I just finished Homecoming, and I have to say that the reviews are worse then I thought they would be
I wrote a review on the game for my blogspot (I felt like I needed to write this)
--Edit-- fixed some errors and the paragraph layout, enjoy, any REAL criticism would be great
Silent hill has always been known as one of the scarier survival-horror games to grace our consoles and pc's. Having played all the Silent hill games (besides Origins), you could have guessed I was extremely eager to play this new Silent hill game, and my anticipation was pretty high.
Homecoming was made by Double Helix studios, thus making it the second American made Silent hill game. You could easily tell that the game was created by a USA based studio due to the fact that it had been completely re-vamped. The combat system, the items menu, and the overall story were completely different. The game had also borrowed a few elements from the Silent Hill movie, such as the ?Pyramid Head? design, ?Nurse? designs and the new addition of "Order members" as enemies.
The story was extremely simple to understand and it had a mild "twist" in the end. This is where Homecoming lost its edge, the story was by far one of the weakest in the series, and by weakest I mean that it lacks the creativity that we all yearn for in a Silent hill game. The Silent hill story line has so many possibilities, but Homecoming just did not deliver any of those possibilities.
The story: Your name is Alex Shepherd, a soldier returning home from the war only to find out your brother is missing and your father has left to go find him in a town called "Silent Hill". After seeing your hometown, Shepherd?s Glenn, overrun with monsters, you begin to search for your brother, only to find yourself venturing into Silent Hill.
The game play in Homecoming was a great improvement from the other games and besides a few minor flaws when fighting some bosses and some enemies. The new combat system makes the game enjoyable and allows the player to be more involved instead of just running around and randomly beating something on the ground. Homecoming?s combat system allows you to dodge and do two melee attacks: a light attack and a slower but more powerful heavy attack. The over the shoulder camera is a nice improvement as well and the new items menu also solves the problem of having to slowly access weapons and items from the menu screen. In Homecoming the two top bumpers allow for a quick access menu for healing items, puzzle items, and weapons.
The music isn't as nice as most Silent hill games, but it was good enough to pass off in this game. I say this because the sound effects were not as eerie or mysterious as it was in other Silent hill games. I miss the screeching metal and high pitched whines from the previous games. Remember, music is one of the most important parts of any game, but this rule is especially important for survivor-horror games. Without the ambience of ghastly tunes, what would have in a survivor-horror game? Well, nothing really.
Finally, the concept. The overall concept. Does it feel like a Silent hill game? Yes and No. Yes it has the ghostly fog, the static-ridden radio and the dim flashlight, but it?s missing the demonic, mind bending presence in the story. It?s missing the great creature concepts and interesting character stories that make Silent Hill so enticing to the gaming audience. Homecoming has its? positives and negatives, but overall my feelings for the game were more negative than positive. I just didn't feel at home in Homecoming.
Pros: New Combat system, Easier access of items, Great graphics improvement, and Better Controls
Cons: Simple Puzzles, Weak Creature design, Bad Story, Too Short and Too easy
Overall Score: B-
While the score may seem low, its alot better than most sites (IGN 6.5 out of 10)
I wrote a review on the game for my blogspot (I felt like I needed to write this)
--Edit-- fixed some errors and the paragraph layout, enjoy, any REAL criticism would be great
Silent hill has always been known as one of the scarier survival-horror games to grace our consoles and pc's. Having played all the Silent hill games (besides Origins), you could have guessed I was extremely eager to play this new Silent hill game, and my anticipation was pretty high.
Homecoming was made by Double Helix studios, thus making it the second American made Silent hill game. You could easily tell that the game was created by a USA based studio due to the fact that it had been completely re-vamped. The combat system, the items menu, and the overall story were completely different. The game had also borrowed a few elements from the Silent Hill movie, such as the ?Pyramid Head? design, ?Nurse? designs and the new addition of "Order members" as enemies.
The story was extremely simple to understand and it had a mild "twist" in the end. This is where Homecoming lost its edge, the story was by far one of the weakest in the series, and by weakest I mean that it lacks the creativity that we all yearn for in a Silent hill game. The Silent hill story line has so many possibilities, but Homecoming just did not deliver any of those possibilities.
The story: Your name is Alex Shepherd, a soldier returning home from the war only to find out your brother is missing and your father has left to go find him in a town called "Silent Hill". After seeing your hometown, Shepherd?s Glenn, overrun with monsters, you begin to search for your brother, only to find yourself venturing into Silent Hill.
The game play in Homecoming was a great improvement from the other games and besides a few minor flaws when fighting some bosses and some enemies. The new combat system makes the game enjoyable and allows the player to be more involved instead of just running around and randomly beating something on the ground. Homecoming?s combat system allows you to dodge and do two melee attacks: a light attack and a slower but more powerful heavy attack. The over the shoulder camera is a nice improvement as well and the new items menu also solves the problem of having to slowly access weapons and items from the menu screen. In Homecoming the two top bumpers allow for a quick access menu for healing items, puzzle items, and weapons.
The music isn't as nice as most Silent hill games, but it was good enough to pass off in this game. I say this because the sound effects were not as eerie or mysterious as it was in other Silent hill games. I miss the screeching metal and high pitched whines from the previous games. Remember, music is one of the most important parts of any game, but this rule is especially important for survivor-horror games. Without the ambience of ghastly tunes, what would have in a survivor-horror game? Well, nothing really.
Finally, the concept. The overall concept. Does it feel like a Silent hill game? Yes and No. Yes it has the ghostly fog, the static-ridden radio and the dim flashlight, but it?s missing the demonic, mind bending presence in the story. It?s missing the great creature concepts and interesting character stories that make Silent Hill so enticing to the gaming audience. Homecoming has its? positives and negatives, but overall my feelings for the game were more negative than positive. I just didn't feel at home in Homecoming.
Pros: New Combat system, Easier access of items, Great graphics improvement, and Better Controls
Cons: Simple Puzzles, Weak Creature design, Bad Story, Too Short and Too easy
Overall Score: B-
While the score may seem low, its alot better than most sites (IGN 6.5 out of 10)
