Silent Hill: Homecoming Preview
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E3 2008 Preview
Before Silent Hill: Homecoming was playable, its existence was shocking. No one was surprised that Konami wanted to publish a sequel. What surprised us is that Konami decided not to develop this Silent Hill title themselves, instead passing the torch to Double Helix, an amalgamation of developers from The Collective and Shiny Entertainment. Though I have nothing against the developer, the question that kept running through my mind was why would Konami, who has previously developed the console Silent Hill games in-house, outsource their prized material to another party?
The reason is because Double Helix showed that, if nothing else, they know how to make a Silent Hill game. They nailed the graphics, enhanced the sound, offered similar scenarios and reiterated the tried-and-true combat system without mucking it up. If you were afraid the Silent Hill series was moving away from its roots, don't be: Homecoming is just like the previous releases.
It's All In The Sound
Given the noise surrounding E3, even a smaller and sometimes way-too-quiet show like this year's event, Konami wanted to be certain that we could hear all that the new Silent Hill had to offer. Rather than crank the speakers and drown out players checking out the nearby Rock Revolution kiosks (or Elebits -- scary games might chase them away), Konami drenched our ears in surround sound headphones. I've had this kind of gaming experience before (one with sound being pumped into my ears), and this is by far one of the most amazing. The variety and subtlety of every sound is unbelievable. The music poured through at all times while other sound effects were included whenever necessary. There was a scratchy sound that -- and this is going to sound very weird -- actually made my ears itch. Maybe it was the loudness of the headphones, or maybe these sound designers know exactly what they're doing.
Footsteps, shattering glass, whining monsters -- these are the expected elements of a Silent Hill game. But in Homecoming you aren't limited to handful of sounds at one time. Throughout most of the demo, you were hearing several things simultaneously. An occasional voice, a baby crying, the sound of a blade slicing through flesh -- it's all here and it's all very engrossing. Not because we haven't heard those sounds before, and not because they're particularly cool or interesting. But because of the way they were implemented in this game, which could very well be its most prominent feature when it's released in September.
Still Dark. Still Creepy.
Homecoming may feature a new engine but it doesn't stray from the series' past. The graphics are purposely grainy (a slight grain -- not the excessive overlay of Silent Hill 2), and the shadows are extremely well done. One of the coolest things is that, when a shadow is placed strategically in a level, it can make you walk right past the next place you're supposed to go. It sounds frustrating and doesn't appear to be an intentional feature (at least the Capcom reps didn't think so), but it's actually cool and eerie.
The character models are very well rendered, but the stiff animations of the previous games have not been enhanced. The lead character, Alex Shepherd, moves just like the lead character of the first game. An odd decision considering this is a next-gen title. Konami must not be ready to move the series away from its past. Double Helix certainly wasn't.
Bugs, big and small, are frequent attackers in Homecoming, as are the demonic nurses who should never be allowed to hold a scalpel. No boss battles were encountered (the demo crashed just before the end, where a boss might have been waiting...), but there were plenty of dank environments to explore. Many were from the Silent Hill line of development: lots of hallways covered in red and brown textures, with a mix of black and other dark hues to give it the most creepy appearance possible.
It's hard to get scared in a bright video game event like E3, but based on the demo Konami had on display, it appears that Double Helix has done a solid job in creating a traditional Silent Hill sequel. Look for it to creep into stores this September.
