This is a huge complaint, but these sections, while sizable do not make up the majority of the game. Most of the time players will spend exploring the town, flashlight in hand, meeting its psychologically damaged residents. Creepy locals ensure that despite the lack of opposition in these areas, there is always a constant feeling of tension and unease.

 

 

It is only in the psychiatrist’s office that there is any release from the constant pressure of the town. As you answer the doctor’s psychological tests to determine the nature of you characters neurosis, a feeling of safety and security permeates proceedings. Yet even in the office the nagging sense that you are being judged ensures that you are never able to completely relax.

 

 

A large part of Shattered Memories appeal is its aesthetic. A range of noise filters combine to create a distinctive visual style that not only looks impressive but also extenuates the tense atmosphere. Utilising the darkness and fog effects that were always present in the series Climax Studio manage to work around any graphical limitations associated with the systems. More often than not the only source of light available to you comes in the form of your ever-present flashlight.

 

By virtue of this limited area of visibility the developers have managed to realise a highly detailed world. Combining this detail with light and shadow cast by your flash light as you run through forests and other environments ensures one of the more visually impressive, and scary, Wii titles I have seen.

 

Interestingly for Shattered Memories, Climax Studios also saw fit to change the most immediately recognisable element of Silent Hill, the mirror world. While the alternate version of the town is still present, gone is the organic black and rust of previous games, replaced instead by ice and snow. This shift may reflect elements of the past that haunt the player, or possibly to convey a since of cold loneliness the protagonist is experiences. Whatever the reason, it is an effective change that is especially impressive as you watch the landscape freeze over in real time, sealing paths before you and signalling an oncoming attack.

 

 

 

Shattered Memories is a relatively short experience. Weighing in at around six hours for the first play through you would be forgiven for feeling a little miffed if this was to be your only game purchase for some time during these hard economic times. Like every previous game in the series however Shattered Memories has numerous endings resulting from your actions though the game to keep you coming back for more.

 

To add even more replay value to the latest game in the series, the endings are not the only thing to change on new games. Replays see dialogues subtly alter, along with a number of characters completely changing their appearance depending previous games events. While changes do not alter the game significantly it does make every subsequent play through fresher than simply grinding for endings as in previous titles.

 

 

"Silent Hill: Shattered Memories'" narrative does a great many innovative things, giving the idea that the way you behave, not simply your choices, actually matter. Removing combat and managing to make just existing in the world an unsettling experience, it feels like a distinct departure for the series that had for sometime been heading in a more action focused direction. I applaud all of this, but I cannot divorce these points from the fact that you have to slog through some of the most infuriating gameplay if have seen this generation.

 

As complete product I do still to recommend Silent Hill: Shattered Memories to anyone interested in the genre or story driven games. But if you find yourself easily giving up when frustration sets in then simply turn away, because you will not get past the two-hour mark. Boasting a control scheme that is essentially broken in a number of sections of the game, and only around six hours of gameplay, this really is a game only for players with a slightly masochistic streak, who are prepared to go through a few hours of pain for a superb narrative pay off.

 

 

 

 

+ Well executed, interesting concepts
+ Great atmosphere and graphics
+ Lots of replay value ...