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[FF:Enhanced_Reality]

I am a huge Silent Hill fan. I still wish that Silent Hills would be resurrected and the franchise saved but I think I'd sooner find rocking horse shit...

Every September I have a gaming marathon with friends that I call 'Silent September.' Once a week after work a few friends come over, we hook the desktop up to the television and enjoy a Silent Hill game as a group of friends but every year for the past 9 years, at the end of October, I pop out the old PSP and blow the dust of my old copy of Silent Hill: Shattered Memories.

This is a title that I dearly love and hold in as high regard as Silent Hill 2. I genuinely believe this is the most original take on the franchise since SH2 and whilst it didn't scare me per-se, the psychological thriller nature of the game always hooked me. I first played this game at launch and I adored every moment of it. I ended up buying the PS2 and Wii versions to see what they were like too and something just captivated me about this game. Whether I could see the inherently British design (being a Brit myself) or just the fact that it was a different vision, I used to like to try different things to get the different endings and content.

Graphically the game was great for PSP and even on the other consoles that it graced. It does make me chuckle when I look at the save file time and it's like 24/10/2018 and my PSP is like, dude I wasn't even supposed to last this long. Similar to how you explain to your friends how you can't fight enemies, only run away and they're like... wait, what?

But there is something that resonates with this game and Halloween for me. Could it be tradition? I don't know. But i love the story of SH:SM, I love the characters, the narrative and the thrill of the confusion. A cacophony lullaby of a soundtrack and the inevitable heart break at the end. Spoiler if you've never played but...

Spoiler: Ending spoilers...

it always gets me when Harry walks into the room with the therapist at the end and you realise that you've been playing as Cheryl all along. No matter what you do, nothing is going to bring Harry back and he enjoys one last moment with his little girl. Sometimes it's sweet and sometimes it's sour.

Such a powerful moment and especially the ending

Spoiler: where

Harry is being abused by his drunken wife and she's just hitting him and he feels useless and powerless to do anything about it.

Maybe it's because it's a tradition but I find this game timeless and if you've never played it, I really do recommend it.

Do you have any Halloween gaming traditions that you have fond memories of?

 

[Northeastmonk]

I don't have any Halloween traditions, but I love the horror/psychological horror genre all year round. Makes me think back to when The Evil Within came out on October 14th and Resident Evil 6 on October 2nd. Also makes me sad that I'm the only person in my house who loves horror so much. Mary Elizabeth McGlynn has such amazing vocal tracks on the OST of Shattered Memories.

 

[FF:Enhanced_Reality]

I don't have any Halloween traditions, but I love the horror/psychological horror genre all year round. Makes me think back to when The Evil Within came out on October 14th and Resident Evil 6 on October 2nd. Also makes me sad that I'm the only person in my house who loves horror so much. Mary Elizabeth McGlynn has such amazing vocal tracks on the OST of Shattered Memories.

Oh absolutely, her rendition of always on my mind gave me chills.

 

[-Arcadia-]

I don’t know if this should have been a Silent Hill game (but then again, perverting everything about Silent Hill is part of what makes it brilliant), but this is a genuine classic. One of the smartest, most memorable games to go under the radar since Eternal Darkness.

Even beyond the writing and every single player getting their own version of the game, customized to play off their psychology, which is brilliant, the whole thing was just a great, crazy ride, from beginning to end.

 

[Closer]

The game is amazing, but is the ending that solidifies everything you went through. Before that, you keep wondering wth is going on and why everything is so disconnected and bizzare. Love it.

 

[Lupin3]

I am a huge Silent Hill fan. I still wish that Silent Hills would be resurrected

 

[Fusrodah]

I dont know how Konami executives don't care about Silent Hill high marketing potential...

 

[Northeastmonk]

I dont know how Konami executives don't care about Silent Hill high marketing potential...

From the Twitter feed of Masahiro Ito, it sounds like he was worn out. Konami chose non-Japanese studios to carry Silent Hill, so there wasn’t much they could do to salvage it. Kojima leaving was the nail in the coffin. I do wonder, with as much money Konami makes off gambling machines, why the hell cant they afford to give their former talent a proper working environment.

Oh absolutely, her rendition of always on my mind gave me chills.

Hell Frozen Rain is one of my favorites. Yeah, that song is good..“you were always on my mind”

 

[IbizaPocholo]

 

[EightBit Man]

Great review. Glad he ultimately liked the game, because it's really good.

 

[Xaero Gravity]

Great review. Glad he ultimately liked the game, because it's really good.

It's criminally underated in my opinion. One of the few Wii games I'd actually love to see ported over.

 

[EightBit Man]

It's criminally underated in my opinion. One of the few Wii games I'd actually love to see ported over.

Agreed. It was one of my favorite Wii games as well. One of those games also, that I played through multiple times for different outcomes.

 

[LemmingWithaParachute]

There was one on the Wii that was supposed to be pretty damn good, as well as in the tech department. Added it to my buy list a couple years ago but got sided tracked softmodding the wiiu. Need to fix that feckn Homebrew launcher at some point.

 

[Elektro Demon]

Shattered memories is a unique silent hill. I especially loved the therapist sequences.

 

[LemmingWithaParachute]

Oh.. Its this one.

Will get to it one day.

 

[Naibel]

Yeah it's an alright game. The best non-Team Silent entry of the franchise in fact.

It's a interesting take of the original SH. With no mention of the religious cult and the surnatural elements around it, it's also a more "grounded", more "realistic" story, by the series standards I mean.

I liked the psychoanalysis segments and how it somehow affected the game, even though it was very underutilized. It eventually came more as a neat gimmick than anything else. It's also a pretty good looking Wii game.

But yeah, if you expect a proper SH experience, you will be disappointed BIG TIME. It's not scary at all, it's as easy as it gets, it's shorter than even the first game, which was pretty short to begin with, and the running sections are clumsily implemented, with absolutely APPALLING motion controls.

There was a lot of unfulfilled potential that Team Silent I suppose could've exploited a bit more than Climax. It's still a worthy entry and a vaillant effort to change the formula a bit.

 

[IbizaPocholo]

 

[Northeastmonk]

This is when you hope Konami has a super secret waiting to be announced. No offense to that guy, but I’d love to see it come from its roots before any follow ups get made. Who knows? Maybe Konami isn’t listening and this is all we have left.

 

[Krappadizzle]

Such a great game and one of the few to use ALL of the tech of Wii pretty much as well as it possibly could. Loved the flashlight and the cell phone speaker with the controller. That ending too took me by surprise. It's probably my 4th favorite Silent Hill behind SH2/3/1.

 

[Heimdall_Xtreme]

i play it in PSP and what a amazing experience

 

[ExpandKong]

excuse me what

My favorite post-team silent game in the franchise. Due for a replay I think.