For Silent Hill: Shattered Memories, Konami had decided to go in an entirely different direction. Although they had already abandoned survival horror with Homecoming, they completely strayed from it in Shattered Memories. Climax Studios, developers of Silent Hill: Origins, were selected to helm the production, with Mark Simmons returning to the director's chair and Sam Barlow writing the script. Climax originally pitched the game like Silent Hill: Cold Heart, an actual survival game, requiring the player to adapt to constantly changing weather and temperatures. For whatever reason, whether due to overestimating the Wii's power or not having the skill set or resources to fully realize this pitch, the game was morphed into what would become Shattered Memories. On a surface level, Shattered Memories sounds pretty awful. It's a remake of the original Silent Hill that is completely unfaithful to the source material. It entirely removes combat in favor of hiding and chase scenes. It uses motion controls as a core mechanic. It's developed by the same guys who made Origins. Surprisingly, it's actually a pretty solid entry in the series, and one I would recommend both to Silent Hill fanatics and general horror fans.
In terms of narrative, Shattered Memories is almost entirely changed from the original Silent Hill. You are Harry Mason, taking your daughter Cheryl out for a drive, before skidding on the ice and losing control, crashing your car. Once you wake, Cheryl is gone, and you must find her during the snowstorm. From that point on, the narrative is entirely different. Only the basic premise is kept, with everything else rewritten or otherwise changed. In many ways, I actually think Shattered Memories tells its story better than the original. The story itself isn't necessarily better, but it's moreso the way it's told. The original game was very vague about everything, before suddenly dumping exposition on you last minute and roll credits. It was somewhat hard to tell what actually happened without playing it twice or browsing the wiki. Shattered Memories retains that vagueness but actually conveys its narrative cohesively and conclusively. The game strings you on with this engaging mystery that I really enjoyed unraveling, especially because it was just so different from the original game. Each segment of gameplay is bookended by first-person therapy scenes, in which the player is tasked with answering questions or performing simple brain exercises, each of which will affect the main game's story in some way or another. For example, a normal sports bar could turn into a strip club, or the cop that accompanies you could either be professional or slutty. These changes add replay value to the game, and just generally affect the main game in ways you may not realize, though some are a lot more obvious than others. I mean, "have you ever cheated on a partner?" is pretty on the nose about where it could lead. However, "sort the photos by who is sleeping and who is dead" really makes you question what relevance it could have to Harry's mental process. I also love how the therapy sessions recontextualize the whole game's story, but more on that later.
Another thing Shattered Memories has over the original is the protagonist. SM's interpretation of Harry is far more interesting than the original's. Now, Harry in SH1 was hardly a bad protagonist, but he wasn't a particularly interesting one, especially compared to later protagonists such as James or Heather. SM's Harry is actually pretty interesting, and his personality changes based on how you play the game. I found myself connecting to him, not as strongly as James or Heather, but enough to easily put myself in his shoes and understand his fear and frustration of his increasingly surreal situation. The other characters are great as well. The characters that are adapted from the original game are very different, yes, but generally are true to the core of their original interpretations. Lisa is still a nurse who cares deeply for people and struggles with drug addiction. Cybil is still a cop who wants to help Harry find his daughter, even if her personality differs based on the aforementioned therapy sessions. Dr. Kaufmann is no longer a medical doctor, but a psychiatrist, and unlike the original isn't outwardly evil, though he still retains his passive-aggressive behavior. The game's original character, Michelle Valdez, fits right at home in this game and doesn't suffer from "original the character" syndrome. I only had one complaint with this game's story, and that would be Lisa. It seems that Climax doesn't know what to do with this character. In Origins, she acted completely out of character. In Shattered Memories, she's actually well-written, well-acted, and fairly true to the original Lisa. However, she's barely in it at all! Her presence is welcome but she really doesn't feel like she adds anything to the game's story, and it feels like Climax simply felt obligated to include her due to Shattered Memories' status as a remake.
In this following paragraph, I will be going into spoiler details about the game's narrative. If you wish to play the game and do not want to be spoiled, I would strongly suggest skipping this paragraph and proceeding with the review.
As you progress through the game, you begin to encounter objects that suggest that things are not as they seem. While browsing through the high school principal's computer, you discover that your daughter Cheryl is registered as a student. You know for sure that Cheryl is seven, not eighteen, so this naturally perplexes you. However, you later begin to receive text messages containing increasingly disturbing images of an eighteen-year-old girl who strongly resembles your daughter. A voyeuristic photograph in the shower. Caught red-handed making out with a teacher. A prison mugshot. Is this your cute seven-year-old? The game makes you heavily question your grasp on reality, especially as Harry suffers memory loss from the crash. Near the end of the game, Harry is told that Cheryl is in the town's lighthouse and eventually limps across a frozen lake towards it. However, as he arrives, he realizes that it isn't actually a lighthouse: it's a therapy clinic. He finds a chest in the shape of a human head and inside is a locket. On the locket is a photograph of himself, with the words "in loving memory" engraved on the front. He enters the adjacent room, and it fades to black, reopening on another therapy session. However, as Dr. Kaufmann speaks to the player, Harry enters the room. The therapy sessions were never from Harry's perspective. They were from Cheryl's.
Harry died in the car crash eighteen years ago, and the whole game was an extended metaphor for adult Cheryl overcoming the trauma from her father's sudden death. Cheryl embraces her father one last time before he freezes into ice and disappears. Now, usually, I hate "it was all a dream!" plot points, but I think Shattered Memories does it well, mostly because of how it recontextualizes the entire game. Every question you answer in the sessions changes Harry, not because they're a reflection of Harry's personality, but rather how Cheryl remembers her father. Each location Harry visits is somehow representative of events in Cheryl's life after Harry's death, and are essentially Harry exploring his daughter's life up to this point. Or rather, Cheryl heavily reflecting upon her life using her "father" as a vessel. Upon a replay, you notice a lot of subtle details in the environment that hint at this. That little girl on the poster of the school's "Connie" play sure looks a lot like Cheryl, huh? It's a really good plot twist and honestly, it made me cry a little bit.
Although I have nothing but praise for Shattered Memories' narrative and writing, the gameplay is where things get dodgy. As said earlier, lead game designer Sam Barlow eschewed traditional survival horror mechanics in favor of the increasingly popular "run and hide" style of horror design. The vast majority of the time, the player will be exploring abandoned buildings while solving puzzles. There are no enemy encounters in the real world (the iconic fog world is strangely absent in this game), therefore the player is in no danger during these segments. Naturally, this is going to turn off a lot of fans, but I encourage you to stick with it. The game's exploration is a lot of fun, as Shattered Memories is a game that actually uses the Wii's notoriously gimmicky hardware in a way that increases immersion tenfold. The Wii Remote is used as the game's flashlight, and the player can point it in any direction they want, independent of Harry's movement. This minor detail makes the game so much more immersive, especially since the tracking is actually half-decent, unlike many Wii games. You also use the Wiimote as a smartphone and can call many phone numbers found throughout the game.
These phone calls play from the Wiimote's built-in speaker, therefore you have to hold it up to your ear like an actual phone. These features sound like stupid, easily removable gimmicks but they actually add to the game's immersion factor significantly, further solidifying you within the game's world. You can also take photographs of ghost-like entities scattered throughout the environment, which are used as optional moments of vague exposition. The way the exploration gameplay is used to tell the story is very effective, and might not make much sense before the major recontextualization at the end of the game. The puzzles are also very well thought out and make use of the player's ability to call different phone numbers, requiring the player to memorize things but not in a way that feels unfair. Some puzzles lean a bit on the easy side, but none are explicitly bad. Shattered Memories' exploration may or may not work for you based on how willing you are to shed your preconceived notions as to what Silent Hill should be. Personally, I really loved the exploration segments, but your mileage may vary.
However, the gameplay isn't perfect by any means. Instead of combat sequences, the game employs chase sequences signaled by otherworld transitions. These sequences are where the game's only enemy appears: the raw shocks. These pale, featureless monsters relentlessly pursue Harry and attempt to grapple onto him, sucking the warmth out of his body. The player can run or hide from them, but hiding isn't actually useful and most of the time it's more effective to simply just bolt through each area. You can swing the Wiimote to knock over file cabinets and other objects to slow their pursuit. If a raw shock manages to catch up to you, you must waggle the Wiimote to get it off. The main issue with these segments is that they are neither fun nor scary. They're either boring or relentlessly frustrating. Although the motion controls work flawlessly during the exploration segments, Climax dropped the ball with the chases sequences. Whenever I swung the Wiimote to remove a raw shock from my body, it felt unresponsive, and oftentimes I had to perform the same action multiple times before it actually registered. Perhaps I was simply performing the actions wrong, but I was just doing what the on-screen prompts told me to do. There are even points where the game expected me to take photographs of certain areas with six raw shocks trying to get a piece of my juicy protagonist thighs. There also isn't really any punishment for death, as Harry immediately respawns where the chase began with little to no progress lost. In retrospect, making death more punishing would probably make these segments worse. Thankfully, these chases are brief and there are only about six throughout the whole game, as most of it is exploration and puzzle-solving.
A common criticism of Shattered Memories, both in contemporary reviews and retrospectives, is its length. The game is quite short, and although I tend to prefer my games on the 8-10 hour mark, it couldn't have taken me more than five to complete the game. I beat it in about two play sessions, and although I didn't spend a dime on this game, if I bought it for $50 back on release, I would have felt at least a little cheated. Even so, I left Shattered Memories wanting more. I wanted to explore more abandoned buildings and solve more puzzles, and considering the commercial failure of this game, it's unlikely that there will be any other game like this. Not to mention, none of the current systems possess the unique Wii quirks that make Shattered Memories so special, so even if another were to be made it's hard to say it won't feel a little handicapped.
Shattered Memories' main issue, however, is that it just isn't very scary. Since no monsters are roaming the real world, there is no constant threat for the player to be paranoid of. At the very most, the exploration segments manage to be unnerving, but never frightening. When Harry is constantly safe to explore wherever I please, why should I fear for him? The chase sequences also aren't very scary, partly due to their frustrating design, but also because when they aren't frustrating, they're boring as sin. They feel more like over-the-top action set pieces rather than a man scrambling for his life against horrifying surrealist creatures, and that takes away from the scare factor. There are some unnerving parts in the otherworld, such as the infinitely looping living room where "I love my daddy!" plays ad infinitum in the background. Throughout the whole game, I don't believe there was any moment that legitimately scared me. In fairness, I could say the same thing about both Origins and Homecoming, but since Shattered Memories is actually good, it stings a little more. Expect a chilling atmosphere, but not a frightening one.
Visually, Shattered Memories is an absolute treat. Silent Hill games are usually known for being technical showpieces for the consoles they inhabit, and Shattered Memories is no exception. When you take into consideration the Wii's notoriously underpowered hardware, Climax legitimately performed an impossible task. If you simply increased the resolution and improved the texture quality, you could fool me into thinking it was an early PlayStation 3 or Xbox 360 game. Environments are stuffed to the brim with detail, looking like realistic locations you'd see in everyday life. Texture quality is absurd, with the player being able to read the text on every single poster, which is essential to the gameplay as they usually contain a phone number you can call to either uncover more of the story or solve a nearby puzzle. Character models are detailed and animate realistically, and it's really pathetic that a Wii game has more realistic facial animation than Homecoming, a next-gen AAA game. The game uses dynamic stencil shadows for the flashlight, which not only adds to the game's lonely atmosphere but is also just incredibly impressive in its own right. Not to mention, it runs at a steady 60FPS the whole time, which just shows that Climax was a master of optimization. Shattered Memories is easily one of the best-looking games on the Wii, and that is quite an accomplishment stacked up to some other beautiful titles, such as Xenoblade Chronicles.
Neale Williams, who previously worked on Origins, returned to do the art direction for Shattered Memories. I found Origins' art direction to be faithful to the series, but very uninspired and lacking in originality. I'm happy to say that Shattered Memories mostly averts this. The game looks very different from previous titles. Gone are the blood, rust, and guts of the previous six titles, instead replaced by a frozen hellscape. I enjoy the frozen look of the game's otherworld. It's not as artistically striking as the waterlogged otherworld of Silent Hill 2, as disgusting as the blood-soaked tetanus overworld of Silent Hill 3, or as varied as Walter's otherworlds in Silent Hill 4, but it holds its own as an interesting and isolating environment. It does feel a little more "video-gamey" than previous titles, but not to the extent of Homecoming or Downpour. The realistic Americana of the real world really strikes a chord with me. The high school looks like my old high school, the bar looks like bars I've been to, et cetera. That doesn't sound like such a big deal, but Shattered Memories accomplishes it in a way that makes me feel like I've been here before, rather than just feeling like video game locations.
The only criticism I have is the monster design, or rather designs. As you play the game and answer questions in the therapy segments, the design of the raw shocks will gradually change. If Harry acts horny, they will appear feminine. If Harry is a drinker, they will appear bloated and diseased. If Harry is focused on finding his daughter and doesn't give in to distractions, they will appear more abstract. If Harry acts uncaring or rude, they will appear atrophied. This is interesting in concept for sure, however, I do not believe it is implemented very well. The designs aren't really all that different from one another, and since you spend a majority of time running and facing away from raw shocks, you never really get a good look at them. Some may not even notice that they've withered, or gained a large pair of breasts. The only reason I noticed is that I got the abstract shocks, which have rectangles piercing through their skin. These designs also just aren't all that interesting in the grand scheme of the series. I can respect that Climax tried to do something different but it doesn't particularly work.
On the aural side of things, Shattered Memories once again excels. Series veteran composer Akira Yamaoka returns to compose one last score before dropping off the series for good. Seeing as this is Yamaoka's final Silent Hill soundtrack, anticipation is naturally high. I must say, he went out with a bang. Shattered Memories' soundtrack is a new spin on the classic Silent Hill sound. I've never listened to a score that has made me feel so cold before. He perfectly encapsulates the feeling of freezing alone, with lonely acoustic strings, synths, and a general sound of downtempo ambiance that makes you feel small and isolated. Not only does it form a cohesive soundtrack that compliments the game perfectly, but a lot of the songs stand alone on their own. "Lives Wasted Away" is a relaxing downtempo song that I listened to on repeat while writing this review, actually. Alternative rock songs such as "Hell Frozen Rain" and a cover of Elvis Presley's "Always on My Mind" also stand alone as well-made songs with Yamaoka's signature Nine Inch Nails-inspired industrial sound. Origins' and Homecoming's soundtracks were pretty solid and nothing to shake a stick at, but Yamaoka's final work is leaps and bounds ahead of both. It's a great OST that is well in line with his classic Team Silent work, and I hope one day it gets reissued on vinyl so we can hear it in a lossless form.
The final footnote for the presentation, and this review as a whole, is the voice acting. Silent Hill has never been known for conventionally good voice acting. The original Silent Hill suffered from hardware limitations and a lack of voice talent in the industry but was still better than most of its contemporaries, such as Resident Evil. Silent Hill 2 had intentionally awkward and stilted performances, heavily inspired by the films of David Lynch and the performances within them. Each game after SH2 has tried blending Lynchian performances with more conventional performances to varying degrees of success. Once again, I am happy to report that Climax exceeded my expectations. Of all the games in the franchise thus far, I'd say Shattered Memories has the most conventional voice acting of the bunch, which isn't necessarily a bad thing. Industry veterans Kirk Thornton and Laura Bailey do a fantastic job as Harry and Dahlia, giving rock-solid performances with a wide range of emotions. The standout performance is easily Michael McConnohie as Dr. Kaufmann, who comes across as a snarky, passive-aggressive yet fearsomely intelligent drunkard. Does he actually care about you, or is he simply there to take your money and leave? Is he an emotionally abusive therapist or a brilliant one utilizing unconventional methods? All of this is conveyed in McConnohie's incredible vocal range and he genuinely deserved an award for his performance here.
Overall, despite my skepticism of the game's basic premise, I actually quite enjoyed Shattered Memories. It's a game with some hard-to-ignore faults, for sure, and I entirely understand if those faults could be considered deal breakers for some. However, the game's good qualities, in general, outweigh the bad, and it's a game that I can recommend to both Silent Hill and general horror fans. Even if it doesn't sound like you'd enjoy it, you should give it a shot anyway. After all, if you don't enjoy it, you'd only lose about, what, five hours? I would recommend the Wii version though, whether it be native hardware or emulation, as it is the definitive version of the three. However, if you cannot play it, I have heard both the PlayStation 2 and PlayStation Portable releases are quite competent in their own right.
In terms of narrative, Shattered Memories is almost entirely changed from the original Silent Hill. You are Harry Mason, taking your daughter Cheryl out for a drive, before skidding on the ice and losing control, crashing your car. Once you wake, Cheryl is gone, and you must find her during the snowstorm. From that point on, the narrative is entirely different. Only the basic premise is kept, with everything else rewritten or otherwise changed. In many ways, I actually think Shattered Memories tells its story better than the original. The story itself isn't necessarily better, but it's moreso the way it's told. The original game was very vague about everything, before suddenly dumping exposition on you last minute and roll credits. It was somewhat hard to tell what actually happened without playing it twice or browsing the wiki. Shattered Memories retains that vagueness but actually conveys its narrative cohesively and conclusively. The game strings you on with this engaging mystery that I really enjoyed unraveling, especially because it was just so different from the original game. Each segment of gameplay is bookended by first-person therapy scenes, in which the player is tasked with answering questions or performing simple brain exercises, each of which will affect the main game's story in some way or another. For example, a normal sports bar could turn into a strip club, or the cop that accompanies you could either be professional or slutty. These changes add replay value to the game, and just generally affect the main game in ways you may not realize, though some are a lot more obvious than others. I mean, "have you ever cheated on a partner?" is pretty on the nose about where it could lead. However, "sort the photos by who is sleeping and who is dead" really makes you question what relevance it could have to Harry's mental process. I also love how the therapy sessions recontextualize the whole game's story, but more on that later.
Another thing Shattered Memories has over the original is the protagonist. SM's interpretation of Harry is far more interesting than the original's. Now, Harry in SH1 was hardly a bad protagonist, but he wasn't a particularly interesting one, especially compared to later protagonists such as James or Heather. SM's Harry is actually pretty interesting, and his personality changes based on how you play the game. I found myself connecting to him, not as strongly as James or Heather, but enough to easily put myself in his shoes and understand his fear and frustration of his increasingly surreal situation. The other characters are great as well. The characters that are adapted from the original game are very different, yes, but generally are true to the core of their original interpretations. Lisa is still a nurse who cares deeply for people and struggles with drug addiction. Cybil is still a cop who wants to help Harry find his daughter, even if her personality differs based on the aforementioned therapy sessions. Dr. Kaufmann is no longer a medical doctor, but a psychiatrist, and unlike the original isn't outwardly evil, though he still retains his passive-aggressive behavior. The game's original character, Michelle Valdez, fits right at home in this game and doesn't suffer from "original the character" syndrome. I only had one complaint with this game's story, and that would be Lisa. It seems that Climax doesn't know what to do with this character. In Origins, she acted completely out of character. In Shattered Memories, she's actually well-written, well-acted, and fairly true to the original Lisa. However, she's barely in it at all! Her presence is welcome but she really doesn't feel like she adds anything to the game's story, and it feels like Climax simply felt obligated to include her due to Shattered Memories' status as a remake.
In this following paragraph, I will be going into spoiler details about the game's narrative. If you wish to play the game and do not want to be spoiled, I would strongly suggest skipping this paragraph and proceeding with the review.
As you progress through the game, you begin to encounter objects that suggest that things are not as they seem. While browsing through the high school principal's computer, you discover that your daughter Cheryl is registered as a student. You know for sure that Cheryl is seven, not eighteen, so this naturally perplexes you. However, you later begin to receive text messages containing increasingly disturbing images of an eighteen-year-old girl who strongly resembles your daughter. A voyeuristic photograph in the shower. Caught red-handed making out with a teacher. A prison mugshot. Is this your cute seven-year-old? The game makes you heavily question your grasp on reality, especially as Harry suffers memory loss from the crash. Near the end of the game, Harry is told that Cheryl is in the town's lighthouse and eventually limps across a frozen lake towards it. However, as he arrives, he realizes that it isn't actually a lighthouse: it's a therapy clinic. He finds a chest in the shape of a human head and inside is a locket. On the locket is a photograph of himself, with the words "in loving memory" engraved on the front. He enters the adjacent room, and it fades to black, reopening on another therapy session. However, as Dr. Kaufmann speaks to the player, Harry enters the room. The therapy sessions were never from Harry's perspective. They were from Cheryl's.
Harry died in the car crash eighteen years ago, and the whole game was an extended metaphor for adult Cheryl overcoming the trauma from her father's sudden death. Cheryl embraces her father one last time before he freezes into ice and disappears. Now, usually, I hate "it was all a dream!" plot points, but I think Shattered Memories does it well, mostly because of how it recontextualizes the entire game. Every question you answer in the sessions changes Harry, not because they're a reflection of Harry's personality, but rather how Cheryl remembers her father. Each location Harry visits is somehow representative of events in Cheryl's life after Harry's death, and are essentially Harry exploring his daughter's life up to this point. Or rather, Cheryl heavily reflecting upon her life using her "father" as a vessel. Upon a replay, you notice a lot of subtle details in the environment that hint at this. That little girl on the poster of the school's "Connie" play sure looks a lot like Cheryl, huh? It's a really good plot twist and honestly, it made me cry a little bit.
Although I have nothing but praise for Shattered Memories' narrative and writing, the gameplay is where things get dodgy. As said earlier, lead game designer Sam Barlow eschewed traditional survival horror mechanics in favor of the increasingly popular "run and hide" style of horror design. The vast majority of the time, the player will be exploring abandoned buildings while solving puzzles. There are no enemy encounters in the real world (the iconic fog world is strangely absent in this game), therefore the player is in no danger during these segments. Naturally, this is going to turn off a lot of fans, but I encourage you to stick with it. The game's exploration is a lot of fun, as Shattered Memories is a game that actually uses the Wii's notoriously gimmicky hardware in a way that increases immersion tenfold. The Wii Remote is used as the game's flashlight, and the player can point it in any direction they want, independent of Harry's movement. This minor detail makes the game so much more immersive, especially since the tracking is actually half-decent, unlike many Wii games. You also use the Wiimote as a smartphone and can call many phone numbers found throughout the game.
These phone calls play from the Wiimote's built-in speaker, therefore you have to hold it up to your ear like an actual phone. These features sound like stupid, easily removable gimmicks but they actually add to the game's immersion factor significantly, further solidifying you within the game's world. You can also take photographs of ghost-like entities scattered throughout the environment, which are used as optional moments of vague exposition. The way the exploration gameplay is used to tell the story is very effective, and might not make much sense before the major recontextualization at the end of the game. The puzzles are also very well thought out and make use of the player's ability to call different phone numbers, requiring the player to memorize things but not in a way that feels unfair. Some puzzles lean a bit on the easy side, but none are explicitly bad. Shattered Memories' exploration may or may not work for you based on how willing you are to shed your preconceived notions as to what Silent Hill should be. Personally, I really loved the exploration segments, but your mileage may vary.
However, the gameplay isn't perfect by any means. Instead of combat sequences, the game employs chase sequences signaled by otherworld transitions. These sequences are where the game's only enemy appears: the raw shocks. These pale, featureless monsters relentlessly pursue Harry and attempt to grapple onto him, sucking the warmth out of his body. The player can run or hide from them, but hiding isn't actually useful and most of the time it's more effective to simply just bolt through each area. You can swing the Wiimote to knock over file cabinets and other objects to slow their pursuit. If a raw shock manages to catch up to you, you must waggle the Wiimote to get it off. The main issue with these segments is that they are neither fun nor scary. They're either boring or relentlessly frustrating. Although the motion controls work flawlessly during the exploration segments, Climax dropped the ball with the chases sequences. Whenever I swung the Wiimote to remove a raw shock from my body, it felt unresponsive, and oftentimes I had to perform the same action multiple times before it actually registered. Perhaps I was simply performing the actions wrong, but I was just doing what the on-screen prompts told me to do. There are even points where the game expected me to take photographs of certain areas with six raw shocks trying to get a piece of my juicy protagonist thighs. There also isn't really any punishment for death, as Harry immediately respawns where the chase began with little to no progress lost. In retrospect, making death more punishing would probably make these segments worse. Thankfully, these chases are brief and there are only about six throughout the whole game, as most of it is exploration and puzzle-solving.
A common criticism of Shattered Memories, both in contemporary reviews and retrospectives, is its length. The game is quite short, and although I tend to prefer my games on the 8-10 hour mark, it couldn't have taken me more than five to complete the game. I beat it in about two play sessions, and although I didn't spend a dime on this game, if I bought it for $50 back on release, I would have felt at least a little cheated. Even so, I left Shattered Memories wanting more. I wanted to explore more abandoned buildings and solve more puzzles, and considering the commercial failure of this game, it's unlikely that there will be any other game like this. Not to mention, none of the current systems possess the unique Wii quirks that make Shattered Memories so special, so even if another were to be made it's hard to say it won't feel a little handicapped.
Shattered Memories' main issue, however, is that it just isn't very scary. Since no monsters are roaming the real world, there is no constant threat for the player to be paranoid of. At the very most, the exploration segments manage to be unnerving, but never frightening. When Harry is constantly safe to explore wherever I please, why should I fear for him? The chase sequences also aren't very scary, partly due to their frustrating design, but also because when they aren't frustrating, they're boring as sin. They feel more like over-the-top action set pieces rather than a man scrambling for his life against horrifying surrealist creatures, and that takes away from the scare factor. There are some unnerving parts in the otherworld, such as the infinitely looping living room where "I love my daddy!" plays ad infinitum in the background. Throughout the whole game, I don't believe there was any moment that legitimately scared me. In fairness, I could say the same thing about both Origins and Homecoming, but since Shattered Memories is actually good, it stings a little more. Expect a chilling atmosphere, but not a frightening one.
Visually, Shattered Memories is an absolute treat. Silent Hill games are usually known for being technical showpieces for the consoles they inhabit, and Shattered Memories is no exception. When you take into consideration the Wii's notoriously underpowered hardware, Climax legitimately performed an impossible task. If you simply increased the resolution and improved the texture quality, you could fool me into thinking it was an early PlayStation 3 or Xbox 360 game. Environments are stuffed to the brim with detail, looking like realistic locations you'd see in everyday life. Texture quality is absurd, with the player being able to read the text on every single poster, which is essential to the gameplay as they usually contain a phone number you can call to either uncover more of the story or solve a nearby puzzle. Character models are detailed and animate realistically, and it's really pathetic that a Wii game has more realistic facial animation than Homecoming, a next-gen AAA game. The game uses dynamic stencil shadows for the flashlight, which not only adds to the game's lonely atmosphere but is also just incredibly impressive in its own right. Not to mention, it runs at a steady 60FPS the whole time, which just shows that Climax was a master of optimization. Shattered Memories is easily one of the best-looking games on the Wii, and that is quite an accomplishment stacked up to some other beautiful titles, such as Xenoblade Chronicles.
Neale Williams, who previously worked on Origins, returned to do the art direction for Shattered Memories. I found Origins' art direction to be faithful to the series, but very uninspired and lacking in originality. I'm happy to say that Shattered Memories mostly averts this. The game looks very different from previous titles. Gone are the blood, rust, and guts of the previous six titles, instead replaced by a frozen hellscape. I enjoy the frozen look of the game's otherworld. It's not as artistically striking as the waterlogged otherworld of Silent Hill 2, as disgusting as the blood-soaked tetanus overworld of Silent Hill 3, or as varied as Walter's otherworlds in Silent Hill 4, but it holds its own as an interesting and isolating environment. It does feel a little more "video-gamey" than previous titles, but not to the extent of Homecoming or Downpour. The realistic Americana of the real world really strikes a chord with me. The high school looks like my old high school, the bar looks like bars I've been to, et cetera. That doesn't sound like such a big deal, but Shattered Memories accomplishes it in a way that makes me feel like I've been here before, rather than just feeling like video game locations.
The only criticism I have is the monster design, or rather designs. As you play the game and answer questions in the therapy segments, the design of the raw shocks will gradually change. If Harry acts horny, they will appear feminine. If Harry is a drinker, they will appear bloated and diseased. If Harry is focused on finding his daughter and doesn't give in to distractions, they will appear more abstract. If Harry acts uncaring or rude, they will appear atrophied. This is interesting in concept for sure, however, I do not believe it is implemented very well. The designs aren't really all that different from one another, and since you spend a majority of time running and facing away from raw shocks, you never really get a good look at them. Some may not even notice that they've withered, or gained a large pair of breasts. The only reason I noticed is that I got the abstract shocks, which have rectangles piercing through their skin. These designs also just aren't all that interesting in the grand scheme of the series. I can respect that Climax tried to do something different but it doesn't particularly work.
On the aural side of things, Shattered Memories once again excels. Series veteran composer Akira Yamaoka returns to compose one last score before dropping off the series for good. Seeing as this is Yamaoka's final Silent Hill soundtrack, anticipation is naturally high. I must say, he went out with a bang. Shattered Memories' soundtrack is a new spin on the classic Silent Hill sound. I've never listened to a score that has made me feel so cold before. He perfectly encapsulates the feeling of freezing alone, with lonely acoustic strings, synths, and a general sound of downtempo ambiance that makes you feel small and isolated. Not only does it form a cohesive soundtrack that compliments the game perfectly, but a lot of the songs stand alone on their own. "Lives Wasted Away" is a relaxing downtempo song that I listened to on repeat while writing this review, actually. Alternative rock songs such as "Hell Frozen Rain" and a cover of Elvis Presley's "Always on My Mind" also stand alone as well-made songs with Yamaoka's signature Nine Inch Nails-inspired industrial sound. Origins' and Homecoming's soundtracks were pretty solid and nothing to shake a stick at, but Yamaoka's final work is leaps and bounds ahead of both. It's a great OST that is well in line with his classic Team Silent work, and I hope one day it gets reissued on vinyl so we can hear it in a lossless form.
The final footnote for the presentation, and this review as a whole, is the voice acting. Silent Hill has never been known for conventionally good voice acting. The original Silent Hill suffered from hardware limitations and a lack of voice talent in the industry but was still better than most of its contemporaries, such as Resident Evil. Silent Hill 2 had intentionally awkward and stilted performances, heavily inspired by the films of David Lynch and the performances within them. Each game after SH2 has tried blending Lynchian performances with more conventional performances to varying degrees of success. Once again, I am happy to report that Climax exceeded my expectations. Of all the games in the franchise thus far, I'd say Shattered Memories has the most conventional voice acting of the bunch, which isn't necessarily a bad thing. Industry veterans Kirk Thornton and Laura Bailey do a fantastic job as Harry and Dahlia, giving rock-solid performances with a wide range of emotions. The standout performance is easily Michael McConnohie as Dr. Kaufmann, who comes across as a snarky, passive-aggressive yet fearsomely intelligent drunkard. Does he actually care about you, or is he simply there to take your money and leave? Is he an emotionally abusive therapist or a brilliant one utilizing unconventional methods? All of this is conveyed in McConnohie's incredible vocal range and he genuinely deserved an award for his performance here.
Overall, despite my skepticism of the game's basic premise, I actually quite enjoyed Shattered Memories. It's a game with some hard-to-ignore faults, for sure, and I entirely understand if those faults could be considered deal breakers for some. However, the game's good qualities, in general, outweigh the bad, and it's a game that I can recommend to both Silent Hill and general horror fans. Even if it doesn't sound like you'd enjoy it, you should give it a shot anyway. After all, if you don't enjoy it, you'd only lose about, what, five hours? I would recommend the Wii version though, whether it be native hardware or emulation, as it is the definitive version of the three. However, if you cannot play it, I have heard both the PlayStation 2 and PlayStation Portable releases are quite competent in their own right.