The original Silent Hill offered a different take on the then-established survival horror formula, popularized by Capcom’s Resident Evil series. While recent sequels to both lines put more of an emphasis on action, Silent Hill: Shattered Memories, a re-imagined version of the original, leaves you only one option for survival–running for your life. With no way to fight back and exploration as your main goal, this return to Silent Hill isn’t what you’d expect, but it’ll still get inside your head.

After a car accident leaves him unconscious, Harry Mason searches for his daughter in the town of Silent Hill. It quickly becomes apparent that things aren’t quite normal as Harry makes his way through a confusing world that seems to reflect his family’s troubled past.

This surreal journey is told within the framework of an interactive therapy session, where a psychiatrist questions the player about their motivations and past. As both paths progress, Shattered Memories gradually reveals a disturbing picture of psychological trauma that’s interesting enough to merit some actual analysis from the player. Even if some moments leave you unsure about your character’s motivation, suspense, curiosity, and anticipation will keep you going.

Closer to a traditional adventure game than anything else, Silent Hill: Shattered Memories has you spending most of your time exploring the town’s lonely and disturbing environments as you attempt to uncover the truth about the characters’ pasts. You overcome obstacles by finding the right places to climb, solving logic puzzles, and finding keys–both literal and figurative–to open locked doors.

When not-so-subtle changes in the world alert you that things are taking a turn for the bizarre, the game confines you to isolated instances where you have to navigate a twisted version of the environment you were just exploring. Altered terrain and blocked-off paths create a sort of maze that you’ll have to run while being relentlessly pursued by fleshy, faceless creatures that will eventually bring you down. While the chase scenes can be terrifying, they’re isolated pockets of terror; the fear and dread don’t linger once you’ve reached safety.

Telegraphing the terror isn’t necessarily a flaw, but players who enjoy being on edge might be disappointed that the game lets you relax while you’re in search and puzzle mode. If you want to hit monsters with pipes, on the other hand, you’ll definitely be disappointed–the six or seven hours it takes to finish the game contain absolutely no direct combat. On the other hand, if you want to be psychoanalyzed and see the game subtly change based on your behavior, Shattered Memories is good for multiple playthroughs.

With the game divided into desperate chase scenes and calm, eerie stretches of exploration, you’ll experience two distinct types of gameplay. Most of the time, things will be pretty normal. There aren’t a lot of lights on in this town, making your flashlight your best friend. You can easily click it on and off and direct it using the Wii Remote, which feels very natural and encourages you to thoroughly examine your surroundings. Holding the trigger lets you zoom in to get a closer look.

The game does such a good job putting you in the environment that you’ll quickly start taking it for granted. If you want to look at a sign or poster, you can simply point your cursor and read it yourself. Interacting with objects using the Wii-mote is also very intuitive, letting you manipulate them in fairly convincing ways. Many interactions are simple and straightforward, but you’ll also find yourself in some interesting situations.

Your cell phone is also indispensable. You can ring up characters you encounter in the story or call various service numbers and hotlines you’ll find posted around the town, and you’ll also receive calls that can provide important information or maybe just mess with your head. The phone’s camera can reveal ghostly images that can’t be seen with the naked eye, and contains a useful map of the town. All of these tools will help you with the game’s puzzle element, but they aren’t of much use when you’re being chased down an icy hall.

When you find yourself being pursued by grotesque, naked freakbeasts, your only option is to run for your life. Harry will open doors automatically when he’s picked up enough speed, but there’s no guarantee there won’t be something waiting for you behind them. Creatures that leap onto you can be tossed off, and you can knock down objects or light flares to slow down their pursuit, but successfully escaping from the nightmare ultimately depends on memorizing the proper route.

It’s definitely terrifying when you’re being hunted down with no idea where to go, but it’s almost impossible to find your way through some of the more difficult sequences without trial-and-error repetition. While it’s nice to experience some panic and fear, it’s too bad that the game’s only scares carry so much potential frustration.

Shattered Memories easily pulls off a realistic and atmospheric graphical style despite the limitations of the Wii hardware. While it may not be as sharp and crisp as less-artistically accomplished games on high definition platforms, the small touches applied to the wide variety of real world environments are impressive, with dozens of distinct objects–many of which can be manipulated –and detailed textures that make the world of Silent Hill look authentic.

The game also benefits from characters with faces that animate convincingly during conversations, and impressive effects exemplified by the light and shadows created by Harry’s absolutely vital flashlight. Sound design is also outstanding, with music by series regular Akira Yamaoka and piercing shrieks, both used sparingly and when appropriate.

Shattered Memories deviates from what players would expect from a Silent Hill game, and doesn’t really fit the definition of survival horror, but the experience is still very much worthwhile. Exceptionally strong visuals for the platform and creative, well-implemented motion controls make for a memorable experience, as long as you’re OK with running away from some of your more disturbing problems.

Reviewed on Nintendo Wii.