Review: Silent Hill: Shattered Memories

It’s time for another trip back to everybody’s favorite sleepy little hamlet with Silent Hill: Shattered Memories for the Nintendo Wii. But while you won’t need to worry about packing extra bullets for your gun, you should make sure to bring a nice, warm coat, because this game will chill you to the bone!

How does this “re-imagining” of the original Silent Hill stack up against the rest of the series? I’ve got a full review after the jump, spoiler-free, I promise!

While Shattered Memories is being called a “re-imagining” of the original Silent Hill, it really only uses some characters and locations from the PlayStation classic. Aside from some familiar elements, the adventure is all-new. You will once again step into the shoes of desperate father Harry Mason as he searches Silent Hill for his missing daughter, Cheryl. But instead of fog, this town has been brought to a standstill by a massive blizzard, and instead of transforming into a hellish vision of blood and metal, ice will coat everything in sight, leaving you no choice but to run for your life from hordes of relentless creatures.

In a departure for the series, there are no weapons in Shattered Memories, and the only “combat” is pushing the monsters off when they latch onto you. The game alternates between three types of scenes. The bulk of the game is typical exploration as you use the Nunchuck to wander the streets of Silent Hill, and the Wiimote becomes your flashlight. It works well enough, but during extended play sessions, my wrist started getting sore holding the Wiimote up for that long. And unfortunately, there are little hovering triangle icons above everything you can use, which takes away some of the fun of investigation. Also, while there are many items that you use the Wiimote to interact with, it basically boils down to simple pushing, twisting and pulling. And when every puzzle’s solution is in that same room, it takes away much of the challenge.

Then there are the chase sequences, where Silent Hill ices over and monstrous creatures chase after you. Your only option here is to run for your life, and it becomes a matter of finding the right path through the maze, hoping you can locate the exit before too many of the monsters can gang up on you. When you are overcome, you start right back at the beginning, but this can get frustrating, especially during a couple of the longer mazes. And forget about using your map, because it takes too many button presses to bring it up and put it away again. And those… things are always hot on your heels. Last, but certainly not least, periodically throughout the game, acting as interstitials, you’ll encounter the third style, which is a first-person perspective of a psychiatric session where you are badgered by a shrink who has to complete some very interesting tests. (Actually, I found myself looking forward to these scenes because I kind of thought the doc was a little bit hot…)

The psychological aspect of Shattered Memories is what’s most intriguing about the game. The way you play, as well as your answers to the psychiatrist’s questions, will affect both the world you explore and the characters you encounter. And upon completion, the game will offer up a psychiatric evaluation. Mine was a little off, because the way I play games isn’t the way I behave in reality, but it was still a fascinating touch. It says the game adapts to scare you with what you truly fear, but I never really felt it was getting that specific. Sure, it’s still scary, but that’s just because it’s a Silent Hill game. The chase scenes have a certain amount of tension, but that quickly can become frustration as you keep making wrong turns. But exploring the empty town, with its shadows and creepy music, is still goosebump-inducing, even without the constant threat of attack.

I hate to use this popular phrase, but the graphics are pretty good… for the Wii. There’s no denying that it would look much prettier on a 360 or PS3, but then you wouldn’t be able to have the immersiveness of the Wii controls. The character models animate kind of stiffly, but overall, they look good, especially during the cutscenes. And the lighting is fantastic, with the shadows cast from your flashlight sometimes scaring you more than the ghosts if they move just right! The music, from Akira Yamaoka, is suitably moody (although in my opinion not as strong as the other entries in the series) and the voice acting is uniformly solid.

The implementation of a cell phone acts as a means of communication with other characters, a map, a camera, and a way to save your game. In certain areas, there are shadowy figures that can be photographed, revealing some additional backstory about Silent Hill’s denizens, but they’re difficult to spot, and I only found a handful. The paths through the streets and buildings are mostly linear, so a map isn’t really necessary for the most part. And as I mentioned, when you really need it during the chase sequences, it’s too unwieldy to use while on the run. I do have to say that I loved the way the voices from the phone come out of the Wiimote speaker, forcing you to hold the Wiimote up to your head like a receiver. It’s a nice touch.

I’m deliberately avoiding discussing too much of the story, because it’s there that Silent Hill: Shattered Memories really shines. It’s dark, moody, surprising, and emotional. Towards the end of the game, there was a moment that I feel ranks up there with one of the most affecting moments I’ve ever experienced in a game. I didn’t cry, but it hit me in the gut. The nightmare chase sequences can get frustrating, and the puzzles are far too simple, but as a whole, the storyline more than makes up for any gameplay flaws. After the disappointing Silent Hill: Homecoming, it’s nice to see that Shattered Memories has the venerable horror series back on the right track. The other major issue I had with it was that it’s surprisingly short, but I believe that is to inspire you to play through it again to make different choices and affect the gameworld differently. Plus, there’s five different endings to see and plenty of secrets and items to find. I wasn’t crazy about the downbeat ending I got, so I’ll have to see if I can do better next time.

8 out of 10