Home is where the gore is
It’s fair to say that Konami haven’t exactly treated the fans of Silent Hill well during the production of Silent Hill: Homecoming. Things went off to a shaky start with the announcement that production was being handed over to American developers Double Helix and that Japanese developers Team Silent would part from the series. Many speculated that this would, in turn, destroy the series’ reputation in delivering deep rooted psychological horror and turn it into a clich� ridden, “gore-for-the-sake-of-gore” farce. Leaving all fans to anxiously wait for the final product presented a minefield of delays before another bombshell. Europeans would receive the game a full 4 months after our American friends, a month before the hugely publicised Resident Evil 5 hits the shelves, marking a slap in the face for us and a bullet in the foot for Konami.
At best, ‘Homecoming’ can be seen as a nice piece of fan-fiction
Still, after all the waiting, the sixth instalment of the twisted franchise has managed to hit our shores much to the delight of some and fear of others. As a huge Silent Hill fan, I approached Homecoming with an open mind and an optimistic heart hoping that it wouldn’t stray from what made the series so popular in the first place.
Homecoming follows the misadventures of Alex Shepherd, a war veteran who has been haunted by nightmares of his brother Joshua. Feeling that he is needed by his family, Alex is discharged and returns to his home of Shepherd’s Glen. Upon arrival, he finds the town engulfed in the fog we all know and love and discovers that his father and brother have gone missing, leaving his mother muttering peculiar statements whilst shuffling back and forth on her rocking chair and endlessly staring out of the window.
Forgive me if it sounds a little clich�, but the opening half of the game seems to consist of a lot of these glaringly obvious ‘OOOOOH ISN’T IT ALL A BIT CREEPY!?!?!?!’ moments. Moments which range from dead bodies throwing themselves from the ceiling to the visions of your little brother scribbling drawings on the floor declaring that he’s lost his favourite stuffed blood covered bunny toy in a hellish hospital raise your eyebrow more than your adrenalin.
Characters don’t help in giving the plot any substance or dignity either. Alex has a habit of asking stupid questions (i.e. Enquiring “What on Earth is he doing?” whilst a man stands in a hole with a shovel and wondering “Who could have possibly done this?” every time he stumbles upon a corpse). Supporting characters don’t offer a lot of support. All dialogue feels incredibly forced due to iffy writing and all present as much personality as a comatose nit. In a game series where the interweaving plotlines and eerie cast have played an essential part in its long running success, ‘Homecoming’ just shows itself by falling flat on its face.
Due to Alex’s military experience, he has an upper hand against some of the monsters that come to challenge you, and for the player this upper hand takes the form of a new combat system. Praise has to be given to the new gun controls which take a leaf out of Resi’s book with a familiar over-the-shoulder style aiming system and allows for fluid aiming and movement. However, due to the mass shortage of ammo lying around, you’ll be forced to the new melee combat system for a majority of the game. Pulling on the left trigger will make you hold your weapon in anxiety and zoom the camera up to you and your opponent. During these encounters, you have the opportunity to time your attacks with the monsters, dodge attacks and counterattack to defeat them. On paper, it all sounds very good. However, it soon proves to be poorly executed. Most battles take place in small areas, messing up the camera angle and making it difficult to counter attack due to poor visibility. Combine this with some horrible dodging physics making a successful dodge more of a game of chance than skill.
The series hasn’t entirely lost its origins, however. Music composer Akira Yamaoka has returned to compose the soundtrack for the game and, as usual, the music leaves a unique mark on the experience. Due to the absence of silence during exploration, however, the sound experience doesn’t create as much tension as previous instalments.
Graphically, Homecoming has pushed the boundaries for the series dramatically. Whilst exploring, there isn’t much to see mainly due to the fact that everything is either shrouded with fog or darkness and building interior is nothing to really write home about. When it comes to combat, the producers have decided to throw in as much gore as they could. Doing badly in combat could result in Alex missing a couple of limbs and hacking a monster to bits results in huge tears in their flesh and produces so much blood it even splatters onto the screen at times. However, the moments which produce complete graphical splendour (or disgust) are the ‘Otherworld’ segments. During the game, Alex will be transported into a hellish parallel universe where the real world crumbles around him, presenting an even darker environment. The transformation happens fluidly whilst playing the game and the level of detail that has been put into these environments is outstanding.
If you have the patience, then more positives appear on the horizon. Once you get over some of the dull gameplay features ‘Homecoming’ starts off with, the final few hours present you with an experience which actually feels like it can do the Silent Hill franchise some justice. Characters become a whole lot darker, enemies become more engaging to battle and the plot becomes a lot more ambitious. Yet once you finally get used to these upsides, you’re faced with one of five endings and that’s that.
‘Silent Hill: Homecoming’ is essentially a game split down the centre. The first half being a fairly dull, clich� ridden pit of embarrassment. The second finally realising what a psychological horror should be and desperately trying to win back lost appreciation before the credits roll.
At best, ‘Homecoming’ can be seen as a nice piece of fan-fiction set within the Silent Hill universe. Unfortunately the title arrived with a huge reputation to live up to and the task to recreate an incredibly unique experience and it lacks a lot of charm. If you’re a Silent Hill fan with a lot of patience, or new to the series entirely, you should welcome ‘Homecoming’ with at least one play through. If, however, you’re a die-hard Silent Hill fan with a tendency to pick holes in a plot, it may be best to stay away, or else you may find yourself on the internet venting frustration…irony…
The Bad: Puzzles are incredibly patronising, Cliches destroy the charm
