Silent Hill: Homecoming

Written by Tom Clare in PS3 Game Reviews, Monday 31 August, 2009

Released: 2008
Developer: Double Helix
Publisher: Konami
Genre: Survival-Horror
Platform: PS3
Version: 1.00
Region: US

Dense fog. A cheap torch that leaves you straining to see through a suffocating blanket of darkness. The freakish monsters, and the static-spitting radios that warn of their presence. The harrowing Otherworld… It’s fair to say that few series are as distinctive and striking as Silent Hill, and despite ten years having passed since the original outing on to the PSOne, the series remains an alluring venture, with few survival-horror games proving as visually unique or as emotionally destructive. But as pleasurable (though perhaps that’s the wrong word) as each return trip to the cursed backwater town has been, the series has been in decline since Konami started shifting development duties around, leaving the series unsure of how best to channel its potential, and unfortunately Homecoming is symptomatic of such troubles.

Most of Homecoming actually takes places in the town of Shepherd’s Glen, where you take control of the token troubled-hero Alex Shepherd, who is searching for his missing kid brother Josh. Double Helix, the third different development house in as many games, opted for a third-person perspective that remains fixed behind Alex for the duration of the game. Whilst this doesn’t quite kill the atmosphere, it’s fair to say the absence of the awkward, voyeuristic camera angles of old reduces the set-piece scare potential, as well as the general feeling of vulnerability. It means you no longer fear what might lie in wait because you can always see in front of Alex, though you are at least challenged to keep a cool head when aiming firearms.

The purpose of the view change is to aid the new battle system, which for periods of the game is, for better or worse, the focus of attention. For some reason, Alex opts to carry a piteous amount of spare ammunition for his guns and instead lugs around knives, pipes and axes, meaning lots of melee action awaits. Locking-on to targets allows you to perform horizontal and vertical strikes as well as a dodge manoeuvre, the mastery of which is imperative to the preservation of your health. Unusually, Homecoming’s opening few hours are far more challenging than the final few. This is partly due to the excellent enemies, almost all of which require specific tactics to beat; the Smog creatures for instance have damaging, smoky breath, but can be shot down when they expose their lungs, whilst the spindly Needler creatures sport razor sharp bladed arms but are susceptible to attacks from the side. The Feral (dogs) and knife-wielding nurses are dangerously unpredictable, capable of causing large amounts of damage in no time at all with their aggressive tactics; however walking slowly with your flashlight turned off is a good way of avoiding conflicts with the latter. These clever foes can also withstand a good few hits, making the early faze of the game uncomfortably tricky as you find there’s significantly fewer health drinks available than in previous outings.

Fortunately, the difficulty relents after a while, leaving you to enjoy some of the games best sections. Most notable is the excellent Prison, one of the few large locales in Homecoming, which gauges the mixture between exploration, combat and problem-solving really well. The obligatory trip to a strange church is abruptly followed by the blatantly-Hostel inspired Underground Lair, making for a chilling though stylistically-questionable final area. It’s particularly disappointing to see Double Helix have included the mining suit/gas-mask wearing figures from the film, as their appearance – both in terms of gameplay and the story – makes no sense at all. The varied and imaginative monsters are put on the back-burner in the latter part of the game as for the first time the series resorts to making you fight humans – a task that I suspect is made unintentionally easy by the lumbering cretins inability to dodge attacks from melee weapons, meaning they’re a minimal threat.

It’s an atmospheric gameplay experience even if many of its themes are well-trodden, and the boss fights are an enjoyable challenge. There’s still the satisfaction of finding keys, decoding puzzles and ticking off rooms on your map, but clumsy design harms things. Alex is the first Silent Hill character without the ability to run, as you’re never given the option to break out of a jog even when chased by quicker enemies and at times, his flashlight is poor to the point of useless. Double Helix could also have been considerably more economical with their inventory system, which is unnecessarily fragmented; items and weapons are selected with different shoulder buttons, which is fair enough, but then to view your objectives (mostly useless as they tend to fail to update after you finish a task) you must go through the map screen, whilst Alex’s Journal of clues and notes is found via the pause menu. A bit of a palaver, all in all.

The story opens up nicely as you progress and on the whole is fairly engaging, but you get the feeling that the developers lack of subtly and invention means certain themes are used without any genuine reason; it’s like Double Helix have attempted to pay homage to the classic Team Silent games without really knowing how to build on the subject matter. Having Alex fall unconscious only to awake somewhere else could have been taken as artistic licence had it only happened once, but it becomes such a recurrent feature that in the end it seems like a crude, unimaginative way of shepherding (pardon the pun) Alex between unrelated locations; for instance between the atrium of a Silent Hill hotel and a holding cell in a Shepherd’s Glen police station. The Pyramid Head monster (or ‘Bogeyman’) makes two fleeting appearances that are little more than fan-pleasing cameos that, as in the film, apparently come out of nowhere and have little discernable link to the main narrative.

To look at, it’s still undeniably a Silent Hill; environments are detailed and the fog proves as claustrophobic as ever, but it’s not as attractive as it probably aught to have been, with some graphical discrepancies that, given the hardware, shouldn’t be there. Cut-scenes are beset by horrible lighting effects that see shadows flicker and wobble across characters faces in awkward and ugly fashion, as well as some of the facial features being spoilt by some blocky texturing. Unlike in the previous games, you can pass through many doors and rooms without loading times or fade-out/fade-in breaks which is good, though the trade-off in some of the larger locations – particularly the cemetery – is a noticeable reduction in the frame-rate, which also effects certain battles, making firing a gun frustratingly hit and miss. The trademark horror graining effect has also been overcooked, meaning certain areas appear rather blotchy around the edges. The standard, fog-ridden streets of Shepherd’s Glen and Silent Hill are very good, though the once gruesome ‘Otherworld’ locations are too short and don’t appear grimy, dingy or dark enough to achieve their full scaring potential.

But whilst the visuals aren’t up to the series usual incredible standards, other aspects of the package remain impressive. The major plus point as ever is the fine soundtrack by series mainstay Akira Yamaoka, as his haunting refrains remain superbly affecting even if they are less prominent than in the early Silent Hill’s. The voice-acting has also come along, with more or less every character of note being dubbed in a serious, competent manner to lend credence to the sombre mood.

It’s a short adventure, with many of the main locations proving all-too brief, as it’s more likely to be the tough puzzles that take up your time than combat or exploration. Once again it falls to the games five endings to keep players interested, though aside from the main ‘best’ ending, the other finales are only around a minute in length and not worth the hassle of unlocking, even if you are given a new outfit when you manage the feat.

Whilst new combat elements, monsters and settings will encourage fans back for another solid slice of survival-horror action, Homecoming is the least impressive Silent Hill game yet and next to the revamped Resident Evil and the recent Dead Space, feels increasingly dated. There is the odd positive here and there, but on the whole the scares feel tired and the settings half-hearted, leaving the series in need of some fresh impetus and perhaps a return to its Japanese roots.

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