction perspective, I think SHSM really successfully brought together everything SH has done right in the past, and made it even better. Except for the monkey maze chase stuff.

So in future I hope they can keep in everything that made this so immersive, both in terms of gameplay and plot, but just try to find an even balance with that and the dark, hellish monster stuff.

Good job Climax.

[Humbordt]

This game was utterly disappointing. As a "re-imagining," they took a very big and epic story and made it very small. Way to re-imagine. I see a lot of defense and explanation of how deep and meaningful it all was, but so what? It was boring. Depth and meaning only work when they are also interesting, and in a video game, only when the game itself is fun.

The game wasn't fun at all. You walk around utterly boring-world, picking up doo-dads and making inane comments, and then you go to ice-world and run. Rinse, repeat. Oh, gee, it was the daughter talking to the shrink the whole time. Yawn. Former Silent Hill titles left you with questions, gave you the opportunity to interpret events instead of explaining everything to you. The only question this game leaves you with is "How can I get those four hours of my life back?"

I see Aura desperately defending this game, as I did when it first came out. I eagerly anticipated this game, as I'm a Silent Hill whore like few others. I bought a big 52" flat screen so I would have it to play this game (that wasn't the only reason, to be honest, but it was a sizeable part of the consideration). I tried my hardest to like this game. I pretended to like this game even after I realized I did not. But I can only lie to myself for so long.

[stopped_clock]

For me, Climax's second attempt at a Silent Hill game was a complete success. The best thing about this reimagining was that it gave the writers the chance to strip away all the layers of dubious cult nonsense and complex canon and get back to the true nature, the core, of what makes a good Silent Hill game; the human aspect.

Even after 5 playthroughs the ending still packs an emotional punch that rivals the letter from SH2, the fact that despite knowing what is coming the final moments of Shattered Memories still manage to tug at the heart strings shows what an amazing job climax have done at creating an immersive and emotionally intelligent game.

This is a game that pays dividends to those who go the extra mile in their exploration, whether that be exploration of the town itself (the ghostly photographs for example, none of which are necessary for completing the game, but which add greatly to a players understanding of the story) or explorations of the symbolic nature of every element of the game, from the actions and appearances of npc's to the meanings of the mementos and the driving forces behind the shaping of your personalised rawshocks (although I feel that a little more variation in the monster design/evolution would have been nice).

The replay value for this game is immense, since you are never really sure that you've seen everything shattered memories has to offer (it wasn't until my fourth journey through the streets of this Silent Hill that I realised Michelle's appearance differed, since the first three times through I had the same version).

Gameplay is fluid and intuitive, the physics interactions (although hardly classifiable as puzzles) add a little something extra to the experience, the flashlight is expertly implemented as is the use of the phone, and the sheer amount of numbers you can call is another sign that Climax have really put their all into this game. The sessions with Dr K are an interesting and enjoyable way of splitting up the chapters of this story, providing a break from roaming the streets whilst adding a further layer to the already impressive depth of the story.

As for the nightmare sequences, whilst I was adverse to them in the beginning my opinion changed when I began to understand that the very nature of the chase scenes was as integral to the story as any of the character interactions. This is simply another of a long list of things showing just how much thought and attention went into this game. Sure Climax could have just used the standard "fill town with monsters at random" but instead they chose to deploy these rawshocks in a way that made sense within the story they had created.

Whilst Shattered Memories will never take SH1's place in my heart, I applaud Climax for not only daring to do something new despite knowing what a bunch of whiny bitches we are as fans, but for actually delivering an exemplary gaming experience which shows that they understand what Silent Hill is really all about.

[AuraTwilight]

> The monster design was the worst yet. Fuckin pink monkeys? The hell was that. Although I like the idea of monsters based on your psych profile, it just seemed from the kick-off you get one set and that's it. And the way they move, the overall look etc.. just didnt do SH justice. Uninspired and dull.

I do agree that the differences needed to be made out more and stuff, though the default form "The pink humanoids" were, in hindsight, probably reflective of child Cheryl while also being blank slates. I can accept that, myself.

> Too much sexual reference. Don't get me wrong, I wasn't shocked or offended, it just seemed a bit over the top the the point of rediculous. Like there was another copy of hustler with every other step.

I don't think we can fairly say there's more sexual stuff in SHSM than there is in most Silent Hills. Check out SH3 and SH4, for example.

> Wayyyy to short. Took like like 2-3 nights.

Speedrunners and such have demonstrated that it's basically the same amount of content or length. It has the illusion of being shorter because of the lack of backtracking for keys and annoying monster battles.

The removal of the classic Otherworld style was, unfortunately, also the removal of the stuff that padded these games out.

This game was utterly disappointing. As a "re-imagining," they took a very big and epic story and made it very small. Way to re-imagine. I see a lot of defense and explanation of how deep and meaningful it all was, but so what? It was boring. Depth and meaning only work when they are also interesting, and in a video game, only when the game itself is fun.

I could reverse this easily. Silent Hill is pretty much all about character exploration when we take away the survival horror fluff; all the SH games revolve around that concept. What's SH1 about? "Oooh some little girl got abused and went into a coma. Sad."

How smallll~

I see Aura desperately defending this game, as I did when it first came out. I eagerly anticipated this game, as I'm a Silent Hill whore like few others. I bought a big 52" flat screen so I would have it to play this game (that wasn't the only reason, to be honest, but it was a sizeable part of the consideration). I tried my hardest to like this game. I pretended to like this game even after I realized I did not. But I can only lie to myself for so long.

I don't like your implying that I'm "desperate" or "lying to myself." This is my favorite Silent Hill game, and as I've done with every SH game (even Homecoming, which I hated) I like to bring up counterpoints to complaints, and a lot of times people realize they've overlooked something that clears up their complaint, or puts things in a light which solves the qualm. Not all cases can be easily satisfied like this, but hey, I'm no mind-reader. It's a lot better to atleast try and give people a way out of hating something without relying on self-deception.

or me, Climax's second attempt at a Silent Hill game was a complete success. The best thing about this reimagining was that it gave the writers the chance to strip away all the layers of dubious cult nonsense and complex canon and get back to the true nature, the core, of what makes a good Silent Hill game; the human aspect.

Exactly! I don't see why everyone keeps complaining about "Oh, but SM never really happened, or it didn't add to the story of the town." Which is hypocritical since I see a lot of those same people entertaining theories that the characters are just dreaming or crazy.

[Humbordt]

"I don't like your implying that I'm "desperate" or "lying to myself.""

I wasn't implying it. I was saying it outright.

I know, that's assholey, and it sounds like I'm trying to start a fight here, but really, any time somebody says they don't like this game, you seem to jump to it's defense with a knee-jerk quickness. It sounds like you're trying to convince yourself. Why do you need to give people "a way out of hating" this game? Why does it matter to you so much that people hate it? If you like it, fine, like it. I like broccoli, many people don't. And the world keeps spinning around. I don't go around explaining to everybody why they're wrong to hate broccoli. This thread asked for reviews. Reviews are opinions. People state them, and then in comes Aura to explain to everybody (who disagrees) why their opinion is wrong.

I said this to another Shattered Memories drone on another site: don't try and convince everybody that the girl isn't fat, just say, "hey, I like fat girls."

What games do you hate, Aura?

[AuraTwilight]

I read every post made on the forum, so I tend to respond to almost everything. I'm not the only person who does that.

I'm not saying anyone's opinion is wrong, but like I said, there ARE some people on this forum who disliked the game because of a misunderstanding, such as "I don't like Climax coming in trying to replace SH1 >:(" or "I didn't get this part of the story, so I hate it."

As for games I hate? Well, lots. But I really dislike Origins and Homecoming. I tried to see them in the best light, but unlike Shattered Memories, they did not stand the test. I emphatically, honestly, and sincerely love Shattered Memories and didn't need to make any effort to "try" to like it. Wth Homecoming, I had to force it.

[Humbordt]

Okay, fair enough.

And I'm sure you're right, that there are people who hate the game for reasons that are silly, but a lot of people hate the game because they truly and honestly hate it. New ideas are great, but not everybody is going to think a new idea is a good idea.

Shattered Memories sounded great on paper, and all the new ideas sounded like Climax was breathing new life into a series that was getting stale. When reading about it, I was really happy that they had picked a Silent Hill game to innovate so much. Then I played it and it felt even less like Silent Hill then Homecoming did (I agree with you on that score).

One of the things I like about Silent Hill is that everybody takes away something different. I think that the deep storyline is only an added bonus, and not necessary, to a Silent Hill game (I'm gonna catch shit for that, ain't I?). To me, it's all about being there, in that creepy environment, that disturbing atmosphere, and exploring. I can get lost in it. Shattered memories offered up plenty of exploring, but a very mundane environment to do it in, and so it failed massively. A good story (and it was good, for what it was, but also smallerized from previous games) couldn't save it for me. Maybe it could have if it wasn't so spelled out, and left room for more interpretation--that's always fun. And the running became incrededibly monotonous. After a while it was like Gran Tourismo on foot. It's the only SH game I couldn't play more than once--I even hit Homecoming a couple of times. I understand there's a lot of changes that happen within the game if you play it over again, but unless there's a choice you can make somewhere that makes it so you don't have to run over and over, then I'm not interested.

Those are the reasons I hated the game. Not because they changed anything, but because the changes they made went in the opposite direction from what I like in a SH game. If you truly loved the game, then I'm happy for you. I wish I had.