The Negatives of Silent Hill Homecoming

[hairymason]

There is only one engative to me, and it seems to infect the entire game from end to end, top to bottom, back to front. Every aspect of this game is just so rushed and cheap, it seems more of a case of getting the game out in too big a hurry than it does who did it or what the ideas were. Why would Konami release this linear, unimaginative, short sited, and utterly simplistic version of a story that had already 5 or 6 titles at the time.

REVEAL SPOILER

If you take an inventory of the puzzles, therre are only too that are hard, the one to get in daddy shepherd's desk (actually more tedious than hard) and the only one that can pass for hard besides that is the medals in the nightmare version of the sherherd house. The only thing that makes that hard is that there is no clues. Or at least I never saw them. Puzzles aren't exactly exclusive to the silent hill universe bu tthey have been there from the start. These puzzles were more of a nuisance than an obstacle. The monsters were out of a cleche' generator, and the music was cut-rate for Yamaoka, which is of course eons better than most games will ever be. The story, well there was no plot twist, unless it took you to the end of the others to figure out that Kidman and her kids were ghosts. The intro pretty much tells me that Alex is crazy and his brother is dead, then I get to the library and there is a collection of 4 books explaining all the founder's purposes, corresponding portraits of the founders, except for the shepherd one which is in a different room laying on a desk(foreshadowing, or spotlighting?).

Even Origins, which was meant for a portable, had more thought put into it. Course it was full of glitches, but a portable version of Silent Hill was probably a bad idea anyway. Unless you are gonna take it into your closet. And the areas were too small and linear, with few obstacles that you couldn't solve with the jump or the knife.

[Alppu90]

Damn! Last time I played this was on March. I was VERY frustrated at that time after playing Homecoming. I do not like this game. The worst Silent Hill ever! The only and one problem is extremely hard enemies. You can't kill them without taking any damage. I don't know what's the problem with the dodge system. I just can't block the attacks of enemies.

I'm at the motel now and I was collecting those cards for the woman who was hiding in a dark room behind a door. I just got the last card and I was trying to fight through to the save point and... I died because of an annoying nurse. I've died from that nurse's knife multiple times earlier... That SAME nurse always kills me. Fuck!

I think I'll keep a long pause, AGAIN, and I'll continue this game... maybe after a year.

I wanna the Laser Pistol, now!

Damn I hate this...

Edit:

Well... I still continued the game. Now I'm at the Shepherd's Glen again, without any healing items. (It was a painful tour in the sewers) My head is going to blow... I'm dying constantly, all the time. The "Continue?" screen shows up pretty often and the game is getting harder and harder. Oh my god, how can I survive...? It looks impossible. Hello, this isn't a Resident Evil!

I have to say that I've completed Silent Hill 2 with 0 points in James' damage, in a beginner mode of course, but still. Homecoming just breaks my nerves...

Edit 2:

Now to think of it, this game is very frightening, but in a wrong way. The one and only scary thing is the "FEAR OF DEATH". Original Silent Hills (1-4) gave the most important and ideal elements into the whole concept of horror. Roughly said, those games (at least 1,2 and 3) focused on the "oppressive atmosphere" in the name of horror, as you all know.

The fear of death gives you too much dread which in the worst case, makes you to stop playing and the result is: Your playing isn't making any progress. Or it makes a very slow progress.

The oppressive atmosphere is tightly around the game. You are afraid all the time (I hope so ). This kind of fear is different, it's like a "beautiful" fear. You can enjoy of the game and this fear mostly doesn't stop your playing and progress.

For example as I played Silent Hill 1 through for the first time couple of days ago and I have to say that I really was scared. But I was very brave and finished the game.

But still, the difference between "the fear of death" and "oppressive atmosphere" is a loose concept. It depends on people how they experience it.

[Silent tHrILL]

the difference between "the fear of death" and "oppressive atmosphere" is a loose concept. It depends on people how they experience it.

yeah you put it right on point. i think the "fear of death" as you put it, is a great addition to the game to me, because only that you can control the camera and move about faster than in the older installments doesn't mean you have gained any advantage over the monsters. now you have to rely on your own reaction speed to dodge and bash. ( the controls are still messed up ) in fact the game becomes more direct to me.
i totally love this feeling of "when are gonna get me?". but on the other hand i have to agree with you that all the other elements of horror, this game is lacking almost completely compared to its predecessors.

[Sunderpants]

Playing through it, I really felt that the devs (and Konami) tried way to hard to recreate the success that they had with Silent Hill 2, while at the same time trying to market the franchise to those who were fed a steady diet of Resident Evil, while at the same time trying not to piss off the hardcore Silent Hill fans.

The result was a satisfactory combat system and a nice atmosphere (put those in the 'positives' column), but with a lackluster, copycat narrative and a forgettable cast of characters.

[Wren]

compared to other games, I didn't play HC or SM as much, but my two cents on HC is...

the plot seemed a little sexist in certain points (Elle. Period.)
the combat was too RE (RE feeling, not semantics wise)
and I agree with ^ about forgettable characters.

I didn't HATE the game, but it wasn't the best Silent Hill in my opinion.

[HomicidalManiac]

I didn't find so much negativity in this game but Alex should have refrained from saying the phrase: "WHAT DID YOU DO!" because it got VERY irritating with a capital VERY... it was no bodys fault when he said it so it was just..stupid ha but really i luv the game its my 2nd favorite.. silent hill 4 is my favorite

[sereda008]

Worst game in the series so far. It is still fun, but that is all it is. Silent hill 2 was like a religion: You sit (I have accidentally mistyped "Sin", but that might also be right ) in front of the PC and admire the game's darkness. You admire everything in it, wonder about what you don't know and feel that the next thing you want to do would be to kill your wife and drive into a town that ends with a ___"Hill".
SH 6, on the other hand, is more of an action game. You run, fight, run, get bored from the advanced special effects, run, fight, solve a puzzle (Which is so rare in the game that I might have not mentioned it in at all), run... etc. There is a creepy atmosphere, but you think more whether there is a mutated zombie hiding under the sewer rather than if you are actually in any danger. It is creepy in the underground place where you get into a worker's costume, stained in blood, but that is only the one moment.
It is cool that they used the movie nurses, but it does not have the same feel. It is basically just another survival horror game on the shelves.

[Purramid_Head]

I think HC stole a bit from the Fatal Frame[series].

REVEAL SPOILER

Ritual fails, involving human sacrifice. Things go to hell and a hand basket.

[samael21walter]

I'll try to keep this short, but like usual I'll end up going on forever. The negatives in Homecoming really outweigh the positives. Combat, atmosphere, storyline, graphics...everything felt rushed and slopped together on a disc to meet the release date. The graphics weren't good by any standards (I think Silent Hill 3+4 looked better). The combat, while frustrating at first, became too repetitive and easy once you learned the attack patterns of the monsters. The storyline seemed uninspired and thrown together. It's like they watched the movie and read a thin plot guide to the rest of the games. Most of the areas in this game don't have atmosphere. It feels a lot more like going through some cheesy amusement park horror ride than actually being in the place. Hell's Descent was the only place that I just walked through slowly, in awe, because of how beautifully designed it was. That level was the best thing in the whole game. The game as a whole can be described as a good horror/action game, but NOT a good Silent Hill game. I'm still waiting for a true Silent Hill sequel...the new ones (since Origins) can't seem to follow the main plot of the series. There weren't THAT many plot holes with 1-4, but ever since Origins, there's such obvious plotholes that it's evident the developers didn't do their homework.

[WhiteClaudia]

Although I did like the game with it's story line, the one thing I DID NOT like about the game was the simple fact that it didnt feel like a Silent Hill game to me. While playing the game I didn't get that same Silent Hill game feeling that I did with Silent Hill 1, 2, or 3. I still to this day can't put my finger on it, but it just never did to me...

[Deathbyfuego]

I thought most of endings were pretty boring and unoriginal. Even the UFO ending wasn't so great. I did like the Drowning ending though.

[OverlookedMotel]

Elle.
The Graveyard level (just a little too "haunted house" style for a SH game).
The drill scene (in fact, the entire Lair portion of the game that was clearly inspired by Hostel).
The final plot twist.
Some of the monster designs could have been better.
Shepherd's Glen should have been a lot bigger than it was.

Wow, my list of Homecoming negatives is actually shorter than the positives. Am I really a Silent Hill fan...?

[Perry Mason]

- The combat seemed clunky at times, especially when dodging enemies
- Some of the enemies didn't seem to have a balance of hitpoints, I could kill one giant spider with two hits but have to kill another one with ten or twelve hits
- The puzzles didn't really have any challenge to them

Overall I'd say these problems came more from the game's somewhat rushed feeling, I think if the game had spent a little more time in development these problems probably wouldn't have made such an impact on the final product, it actually makes me happier to see the current games delayed for a little while, it seemed like this game was more a learning experience than anything for future Silent Hill games.

[Lupos87]

-The entire amnesia gimmick with Alex was just too forced, felt like executive meddling, and was just too damn goofy when they showed it. There were so many, better things that could have been done here rather than to try and repeat Silent Hill 2's "WHAT A TWIST!" moment. Honestly, what would have been wrong with Alex actually having been in the army after

REVEAL SPOILER

accidentally killing Josh

, trying to atone for it by serving his country like his father did, knowing what he did when he finally came home, and finding the blowback from his actions were worse than he had ever imagined? I feel that that story right there would have been more engrossing, more believable, and ultimately more Silent Hillish than the final product. As I said, it feels like they may have had this in mind when starting the development, and then someone (I don't know who!) told them that they needed to add in an amnesia angle to make it more like SH2 because SH2 is the hottest selling and most popular entry in the series. Good God SH:HC, you could have been somebody! You could have been a contender!

-Glitches, obviously. Including the one that made it so my 360 decided to stop reading the game as an actual disc. Yeah.

--Empty levels with little nightmare imagery. Many of the stages just feel barren and thus lack much of that "What the hell?!" factor that made the previous games so freaky. They didn't even use movie imagery for God's sake, they just left much of the stages barren. Speaking of levels...

-Hostel level, needed to go. Immediately!!!

-Lack of good puzzles. I think the fan puzzle was the only decent one.

-Soooooo much potential and it was ultimately let down by what I feel was a mixture of rushing, executive meddling, and perhaps the occasional incompetence on the developers part.

[fishthedinner]

Although I haven't played homecoming I have played with a friend to a certain part and have seen videos on it and I have a few negative things to say along with the good things mentioned in the opposite topic

Game is too action oriented and certain enemy AI doesn't have the intelligence I know and love from silent hill 4 (stupid dogs and rubber monster things....).

I do feel that the rooms in an area you are in should have seperate maps like they did in silent hills 1 to origins so the developers could add creative atmosphere to the rooms (although it is possible to keep the rooms in the one map and have a good atmosphere in them, enemies in the area would burst into the room and ruin the atmosphere)

The otherworld clinic had potential at the start and I loved the amnesia like machine puzzle, but it is so short, very linear, doesn't make sense at all and seems to be a foundary and doesn't entirely feel like an otherworld mokery of the clinic except for the dolls. (probably could have been a hospital area, an extension to the hospital from the beginning of the game perhaps?)

Very little exploration can be done in Shepards Glen, as you can only go around the L shaped street you're designated in

[WisHouse]

Some weird facial animations and the hair textures probably... thats all I can remember now

[MoonBlade]

The lack of story was really grating, but even more than that was the lighting. The two scenes that show this off the most are where Alex tries to give Josh Robbie through the bars of the gate vs. when Alex leaves Elle w/ Wheeler. In the former, the lighting is PERFECT. The shadows of the bars are played wonderfully across Alex's face giving many subtle hints of what is happening. The fact that Josh's face is always hidden in darkness while the underlighting from behind him gives him sort of a heavenly aura around him, again gives subtle hints about what is happening. The latter is horrific. The lighting is so atrocious that Alex doesn't even look human. His face looks worn to the age of 80 or 90 and many of his human features are lost to the darkness. He looks like an old, demonic rendition of his former self.
Unfortunately, most of the lighting in the game follows the latter's path. Everything is too dark to make out or so overly lit by the fog's blinding light that it is pretty much pointless to even look at the characters on the screen.

[JaneTheNurse]

I do agree that the amnesia schtick has kind of run its course in the series, but I did like the sincerity that I saw from Alex when he figured out what happened. I also like that he didn't just inexplicably teleport to some other area with Josh so that Josh could give a few last words. So I guess that's more a negative of Silent Hill 2 for me than anything.

[ÆNEMA]

Most of this game was terrible to me. Its qualifications as a Silent Hill game aside, it was glitchy, looked half-finished, and incredibly tedious. A general assortment of things that made this game a really terrible experience for me:

• It is necessary to kill nearly every enemy- they will pursue Alex relentlessly unless you reach a loading area.
• Fights are all obnoxiously pattern based ( making enemies either laughably easy or really difficult ) & take too long. They become extra annoying when the dodge button is unresponsive and the monsters hack off a good third of Alex's hit in an unbreakable combo.
• Save points are awkwardly spaced out.
• Judge Holloway & Curtis are terrible twirly-mustache villains and their character models look god awful and unfinished.
• The human enemies felt incredibly out of place in the series and had terrible AI's that enjoyed watching and waiting patiently while their comrades are mercilessly knifed to death by Alex.
• Several areas are really bland and forgettable, especially the hotel. The reuse of things like the same dead body in every area made the game feel lazy and the cemetery was a really cheesy looking level.
• "The Lair" is far too reminiscent of Hostel with the drill, the circular saw ( no seriously, there's a scene in Hostel 2 where a guy teases a girl with a circular saw ) and the overall design of the level resembling the torture chambers or whatever from the film. Placing this at the end so it's freshest in my memory didn't help.
• Sepulcher was the only good boss, but they ruined it with the stupid nonsensical set up with the armoires arranged in a circle. That did not make any sense and felt forced and stupid.
• The soundtrack was lacking & the 'ambient noise' felt like it was on too short of a loop in places like the hotel, and it was a little loud at times.
• The whole idea of this sect that broke off and is now gone seemed a little silly to me.
• The 'twist' concerning Alex & the military nullified the developers' excuse for making this game more action oriented.
• The amnesia 'twist' felt like a rehash.
• There's a theme of family and duty in the game, which is definitely interesting, but it's not pulled off particularly well. Which is a let down.

& There's probably more I could complain about but .. the point is that I did not enjoy Homecoming.

[Wren]

Elle.
The Graveyard level (just a little too "haunted house" style for a SH game).

*cough*Boreley's Haunted Mansion*cough*