Silent Hill: Homecoming

Whereas combat has always been something of a footnote in the Silent Hill series, it has in Homecoming become the gameplay's central focus. Loading screens feature a few handy tips regarding enemies' strengths, weaknesses and behavior patterns. Battles, which are far more frequent than in any previous installment (save for perhaps Silent Hill 4: The Room), feature QTEs, combos and finishing moves. The player also has the ability to lock the camera onto individual monsters. Outside of combat, the player can adjust and swivel the camera around Alex to gain a better view of his surroundings.

All this adds up to providing the player with increased control over the world of Silent Hill. This has the unintended side effect, however, of diminishing the town's scope and dreadfulness. Silent Hill still bends the landscape to its will, but the PC no longer seems as abject and powerless there. (As a side note, the player's ability to leap over and duck under some obstacles makes little sense when other barriers, such as a simple porch swing or a bench, prove impassible.) Double Helix attempts to mitigate this sacrifice by packing the world with monsters, further emphasizing the prominent role of combat in this game.

Double Helix has greatly improved the Silent Hill combat system, but it is not without its flaws. By swinging the spotlight onto this new system they have thrown its flaws into stark contrast with the loosely implemented but largely ignorable combat of the other Silent Hill games. Homecoming's combat flaws seem more disruptive and troubling in light of this contrast.

In Homecoming, survival depends on the player's ability to learn and distinguish monsters' patterns from one another. Any particular monster will have its own cues and tells, which prompt the player to time precisely a press of the dodge button, then to launch a counterattack with weak attacks, strong attacks, or a combination of both. Some monsters are weak to certain weapons. Strangely, the combat in Homecoming is reminiscent of boss fights in the Mega Man series, which are built upon rigidly patterned boss fights and weakness to particular weapons, making the game seem more like an arcade game than a psychological horror.

Unlike Mega Man, however, Alex is not as agile and adept as we would like. He can have his attacks thwarted by seemingly innocuous pieces of nearby scenery, leaving him vulnerable to monsters. Alex will occasionally dodge into attacks instead of away from them, which can be irritating for a talented player and absolutely infuriating for a player still struggling with the new combat system. There are encounters were Alex can be "stun-locked," or hit repeatedly by an enemy without a chance for escape or avoidance. In a game which puts such emphasis on its combat system, these flaws seem worse than if they were part of a game in which combat took a backseat to other gameplay elements.

Returning to my point about increased control within Silent Hill's world, having the player face down the town's monsters diminishes their horror. Either the player has not learned the appropriate weapons, dodges and counterattacks for a particular encounter or the player has them memorized; in the former case the monsters are infuriating and in the latter they are merely annoying -- or worse, give the player a sense of pride and satisfaction for having overcome them. None of these emotions contribute to the atmosphere necessary to create a sense of horror in the player.

In previous installments, the best solution to almost every encounter with a monster was to run away from them. This often instilled panic and dread in the player. Flight isn't often possible in Homecoming, though, as the designers have laid in the player's path roadblocks and chokepoints, such as boarded-up doorways which must be chopped away.

All that said, the combat can be satisfying. It is just that "satisfying" has little place in a horror game.

This shortcoming disappoints, because Homecoming is otherwise a gratifying experience for the Silent Hill fan. Though perhaps a little more regarding Silent Hill's cult should have been left unstated, the visual design adheres to the series' style with slavish devotion. A cameo of a fan favorite is understated and appropriate. Akira Yamaoka's sound design and music remain a primary source of tension, and probably stand out as the best parts of this game. The story features a few nice touches, but relies on some video-game cliches, some implausible behavior, and a unconvincing, off-the-shelf romantic entanglement.

It's sad, but even though I enjoyed this game, it was not the revelatory, soul-shuddering experience that Silent Hill 2 was to me. Perhaps I'm jaded now. But I've reconciled myself with the fact that, well, it's true what they say: despite this latest release being a "homecoming", you really can't ever go home again. Or, in this case, to your own personal hell.