Silent Hill: Shattered Memories Impressions

Even though the original Silent Hill has always been a favorite of mine, I never once expected a reimagining of the game would emerge as the most promising title on tap at Konami.

Since the release of Team Silent's textured PlayStation 2 sequel, the Silent Hill series has slowly lost steam over the years. The most recent entry, Silent Hill Homecoming, was turned over to American developer Double Helix a few years back. The result was a competent but ultimately soulless retread of previous themes, and it appeared as if the once-fresh horror series was lost in its own fog.

So it was with some trepidation that I sat down to watch a presentation of Silent Hill: Shattered Memories during Konami's recent 2009 preview event. After all, what could be more of a retread than a self-described "reimagining"?

But Shattered Memories is not the game I feared. As Konami producer Tomm Hulett explained, it is a re-imagining in the style of Battlestar Galactica, distancing itself from the first work to a degree that renders direct comparisons far less important than if it were a simple remake. This is a variation on a theme, which seems to have enough ideas of its own to merit attention.

First, let's get the "reimagining" aspect cleared up: Shattered Memories is still set around helpless protagonist Harry's quest to locate his missing daughter Cheryl in the spooky titular town. Crackling static and bizarre monsters are present, and the Mature rating is intact. Venerable Silent Hill composer Akira Yamaoka also returns.

Perhaps the most obvious change comes in the form of a new arctic theme. Rather than the typical hellish transformation into burnt orange tones, the world of Silent Hill now shifts into a frozen tundra when things get scary. In the end, I couldn't care less whether this one is called Silent Hill: Caribbean Dreams or not; it's the refreshing attention to gameplay mechanics that make this a title to watch.

For instance, rather than using text to inform the player whether a door is locked, or what Harry thinks about a particular picture frame, this is information is now entirely conveyed through narration. If you point your flashlight at a picture, Harry will pipe up with an audio-based quip. That in itself is not a revolutionary development, but stay with me.

Speaking of the flashlight, the Wii Remote will control the beam, with Harry's movement being mapped to the analog stick. Watching the game on screen, the controls seemed very fluid, while the big focused spotlight appeared effective in its creepiness.

The flashlight will now be even more important in light of the outright removal of combat. That's right: Harry will now be forced to run from every enemy he spots. One scene saw him scrambling underneath tables and dodging his way through doorways. It's a refreshing change of pace for a series that never emphasized combat in the first place.

Did I mention there is no inventory system whatsoever? Harry's cell phone will serve as the game's only menu-based device, serving several functions in a single in-game interface. Basics such as a GPS fill in for the usual map; players can scrawl notes on the device that stay, and plot routes through the city streets that transpose to the mini-map.

But probably the most interesting aspect of the phone is the basic phone functionality. Players will sometimes find phone numbers located throughout the world, such as a billboard or, if past games are any indication, scrawled in blood on a wall. Calling these number on the phone will yield surprising results, and unlock extra story content.

The phone also has a built-in camera, which features an impressive low-resolution effect as Harry lines up his iPhone-like LCD. Of course, this is Silent Hill, so your subjects will largely be dead; pointing the camera at an empty swingset, for instance, might reveal a ghostly little girl, or a scene of a grisly murder. For taking the pictures, players will receive voicemail and text messages, acting as further story elements.

On top of all that, the phone also allows players to save, and fills in for the usual Silent Hill radio. When enemies approach, it is now the phone that hisses with demonic white noise--a sound that will emanate from the Wii remote's speaker.

Beyond the gameplay mechanics, an overarching "psyche profile" system will provide some level of dynamic progression to Harry's journey. The game will be analyzing the player's personality at every turn and adapting the level design and characters based on choices as mundane as looking a picture first as you walk into a room. It remains to be seen whether this will be a robust, complex system, or simply a shuffling of the cards.

Hulett also gave us a look at a few of the game's puzzles, some of which are physics-driven. Environmental interaction will be possible in many situations, allowing Harry to change the channel on a security camera or, in the case of one scenario, shake several aluminum cans to discover a hidden key. This did not look exciting in the least, and one would hope that tapping the "interact" button as you walk around a room has not merely been replaced by equally silly exercises.

Despite that one stumbling point, the concept that Hulett kept hammering at--a streamlined version of Silent Hill, where the game world is never broken by a loading screen or inventory menu--seemed a sensible goal. As strange as it sounds, I found the simple mechanical improvements and additions more exciting than any grotesque monster concepts or in-depth story treatments would have been. If the basic horror setups have been given as much thought, Shattered Memories could shape up to be a worthy reentry to a great franchise.

Silent Hill: Shattered Memories will hit the Wii, PlayStation 2 and PSP this fall.