Silent Hill: Shattered Memories Review
Shattered Memories is not quite the reboot the series needed.
Written By Grant Holzhauer

You may have visited the town of Silent Hill before, but not like this. The eerily omnipresent fog, the burned-out buildings and familiar locales were dumped in favor of something almost completely new. Character references to previous entries in the series persist, and of course the town has the same name, but Shattered Memories for Wii is not your childhood Silent Hill.

The absence of combat makes Shattered Memories a bit frustrating.

We won’t bore you with details of the plot, which as you can surmise is overly confusing and not the reason to play the game. You visit Silent Hill for the cheap scares. Well, unfortunately, you may have come to the wrong game. Here’s what you will recognize: a convoluted plot involving a missing daughter and rampant, depraved ghosts; frequent switching between the “real” world and a ghastly nightmare realm; and many locked doors with craftily hidden keys.

Some may argue that the biggest change to the formula is the icy world that overtakes reality when Harry Mason, the lone protagonist, enters a nightmare. Indeed, this does provide a fresh aesthetical change to the series, more known for disintegrating edifices and a predominance of the color red. This change is appreciated, but more pronounced is the utter lack of combat. Monsters still lurk the dark hallways and attack, but you’re only repercussion is to toss them off with glorious Wii remote waggling or, better yet, avoid them. These dastardly demons no longer roam the streets during periods of normalcy, so the feeling of imminent danger is drastically decreased.

Also hampering the mood is the fact that this is a multiplatform game, and not one destined for next generation consoles. Shattered Memories is also available on the graphically inferior PSP and PS2, which means that any graphical flares present in the Wii edition are minimal at best. It’s the best looking version, no doubt, but after Silent Hill Homecoming, our expectations were raised. The transformation of the over world into ice is still pleasantly enjoyable, albeit decidedly not creepy (unless you have a fear of ice), but overall, the visuals feel a tad dated.

Shaking your fists and making gestures with the Wii remote adds a greater sense of immersion, but the gestures feel forced and contrived. This is simply not a game with enough depth to cause us to believe that our physical movements have real impact on the screen. The Wii’s lack of 5.1 audio is also sorely missed. Creaking footsteps in the darkness make the hair on the back of our necks spring to life, but not with the same intensity that it does when we’re surrounded by it. Let’s face it: this is a next generation franchise trapped in a last-generation shell.

source: Silent Hill: Shattered Memories Review | 01/04/2010