Review: Silent Hill: Shattered Memories (Wii)

This might very well be the most bi-polar review I’ll ever write. You see, when reviewing an entry in a long-running franchise such as Silent Hill, I feel it’s important that you know just what perspective I’m coming at the review from. So, with that said, I’ve really never experienced the Silent Hill franchise. I’ve certainly known of it, and I did play the original game way back in 1999, but I honestly don’t remember much. Coming into Shattered Memories, then, I was pretty much a newcomer, and since I’m familiar with most long-running survival horror franchises, I thought it might actually be fun to be a newcomer for a change.

Upon first booting the game, you may notice an odd psychological warning stating, “This game plays you as much as you play it.” “Pfft…whatever,” I thought, and just rushed past the screen. After that “warning”, it was really of no surprise to me that the first few minutes of the game take place in a psychiatrist’s office. After a few words from the doc, you’re prompted to fill out a true/false survey filled with questions about how well you get along with people, how long it takes someone to get to know you, etc.

This is but one of many types of “profiling” the game will do with you, and, depending on your answers or even decisions made with things like puzzle-solving and exploration, certain aspects of the game will change. For example, one time through, a character may be sympathetic toward your situation, then, with different answers, they will be ill-tempered and irritable. The game’s main story is told through flashbacks and follows a middle-aged writer named Harry Mason as he tries to find his daughter, whom he is sure has wandered off after a rather taumatic traffic accident. He sets out into the snowy town of Silent Hill in search of her with nothing but a flashlight and his cell phone, both of which will be heavily relied upon throughout. The first thing you’ll notice is the amazingly natural implementation of the IR pointer with the flashlight. You simply point at the screen and the light shines there, it couldn’t be easier, and I hope it’s used more often in future games. Almost equally intuitive are the puzzle-solving segments. The camera will often zoom in to a first-person view, and a small hand icon will appear that allows you to manipulate objects and even turn them in real-time by simply twisting the controller. Both of these mechanics are very well-implemented, and really help the adventure feel original. It will be interesting to see how the PS2 and PSP versions handle these aspects when they release next year, too, because I really feel that they add a lot to the experience. All that said, the controls aren’t perfect, but I’ll address that a little later.

Harry’s cell phone is his main aid throughout the game.

Now, one of the main aspects of the game is the “otherworld” that pops up at certain times. This is what Silent Hill has been known for over the years, and this is where this game takes a radical departure from the rest of the series. Gone is the rusty look from previous games, and in its place instead is an icy, twisted version of reality. I don’t know that I like this decision so much because everything is already snowy, and the red look of the “otherworld” in the other games was a really stark contrast to the town of Silent Hill itself. The result of Shattered Memories’ icy “otherworld” is nothing really creepy at all, more like strange, and I don’t think it’s enough to satiate someone looking specifically for a horror title, or even existing fans of the franchise.

Also gone are all elements of combat, Harry’s only option now is to run, and that’s where the game could really falter for some people. While being chased by these screeching, hairless ape-like things, Harry will have a couple of ways to slow their pace–there are things like flares lying about that you can pick up and strike in order to stop them from jumping on you for a short time–but you can never get rid of them. Unfortunately, this is where that negative point about the controls I mentioned earlier comes in. In order to shake enemies off of you, Climax decided to use the Wii Remote and Nunchuk’s motion capabilities and require you to shake both simultaneously in the direction from which you’re being attacked. In other words, if there’s a monster on your back, you’ll need to flick both hands back toward you in order for Harry to throw the monster off. The problem lies in that the motion controls aren’t always as responsive as you’d like them to be, and it could take repeated attempts at getting one monster off of you. Should another one jump on you from another side in the process, you’re even more prone to screwing up and ultimately falling dead, and that can become really annoying. Thankfully, if you die, you simply start again at a nearby checkpoint, and there’s no load screen or anything in between, but the motion controls are a questionable design decision at best.

There is no combat, but Harry can strike flares to temporarily ward off his enemies.

Personally, the sequences didn’t bother me after a couple of tries with them, and I even found them fun on subsequent play-throughs since I knew where to go, but still, it’s destined to be a love-it or hate-it ordeal.

And when it comes down to it, that’s the thing with this game, it’s about you. The profiling is what’s designed to give everyone a slightly different experience, but it’s ultimately the strange design decisions that form a truly polarizing game. Silent Hill: Shattered Memories might very well might be groundbreaking in how many people both love and hate it, and it’s ironic that that’s exactly what the developer intended, only it achieves it in a completely different way than they intended. You play the game, yes, but the game also plays you by completely screwing with your resulting opinion of it.

For me, it really made up for any shortcomings by delivering exceptionally well in one area, and that was the story. The narrative in this game is absolutely top-notch, and it’s told in such a convincing fashion that it’s nothing short of cinematic. The presentation, from the graphics–which are simply outstanding for the Wii–to the voice-acting, is superb, and the care taken with the pacing and revelation of the script is truly masterful. Add to this is a resoundingly well-done soundtrack, and you have what is, in my eyes, a must-see experience. Rent it, buy it, hell, watch someone else play it, just do yourself a favor and experience this story.

Verdict: B+

[View with PicLens]