Kotaku’s Silent Hill: Shattered Memories PSP Hands-On

Konami and Climax’s re-imagining of the first Silent Hill is a risky prospect, a wildly different take on the PlayStation horror classic. As a fan of the series, the remixed, retold Silent Hill: Shattered Memories just felt… unnecessary.

That was until I had played through the Tokyo Game Show demo.

The section we were coaxed into playing by the helpful Konami staff involved one of the game’s chase sequences, a heart-pounding and smart addition to the game. The series isn’t generally known for its action qualities, but the mad dash through the altered streets of Silent Hill added a new kind of fear, helped by some interesting mechanics.

It took a few moments to get accustomed to the new controls—I hadn’t yet played the Wii version of Shattered Memories, mind you. Players control Harry Mason with the analog nub, switching to flashlight (read: camera) controls by holding the right shoulder button. More interesting to me was what the left shoulder button does: look over your shoulder. Not particularly innovative, but it helps seal the fear of something quietly lurking behind you.

My first attempt at playing the game met with failure. After hopping over a wall—one of Harry’s new moves—I ran into a few of Silent Hill’s fleshy, mutated denizens.

They quickly piled on top of me, my only option to elbow them off with a press of one of the face buttons. They’re mapped to the location from which you’re attacked. If something’s grabbing onto you from the left, press the square button at the right time. From behind, tap X. Getting double-teamed? You’ll have to hit both buttons when the on-screen indicator pops up. Unfortunately, I didn’t figure this all out until my second attempt, attempting to figure out where my bludgeoning implement was.

Eventually I figured out that I was supposed to run like hell, not fiddle with the cell phone and GPS device Harry sports in Silent Hill: Shattered Memories. So I ran, guided by walls of nearly clear ice, shouldering my way through blue-tinted doors at full speed. I’d made the mistake earlier in the demo to slowly open of Silent Hill’s many closed doors, which one can do by pushing slightly on the analog stick after grabbing the doorknob.

Really, after finding my rhythm and getting an eye for where each door would be, running like a madman was all I did. With enemies difficult to see in the dark and the fear of hordes of Silent Hill’s demons bearing down on you, it’s the best thing one can do.

Granted, chase sequences, while interesting, do not a quality remake… make. But the smart implementation of these moments helped me get over my own fear of slogging through the streets of Silent HIll again. Another minor thing that won me over were the visuals. While not mind-blowing—it is the PSP after all—it looked sharp and I dug the VHS tape tracking-like visual effect.

We’ll know how good the final game will be when it ships this November.

TGS 2009: Hands-on: Silent Hill Shattered Memories (PSP)

Much like 2007’s Silent Hill: Origins, the PSP version of Shattered Memories is quite capable of conveying an eerie, unsettling experience, even on a platform that might seem ill-equipped for the survival-horror genre in comparison to home consoles. The Wii re-imagining of Konami’s PS1 classic is faithfully represented on Sony’s portable, with only a few framerate hiccups tarnishing a very impressive visual representation.

Recreating the Wii version’s moody ambiance isn’t the port’s only major success, as it handles the absence of the motion-sensitive remote quite elegantly. Here, you manipulate Harry Mason’s flashlight from a third-person perspective by holding R1 and moving the analog nub. While this removes the ability to move and peer into the terrifying town’s dark recesses at the same time, the game’s generally slow pace makes such multitasking more of a luxury than a necessity.

When the pace is quickened and Harry is forced to flee from Silent Hill’s disgusting meat-faced minions, there’s usually little need to stop and examine the area first. As with the Wii version, the recommended escape route is highlighted on doors and walls by a layer of light-blue ice, helping you navigate to safety and preserving the flow of the nerve-wracking chase sequence. Should an enemy pounce on top of you, however, you have a few seconds to press the indicated face button (buttons if you’re the victim of a monster pile-up) and shake them off.

It remains to be seen how well Shattered Memories shifts between its methodical exploration sequences and frantic chases over the course of the full adventure, but should it live up to the potential displayed in its E3 2009 demo (be sure to read our detailed hands-on impressions), we’ll have no qualms about recommending either the Wii or PSP version come this November.

Posted by: Whitney | 09/25/09 | 1:34 pm
I have a couple questions about the demo at the TGS. How long did you play for? Were you able to take the psych profile? Did you wander around Silent Hill looking for clues for your daughter a little bit or were you just attacked by monsters? From your review it just sounds like you just experienced the monster chase bits of the game.

Posted by: Daniel Feit | 09/25/09 | 6:07 pm

The demo started in the dark, icy town without explanation of what my objectives were. I think I played for eight minutes or so. There was no mention of a “psych profile” unless that was an option somewhere on my phone.

This could just be a bad demo. Maybe there are some psychologically challenging portions that they felt would not “show” very well, so they went with incomprehensible action instead.

“　そして「SILENT HILL -SHATTERED MEMORIES-」はプレイヤーの恐怖心を煽る暗闇の中，PSP版とWii版の試遊台を各3台用意。ほかのコーナーに比べて妙に静かなのがゲームの雰囲気とマッチしすぎており，その場にいるだけで寒気がした。”

Thanks to Google translate:

“And “SILENT HILL-SHATTERED MEMORIES-” is scared of the dark whip player, and PSP versions of each Wii version of units 3 units available.Which matches the mood of the game too much is strangely quiet compared to the other corner, you’ve got the chills just being there.“