No weapons? Wii waggle? And a “re-imagining” of the first Silent Hill game is what they’re calling this? The combination sounds like Silent Hill: My Worst Nightmare, and I don’t mean that in a good way.

Boy, was I ever wrong. Instead of some Silent Hill one-off rehash, we get a lovingly crafted story set in a world so deep and involving that it actually does the series name proud. The Wii waggle? More like Wii mastery. The control is a new hallmark for Wii games, let alone Silent Hill titles. And the no weapons part? Absolutely brilliant, and it works out to be a chillingly beautiful thing when you finally understand what the story is about.

Again, I was totally wrong.

Read on for our review of Silent Hill: Shattered Memories.

Silent Hill: Shattered Memories (reviewed on Wii, also on PSP, PS2)
Publisher: Konami
Developer: Climax
Released: December 8, 2009
MSRP: $49.99

In Silent Hill: Shattered Memories you play as Harry Mason, loving father and husband and crap driver in inclement weather. The game starts out with Harry running off a snowy road and into a fence. He crawls out of his car and notices that his daughter, Cheryl, is missing from the passenger’s seat. He sets off to look around the crash site to find her. Unfortunately, he crashed on the outskirts of the worst town ever to crash in, Silent Hill. To make matters worse, it’s snowing like crazy, and the town has gone mostly…well, silent.

I wouldn’t call Silent Hill: Shattered Memories a survival horror as much as I would call it a psychological thriller. First off, there’s no combat in Memories. That’s right: instead of slowly turning and slowly swinging some found implement at some otherworldly monster, you’re running. You’re running for your life from creatures that are just as creepy as the ones from the previous Silent Hills, but for a different reason. (We’ll touch on that later.) And when they catch up with you, they tackle you, grope you, and bring you down. Your only defense is the powers of push and nudge. You can’t kill them, and that makes for a pretty terrifying experience when more than one is on your trail.

Memories is so focused on the inner workings of the player’s head that it actually opens with a “psychology warning,” which informs that the game will play the player. They’re not kidding around, either. When you’re not wandering around Silent Hill, you’re a patient in a therapist’s office, taking tests and answering questions to reveal your character. The game opens with a psychology profile that asks some pretty private questions on your love life and morals. The game can change drastically depending on your choices. A second play-through revealed new areas, new characters, and even a new attitude for Harry himself. Existing characters can look completely different, depending on your profile. For example, one character looked like a normal policewoman on my first play-through. On my second one, with my profile slanted more toward the perverted, this same cop was a busty blonde. That said, I recommend being true to yourself your first time through.

Wii motion controls are beautifully utilized in Silent Hill: Shattered Memories. To date, this is the best and most elegant use I’ve seen for the Wii Remote and Nunchuck, and I’d go as far as to say that the Wii version is the ultimate version, and should be chosen above the PlayStation 2 version. Harry is armed only with a flashlight, which comes in handy often, as Silent Hill rarely sees sunlight. Moving the Wii Remote moves your flashlight beam on what seems to be a one-to-one scale. You’re free to shine it at anything, and right away you’ll notice how smooth and realistic the cast beam is. The realism of how the light moves from your control goes a long way towards enveloping you into this snowy world. The nunchuck’s analog stick controls movement, and turning is controlled by pulling your flashlight to the far left and right edges of your field of view. While this type of turning has been used in other games to varying successes, it works solidly in Memories.

Away from exploration and into panicky sessions of being chased, which the game calls “nightmares,” you’ll use the Wii Remote to make movements in place of real-world hands. Attackers can tackle you from any direction, and you’re to use the Wii Remote and Nunchuck to repel them. If they attack from the front, you’ll need to motion both controllers forward, as if to push them off. You’ll flick them off your back, elbow them in your face, all the while holding in Z to run. One thing to note here is that the controls do not need large gestures to repel enemies. Those flailing their arms in a panic to shake off attackers will likely become frustrated, as the controls seem less responsive. Firm but controlled pushes and shoves are the key, and done right, will begin to feel like second nature as you continue on deeper into the game.

Puzzle solving and exploration involves manipulating items with virtual hands, using the Wii controls. Pinch, turn, pick up, etc. We’ve seen this in other games, but here it feels tactile and responsive. Probably the best example of Wii controls in Shattered Memories cannot be revealed in this review, as they would likely spoil parts of the story. I will say that the uses are creative, surprising, and some truly memorable. There were a couple of instances so amazingly effective that, even now, thinking about them gives me chills.

That said, you’ll want to make sure you’re gentle and not over exaggerating with the controls. Again, large, fast movements seem to throw the sensors off. Likewise, you’ll also want to be careful to not let your IR beam wander out of the Wii sensor’s view, as you’ll be stuck retracking for a few seconds, leaving you vulnerable. Being mindful of these points goes a long way towards the game’s enjoyment.

As Harry looks for his daughter in snowy Silent Hill, he uncovers dark, buried memories of both his life and his daughter’s. Some are surprising, others are disturbing. And the ones that are sexual? They’ll make more sense later. Most of this is found through exploration of the town, and all the while Harry is struggling with his own memory, which seems to have been damaged during his car accident. This exploration sometimes leads to deeper truths and memories, and this triggers a nightmare sequence where Silent Hill turns dark and freezes over, everyone else disappears, and monsters come out of the woodwork. You’ll run through the transformed, hellish version of the town, doing your best to find the nightmare’s resolution, working to fend off monsters that seem to want to hold you back from that resolution. You’ll likely become disoriented and panicked, running around in the dark, trying to find an exit. Some may become frustrated with these scenes, but I think that was the developer’s intent. Once the lost panic sets in, it sticks with you well after it’s over. When you do finally reach the end of the nightmare, the town becomes somewhat normal again, and you resume exploration. Waking up from the nightmare, so to speak.

Being chased and held back by monsters in your nightmares is a beautiful parallel to the story the game is trying to tell. To reveal why these things happen would definitely ruin the story, but when you do finally find out, its the type of resolution that has you sitting alone, pondering, remembering all the scenes from the game. The game play will make sense. A second play-through is incredibly rewarding because of this, and is highly recommended. And as the game profiles everything you do and say and tailors the experience toward your mind, going “opposite” in your responses and actions the second time through is also recommended. I don’t want to ruin anything, but know that the game even keeps track of what you stare at. Eyes up here!

The dark and gritty town of Silent Hill has never looked better, and by “better” we mean worse. Darker, more desolate. Everything is that much more eerie when cast in your flashlight’s beam. The graphics dazzle on the Wii, and I found myself surprised at the graphical performance more than once while exploring. Characters manage to both remind players of the old games and bring some originality at the same time. They’re expertly animated and are voiced with what is likely the best work I’ve heard in the series. You can definitely see the loving care developer Climax put into the game. To top it all off, series composer Akira Yamaoka is back with a haunting score. This time around it’s more subdued, but it fits the sleepy, snowy atmosphere perfectly.

Perhaps you’re wondering if a Wii Silent Hill game is scary. I can say without hesitation that it is. Much of this is due to the superlative pacing and storytelling. As expected, there are plenty of jump-out scary moments, but the panic that the game’s situations causes go even farther toward scaring you senseless. When the story ends and you begin thinking about the game’s story, the tons of symbolism, and the overall message, you’ll likely be creeped out. And amazed.

While Silent Hill: Shattered Memories is a total departure in every way from what Konami proper had started, it manages to reinvigorate the series. This “re-imagining” could have been a story rehash, instead we get a brilliantly deep game with subtle subtext and surprising symbolism. It’s deep enough that some may glaze over the reasons behind the game play decisions and story elements, which were, again, brilliant. It focuses on the horrors of the human mind and gets away from the tired ghost story, making for a story much more involving and disturbing than recent Silent Hill titles. A lovingly crafted story draws you in and then wows you with a surprise ending that leaves a lingering fascination. And chills. I’m still thinking about it. From one die-hard Silent Hill fan to another, this is a true Silent Hill game. A better Silent Hill game. Do not miss this game.

Score: 9.5 — Superb (9s are a hallmark of excellence. There may be flaws, but they are negligible and won’t cause massive damage to what is a supreme title.)

Silent Hill: Shattered Memories Review

This brilliant reimagining of the spooky series’ progenitor is a breath of fresh air that will stick with you despite its shortcomings.

The Good

* Deeply emotional story with great pacing
* Incredibly haunting atmosphere
* Your experience depends on how it profiles you.

The Bad

* Far too short
* Puzzles and nightmares are always the same.

From the moment you turn on Silent Hill: Shattered Memories and are informed that the game “plays you as much as you play it,” it’s evident that you’re in for something quite different. Indeed, this is not the Silent Hill you may have come to expect. The fog, rust, and awkward combat of the past have been replaced by snow, ice, and lots of terrified running. Developer Climax Studios has reinvented the aging franchise for the better by removing the tedium, as well as going back to the basics of strong, psychological storytelling and intense, chilling atmosphere. Regardless of how you feel about previous Silent Hill games, Shattered Memories is a fresh and welcome new beginning that’s good for a scare.

When the world freezes over, all you can do is run.

When loving father Harry Mason loses control of his car on the icy streets of a town called Silent Hill and crashes, everything begins to unravel for him. Awaking in the snow, Harry is horrified to discover that he can’t find his seven-year-old daughter, Cheryl, and sets off into the darkness to find her armed with little more than a flashlight. As he traverses the dangerously snowed-in town, Harry meets and interacts with several of its residents, from a local cop to an overly familiar party girl, struggling to come to grips with the fragments of memory the accident left him with, as well as his constantly shifting reality.

There’s a dark side to Silent Hill, and every so often, the world freezes over before your eyes as supernatural glaciers rise from the earth to consume almost everything. Trapped within the mazes of ice formed in these frozen nightmares, Harry must run, jump, climb, and crawl his way out as he is stalked relentlessly by the pale-skinned, shrieking ghouls that emerge to hunt. They are many and cannot be harmed, so Harry has no choice but to run for his life as these hideous monsters give chase. Each nightmare is its own self-contained maze of twists and turns, but without any sort of useful map to guide you to freedom, you need quick thinking, a strong sense of direction, and a little bit of luck to find the way out. If the monsters succeed in bringing you down, you’re returned to the beginning of the maze to try again, but while they can sometimes take several tries, these mazes are rarely frustrating.

Though these nightmares represent the only moments in the game in which you’re actually threatened, you’re constantly vigilant because of the fantastic and haunting atmosphere of every area in Silent Hill, from Midwich High School to Lakeside Amusement Park. Power is out across most of the town because of the snowstorm, and with everything bathed in darkness, only your flashlight–guided by where you point your Wii Remote–can light the way. Similarly, nearly every major action you perform, from opening up cabinets to casting off the monsters that pounce on you in a nightmare requires some sort of gesture, which produces an almost tactile sense of immersion. The simple puzzles you encounter also require motions, such as twisting a radio dial to the proper station or adjusting a planetarium projector. These motion controls not only work without a hiccup, but they’re also extremely forgiving and intuitive, which helps to pull you into the haunted town almost immediately. And haunted it is, for Silent Hill is a swirling vortex of paranormal activity with something new lurking around almost every corner.

Paranormal phenomena is hidden all over for you to find.

As you travel throughout the town, you’ll encounter everyday objects with strong emotions attached to them. When in the presence of such an item, Harry’s flashlight will begin to flicker and a burst of static will emerge from the Wii Remote speaker. Finding the source of this disturbance will lead to a spooky moment and the receipt of an eerie voicemail or text message on your cell phone, which helps to explain the significance of that particular localized haunting. Occasionally, you may also catch a glimpse of a ghostly flickering image just out of focus to the naked eye but not to the digital sensors in your camera phone–snapping a photo reveals the hidden truth and also triggers the delivery of a voicemail or text. In Shattered Memories, the town itself is a main character, and everything from the haunted objects to the kitschy mementos you find lying around help to establish it. You can even call up the phone numbers seen on billboards and wanted ads all over the city for hidden messages.

At regular intervals throughout Shattered Memories, you’re temporarily pulled out of the action to interact with an extremely unconventional psychologist in first-person sequences. During each of these sessions, your therapist asks you to complete simple exercises or answer uncomfortable personal questions about fear and sexuality. Your performance and answers to these questions can have wide-ranging effects on your gameplay experience. Characters, dialogue, and ghostly messages can drastically change; the forms of the monsters you flee from are customized to your personal fears; and even the areas you visit, as well as the ending, can differ, which makes this a great game to replay in different ways. For example, in one game, you might encounter a friendly country cop, but in another she’s a frigid, shoot-first-ask-questions-later type. There are many possible permutations of story elements, but no matter how much the world changes from one play-through to the next, the nightmares you experience and each of the puzzles you solve remain identical. Thus, an experienced player can easily complete Shattered Memories in six hours or less, though your first time will usually last around seven hours.

Shattered Memories is very dark and moody, and from its impressive use of lighting and shadows to the creepy, real-time freezing effects of the nightmares, the titular town on display is at its finest–except when running through doors. For whatever reason, there is some graphical stuttering that frequently occurs when opening up doors, particularly in nightmares. It’s not a game-ruining problem, but it does negatively affect your immersion in a game that is all about getting immersed. Fans will be pleased to know that series’ maestro Akira Yamaoka returns to score Shattered Memories and produces one of his most distinctive soundtracks yet, but whether you’re familiar with his work or not, this Silent Hill features an engrossing sound design that keeps you on your toes at all times.

No matter how fast you run or how well you hide, these things will always find you.

Throughout the years, the Silent Hill franchise has gradually lost focus of its psychological roots and moved instead toward an ultimately subpar, more action-oriented experience. Shattered Memories is a fantastic return to the core concept of personal fear, and though its developers made some unorthodox decisions–such as removing combat entirely–those decisions have paid off handsomely. This is not the Silent Hill that may have terrified you more than a decade ago but an entirely new experience that is truer to it than any other game bearing the name since Silent Hill 3. Despite a few issues, including its surprising brevity, Silent Hill: Shattered Memories is a great game for anyone looking for a scare, whether you’ve been to the haunted town before or not.

By Lark Anderson, GameSpotPosted Dec 10, 2009 6:23 pm PT

The Consensus: Silent Hill: Shattered Memories Review
By Anthony Gallegos | Dec 10, 2009
Don’t call it a remake.

3.5/5 Stars (Good)

Pros:
Generally good use of the Wii remote; awesome twist on what it means to be a “horror” game.

Cons:
Shaking enemies is annoying; story feels a little disjointed; repetitive at times.

7 (10 press ratings)

GameSpy’s Take

Calling Silent Hill: Shattered Memories a horror game is kind of misleading. Sure, it has some intense moments, but the game is based around playing with your mind and presenting you with perplexing mysteries. I’d describe it as a mystery-adventure game — one that uses the Wii’s capabilities to (mostly) good effect, and despite some repetitious level design, takes the Silent Hill series to a refreshing new place.

It doesn’t matter if you played the original Silent Hill, as Shattered Memories is a complete reimagining of the source material. While the game still follows original protagonist Harry Mason, and features some other supporting characters that will be familiar in name to series fans, the story is vastly different. Harry’s still looking for his daughter, but his journey is no longer wrapped up in an ancient cult, and it’s considerably less confusing to follow to its conclusion. Silent Hill enthusiasts might be a little put off by how easy to understand the narrative is (relatively speaking, that is), but I thought it built up a story with a very satisfying twist and ultimate ending.

And the revised story isn’t the only thing that makes this a true experiment with the franchise. Along with the lack of weapons — that’s right, Harry never physically defends himself — another major change is how you now interact with the world through a cell phone, rather than running around the environment mashing a button to see what’s contextually sensitive. With the cell phone’s interface cleverly mapped to the Wii remote’s button layout, using it to call other characters, receive text messages, snap photos or to access maps feels intuitive. Even the use of the Wii remote speaker to receive phone calls (yes, I found myself actually holding it up to my ear) felt natural, and engaged me in ways that a regular controller simply couldn’t.

Outside of the phone controls, the game’s Wii-specific functions both elate and frustrate. Mapping the flashlight in Harry’s hand to the pointer on the Wii-mote works fantastically, adding tension to the exploration of Silent Hill’s darkness. Conversely, using the motion controls to shake off enemies becomes a constant source of irritation, as you have to jerk the controller in the direction you were attacked from — quite the task when you’re surrounded by enemies and freaking out. Still, despite this and a couple of other examples (like mimicking wheelchair movements), Shattered Memories’ motion controls are exceptional, playing to the console’s strengths in ways that few other games do.

But while the team behind Shattered Memories obviously spent a considerable amount of time thinking of creative ways to use the system’s unique abilities, they neglected to put as much time into the actual level design. The first time the town changes to the “nightmare” world — where creatures constantly hunt Harry, and he must run through a distorted, ice-covered version of Silent Hill to escape — it’s thrilling and scary. However, after I figured out that this repeated about every 30 minutes (and after I spent a lot of time dying as I trudged through this confusing nightmare-labyrinth), it quickly wore out its welcome and lost almost all of its intended effect.

Still, it’s more than worth blasting through even the worst parts of Shattered Memories in order to reach the next portion of in-game counseling. That’s right: During the time I spent with Silent Hill, I constantly met with a virtual psychiatrist, and participated in activities that psychologically profiled me. Answering questions about my personality traits, and my thoughts on things like death, sex, and my family, prompted the game to adapt my responses into tangible changes to the game’s environments and characters, and I wound up with a strikingly accurate profile of my personality during the ending credit sequence. It’s a dramatic departure from anything the previous Silent Hill games have ever done, and it’s quite possibly the best innovation to the franchise.

I said that it’s misleading to call Shattered Memories a horror game, and in a lot of ways, I feel like it’s so different that calling it a Silent Hill title will make series fanatics wonder what that even means anymore. It brings some wonderful new ideas to a franchise that’s been starting to feel stale, but it wraps them up in a series of repetitious levels that feel arbitrarily forced in for the sake of making a game that’s at least six hours long. The studio behind Shattered Memories obviously has a better understanding than most developers about what does and doesn’t work on the Wii, and, with the increased emphasis on psychology, I can’t wait to see their future work within the nightmare world of Silent Hill.

The Critics Agree

Everyone seemed to mostly enjoy the Wii-specific controls Shattered Memories used.

“The tactile nature of the puzzle design works particularly well on the Wiimote, too. Initially it tasks players with manipulating objects, lifting latches and pulling locks back, but you’re soon asked to be more imaginative. Discarded empty drinks cans can be picked up, rotated and shaken. With a bit of patient manipulation, eventually your search yields a key rattling around in one of them, and simply tipping it upside down and shaking allows it to drop out. As simple as that example is, it demonstrates thoughtful use of the Wii’s controller, which we so rarely see.” — Kristan Reed, Eurogamer

“Even if there is both an upside and downside to the weaponless sequences, though, I have to give the developer full credit for bravely trying something unabashedly new. The same could be said for many of the unique gameplay offerings contained within the title. As Mason progresses through the adventure, he is able to interact with the insides of moving vehicles, to roll around in a wheelchair, to go for a long swim and there’s even a couple scenarios where he falls down huge, black chasms. These are not cut-scenes, but clever gameplay situations. He can roll down windows, unlock doors and fool around with dials inside the cars. His swim strokes are tied to gestures on the Wii remote and nunchuk — and it feels good.” — Matt Casamassina, IGN

“Shattered Memories also really takes advantage of the platform’s abilities in some really clever ways. Whether turning a knob on a radio, shaking empty cans to find a key, or some other tricks we’d rather you be surprised by, the “waggle” doesn’t feel tacked on – although a few puzzles call for finer manipulations than the Wii Remote was intended for.” — Henry Gilbert, GamesRadar

The Critics Disagree

Not everyone enjoyed the nightmare portions of the game, though.

“Now, take that nice stuff we said, and flush it all down the toilet as you enter the Nightmare world. Comprising roughly a quarter of the game, the Nightmare world encases your surroundings in ice, and sends monsters out to attack you in its dark and dangerous terrain. This screws up the game in two ways: first, since only this mode carries the threat of attack, it removes some of the scares you’d normally get exploring the game’s “normal” world. True, there is the threat of the Nightmare seeping into an area when you’re not ready, but that’s it. And the Nightmare world isn’t even all that scary, with its one enemy type (with slight variations) chasing you. All those near-identical monsters are also really annoying, as the beasts let out the same stock scream over and over while lunging to hug you to death.” — Henry Gilbert, GamesRadar

“Frantically running from doorway to doorway with deranged screaming monsters in tow is truly frightening, especially since the creatures are both fast and adequately smart. They will tail you through doorways, over crevices, under crawl spaces and even open lockers that you might hide in. The problem with the system is not that there are no weapons, but rather that these hair-raising run sequences are interspersed throughout the game and predictable. When the world takes on an icy sheen, you know the monsters are coming, it’s intensely scary, and you will likely panic as you stumble toward a safety point.” — Matt Casamassina, IGN

The Word on Twitter

“Silent Hill:Shattered Memories is scaring the crap out of me, but I love it!” — The_Wilbo

“Actually really want to get silent hill shattered memories for my wii because it looks really really good :)” — ravenreturns

I’m a big fan of Silent Hill. I’ve played every game in the series and a few years ago you might even have caught me defending the Silent Hill movie. When I first heard that Climax was re-imagining the first game in the Silent Hill series, and putting it on the Wii, I was a bit nervous. When the company revealed the logo and announced that the rust laden, nightmarish Otherworld was being brushed aside for an ice world, I was downright scared. After gathering some more info and trying the game at E3, all fears were assuaged. This was to be the great hope of the Silent Hill series.

Having spent two evenings with the game and completing the story for the first time, I’m conflicted. Was it good? Yes. I’m just not sure it’s Silent Hill.

Setting aside the trappings of the Silent Hill series for the moment, Shattered Memories is mechanically very impressive. Moving Harry Mason, the main character, with the Nunchuk and pointing his flashlight with the remote feels great. Sure, it could be accomplished with an analog stick (and likely will be in the PS2 version), but it’s really a perfect fit for the Wii. Manipulating objects to solve puzzles is also very pleasing. It’s hard not to smile the first time you pop the pin out of a door lock and then slide the bolt back. The puzzles are simple for the most part, but very satisfying. One puzzle in particular made a rather brilliant use of object manipulation combined with light and shadow. I won’t spoil it, but it was one of the real “aha” moments in the game.

Another well implemented mechanic is Harry’s mobile phone. It’s a multifunctional device, used for navigation, occasional spirit photography, solving puzzles and, appropriately enough, making calls. Phone numbers are littered throughout the town, written on signs or scrawled on walls, and almost all of them can be dialed (I encountered three that didn’t work). Most numbers result in useless answering machine messages, while others provide necessary assistance. All of them, however, add to the reality of the situation.

Which brings up a good point. The control scheme combined with Harry’s phone adds up to a distinct sense of realism. In many ways, Silent Hill feels much more “lived in” than in previous games. Adding to the realism is the number of notes and signs found throughout the game. Almost all of them can be read on screen. In other words, you never approach a note and “Press A to Read.” All text is clearly visible in the game world. Most of it is optional, though interesting — I enjoyed reading the historical plaques — while some puzzles can only be solved by gathering clues from the environment.

You’ll notice I haven’t really mentioned how Shattered Memories stacks up against the rest of the series yet. Honestly, I’m conflicted. The icy nightmare world actually doesn’t bother me the way I thought it might. It trades the psychologically oppressive, oxidized hell of the previous games for icy, claustrophobic isolation (an effect that became much more potent when I first saw another character freeze solid in the middle of a conversation). It’s pretty damned lonely … until you get tackled by a horde of monsters.

Shattered Memories eschews combat entirely, opting instead to have Harry run from monsters. It works well most of the time and makes for a few tense moments. My only gripe is that the motion control doesn’t always work, causing Harry to die as I desperately flail both arms in the direction of an attacking monster.

What really bothers me, though, is the Silent Hill name attached to the project. Climax has said from the beginning that Shattered Memories isn’t a remake of the original Silent Hill, but a “re-imagining.” I think a more accurate description might be “almost entirely different.” Apart from characters with the same names, the game has next to nothing to do with the first Silent Hill.

Some of the settings and plot points are shared, but the relationships, characters and story are as different as can be. In fact, the characters are so different that I’m actually a bit baffled that Climax chose to give them the same names. I kept expecting certain characters to somehow tie into their original counterparts, but it never happened. Beyond that, the town of Silent Hill doesn’t seem to have anything to do with the story. Sure, lots of creepy things occur, but I was never given the impression that the town itself was responsible for any of it. There are no hints of Silent Hill’s dark history (at least none that I found). It’s just a dude with some weird stuff happening to him.

Don’t mistake that for a condemnation. Shattered Memories simply has its own story to tell, many elements of which will change depending on the choices you make. As a psychological horror game, it really shines. One moment in particular absolutely chilled me to the bone (you’ll know it when you get there). It’s just different, and maybe that’s the point. Climax set out to re-imagine Silent Hill and it succeeded, though it may not be what fans were expecting.

In a world where even the bizarre, psycho-sexual traditions of Silent Hill could (and arguably have) become stale, change is welcome. Personally, I hope Climax is given the chance to iterate its new formula again.

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.

A beautiful game set in a thoroughly boring world.
By Justin Haywald 12/08/2009

Developer Climax Studios calls Silent Hill: Shattered Memories a “re-imagining” of the original Silent Hill, but that’s a bit disingenuous. The only thing that ties this game to Silent Hill, the series or the game, are the characters’ names, a few of the location names, and the fact that you start out by searching for your daughter. Otherwise, Shattered Memories could have been set anywhere, and called “Icy Ghost Journey.” It’s a good-looking game, and it makes great use of the Wii Remote, but it’s not scary or challenging enough to make a real, lasting impression.

The game is very short, which speaks more to excellent pacing and a streamlined approach rather than a lack of gameplay. My first playthrough didn’t take more than six hours, and I appreciate how Shattered Memories abandons fetch quests (a staple of other Silent Hill games). But the few puzzles the game contains are childishly simple. Keys are always “hidden” practically in plain sight right next to their respective doors, and the answers to the rudimentary puzzles you find are clearly spelled out in text messages and voicemails you receive on your in-game cell phone. The game could have done something at least mildly difficult that didn’t break with the world’s setting.

Challenging puzzles aren’t the only thing missing from Shattered Memories though; the game also completely eschews combat. Danger is contained to times when you enter a frigid “other” world — a cool effect where ice inches over the landscape, covering and subtly warping everything it touches. The nightmares you face in this twisted place look like the freakish ghouls of past Silent Hill games, but this time around you can’t fight back. That actually makes sense — it always seemed weird that anything physical could harm the ghoulish denizens of Silent Hill’s underbelly. However, they can still attack you. Your only defense is to shake them off and keep running away, and that’s where the game hits its weakest point.

Throwing enemies off when they jump on you involves jerking your remote and Nunchuk as if you were actually trying to cast the them off of you. But it usually takes several throws to get even one enemy tossed, and they gang up and surround you very quickly. Pair that with the fact that it’s too easy to get lost in the game’s frozen, nightmare sections, and it just sets you up to die over and over again, in frustrating succession, until you’ve learned the path the game wants you to take. You have a useless map that doesn’t show you the inside of any building, nor impassible routes. Plus, when you have the map pulled up, you can only walk, and not run, at the same time (unless you let it fill the whole screen, in which case you can’t move at all), and putting it away takes a few seconds too long. This ensures you won’t have time to check where you’re going when you most need it. These areas didn’t have to be strictly linear, but it would have made me feel a lot better if I had some way of knowing where to go, instead of blindly running in circles.

You quickly learn that the only times you’re in danger are these nightmare levels when the world’s encased in ice. While that provides you with plenty of time to explore unhindered, it also makes you feel pretty safe most of the time. You might see an occasional creepy shadow, or the wisp of a person who only appears when you take their picture, but when there’s no chance of harm befalling you, what’s there to be afraid of?

Despite these frustrations, after finishing the game once I was still eager to jump back into the world and find out just how much my psychological profile changes the game. From the very start, the game is intercut with a therapist who asks you questions about your personality, the answers to which affect different parts of the game (like how other characters respond to you, what they’re wearing, and which buildings you can access). My second time through the game, I took the opposite tack in every way… and found out the game doesn’t significantly change. I want to point out that the voice actors do a wonderful job with their characters, and even the slightly altered lines read just as convincingly on second hearing. But by the time I reached my slightly different ending, I didn’t feel any more satisfied (nor less confused) than I did the first time.

The sexuality in the game is also strangely overt. Your counselor who dominates the game’s frame story constantly asks about it and you see ghosts killed in the throes of autoerotic asphyxiation. I don’t mind the content, but I don’t understand the context. And it’s even stranger when it refers to characters the game has never introduced. While Harry seems to be the focus of most of the game’s memories, you’ll also get texts from Steve and Michelle, but what connection they have to you and your journey is woefully unexamined, even when you take the time to delve into the game’s dark nooks and crannies.

Altogether, Shattered Memories presents something that will drive away Silent Hill veterans, who could care less about the plot that completely redefines what Silent Hill is, while newcomers will find a confusing, muddled tale with frustrating chase sequences. It’s praiseworthy that Climax tried to take the franchise in a new direction and created such a beautiful world, but Shattered Memories’ faults stand out too starkly. If the developer had tried to keep anything from Silent Hill, they should have ditched the faux plot relationship to past games and gone after what makes Silent Hill truly unique: the psychological scares.