Silent Hill: Shattered Memories Review – Do you like popsicles?

We got our copy of Shattered Memories for the Wii before release date and went through it extensively. We have been waiting with baited, misty breath to re-enter the world of Silent Hill and see what Climax Studios has brought to us in the form of a re-imagining of the original game.

Short Review: St. Elsewhere.

Long Review:

We will start with the basics and go from there.

The graphics for the game are quite good, even comparing them to PS3 or 360 graphics, and do not lower the greatness of the game in any way. They are solid, the models are rendered quite well, and the town itself looks as it should. There are occasional issues of tearing when inside buildings, with ceiling and wall joints turning static-y without being part of the intent of the developers.

The audio is quite good and sets the mood, but Akira Yamaoka’s soundtrack this time around is not nearly as memorable as past installments. There are a few standout songs but otherwise it just seems to be the usual mood setting background music without the punch of previous entries into the series. Nothing really sets the scare factor up to previous levels where music is concerned.

Gameplay is quite masterfully done with the Wii control scheme. The Wii-mote makes using the flashlight second nature as you control it like you would in real life. There is a bit of strain in bringing up Harry’s cellphone wherein you have to stretch the hand, or even think about the positioning of the hand, to use it. It takes one out of the feeling of immersion.

The cellphone aspect is actually quite well done. The cellphone is Harry’s link to everything; map, photos, voice mail & text messages, saving and settings. You also use the cellphone in certain parts to access areas you normally wouldn’t be able to access by dialing numbers and unlocking doors. Perhaps the coolest aspect is that you can call any number you see within the game and get a response 99% of the time. You can even call Konami for help and they will deny it because you are IN Silent Hill, which was a nice in-game gag. The cellphone is the most important tool in the game for Harry, and like the flashlight is done perfectly except where controlling it is concerned.

We did run into some loading issues later on in the game, especially during the nightmare sequences. Entering and exiting doors would freeze at points as the next area was loaded, breaking the tension of the chase. There were also a few times where in non-nightmare sequences that the game decided to load something even though we had been in the area for a good amount of time.

Perhaps the worst was that we had a glitch that forced a restart. There is a part of the game where you are submerged underwater in an SUV with an integral character. The water starts freezing and you have to free yourself. We did everything we could but the game would not progress. After a restart we repeated the actions and we were able to progress from there.

As has been stated this is a re-imagining of the original story, and without going into massive spoilers Climax does a grand job of it. There are more then enough callouts to the original game, and the series as a whole, to make long time fans squeal with glee. Cheryl’s full name is now Cheryl Heather Mason, a tribute to Silent Hill 3.

The scenario is the same in the beginning of the game; Harry is visiting Silent Hill with little Cheryl and they are involved in a car crash. Cheryl goes missing and Harry sets off to find her. Then you are introduced to Dr. K, a shrink. (An obvious nod to Dr. Michael Kaufmann from the original game.) Throughout the game you will be visiting with Dr. K and performing various tests. There are no wrong or right answers on these tests but they do have an effect on gameplay.

The first test is a questionnaire about your life. Deciding to go the more perverted route for our first play-through we always chose answers to the questions that showed us to be infatuated with sex; such as saying we cheated on our others and had enjoyed role-play during sex. As each test went on, and we were able to, we would choose more sexual laced answers to influence the game. Unfortunately this did not seriously change the appearance of the monsters that chase Harry throughout the game.

One test that was interesting to see the result of was the coloring test. You are asked to color a picture of a “Happy Family”. We took our time and made it as great as we could within the scope of the game. The next scene we were taken to where Harry supposedly lives within Silent Hill. The house, the people, everything right down to the drapes were colored exactly how we chose them in the picture. An obvious ploy on the part of the developers, but an effective one.

The story divulges almost immediately after your second visit with Dr. K. Instead of running into Cybil and her deciding to help out in the search you learn Harry does indeed live in Silent Hill with Cheryl. As time goes by and you visit differing places you learn more about Harry and Cheryl’s past, until events diverge into an homage to Silent Hill 3.

Without spoilers for our main play-through we will say that anyone who enjoyed V.1 and V.3′s connected story lines is going to enjoy Shattered Memories. There is more interweaving of those two games then before.

The sexual take we took ended with most of Harry’s thoughts within the game being perverted. We came upon a bathroom scene wherein there was graffiti on the wall saying a cheerleader serviced the whole team; Harry cheered her on. We found used condoms, date rape scenes, self erotic asphyxiation, strippers and prostitutes. Most of the time Harry didn’t react in an outwardly bad way to these scenes, deciding to be indifferent or condoning the acts.

Overall the story does what it is meant to do: give a different perspective of the events of the first game, with some of the perspective of the third game thrown in for good measure. It doesn’t fit within the original story line in a normal way but there can be a case made that it does indeed fit within the established continuity of the previous games.

We can’t elaborate anymore without giving away the ending, but there is a clue within this review if you feel like Googling it.

Our final score is that yes, this is a Silent Hill game that is worthy of the name, but that there are issues that should have been dealt with before release. Given the pushed back release date one would think that these would have been resolved.

Hopefully Climax does release another Silent Hill game and diverges more into different territory. While this was a great game, and is what fans have been asking for in terms of an updated first game, it doesn’t feel like a retcon or a complete re-imagining. It is the same story from a different perspective, and while that is fine unto itself it wasn’t sold that way.

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