Homecoming reviews part 1

OXM has provided the nadir when it come to the reviews of the game so far, because the others have been pretty good. Here's GCHD's review which gave it an 85%, here's Ugo.com's which gave it an A+, and 1up's review which gave it a solid B. The reviews have certainly picked up, and it seems that the game is worth the money. The major problems seem to be the straight forward story and the Combat system which is good but has room for improvement. It seems that if Double Helix fixes the flaws in this game in their next entry, then we could be looking at the next Team Silent.

Fuck!!!

The first review of Homecoming that managed to slip out was awful; a paltry 6.5! This is not good, as the game releases tomorrow and I have yet to see another fucking review (as with movies, this is usually not a good sign). It looks like Homecoming is another Alone in the Dark. Still, not to worry; there are three promising Horror titles for the 360 on the horizon. First, of course, is Dead Space! The story is fucking tight, the visuals are amazing, and the gameplay mechanics are awesome. Then there's Alan Wake, which is finally set to debut in '09. Remedy took their time with this project, and from what I've been hearing this game is going to be great. It borrows a lot from Silent Hill with the alternate reality and nightmare imagery, but it also does a lot of things all it's own. I can't wait to see how the "light as a weapon" dynamics turn out. Lastly, there's Resident Evil 5; I really feel that the trailer says enough. Just one question, was that a Fucking El Gigante!? Overall, if Homecoming is as lame as this first review seems to fortell, then I'm waiting to put my money towards Dead Space. I'll get Homecoming next year when I can find it for $25-30 used. I'm not gonna waste my money on a new copy if this has turned out to be a sou crushing "fail!" If it is, I have one bit of advice for Konami; GIVE SILENT HILL BACK TO CLIMAX STUDIOS!!!

I'm never taking two upper level History courses at the same time again!

As is, by next week I have to finish reading two books that I haven't even begun yet. I then have to write a mock research proposal for one, and then a professional review for the other one. I also have a 10-12 page paper due in each class at the end of the semester! Fuck!!! Combine that with the portfolio I have to do for TLC 1, and this is pissing me off!

I just thought about something...

Some of you may have never even seen a Silent Hill game before, and I've been ranting about them for the past two or three days. So I decided to provide you with this; it's a Gametrailers retrospective of the series 1-4. It's a couple years old, so it doesn't have either Origins or 5 yet, but it is still a great recap of the original series and what it was all about. Enjoy!

I've been listening to these songs recently while surfing the web...

This series easily has some of the best music ever composed for a game. You would hardly believe, upon listening to these tracks, that they were written for Video Games. Yamaoka is a freakin' musical virtuoso. Listening to these songs, one feels their consciousness drift away into their own inner-world.

Breeze in the Monochrome Night- My personal favorite of these tracks, from Silent Hill 3. The complexity and beauty of the song just takes me away.

Blow Back- Easily the single best song from Silent Hill: Origins, which may have been the best in the series in terms of music. It actually managed to beat out 2 and 3 in my opinion, and it was worth playing the game just to hear the music.

O. R. T- Another track from Origins, and this is the opening song that's played in the background while Travis is pursuing the Astral Projection of Alessa down the road. I love the lyrics, they seem to convey Travis's tragedy perfectly.

Waverer- This one's from Silent Hill 4, and I mainly am attracted to it's bizarre sound. This is like something that you'd expect to be playing in a bizarre dream.

Maternal Heart- The beat to this Silent Hill 3 song is just fantastic, and it's really what keeps you listening, even after the ambient noises drift in and take over. The scene that fit with this music is really quite legendary in the Silent Hill mythos; the famous "They look like monsters to you?" 'sneer' "Oh, don't worry... it's just a joke."

Rain of Brass Petals- Another great track from Silent Hill 3. Mind you, these are all songs from moments of dialogue between the characters, none of these are the "scary" tracks, as those can just get difficult to listen to without the accompanying gameplay. Akira really goes all out in them.

Never Forgive me, Never Forget me- I know, most of these are from Silent Hill 3, but I'm remembering just how great the soundtrack of that game really was. This track was from the scene where Heather and Douglas lay the body of her murdered father out on his bed and drape his cover over him. I remember the scene at the end of the game when you step into the one room in nowhere that is fashined like Heather's father's room back at their apartment. You notice that the bed is completely soaked with blood, the body of her father is gone, and a trail of bloody footsteps lead back out the door. This is one of the most deeply disturbing images in the series in my opinion. Heather's mind, now fully under the influence of Alessa, is imagining that her father, "who once told her that he can't be killed because he's the strongest man in the world," has just gotten up off of his deathbed and walked away to god knows where. The signifigance, and rationality, of this scene can only, truly be apreciated in light of the mythos of the entire series.

Overdose Delusion- One of the end credits songs for Silent Hill 2, the other entry of the series that's famous for it's music.

Promise- This is probably the most famous track in the series. Once again, it is from Silent Hill 2, and it plays during a famous scene in the series. In this moment, James walks into a room which features a massive mirror which covers an entire wall of the room. Angela, another character lost in the town while looking for someone long dead, is holding a large kitchen knife in her hand, possible contemplating suicide. This scene, in my mind, defines her whole character and tragedy in my mind and is one of the most powerful scenes in the series.

Piannissimo Epilogue- This is the music that plays at the end screen of the second game, which as you all know shows how you did on your playthrough. I really just like the sound of it, I believe it has an ephemeral quality to it, like waking in the morning from a horrible nightmare to find that everything is as it was when you went to bed.

Null Moon- Another famous track, which plays during James's meeting with the mysterious woman, Maria. Listening to the music, one feels lonliness, a loss of who they are, and the feeling that they are pursuing a lost cause. This is THE definitive scene of the entire game; the introduction of James to his dream woman, his alternate version of Mary.

Forest Trail- Here's one of the darker tracks which plays during James's descent into the town of Silent Hill during the second entry of the series. Listening to the music, you can almost feel the danger, like the music itself is telling you to just turn the game off and leave while you still can. Take James back to his car, drive him away, tell him Mary didn't send him a letter from beyond the grave, and get him a Big Mac or something.

Fermata in Mistic Air- I love this piece, it's so sad; almost as if it Yamaoka were evoking Mozart's Requiem while composing it. This is the music that plays whilst James is carrying the limp, diseased corpse of Maria to the Cemetary in the Labyrinthe. It is certainly the scene that is most filled with symbolism in the game. The graves of Walter Sullivan and other murderers, the empty plots that bear the names of James, Eddie, and Angela; the three sinners whom the town has sentenced to damnation.

A World of Madness- The abstract nature of this Silent Hill 2 piece is just completely alluring to me. It allows one to drift away from their very body, entering a new world of theory and concept. I've got to admit, I use this music to study and brainstorm for my papers.

Ashes and Ghosts- The battle music of Westside Apartment Complex from Silent Hill 2. The music has a primitive sound to it which emulates the tension of the scene as James defends his life with a mere 2x4 with a nail in it. I also enjoy the ghostly end, which causes one to wonder what else is hiding in the dark mists. The low growl toys with the player's head, causing them to believe something more sinister lies just around the bend in this building, and those who have played know that something does lie dormant in the dark corners of James's waking nightmare.

Tear's of- A haunting track from the original entry of the series. It seems to evoke both the pitfalls of Harry's journey and the pain and suffering of Alessa's existence in her current state.

Until Death- The music that play's when Harry is first attacked by the bird demon in the first Silent Hill. Again, Yamaoka used an extremly minimalist sound that was supposed to highlight Harry's one objective, rescue his daughter from this living hell.

Silent Hill- Ah, the main theme of the series. It conjures memories in my mind of the first time that I played the game. I was twelve then, and nothing before had scared me more than this. It still remains on my top ten list of scariest games of all time. The opening, like that of Silent Hill: Origins, evokes a sort of "Lost Highway" feel. It also reminds one of "Twin Peaks," one of the largest influences for the game.

Not Tommorow- The sad music, and the scene that accompanied it in the first game, evoke a feeling of melancholy when heard. This was the piece that played as Lisa revealed to Harry that she was merely another lost soul, now another monster in Alessa's world of pain. Harry's complete rejection of her led to a terribly tragic scene where Harry locked her into the room that they were speaking in, leaving her to her fate of pain and torment.

Heaven Give me Say- The ghostly sounds of Alchamilla Hospital leave one with a feeling of uneasiness. The player can almost feel the lonliness of Alessa's pain present in this piece. The hairs on the player's body stand on edge as they plunge deeper into her subconscious, seeking a way out.

Wrong is Right- A track from Silent Hill: Origins that gives one the feeling of being caught up in events that are beyond one's control. One can feel Travis's disatisfaction with the answers he is recieving from the people that he meets; has everyone gone mad!?!

A Wicked End- The primitive drums convey a soul that is lost in the early stages of it's life in this Origin's track. Travis's tragedy has left him a man with no past, as the pain of the circumstances surrounding his parent's death has caused him to block it all out in order to retain some sense of sanity.

Snowblind- Travis is led from one set of mysteries to another by Alessa, who is intent on using him as her familiar in the world of her own creation. He travels from one bastion of memories to another, seeking the artifacts of both of their pasts in hopes of stopping the birth of the town's dark god from coming about.

Shot Down in Flames- Another great song from Silent Hill: Origins that seems to describe both Travis and Alessa, dealing with their feelings of being misunderstood and isolated from the rest of the world due to their differences.

This became much longer than I originally intended, but it's worth it. The music of the Silent Hill series is just that great. I hope that you enjoyed this musical journey into the town of the damned.

My thoughts on the still long off 5th installment of Resident Evil

Though the series hasn't set my imagination ablaze the way that Silent Hill has, I still really love the Resident Evil series. From it's sin against nature enemies, to it's awesome sci-fi atmosphere, Resident Evil never fails to impress me in some way, shape, or form. I just wanted to take a moment to tell the "fans" who lament the radical change the series made with the fourth entry to get over themselves. Resident Evil, and for that matter unfortunately Silent Hill, was dying due to gameplay that was archaic; a reflection of the 32-bit era of gaming. It still utilized pre-rendered graphics (with the exception of Code: Veronica) and the infamous tank controls in it's core design.
The scripted "boo" moments had lost their impact by the third installment, and even though the Remake of the original utilized the concept of atmosphere first perfected by Silent Hill, it still featured more of the same gameplay. The sudden camera changes would often become a pain in the ass, and I'm sorry but it's not scary to watch your character fire at an enemy that is off screen. It's just annoying. Still, the remake had a very dark, gothic design which helped make it really frightening and effective as a horror game. The music was good, the character designs were phenomenal, and the pre-rendered graphics do look as great as the current console generation's 3D graphics. The problem is that, because the backgrounds were pre-rendered, you couldn't really look around at them and apreciate them.
This all changed with the now legendary fourth installment, the game that marked Leon S. Kennedy's triumphant return to action (and no, I'm not counting Gaiden as an entry so forget it!). The atmosphere was amazingly dark and gloomy, creating an overwhelming sense of dread, the awesome "Bond-like" villains really acted as effective foils to the Secret Agent Man, and the intelligence of the enemies often forced one to be more on their toes than previous installments (especially during the opening). After seeing the carnage of allowing the chainsaw wielding maniac Dr. Salvador near you, you would from then on come to dread the distant sound of the revving chainsaw. You knew that if he got close to you, it was all over. Because of this, you're heart raced faster than it ever had.
The tank controls were not scrapped like they were in SIlent Hill, but instead the game was designed with a camera system that justified the controls existence. The over the shoulder camera is quickly becoming a staple of action games, including Gears of War. The game was amazing in every category, so why are some self-proclaimed fans mad? Well, one reason is the same reason some Silent Hill fans are reacting with such vitriol to Silent Hill: Homecoming; it's different. Not only that, it attracted a whole slew of people who had never played any game in the series before. Suddenly, a fan-base (not unlike Silent Hill's, in fact they ususally attracted the same people) that had always seen themselves as a sort of elite group was completely buried under the weight of armies of the "Great Unwashed."
How could this happen? Who are all of these people asking questions about what happened in the earlier entries in the series? Beat it Noobs!
I guess my point is, grow up! Resident Evil 5 looks like it's going to become one of the best games of the decade, so lighten up already, accept the fact that the old series is over and a thing of the past, and give that new fan of the series a great big hug already!

HA!!!

Lookie here!

As if he had just read what I said about the series; legendary composer, Akira Yamaoka, says in this interview the exact same thing I said about the influences of the series and how it's only natural for Americans to work on Silent Hill! Suck it nerds!!!

Now, if only I could find the article where he said that he's not interested in doing any Wii games because the system is "not for serious gamers."

My thoughts on the Silent Hill series in anticipation of Part 5 which comes out at the end of the month

Much has been made of Silent Hill: Homecoming; some view it's release with joy and excitement, ready, willing and eager to re-enter the town that is home to the lost and the damned, whilst others look upon it with equal parts scorn and hesitation. They fear that the new gameplay style will destroy the series that they know and love, and feel great angst over the fact that it has been developed by an American team.
For those of you who don't know, Silent Hill debuted in early 1999 on the Sony Playstation and was meant to be Konami's answer to Capcom's wildly popular Resident Evil; a series which at the time was already on it's third installment. The creators saw what was done in Resident Evil, took note, and decided that they wanted to go an entirely different route. Gone were the Zombies, military garbs, and sci-fi atmosphere and in came something brand new. Team Silent, the name of the developing team of the first four entries of the series, wanted to create something based more in the realm of myth, philosophy, the occult, and psychology; they wanted to create something that wouldn't just cause you to jump, but would fill you with a true sense of dread. So, they took a rather basic concept, man looks for daughter in a ghost town, a heavy dose of atmosphere, at the time the most ever attempted in a game, and a rather unique little concept, plunge the player into pitch-black and give them a simple flash-light to show the way. They topped this off with some of the most bizzare creature designs one had ever seen in a game, rivaling Splatterhouse in all it's 16-bit glory!
From the moment the player stepped onto the snowy, foggy streets of Silent Hill with Harry, the protagonist, they were transported into another world. They wondered along with Harry what was going on here? They would lead Harry up the street, chasing after the faint figure of what both believed was his daughter, Cheryl. As they rounded the corner they stepped into a twisting alley littered with unidentifiable cadavers; they would wonder along with Harry what exactly it was that they were staring at. As they moved deeper into the alley, the light disappeared from the world and the player became trapped in the dark nightmare of a stranger; a stranger who who was, themself, locked in a state of pain, agony.
One may notice that there is a flaw in the thinking of many of the fans that immedietly push away Silent Hill: Homecoming (or five, if you prefer). They will often say that the Americans can't make the game in any way original because it's just beyond their capacity; Americans couldn't make Silent Hill, only the Japanese can. They forget that a good deal of American sources were the inspiration for the series and it's world. Jacob's Ladder was the prime inspiration for the series and it's concept of a character lost in an alternate reality. Then you have the works of Stephen King (particularly the novel Desperation) and H.P. Lovecraft (the stories of ancient cults and gods affecting the current world) which impated many parts of the story and it's development over the course of the now five games. Let us not forget that the scenes involving Lisa in the first game feel directly ripped out of Twin Peaks. So, on that note I must say that fears about the game for that reason are rather irrational.
As per the gameplay, well, I don't see anything which seems to rip one out of the world of Silent Hill.
Anyway, I really just want to say that the series is in my opinion the greatest example of effective storytelling in all of gaming. That's right Metal Gear Solid, fuck you and your wierd super soldier, ninja, monkey, vampire clones who have issues. No series has been able to maintain a story that is more fun to talk about than even playing the game; it is quite unique in it's own right. The countless layers that can be peeled away and examined in the game's story are absolutely daunting. Any fan of the series remembers the first time that you read a plot analysis for one of the games or stepped into a forum and read the long trails of discussions that people were having about the setting, the characters, the signifigance of certain notes found in the game, and the meaning of objects located in the misty world and how they changed in the other world. Yet, the most fascinating aspect of the game's and the aforementioned analysis of them was the monsters. Why did these creatures, or ghosts as I prefer, take on the forms that they did? What kind of torment, trauma, or illness did the characters bring in to the town to feed the spirits? These are the kinds of questions one finds themselves asking when playing these games. Certainly, other games have caught up with Silent Hill in regards to depth of story, Bioshock, Assasin's Creed, Condemned, and Mass Effect all come to mind, but none of them can quite compare with with the misty, empty streets of that northeastern resort town (another Stephen King influence).
Combing back over the series, I can't think of any of the five games that I truly disliked, and I would say that that's because each game really said something about life. Harry's quest to find the daughter who never knew that she was adopted and was really the manifestation of a tortured soul trying to escape her world of pain, James's journey to search for his dead wife and his epiphany in regards to the true nature of her death, Heather's mission of vengeance and her acceptance of who she really is, Henry's scramble for an escape from his lonely existence in his apartment, and Travis's hunt for the flauros and the lost pieces of his memory all tell amazing stories than can transcend even the worst voice-acting (as the first entry of the series can attest to). These tales are all personal on a certain level, and the supporting characters also bear great depth and purpose which fleshes out the universe more. Then you have what each of the games say thematically. Silent Hill one and three discuss the nature of vengeance, the dark side of faith, and the importance of love. Wheras, Silent Hill two touches upon what murder does to the perpetrators, how powerful a drug denial is, and whether any of us can find forgiveness for our sins, while four demonstrated the dual nature of altruism, what the loneliness of modern life does to an individual, and the power and resonance of a single act of kindness and how it can save the world. Lastly, you have Origins which shows us that we need to let go of our trauma, that doing the right thing can lead us down a dificult and treacherous road but that it must be done, and that all of us are damaged in some way or another.
So, I come to the end of this little piece, and I express my admiration for the entire series of Silent Hill. Whether it be it's atmosphere, it's haunting music, or it's simply amazing storytelling the series has always been top notch in my opinion and truly deserves to be considered the king of horror games.