Silent Hill Homecoming: First impressions
I got Silent Hill: Homecoming (aka Silent Hill 5) over the weekend. We've not played much at all, but so far I'm not terribly impressed (actually, not impressed at all) with it. :( Which is sad, because I'd hoped it wouldn't suck. It doesn't suck, but it falls very flat. It's like eating something really bland after being presented with a sumptuous feast.

On the other hand, do keep in mind that many reviews compared this game to SH2, saying it was the best SH game since that one. And keep in mind that I wasn't blown away by SH2 either. Even then, I think SH2 outstrips this one by far.

#1 complaint: The graphics have taken three steps backwards. Even taking into account that I don't expect the graphics to exceed those of MGS4 or GTA4 (the other two games I own for PS3), I seriously think this game has the graphics of SH2 or worse. The characters' teeth shine pure white in their mouths as they talk, so that every time they open their mouths you can see this slit of white. Their hair is plastered to their head in a blob (this is especially so for the female characters). I'd taken for granted that all modern games are able to render hair in layers that move in a semi-realistic way. Not this one, even on a Blu-Ray disc!

#2: The environments. I don't know why but the soul seems to be gone. Granted, I haven't played much at all, but of what I've seen so far even SH4 had more atmosphere. I'm used to seeing something really cool/creepy within the first 15 mins of playing an SH game. Heck, even SH:Origins had burned Alessa right at the beginning. I've played the first 2-3 hours of SH:Homecoming and I still haven't seen anything like that. All scares were very predictable in a Hollywood-horror sort of way. Case in point: during Alex's nightmare, as you walk along a corridor filled with bodies on gurneys, a body suddenly crashes through the ceiling and dangles there.

Now, when I saw the first body on a stretcher I thought "gaah is that a body? Cool/creepy." Then I walked a few steps on and there was another (looking exactly the same). And another. And another. By which time I couldn't believe my eyes, and when the body crashed through the ceiling I looked at it almost with exasperation. Silent Hill's horror was always very subtle - odd shapes under drapings which the protagonist would refuse to look under, leaving you with that sense of expectation and dread of what was under there even though you KNOW it can't hurt you.

But here? BODY CRASHES THROUGH ROOF AND DANGLES THERE. Plain for all to see. And it doesn't look scary. Or grotesque.

And Alex even brushes it aside when he runs past.

SERIOUSLY.

It gets worse. There's a part where you need to retrieve a Robbie stuffed toy. You find it in a bloody hole in the wall. As you watch Robbie is slowly pulled back into the wall. So you have to stick your hand into the hole to get it.

Yes, you guessed it. Something suddenly catches hold of Alex's arm and he has to struggle to pull his arm back out.

HOW MANY HORROR MOVIES HAVE ALREADY EMPLOYED THIS CLICHE. I would have expected this of Resident Evil, which is based on B-grade horror movies. NOT SILENT HILL.

#3: The monsters. This SH is sorely suffering from the lack of Masahiro Ito. The nurse is straight out of the SH movie, and so is Pyramid Head, pretty much. But the other monsters - so far I've encountered Ferals and Smogs and the claw creature which I don't know what it's called - they just don't do it for me. The Ferals and Smogs are far too brightly coloured. The claw creature has huge claws that just take away the creepy and make it look like a slasher flick. So far the best monster is the one on the elevator, and that's only because it looks the least laughable, not because it's scary.

#4: The glitches. OH THE GLITCHES. My copy is supremely buggy. The controls keep changing. It's driving us nuts. Never, ever have I seen a game this buggy, much less a Konami game. How can this be? When I bought the game the first thing the salesman told us about was this bug. He told us how to change the button config to avoid the bug. Yesterday I didn't set the buttons because I thought I didn't have to if I didn't start a new game. WRONG. Somehow the X button kept turning into the defense button and Alex ended up ducking and rolling when we wanted him to examine or do something.

THIS IS UNHEARD OF.

I'm trying to think of something nice to say about it, but so far there seriously isn't anything. I'm not particularly impressed with Alex's supposedly superior combat skills either.

I know I sound like I hate this game, but I don't. So far "meh" would be a good word to sum up my feelings about it. It's not a bad game, it's just not Silent Hill. And maybe that, by itself, is already pretty bad.

I'm placing my hope in the storyline. It's still early, may turn out well.