After the polarizing reception and disappointing sales of Silent Hill 4: The Room, Konami made the controversial decision to forcefully disband Team Silent, the unofficial studio within their Japanese branch responsible for developing the Silent Hill series up to that point. Still wanting to continue the franchise, Konami turned their eyes to the west for future production. They contracted Climax Studios, previously known for developing a few Serious Sam spinoffs and a plethora of arcade-style racing games, to develop a prequel to the original game. Thus, Silent Hill: Original Sin was born; a Resident Evil 4-style action horror game inspired by Scrubs with a darkly comedic tone. Obviously, this is not the game that shipped to retail. Sometime during production, Konami decided they were unsatisfied with the work Climax was producing, apparently struggling with numerous technical issues as well as a general lack of direction for the project. Production was then moved to Climax's UK branch, where they were given a year to make an entirely new game out of utter garbage. Mark Simmons, the game's new director, decided to rework the title into a traditional survival horror game in the style of the first three entries. Hence, Origins was born. Was it possible for Simmons and his team to salvage what was a fundamentally broken game? Not really.

In Origins, you are Travis Grady, a lonely trucker delivering a cargo load to the small town of Brahms, taking a shortcut through Silent Hill to save time. Travis suddenly swerves out of the way when he sees a strange apparition run into the road. Giving chase, he encounters a burning house and finds the charred, but still somehow living Alessa Gillespie, dragging her to safety before passing out due to smoke inhalation. He awakens on a bench within Silent Hill, intent on finding out what happened to Alessa. Unfortunately, I found Origins' narrative to be quite underbaked. It's essentially trying to tell two very different stories, being both a prequel explaining the events leading up to the original Silent Hill and its own standalone story exploring Travis's childhood trauma. The game's story starts as a prequel, but then suddenly realizes after an hour that it needs to give Travis some character development with some of the most obvious foreshadowings and rushed characterization I've seen in a story-focused game. From that point on, it entirely forgets that it is a prequel to Silent Hill, focusing entirely on Travis's backstory before very abruptly remembering it's a prequel in the last 15 minutes of the game. Needless to say, I don't think the game really expands on the original game in a worthwhile way, nor does the original story captivate me at all. Travis is a very dull protagonist, and while he technically has more going on than say, Henry from Silent Hill 4, I found myself struggling to connect to him and his problems. The narrative also lacks any real story hook. I found myself questioning at multiple points why Travis was even trying to uncover the town conspiracy, considering how he had no connection to Alessa or any of the other characters in the game.

This isn't to mention that the supporting cast is practically nonexistent and contributes almost nothing to the story. Lisa Garland, one of the most memorable characters in Silent Hill, appears maybe two times in the game and acts completely out of character the whole time. Dahlia Gillespie, the main antagonist of Origins, literally only appears twice and all she says is stupid cryptic jargon that means nothing and contributes nothing. Dr. Kaufmann has been reduced to nothing more than a pitiful G-Man clone. Travis's characterization isn't much better. He's pretty bland and while he does plenty of emoting it's mostly just angry confusion and never once did I really feel for him. The game also seems to imply that Travis may be a misogynistic serial killer heavily in denial about what he is? This is hinted at very lightly like once and seems like a rather pathetic attempt at making Origins seem deeper than it really is. Overall, Origins' story is a pretty big mess that fails to expand on the original game nor keeping me invested in an original story. This, unfortunately, makes a whole lot of sense when you find out that Konami only gave writer Sam Barlow a week to finish the script.

Barlow also designed the game alongside writing the script, and it shows a similar level of haste. The game follows the traditional survival horror formula seen in the first three entries, but with further iteration on the combat. The game now features a destructible weapon system, which in concept I actually think has potential. Imagine being backed into a corner by approaching monsters, only to have your weapon break, leaving you defenseless. However, in implementation, it's quite half-baked. The issue is that there is no limit to the number of weapons Travis can hold, and the game is quite generous with the number of weapons it provides, therefore the player will have a ridiculous number of weapons in their inventory by the end of the game, which can make menu navigation difficult. Not to mention, a lot of the weapons just aren't all that different from another, so there isn't any reason to have so many. It's really scary when I'm fighting a nurse and my wrench breaks, so I pull out my fourth wrench and continue wacking away. On the note of enemy encounters, enemies can now grapple the player, forcing you to complete a quick-time event to break free. A quick-time event. In a survival horror game. Yeah. The game's main gimmick is the mirror system, which allows the player to switch from the fog world to the otherworld on command. This is another mechanic that seems interesting on paper but in reality, is underwhelming. There are a few puzzles that have to be solved by going between the two dimensions but they are rarely all that interesting nor do they take advantage of the mechanic. This isn't helped by how the levels in this game are ridiculously large and require ludicrous amounts of backtracking, more than the genre usually requires. Essentially, the already large levels get duplicated by two, artificially padding the game's short length. The game also isn't particularly difficult, neither in combat nor puzzles, minus the ridiculous motel puzzle near the end. Overall, the game design is filled with plenty of missed opportunities that threaten to be interesting, but don't fit their full potential.

Well, if the narrative and gameplay aren't up to snuff, does Origins at least capture the same tone as the previous four? Actually, it kind of does! Mostly. I played the PlayStation Portable version of the game on an emulator, and for a PSP game, it looks quite nice! Environments are nicely detailed, texture work is generally fine, and the fog doesn't look compromised in any way. The models are a little rough, but that probably isn't very fair of me to say, considering they were originally intended to be seen at 272p and I'm playing at 1440p. Not to mention, the game runs at 60FPS the whole time! I don't know how consistent the framerate is on an actual PSP, but it's refreshing to see. The soundtrack is quite nice too! It may not be Akira Yamaoka's best work, but it's appropriately oppressive and honestly, I found the music and the atmosphere it provided is mainly what caused me to push through the otherwise mediocre game. At points it's perhaps too oppressive though, Climax doesn't seem to understand that silence can be just as oppressive as noise so, in the otherworld, Yamaoka's score is just kind of constantly blaring. Not necessarily a bad thing, but the quiet moments in Silent Hill can often be the creepiest. The locations are a bit derivative and boring, which is a shame. Alchemilla Hospital is just ripped from the first game. The Cedar Grove Sanitarium is just an incredibly generic mental hospital in a town that already had one. The theater is somewhat interesting but once again suffers from being tedious. The motel is the most enjoyable location because although it is not the most original I found it to be the least repetitive. The monster designs, however, leave a bit to be desired. Certain monsters, like the Two-Backs and Calibans, are generally fine and fit the series, but aren't particularly scary. However, Climax straight-up lifted enemies from other entries in the series, which screams laziness to me. The Straightjackets are just Lying Figures. The Faceless Nurses are just Bubble-Head Nurses. The Butcher, a figure that the game spends a good hour building up, is one of the most blatant Pyramid Head clones I've ever seen. He only shows up twice, and by the time you actually fight him, he goes down pretty quickly. Due to the lack of solid monster designs and the uninspired locations, I struggle to find the game scary, which is a big problem for a survival horror game.

Overall, Silent Hill: Origins is a below-average, sometimes even bad survival horror game that fails to live up to any of the previous games. The story is weak, the gameplay is underbaked, and while the aesthetics are strong the game lacks any real scare factor. I struggle to recommend it to even diehard fans of the series, especially if your favorite game is the first one because you will hate this game if so. I can't really blame Climax for how the game turned out, after all, they were given a fundamentally broken mess and told to fix it in less than a year. Nonetheless, the final game doesn't really deserve the Silent Hill name.

Overall, it's alright. It's hard to criticize a fan-made modification that was not only made out of love for the franchise it's based on but was also released entirely for free. Visuals are Alchemilla's strong suit, and it looks gorgeous. It looks like if Konami decided to make a new, official Silent Hill game for the Source engine and clearly this is where most of the time and budget went. The sound design is great too and really makes the player feel uneasy. The mod's main premise revolves around you running around and solving puzzles, with no combat or enemies to speak of. That's the main problem with Alchemilla though, is the lack of any real scares. The mod makes me uneasy, but it never goes beyond that. Since there is little to no threat of death, I never felt properly scared. The mod tries its hardest, using audio cues and such, but that cannot replace a real sense of danger and becomes old fast. The puzzles themselves are fine, but they're implemented pretty clumsily. There is no map system, no memo system, and no inventory system. As a result, it's really easy to just forget what items you currently have and where they can be used, and the lack of a map makes navigation stupidly difficult at points, especially in the otherworld. This can make otherwise fine puzzles feel overlong and tedious, which is a shame since that's all of them.

Alchemilla's story is also told pretty clumsily. The protagonist, predictably, has a tragic past that isn't how he remembers it. It's set up throughout the story but due to being the only person in the mod, it's hard for it to be developed outside of a poorly written inner monologue. The protagonist's voice actor is also trying way too hard to be mentally fucked up and you can tell instantly that he has secrets to hide. It's just not a very involving narrative and I'm probably going to forget it pretty quickly.

Overall, if you're a Silent Hill fan, you should check this out warts and all. It's worth it for the presentation alone and it's only about 2 hours long. However, if you haven't played a Silent Hill game before, this will do nothing for you.

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.

Hotline Miami 2 is a good example of how bigger isn't always better. The story is much more expansive, there are more playable characters, more weapons, more levels, better graphics, more music, et cetera. All of what I've just mentioned are legitimate improvements and all make Hotline Miami 2 a blast to play. However, there is one aspect that has been made bigger to a fault: the level design. Levels are much larger and as a result, there are plenty of times where you can get killed by an enemy you never saw. This is generally not a massive problem, after all, you can use the shift key to look forward and the bigger focus on firearm combat allows you to do the same. There are certain levels though where this is a big issue, such as the boat and the Hawaii levels. Other than that though, everything else has been improved. Hotline Miami's unique style is more detailed and the soundtrack is once again amazing. The addition of multiple playable characters makes the gameplay and mask system even more diverse and unique. The story and character writing are excellent, elaborating on the events of the original game without ever fully explaining it, expanding the universe without ruining its mystery. Overall, the game is still great, but I think the original is better due to the tighter level design and an overall better selection of levels.

Silent Hill 3, despite the name, is not a direct sequel to Silent Hill 2. Although it takes place after the events of that game, it is instead a direct sequel to Silent Hill 1, following up on some of the plot points and characters of that game. As a result, I highly recommend you play the original before SH3, as the narrative beats will be more impactful and frankly, why would you play the third game in a trilogy without playing the other two.

The game stars Heather, a normal 17-year-old girl who, after a frightening nightmare, is seemingly stalked by a creepy detective and encounters grotesque monsters in the now-abandoned and hellish shopping mall she was napping in. She traverses many areas throughout the game, most notably a subway station, a rec center, a mental hospital (making a return from SH2!), an amusement park (the same one from SH1) and more. Narratively, while I don't think SH3 is nearly as thematically deep or as cleverly told as SH2, it still holds its own and is heads and shoulders above most video game stories. Heather is a very likable protagonist and I found myself really connecting with her, but in a different way than I connected with James in SH2. I suppose seeing someone my age going through Hell and back felt, relatable almost, like I had been represented in a medium that usually relegates teenagers to over-the-top anime settings or children's games. Heather is a very realistically written character and I really enjoyed her feisty yet terrified responses to the situations she found herself in. The supporting cast was great as well. While not as thoroughly explored as the ones in SH2, I enjoyed them all. Douglas as the gruff, jaded old man, Claudia as the devout, crazy religious freak, and Vincent as the intelligent, yet utterly insane bookworm who thinks he's better than everyone. Especially Vincent, he was such a joy to watch. I love how the scenes with him are both deeply unnerving yet almost funny.

Also, I did NOT expect the game to be as much of an emotional gut-punch as it was. I nearly cried at two scenes in the game at LEAST, though no full-on waterfalls like in SH2. Heather Morris, the VA for Heather, is a very convincing cryer. As the game progresses and the narrative unfolds, you get to find out more about the supporting cast and their tragic backstories, all told in a natural way and not like the "boo hoo look at my trauma I'm so complex" way that quite a few Hollywood films take after nowadays.

The worldbuilding is also great and fleshes out the world in a way that never ceases to fascinate me. We learn a lot more about the town's local cult, The Order, and their religion, (which appears to be heavily based on Christianity) through notes and memos written by people in universe scattered around for the player to find.

Thematically, the game has less going on than SH2, but that doesn't mean there's no value or moral message that can be taken from Silent Hill 3. In fact, quite the opposite. The game has two major themes: How organized religion can easily corrupt people and turn them into morally-driven monsters (in both a figurative and literal sense) and how revenge is self-destructive and will only eat away at your mental state, not solve your problems. These two themes are handled with grace and tact and the game never overextends to pretension with it's themes, and I feel director Kazuhide Nakazawa and the rest of Team Silent clearly had a lot to say about these issues. Some other, more minor themes the game tackles are body image issues, unwanted pregnancy, abortion, loss, and growing old.

This game's story fucking rocks, both the main narrative and the deeper subtext. Highly recommended based on this alone. Thankfully, the rest of the game is (mostly) just as excellent

Gameplay-wise, many fans consider Silent Hill 3 significantly improved compared to Silent Hill 2. I only partially agree with this sentiment. It is true that Team Silent has made combat more complex than previously, with the addition of strafing by pressing the bumpers, quickturning by pressing both bumpers at once, and blocking by holding down the B button. These are both really nice additions and while I didn't find strafing all that useful in most scenarios (other than the final boss, where it was essential for survival), I still appreciated it's existence. Blocking was easily the coolest addition to me, as it made combat a little more strategic. The game provides the option for both traditional tank controls and more modern controls (labeled in-game as 3D and 2D controls). I say this with only a small amount of bias but, I HIGHLY recommend tank controls, as the game is pretty much fucking unplayable with the modern controls. The camera shifts too much for it to be viable in the slightest, causing a lot of disorientation and wasted time that simply does not occur when using the tank controls. Clearly the game was designed and playtested with tank controls, so don't even bother with the modern ones.

The game adds numerous new weapons to the game, including a MAC-10 SMG, a katana, and a maul, all of which have their uses in the game. None of the weapons feel useless and it feels like they each have an enemy type that they are particularly effective against. Now, this is where I begin to disagree that SH3's combat is necessarily better than SH2's. For some reason, melee weapons feel a lot less viable in this game, with the pipe having received a serious nerf, perhaps because it was the most effective melee weapon in SH2. I also think they toned down the auto-aim by a significant margin, as I found myself wasting ammo because I wasn't always properly lined up for the auto-aim to take effect. Now, I don't think this is that big of a deal, despite maybe sounding like it

This is survival horror after all, and combat should only be used as a last resort if avoiding enemies is more harmful than fighting, or if it is not possible. I still found this game's combat to be exciting and scary. The new enemies are implemented in the game pretty well and are all "fun" to fight or avoid, with the exception of the slurpers. They often appear in pairs and they can continuously knock down the player and serve as a general annoyance rather than a fair threat. Thankfully, they only appear in two major areas. The boss fights are actually pretty well done, with the final fight being my favorite in the series, so in that sense I find it to be much improved from SH2.

Speaking of which, this game is FUCKING SCARY. I had two nightmares based on events in this game, and I think that's a good indication that Team Silent did something right. The game cleverly uses enemy placement, as well as limited healing and ammunition resources to scare the player. I played on hard combat difficulty and every single enemy felt like a real and present threat to my life. I won't say the game was particularly difficult and I've certainly played harder games (even in this genre), but I still felt challenged and died quite a few times. Even something like a tiny, bipedal mound of flesh was enough to send me dashing in the other direction yelling "GET THE FUCK AWAY GET THE FUCK AWAY GET THE FUCK AWAY". This is in combination with strong art direction and sound design, but I will touch on that a little later

I played the game on the default puzzle difficulty, and still felt challenged. The puzzles were all cleverly designed and I found myself having to take physical pen-and-paper notes in order to solve them. The solutions are not always obvious and require a decent bit of out-of-the-box thinking. My only criticism is that it seems like the frequency of the puzzles have decreased compared to the previous entry, with there only being 5 major ones I can name off of the top of my head.

The final gameplay related topic I have to mention is the game's length, which was commonly criticized when the game first came out. It's important to realize that Konami originally mandated that Silent Hill 3 be a rail shooter, which Team Silent fought against heavily. Eventually, Team Silent managed to convince Konami to allow them to develop the game as traditional survival horror, but the failed rail shooter concept still ate up a decent amount of the game's budget and development time. As a result, some things do feel scaled back compared to SH2, and I feel like this is understandable. For example, when you do finally get to Silent Hill in the game, the exploration is fairly limited compared to SH2 or SH1. I managed to beat the game in a little less than 7 hours, but most survival horror games aren't any more than 10, and I feel like the game's pacing was pretty well done considering. There is still a lot to do and see in the game and while it is a good 3 hours shorter than SH2, I didn't particularly mind.

This game is graphically gorgeous, really pushing the PlayStation 2's hardware to its limits. In fact, I'd argue that if one were to play it in widescreen at 720p, you could convince someone that it was a launch title for the PlayStation 3. The game makes great use of dynamic lighting and texturing, which greatly adds to the atmosphere. Heather's flashlight realistically casts shadows across the environment, and there are many points where bloody textures dynamically move across the walls and disappear, and I have to wonder how exactly they accomplished that, especially since the PS2 is underpowered compared to its competition at the time. As for the art direction, it is more of an evolution of the "rust and guts" style of SH1, rather than the waterlogged look of SH2. As a result, the game feels more aesthetically "over the top" than the previous entry, but not in a way that dilutes the scares or makes me take it any less seriously. The environments are very detailed and clearly tons of effort was put into making sure an environment felt as realistic (or unrealistic) as possible, perfectly fitting the franchise's brand of surrealist horror.

The monster design is excellent and as series tradition, reflects the major themes of the game. All of the monsters are horrifying in their own right, and in combination with absolutely disgusting sound design makes the player fear them, in combination with their physical danger. I think it's a good trait when the simple sound of a monster is enough to send me into a panic.

Akira Yamaoka returns to compose the original soundtrack, and Silent Hill 3 is the start of a series tradition: vocal tracks sung by the very talented Mary E. McGlynn. The OST has a somewhat more youthful, punk feeling as a reflection of the significantly younger protagonist. The non-vocal tracks are very atmospheric and complement the visuals very well. I find that it is one of the few video game OSTs where one can listen to it as an individual album and still appreciate it regardless of having played the game.

The vocal performances in the game once again follow the tradition started by SH2 of being, at points, intentionally stilted and awkward in order to unnerve the player, though SH3's voice acting is more conventionally "good". I think every actor in the game gives a good, if not great performance, but some are better than others. For example, it took a little bit for me to warm up to Douglas' VA, but I found it to be an effective performance by the time I completed the game. Heather Morris does an excellent job as the protagonist, and like I said earlier, really helped me to identify with her. Vincent's VA perfectly synchronizes with the snarky pretention of the character, and Claudia's VA is so dedicated to her role that I think they may have just dragged some religious nut off of the streets. The voice work truly is unnerving, but that doesn't stop me from connecting with the characters

Overall, Silent Hill 3 is an excellent survival horror game, and one that I believe all future titles in the genre should turn to inspiration for. While I still believe Silent Hill 2 is better by a significant margin, that's like saying SH3 is simply "utterly fantastic" instead of a "masterpiece". I loved pretty much every second of the game and I cannot wait to eventually replay it.

Before I get into the nitty gritty, let me get one thing out of the way: this game is overpriced. $10 is too much for a nearly two decade old game that isn't even that great. Definitely wait for a sale.

Red Faction was developed by Volition, at the time known for the Descent franchise (with Red Faction even starting development as Descent 4), and later going on to create the Saints Row franchise. The game stars Parker, a miner living on Mars under employment by Ultor, a comedically-evil mining corporation who subjects the miners to terrible working conditions and regular physical abuse from guards. After a group of rebellious miners known as the "Red Faction" begin a revolt, Parker is basically forced into participating in this revolution as the guards begin to slaughter all miners on sight.

As for the story, an effort was made, but it really isn't up to snuff. It starts interesting enough, but it just kind of goes on and doesn't maintain that initial momentum (though the same can be said of the game itself). Some cool concepts are introduced but never really explored. None of the villains are given any buildup and as a result none feel intimidating. None of the characters are all that memorable either, with the vocal performances being okay at best, and dialogue writing being quite cringe-worthy at points.
The biggest problem with the story is the presentation though. The game initially begins very similarly to Half-Life, with an unbroken first-person perspective and a silent protagonist. However, about midway through the game, it switches to in-engine cutscenes with a fully-voiced Parker, who comes off as an arrogant asshole for no real reason. This change is jarring, especially because the cutscenes aren't particularly well-animated. The game would have been better off keeping the Half-Life-esque storytelling.

As for the gameplay, the game touts Volition's proprietary Geo-Mod 1.0 engine, which allows for procedural terrain destruction (sometimes). It's a very very impressive engine from that standpoint and it does blow me away that they were able to accomplish that. However, it feels much more like a gimmick rather than an actual game mechanic. There are few instances where it's more useful than just finding another entrance into an area. It looks neat, but perhaps it was too ahead of its time to be a practical mechanic? The gunplay itself is pretty fun. I found that most of the weapons had a proper use for most of the game, however in the late game most of the older guns are made useless by the new ones you acquire. I found the enemy AI to be frustrating. It seems to zig zag in a particular way that is just perfect for dodging literally all of your attacks. Plus, the enemies aren't very visually distinct, so it's hard to tell who has a shotgun and who doesn't from a distance. I played on hard mode, and the difficulty was relatively fair for the most part, until the lategame, which introduces a lot of bull all at once. The mercs just aren't balanced, and the railgun mercs were the bane of my existence for a while. The friendly miner NPCs are borderline useless and usually get themselves killed instantly. The vehicle combat is fine for the most part. Not remarkable but it gets the job done, other than a particularly boring turret section near the end of the game.

Presentation-wise, this game isn't much to write home about. For a game released in 2001, the graphics aren't very impressive and are somewhat below-average, but for the most part aren't bad by any means. The environments are nicely rendered and the lighting can be pretty cool at points. I do think this game actually looks worse than a few games that game before it, such as Deus Ex. Red Faction suffers from a problem I like to call "half-graphics syndrome", where the technical rendering side of things is perfectly solid, but the art direction is very boring. Some of the robots and early game areas are really cool looking but eventually it just devolves into sameish looking metal corridors. On the audio side of things, the music for this game is surprisingly really good. The song "Faction" especially makes the player feel like a badass.

If this review has been somewhat harsh on the game, you may be asking, why is it marked as recommended? Because for some reason, despite the final stretch of the game being quite boring and/or total bull, the game is just enjoyable from a gunplay perspective. If you can get it for cheap (and it often goes on sale), I would say it's worth checking it out, even with it's many many flaws. As for the multiplayer, I haven't tried it yet but I heard it has a cult following. If you decide to check it out, I implore you to download the Dash Faction fanmade source port, as it fixes a game-breaking bug later in the game

DOOM is an incredible game. Out of the 8 entries in the series, DOOM 2016 is, in my opinion, the best (haven't played Eternal yet). Now, that's of course not to say that DOOM is a perfect game. It isn't. However, it's fantastic.

The single-player campaign captures exactly what Doom fans came to love in the 1993 original. Run and gun, if you stop moving you die. While further games did deviate from the formula and still managed to be enjoyable, DOOM 2016 shows that if it isn't broken, further refinement doesn't hurt. It's not a shocker that DOOM 2016 is much more complex than DOOM 1993. The game further refines the Doom gameplay loop by adding such features such as glory killing, jumping, and the ability to look up and down. This game is just pure, unfiltered fun, especially since the arena-based levels are so well designed. I love the monster redesigns, as well as the designs for the new monsters. Mick Gordon's original soundtrack is fantastic and perfectly encapsulates what makes a DOOM soundtrack a DOOM soundtrack. The story, while fairly par for the course as far as FPS stories go, is decently-written and well-acted, which is surprising from a DOOM game. All in all, the single-player is the finest aspect of the game.

Graphically the game looks fantastic. id Tech 6 is a total powerhouse, allowing for pristine and ultrarealistic graphics, while still remaining incredibly well optimized. I am absolutely astounded that I can run this game at max settings and still get 200 FPS. Did you know that this game runs at 60 FPS on PS4 and Xbox One? That it runs on Switch at all? I can totally understand why MachineGames and Arkane Studios chose to use id Tech 6 for their future projects. Now that id Tech 7 is on the horizon to launch with DOOM: Eternal, I can't wait to see what setpieces id Software will be able to power.

The game isn't perfect though. DOOM 2016's multiplayer is a loose link. It was outsourced to Certain Affinity (and Bethesda Game Studios Austin post-launch), presumably because id was totally swamped with the main game. Now, it's not a bad multiplayer mode. In fact, it's quite competently-made and enjoyable! Certain Affinity was no stranger to multiplayer FPS games, working on games such as Call of Duty: World at War and Call of Duty: Black Ops prior. However, it's also a bit on the generic side. Although it's fun and certainly has a lot of content, as well as three decent multiplayer expansions (which were later released to all players for free. Good move id!), it feels fairly standard. It's quite good and I enjoyed my time with it, but I soon moved back to games with better multiplayer experiences. Needless to say it didn't hold my attention, although it is quite solid.

Snapmap is the level creator. It's no replacement for proper modding tools but it's really, really cool that players on PC, PlayStation, and Xbox can all create levels and share them with the rest of the DOOM community cross-platform. While I haven't personally used the tools myself, seeing the stuff that DOOM fanatics have made in their spare time is quite inspiring, carrying the tradition of DOOM's modding community being the best. Unfortunately, DOOM fans playing on Nintendo Switch are not able to enjoy Snapmap, as Panic Button, the studio behind the port, decided to prioritize multiplayer over Snapmap.

Should you buy DOOM 2016? Yes, absolutely. It is totally worth the $20 asking price

The Stanley Parable is a game that I had heard a lot about. Less so about the actual game, and rather the experience itself. Sure, I was aware of some of the surface-level gags, such as the two doors and the Adventure Line, but otherwise, my assumption was that it was just another YouTuber game that would eventually fade into obscurity. A good friend of mine purchased the game for me for my birthday, so I decided to give it a shot.

Now, it's hard to describe The Stanley Parable without spoiling it. Mechanically, all it involves is wandering around and clicking on random objects while The Narrator describes whatever you are doing. I will not go into more detail than that. What I will say, however, is that the game is one of the most impressive efforts I have ever seen in both video game writing and programming. Galactic Cafe really pushes the aging Source engine to its limits, with fantastic scripting and dynamic maps adding to the supposed mystery of this game. It's really quite surreal, how this game starts off fairly unassuming yet continuously peels back to form a greater mystery. The Narrator is of course, hilarious as always, and without saying much, he has greater vocal range than you would assume. I would also highly recommend not looking up anything about the game, or any walkthroughs, as the game is best experienced when you find everything out on your own.

If you're at all interested in surrealist and otherwise innovative gaming, The Stanley Parable is definitely something to check out. The only criticism I could see is that the price tag of $15 is a little steep for the amount of content (It took me around 4 and a half hours to 100% the game), but considering the age of this game, I would imagine it goes on sale quite often.

A competent and fairly decent platformer considering the time and hardware. Capcom outsourced it to Minakuchi Engineering and as a result, it doesn't feel as tightly-designed as the NES titles. It does have some issues like being quite short and having some issues with balancing and difficulty spikes, but what is here is quite enjoyable. The graphics are decent considering the hardware and the music is fine. The new robot master boss, Enker, has a pretty cool concept but he's really just too easy. You can tell that Minakuchi did care about this project a decent bit, but perhaps needed a sequel to refine their skills.

I struggle to recommend it to general fans of platformers, but Mega Man die-hards should check it out for a quick fix.

Mega Man: Dr. Wily's Revenge for the Game Boy was a critical and commercial success upon launch, so it made sense that Capcom would want to begin production on a sequel. Dr. Wily's Revenge wasn't a great game (or a particularly good one) by any means but it laid a decent foundation for future handheld Mega Man titles developed by Minakuchi Engineering. For whatever reason though, Capcom instead commissioned a studio known as Japan System House to develop the sequel.

And it was bad. It was very bad. Mega Man II is platforming incompetence. It isn't the worst thing ever, but it's not the sequel to DWR any fans wanted. The game is boring, overly easy, and lazy. The story doesn't make much sense considering future titles, the level design is atrocious, the intimidating bosses from Mega Man 2 and 3 are reduced to total jokes, and it's visually a nightmare to look at. Keiji Inafune, MMII's lead artist, and later franchise producer, admits that the game fell short of the quality fans expected from Capcom at the time. When I reached the final boss I laughed out loud. It was easily the most pathetic Wily Machine in the entire series.

I don't like ragging on video games like a YouTube reviewer, but this game just upset me beyond belief. It really is a wonder how many things JSH got wrong during production, and it really makes you appreciate how much work Capcom put into the Mega Man titles of old.

Not recommended, even for die hard Mega Man fans

On Christmas day, a close friend of mine gifted me SiN, the often forgotten Half-Life killer. Launching in a buggy and unfinished state due to Activision (of course), the game was not nearly as popular as it could have been. Thanks to Nightdive Studios, however, the version sold on Steam is mostly stable other than a few minor graphical glitches. SiN was Ritual Entertainment's first major project, coming hot off of the very well-received Quake Mission Pack 1: Scourge of Armagon.

For a first attempt, this is actually pretty great for the most part. The gunplay is extremely satisfying and the weapons all feel great to use, with the exception of the laser weapons seen later in the game, which are pretty contextual in their use. Movement is pretty similar to Quake 2 but feels slipperier, and the player seems to have a forward lurch to their jumps, even if standing still. This isn't really a problem for the most part, other than the rare platforming segment but even those are pretty generous with the player. The enemy AI is a bit of a mixed bag. There are points where it's actually pretty impressive for the time and seemingly reacts quickly to what the player does, and times where they get stuck on walls. I'm not entirely sure if this is just a bug or simply strange AI programming, so I will assume the latter. I found the boss fights, in general, to be pretty mediocre, with the final being the best. Most of them are just fine, working as intended but never being anything special, but the Eon and Peon fight is just utter BS and incredibly unfun. However, something Ritual did very well is the level design. It feels consistently very tight, giving the player a decent degree of freedom in how to approach mission objectives and feeling pretty fair for the most part. The mappers for this game cut their teeth on Quake and it really shows, as a lot of the same qualities that game's levels make their way into SiN. The lategame levels do suffer the same problem that most 90s FPS games suffer from however, being a severe drop in quality. While not nearly as bad as say, Doom 2 or Red Faction, I found myself enjoying it much less while playing through them. The levels are mostly really solid though and I can recommend the game on that basis alone.

SiN runs on iD Tech 2, the same engine that powered games like Quake 2 and Soldier of Fortune. The game has a lot of that engine's quirks as a result, such as jiggly models. The game looks really good for the time, with a high level of interactivity in the environments. It scales pretty well on modern hardware and requires practically zero tweaking to get running properly. Being a game that released around 23 years ago, it can also be run on practically any PC nowadays at 60FPS or more. The art direction looks similar to 90s comic books, giving it a fairly distinct visual style compared to say, Quake 2, which technical advancements aside looks quite bland in comparison. My only real complaint with the visual presentation is the lack of any sort of facial animation. This is a minor pet peeve of mine and it makes characters during conversations appear more like animated marionettes than people, despite being well-put-together otherwise. This especially looks strange when you compare it to it's main competitor, Half-Life, which did feature facial animation.

The game's original soundtrack (composed by Zak Belica) is atmospheric and sets the mood for each location you visit, ranging from industrial hard rock to soothing synth pieces. It's a shame the game's OST hasn't been released on digital streaming or even vinyl (a la Red Faction) so I could enjoy it in high-quality. Though I believe the YouTuber Accursed Farms released some of it courtesy of Belica, so check that out if you're interested.

The story follows John Blade, a member of Hard Corp (ha ha ha) dedicated to catching the elusive and supposedly sexy Elexis Sinclaire, the CEO of SinTek, a cosmetics company. She's made a new product that's begun to transform ordinary citizens into violent mutants, therefore Blade and his nerdy partner, JC, must put a stop to it. The game's narrative is pretty over-the-top and silly, and clearly Ritual did not intend for it to be taken too seriously. The radio banter between Blade and JC is often amusing and the overall voice acting is surprisingly pretty solid for a game of the time period. The story doesn't really feel like it knows exactly what tone it wants to go for, whether it be an incredibly violent game for adults or a Saturday morning cartoon for kids, but seeing how silly the game is overall I don't think this is as much of a problem as I've seen others claim.

Does SiN reach it's goal of killing Half-Life? Not quite, it has some issues that prevent it from reaching that level of excellence, but it's still a damn good, if not great FPS in it's own right. The game is currently priced at $10, which might be a little steep for some, but it does include the Wages of SiN expansion pack, as well as all additional official content produced for the game after launch, if that softens the blow a little. Maybe wait for a sale, but nonetheless I'd highly recommend you check this out if you have any interest in retro FPS games and/or enjoyed Scourge of Armagon