A chilling atmosphere, deformed monsters and gruesome combat - You know you're back in Silent Hill...
Contains: Strong Bloody Violence and Horror
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Silent Hill: Homecoming is a survival horror game and is a dark and twisted homage to the series classic horror roots.
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STORY - 4/5
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After a truly terrifying prologue, Silent Hill: Homecoming returns to the present and follows the journey of Alex Shepherd, a soldier returning from war who has been wounded, fixed back to full health, but is having horrible nightmares that his younger brother is in danger. So he returns to his hometown of Shepherd's Glen, where he finds the town in disarray, everyone seemingly gone and his younger brother missing. As he continues on his search to find his younger brother, he discovers more about the Order - the cult of Silent Hill - as well as the town's history, and his own past. It's an intriguing and disturbing occult-themed story that is slowly paced, but soon starts to make sense halfway through and engages your mind with the plot developments that finally unfold about the unknown fates of the main characters.
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CHARACTERS - 3/5
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You assume the role of protagonist Alex Shepherd, a special forces soldier trained in hand-to-hand combat who returns home from an overseas tour of duty to find that his father and brother are missing, and that his mother is in a near catatonic state, murmuring away to herself in her rocking chair. Alex begins to search for his brother around the area of his hometown Shepherd's Glen, which eventually leads him to Silent Hill and the discovery of even stranger events that will change his whole perception of the occult-themed town altogether. The characters within the game are decent, nothing extraordinary to give you much reason to care or acknowledge what they are up to, but a worthy cast of individuals who fit into the horror story nicely.
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GAMEPLAY - 3/5
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The gameplay follows similarly to past entries in the series, and as Alex, you'll explore the various environments and locales searching for clues to advance the plot, like photographs, drawings and other items that are placed in Alex's journal which are free to be read and observed at any time during the game. Not long into the survival horror experience you'll realise that the town is now a haven for deformed monsters, and you'll be able to pick up a variety of melee weapons as well as rarer firearms to defeat them. But it's hard to establish and maintain a smooth rhythm in combat because of how relentless each enemy is, and just surviving each confrontation is a struggling effort that you'll be relieved when the area is clear. Enemies drastically drain your health bar and are relentless when attacking, and health items are ridiculously scarce, and overall the difficulty is what ruins Silent Hill: Homecoming. Slashes and other injuries show up in real time in combat on both you and your enemies which is a nice effect and matches the motion carried out by Alex in inflicting the attack, but considering enemies attack in the same way each time, once you understand the awkward dodge and counter attack ability that work for specific enemies the combat should become easier. (Though it's much easier said than done in most cases). The art of timing the dodge is crucial, and even more difficult is guessing the right way to avoid taking heavy damage and then executing a powerful counter thanks to Alex's knowledge of combat. You have the option to perform basic attacks and strong attacks which can be chained, but finding that rare opportunity to do so is something you'll usually push to the back of your mind, and instead focus on surviving the vicious assaults from your strange assailants. If you manage to stun them into a confused state, reacting quickly to pull off a ferocious finishing is a satisfying feeling, but you just can't help but ponder about the difficulty which plagues every aspect of enemy intelligence and combat scenarios.
The impact of the violence accompanied with some excessive blood effects amps up the survival horror tension and the psychological scare factor during gameplay, and every environment you walk through raises the tension and forces you to cautiously approach your next objective with chilling demonic foes littered in-between. The mark of Point A to B is not only a combination of exploration and combat, but also introduces puzzles, some simple, some confusing, to mix the pace the game, and these are mostly well done but more or less consist of trial-and-error in order to succeed.
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GRAPHICS - 3/5
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Creepy, eye-catching visuals, grainy camera filters, lighting and shadow effects all bring the terrifying sections of the abandoned town to life, and even when you land yourself in a safe location (Mother's house) and the lasting effects of the horrors still infest your senses, especially when you know that you have to venture back outside again. The Otherworld is a horrifying, mystical reflection into a mirrored nightmare where paint falls off walls and another surface is mysteriously revealed, forcing you to carry on the nerve-wracking path to find answers to those questions rattling around in your mind, and even though the setting feels contrived, the visual effect that accompanies each transition sustains that horror presence that is infecting each segment of gameplay. Some brief moments of framerate drop and slowdown can get on your nerves though, usually when navigating quickly in tight corridors.
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SOUND - 3/5
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Akira Yamaoka's music and sound effects are as always brilliant, adding much to the atmosphere of the haunted towns. Akira managed to create the perfect piece of music for each moment in the game, whether it be moments of emotion for the characters in cutscenes, or full-on, heart-pounding audio during intense (but frustrating) boss fights, you know that whenever the game feels like it's letting you down, the strong soundtrack regains control and sets you back on the right path of enjoyment. Characters have acceptable voice acting, but not convincing enough to convey across the troubled emotions the characters are feeling for family members, the tight situations you'll deal with, and the menacing moments of quickening pace to escape, and overall lose some of that intrigue you try and increase in the plot.
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CONTROLS - 3/5
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The controls in Silent Hill: Homecoming are fine and responsive, but during combat you'll take up the defensive stance quicker than you'd probably attempt an offensive manoeuvre, and this is down to the harsh difficulty. You will frequently have to wait for the right moment to attack rather than launch yourself multiple times at an enemy because, not only are they tough, but they can regain full control quickly even when stunned. An annoying camera plagues some action segments in tight spaces in small rooms, especially when you must defeat 2 or more enemies to proceed, but otherwise the control scheme is as expected, and it works ok if you use the available targeting feature for the closest enemy you wish to slay first.
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ATMOSPHERE - 4/5
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Silent Hill: Homecoming's strongest point is the extremely well generated atmosphere and effects that enforce that belief of being trapped within the setting. Every area within Silent Hill is dark and foreboding, and the thick layer of fog that inhabits the town makes the outside world just as much to fear as the dark and tormented corridors inside abandoned buildings. Excellent lighting effects and shadows cast on environments enhance that nervous tension that you'll constantly feel deep down inside you taking refuge, and the psychological horror moments you expect in a survival horror game are nailed without getting repetitive long into the mysterious story-driven adventure. The sound compliments the atmosphere, further increasing the fear cocooned in your mind, never letting go until you outwit the game and pass through alive.
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ENEMY AI - 2/5
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Silent Hill and Shepherd's Glen are full of your worst nightmares. Deformed monsters that are all grotesque in design are truly terrifying to encounter in the gloomy, claustrophobic environments and you'll dread each time you hear there presence in the area, hidden from view and just awaiting that scary moment to attack ferociously in an attempt to tear you apart. Whether it's a spider-like Needler crawling across the ceiling menacingly towards you at a brisk pace threatening to slice you up with its blades for arms, or the chilling stance of the faceless Nurses, which are one of the Silent Hill series staple horror enemies, you'll be on edge throughout, and the psychological horror factor rarely lifts off the surface down the foggy streets and daunting back alleys within Silent Hill and Shepherd's Glen and you'll be menaced constantly as you pursue the clues behind your brother's disappearance.
Each monsters design matches their attacks, and there is always a weak point if you can exploit it. However, each monster only has a couple of different attack patterns, and they attempt to inflict the same damage from the same move each time, making them fairly unintelligent. They, along with the bad boss fights which are either too frustrating or too simple, still prove a stressful problem to deal with though throughout the length of game, and you'll be punished each and every time you perform the dodge move in the wrong direction or try to attack and mistime your attack.
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LENGTH - 4/5
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Silent Hill: Homecoming will keep you engaged right to the end of the mystery behind the strange Silent Hill setting, and you'll get about 10 hours worth of gameplay out of it.
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REPLAY VALUE - 3/5
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The story leads up to multiple endings just beyond the last boss, based on your decisions in-game, and so this does give you reason to play through this challenging survival horror game again. But overall Silent Hill: Homecoming is a stressful, nightmarish journey through an fantastically created setting which nails the right tone of atmosphere to envelope you within the shocking horrors awaiting, and the spine-tingling gameplay surrounded by an intriguing plot which gets going the longer you play, but unfortunately is just too difficult and each combat sequence feels like a life or death situation where checkpoints just aren't spaced enough for the troubles you'll be facing ahead. In spite of the problems, Silent Hill: Homecoming offers a well lengthed story with multiple endings and is chilling and worthwhile for a single playthrough.
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OVERALL SUMMARY - 8/10
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Good Points: Intriguing story once it finally gets going, Chilling environments enveloped in a thick and scary atmosphere, Excellent audio and lighting effects dramatises the psychological horror factor, Monsters are menacing in appearance.
Bad Points: Frustrating combat with relentless enemies and scarce health items, Annoying camera in cramped spaces, Boss fights are either too hard or too simple.