Zero Punctuation: Silent Hill Origins

[AK3515]

just decided to contribute to the straining of the escapists servers.

 

[Esmoreit]

I was wondering, wouldn't it be wise to transfer you're Darkness and Fable reviews over to the escapist? They are still floating around somewhere on youtube but I doubt a lot of visitors here have seen them.

 

[Alphazero]

My "weapon" "degrades" every time I "use" it, if you "know" what I mean.

Just give me an hour. Where are you going?

 

[Hypersapien]

There has been a good game with weapon degradation--its called System Shock 2, Yahtzee and I named it before the second was up, too!

Agreed with the rest of the review though.

He didn't say there's never been a good game that had weapon degradation. He said there's never been a game where weapon degradation has been a good idea.

 

[SomeBlackGuy]

awesome review, still waiting for cod 4 review though =(

 

[Saria the Cat]

My "weapon" "degrades" every time I "use" it, if you "know" what I mean.

Just give me an hour. Where are you going?

I shouldn't be chuckling at this, but I am.

Anyway, Silent Hill has always been a favorite series of mine, though I only feel sentimentally tied to Silent Hill 2. I have been hesitant about touching any other entries into the series, including the movie, for fear of what I know will be a sure-fire mar on my relationship with the title. Fond SH Memory #114: Being a young frightened girl desperately adjusting the brightness as high up as it will go in particularly rash moments so that the town was so blinding, it looked like another sunny day in Pleasantville.

 

[blackadvent]

Fire Emblem?

 

[p1ne]

I thought of a game in which weapon degradation was a good idea during the one second given to me (System Shock 2, simply because it was well-implemented and fit nicely with the other RPG elements); does that mean I win?

 

[Thegreatoz]

when r v gonna c a review of crysis or cod4 or even ut3

Can your PC even play Crysis? Mine looked at the specs and laughed at me.

Anyway, its a shame to see this game do so poorly, a guess its just another nail in the psp's coffin.

 

[dan_the_manatee]

System Shock 2 took weapon degradation a bit far though. I think any self respecting marine in the future could reasonable expect a pistol to chuck out a few rounds without breaking. It's not like it's getting sand inside is it?
Interesting how bioshock did away with all that. I would have though weapons that fired electric buck and flaming arrows would have degraded pretty rapidly with all that water round...

 

[Odjin]

There has been a good game with weapon degradation--its called System Shock 2, Yahtzee and I named it before the second was up, too!

Agreed with the rest of the review though.

He asked to name one game where weapon degradation was a good idea, not one game that was good and happened to have weapon degradation in it. Both System Shock 2 and Jagged Alliance 2 have weapon degradation and are good games, but both would be better off without it...

I would disagree on this one. Granted in SS2 it had been too much. It's okay if your guns don't last forever since it's all moving parts that can wear but in SS2 it had been too fast. JA2 on the other hand struck a nice balance. Weapons degrade but at a low pace. Unless you play Rambo shooting full auto all time you have to fix up your guns not very often ( and hey, for wtf else you have that russian guy on your team if not to repair all your equipment with his dim wits... )

 

[AnGeL.SLayer]

Glee! hehe

 

[Rorkimaru]

The main flaw in this game was the length IMO. though some of the fear was removed with the mirrors SH V seems determined to take it all away with *Gasp* checkpoints.

i agree with most of what you say but i liked the puzzels and felt a lot of the atmosphere was there. the puppet-babbies still freak me out. but as i said the game is far too short still i have one ending left to get...

 

[Razzle Bathbone]

Fire Emblem?

Dingdingdingding! Winner!

And keep in mind that in SS2 all the weapons are made by the TriOptimum corporation. Which also makes money selling the maintenance tools. Did the weapons break faster than any well-made item should? Yes. Was this unrealistic? Not at all. Did worrying about the condition of your weapon add to the tension in the game? Absolutely.

 

[allatain]

I love your reviews Yahtzee but this review wasn't as good as your others, I think you loved the Silent Hill Series to the point where you can't possible even think of really reeming this game's arse. In your other reviews they were spot on and mean, it this one you were praising it a little more than you normally do other games

 

[VMerken]

YEAAHHHH!

I really like this review, feels like a complete return to form - raw speed, over-the-top-finger-licking-good vitriol in abundance, and a lot of valid points. I agree 95% with what has been said - for me, SH1 is the masterpiece rather than SH2. Sure, SH2 has Pyramid Head, but the prologue in SH1 is simply masterfully done. I never experienced anything which pulled me into a game like that prologue.

Thumbs up!

 

[RPJesus]

Fire Emblem?

Not in my experience. Granted I only played one for the GBA, but all it basically meant was that I had to pick up an assload of generic weapons for my tanks and only use their best weapons on special occaisions. I think Golden sun uses it nicely, although it barely uses it anyway but still, magic rings that break and have to repaired (namely the "Free healz" one) were nifty.