Always On My Mind: Silent Hill: Shattered Memories Review

Two names stand out in the long list of survival horror games, two games that have proven themselves to have…well, survived far beyond the others: Resident Evil and Silent Hill. Both made their start on the original PlayStation, both have had film adaptations and both have made the jump to “next generation” console gaming.

The two have progressed hand-in-hand: when Resident Evil dropped its survival horror theme, replacing scares with a more action focussed experience, Silent Hill followed, but found itself floundering in overly complicated plot twists, and when it made its step in an action genre, never quite attained the same levels of success. This all pushed Silent Hill into the background, becoming a cult favourite while Resident Evil reached for blockbuster status.

Silent Hill: Shattered Memories from Climax Studios, the latest entry in the Silent Hill series attempts to bring the series back to its psychological roots and reinvigorate the franchise creating a tense, unique experience, one which is, importantly, no longer tied down by continuity. While on the surface Silent Hill: Shattered Memories may seem like a simple remake of the seminal 1999 game that spawned the franchise, it both reinvents and revitalises the series, proving to be a game suitable for the series’ cult following and also newcomers. With a list of changes to the gameplay that take advantage of the Wii’s control, including some gesture/pointing based controls and more, the series has dropped its action focus, and has returned firmly to the basis of psychological horror.

While some may consider this a remake, the similarities to the original game are few and far between: you once again take the role of Harry Mason, a concerned father, stumbling from the wreckage of his crashed SUV to search the blizzard-covered town of Silent Hill for his missing daughter Cheryl. There’s plenty of radio static, and those who’ve played the original (or even seen Christoph Gans’ movie) will notice some similar names, but beyond that Shattered Memories replaces the rusty, cult-obsessed hellishness and stiff combat of its predecessors with a still, cold ice covered stillness and even removes the combat elements completely. A narrative-focused adventure game, Shattered Memories focuses more on leading players on a Lynchian trip through an American small town than pitching you against monsters.

Of course, that’s not to say there are no monsters here: when the town freezes over, its icy inhabitants terrifyingly pursue Harry. But with no real weapons to hand, players are expected to spend their time fleeing for their lives rather than fighting waves oncoming attackers. This is all greatly helped by the contribution of series composer Akira Yamaoka, whose unique industrial style adds creepy music to every corner of the town, and a dark, sinister cover version of the ever-covered “Always On My Mind” that players can expect to hear a lot of.

The “levels” of Silent Hill: Shattered Memories play significantly more like chapters, each split into three distinct sections: the story is framed as the players sit in a psychiatrist’s office, taking a number of tests and asked about Harry’s search for his daughter. Most of these tests involve answering questions, either nodding or shaking the Wii remote to give answers, but there are also tasks involving sorting items and even a colouring-in game. In keeping with this, the game begins with an early warning that the game will play you as much as you will be playing it.

The story then flashes back to Harry’s search as he attempts to navigate the town caught in the middle of a blizzard:  walking around, interacting with some of the town’s individuals, Harry is tasked with solving puzzles to move through the town, puzzles that uncover some of his history, Cheryl’s and people they both know, most of which make use of Harry’s phone, incorporating text messages, GPS, a camera and phonecalls that make use of the built-in speakers in the Wii remote. Often times, such a revelation occurs moments before Silent Hill is engulfed in ice, leaving Harry with no defence, and no choice but to run from a horde of increasingly disfigured monsters until things become once again “safe”. The lack of combat is a big departure for the series, although few will miss the lack of clunky “tank” controls and enemies which take 100 shots to take down. For some, the lack of enemies in the “real” world may make things seem safe but the lack of weapons keeps the “Other World” sections tense and frantic and there are plenty of scares to be had in the town of Silent Hill, even from sources other than its monstrous inhabitants.

The most interesting aspect of Shattered Memories though is the psychological changes that happen both in and out of the psychiatrist’s sessions, all of which affect the game in ways that range from strikingly obvious to discreet: colouring a picture has an effect on the following scene, but the game keeps a constant eye on all of the player’s choices, and the various different choices will highlight different aspects of Silent Hill, from the town’s alcoholism to sexual deviance, and these changes will even have an effect on Harry himself.  It helps to make the game doubly interesting, as players will second-guess the implications of every action they make. While the game itself is an unfortunately short experience, this aspect of the game makes the game immediately replayable, and you may just be tempted to start again, just to see what happens.

It all comes together to make Silent Hill: Shattered Memories a unique mature horror experience, not so easily found on the Wii (or any other platform, to be fair) and makes this one of the best games that the franchise has has to offer.

Zombie Rating: A

Silent Hill: Shattered Memories is out now on Nintendo Wii.