Predictable, but brilliant story hampered by boring/horror-free enviroment and, many times, unsatisyfying gameplay!!!
What the games does well is incorporate nice cutscene which make the game more intense then it actually is and makes you feel the story. Unlike Dead Space and Bioshock, the story in Silent Hill can only be felt through cut scenes which is not a bad thing because I love cut scenes, and that is something most games just don't believe in anymore, so I give a nod to Silent Hill. Their are enough wow moments in this game that come in the form of cutscenes and the story, but their are not enough to distract your mind away from the uninspiring gameplay. Also the game creates a creepy atmosphere, but it is neither scary to say the least nor is it trully 'Silent Hill' disturbing. Some parts are disturbing, but thats it. The graphics are unique, but overall they are not impressive. Not PS3 quality to say the least, but the grimey atmosphere is done well enough that keeps the game feeling creepy. Another thing I like is you can either fight the monster or not because their is little back tracking in this game which I like.
Now the thing this game does wrong is it has a very boring beginning, then the story picks up, then it slows down, then the big bang comes. When thing become intense, like fighting monsters and the story unraveling, it then changes into you solving ridiculous puzzles and running around an abadoned town looking for your girlfriend or trying to free people you do not care about. One chapter of the games has me just 'climbing down', 'climbing up', 'jumping across', etc. with nothing going on except running around in a predicatble elementary maze. Not satisfying at all. The combat system is poor as well because you must be able to pull off fluid dodges in order for you not to lose health and to attack your opponent effectively. At first it is annoying, but once you are able to dodge corretly and know when to attack, the gameplay becomes rewarding and fun, but for the most part, the dodges are sometimes inconsistent, and with no help from the jittery and sometime stuck camera, the game becomes hard and feels like it is cheating you out of a win. The guns are useful during the game, but durring boss battles, they are pretty ineffective due to the fact that the aiming is slow and shaky making it hard for you to actually hit you a boss who, during combat, is moving faster than you can aim. I ended up just using melee attacks to take them down which feels cheap. I think this is the first time bosses in Silent Hill actually tried to kill you. The boss battles are very interesting, but they are underwhelming to say the least because you must dodge heavy blows that can not be dodged and on top of that, the camera is always stuck which makes you attack bosses in a very unintended way which becomes very annoying and fudges up gameplay. The puzzles are very uninteresting, and the hints that help you solve them are not effective enough. They make some sense, but for the average gamer, these are sometimes hard. I am not a average gamer, and I found trouble solving puzzles. Another thing wrong with the puzzles are they are just plain boring and only add to the dead atmosphere of the game. On top of that, the game is dark as hell and the flashlight does little to relieve this flaw. Many times you miss doors, holes in the wall, and tunnels because the game is too dark and the flashlight is so ineffective that you will waste alot of gametime trying to find a hole in the wall that should have never been there just so you can move along in a chapter. Too much of the game involves searching for hidden paths and clues to puzzles, instead of creating a scary atmosphere. Silent Hills are not action orientated, but I do believe the game did a good job at incorporating fighting mechanics into the series.
Overall, Silent Hills fun factor is low. The Silent Hill series has never really been fun, but I can say Homecoming does a better job a making the series fun. Back are the boring puzzles, but they are not as hard this time around. The main character is generic. The story is good, but not great due to the fact of originality and sometimes predictable outcomes (which are actually delivered pretty well through cutscenes). The fog on this game is too much, but it does is part at making the game feel the way it does and that is creepy. The game is never close to scary and this is where Dead Space destroys it. Not really worth the asking price, but if you care for the 5 different endings and this type of gameplay, then this game is for you. You can not go wrong with this title because you will find things to like, but you will find out during the first run, there are alot of things to hate about this game as well.