Silent Hill: Shattered Memories

[GothicPlague]

Well it does say Wii is the lead platform which to me says they're making it for the Wii then changing it for the PS2 and PSP rather than making it for them and adding waggle.

[Retro_Link]

Yeah like how they downgraded RE4 for PS2.

 

There's a lot of effort going into the Wii version that's for sure:

 

http://uk.wii.ign.com/articles/971/971319p2.html

 

IGN: Tell us about the 3D engine you've created for Wii. It's really impressive.

 

Mark Simmons: One key new feature we've added is the streaming world. Our Silent Hill is now one large joined up town. There's no loading screens or long fades to black screens while the disc is accessed anymore. The creatures in the nightmares can now follow you across the entire location, the doors are no longer barriers for them. Our snow is amazing. Every snow flake is illuminated by the flashlight and casts a shadow onto the environment. It feels amazing just to point your flashlight into the sky and watch the snow falling down through the flashlights' beam. Our dynamic ice effects are amazing too, we can freeze up an entire street with lamp posts twisting over, park benches buckling in two, and whole buildings getting encased in amazing refractive glacial ice forms.

 

Sam Barlow: It's a great engine. It's been worked up in house and has a lot of great render features thanks to James Sharman, one of our elite programming brains. We have a ton of effects which I haven't seen elsewhere, or done quite as well. The lighting is an obvious hook -- full shadowing off everything, self shadowing on characters. Even the snowflakes cast shadows. Then there's the suite of ice shaders that are better than anything else I've seen on Wii. This should look like a 360/PS3 game running in SD. That's the idea.

 

IGN: We were blown away by what we saw. The main character holds a flashlight and the lighting is amazing. Tell us what you're doing to achieve this look.

 

Sam Barlow: The flashlight is amazing for two reasons. One, the tech is very clever. Two, the controls -- having the Wiimote become your flashlight -- just push it to the fore. You can play a PS3/360 game with cool lighting, but that lighting is mapped to static lights in the world or to a strafing character. You ever noticed how 360/PS3 games often go out of their way to show you how good their lighting is? The classic example is a light behind a wall fan, that kind of thing. We don't have to do that because the light is in your hand. It's awesome.

 

Mark Simmons: The flashlight is the Wiimote in your hand and it's also where you're looking at within the game world, because of this you get an amazing one-to-one feeling with the game. It's very immersing. It's also extremely accessible. The camera, characters facing, and where he's looking are all driven off of where the torch is pointing, which is driven simply by where you point your Wiimote. It's amazingly simple, but amazingly effective.

 

The world is big and detailed. Any load times?

 

Sam Barlow: No. The entire game streams off disc. Open a door and the world is behind it. Open another, keep going. We really, really don't want to knock players out of the experience here.

 

IGN: Does the title run in 480p and 16:9 widescreen modes?

 

Mark Simmons: Of course, we will be supporting both progressive mode and widescreen.

 

IGN: Finally, Wii fans have been burned before. Why should they be excited about this new Silent Hill?

 

Tomm Hulett: When the Wii was announced, we all heard about the great new things it could do for the core gamer. We were told it wouldn't be all music sims and exercise tutorials -- there were real games on the way too. It took a few years, but Silent Hill is here. This is the game you've been waiting years for. It's mature, it's tense, and it has everything you're looking for in a "real" survival horror game, because it is one. Oh, and it's not a rail shooter.

 

Sam Barlow: Come on -- everyone has imagined this game. Maybe not the particulars, but all Wii fans have wanted this game -- the flashlight horror game -- since they first got their console. This is the flashlight you've dreamed about. And then there's the story and the psychological stuff. This is amazing stuff and its right here on Wii. This is not breaking on PS3 and then being down-ported with waggle. This game was conceived as a Wii title. We're making this game because we want to play it, because we want to do things with story, with atmosphere that we can only do with this game. This one will be interesting, it will have the best flashlight ever seen and there are aspects of this game that will blow your mind.

Edited April 12, 2009 by Retro_Link

[James McGeachie]

They're certainly confident in their project anyway. They like using the word "amazing" a lot!

[mcj metroid]

oh and it's not a rail shooter...?

 

lol ouch dead space

 

But seriously I have high expectations for this one.. I don't think people should be put off by the fact it's on psp and ps2.. It seems to be made with the wii in mind first and foremost..Could be the best silent hill in years.

[...]

oh and it's not a rail shooter...?

 

lol ouch dead space

 

Dead Space and don't forget Resident Evil also. I thought that was the best damn line in the whole interview. Fuck rail shooters and devs who make them saying they're using Wii's strengths.

[david.dakota]

Fuck rail shooters and devs who make them saying they're using Wii's strengths.

 

There's nothing wrong with Rail Shooters- its the fact that they're tooted as playing to Wii's strengths when their quite obviously playing to the publishers purse strings.

[Zechs Merquise]

With the Wii being the lead platform I am now a lot happier. Plus IGN seem very impressed, let's just hope this is a cracker.

[Hero-of-Time]

Here's a few impressions of the game.

 

Even though the original Silent Hill has always been a favorite of mine, I never once expected a reimagining of the game would emerge as the most promising title on tap at Konami.

 

Since the release of Team Silent's textured PlayStation 2 sequel, the Silent Hill series has slowly lost steam over the years. The most recent entry, Silent Hill Homecoming, was turned over to American developer Double Helix a few years back. The result was a competent but ultimately soulless retread of previous themes, and it appeared as if the once-fresh horror series was lost in its own fog.

 

So it was with some trepidation that I sat down to watch a presentation of Silent Hill: Shattered Memories during Konami's recent 2009 preview event. After all, what could be more of a retread than a self-described "reimagining"?

 

But Shattered Memories is not the game I feared. As Konami producer Tomm Hulett explained, it is a re-imagining in the style of Battlestar Galactica, distancing itself from the first work to a degree that renders direct comparisons far less important than if it were a simple remake. This is a variation on a theme, which seems to have enough ideas of its own to merit attention.

 

First, let's get the "reimagining" aspect cleared up: Shattered Memories is still set around helpless protagonist Harry's quest to locate his missing daughter Cheryl in the spooky titular town. Crackling static and bizarre monsters are present, and the Mature rating is intact. Venerable Silent Hill composer Akira Yamaoka also returns.

 

Perhaps the most obvious change comes in the form of a new arctic theme. Rather than the typical hellish transformation into burnt orange tones, the world of Silent Hill now shifts into a frozen tundra when things get scary. In the end, I couldn't care less whether this one is called Silent Hill: Caribbean Dreams or not; it's the refreshing attention to gameplay mechanics that make this a title to watch.

 

For instance, rather than using text to inform the player whether a door is locked, or what Harry thinks about a particular picture frame, this is information is now entirely conveyed through narration. If you point your flashlight at a picture, Harry will pipe up with an audio-based quip. That in itself is not a revolutionary development, but stay with me.

 

Speaking of the flashlight, the Wii Remote will control the beam, with Harry's movement being mapped to the analog stick. Watching the game on screen, the controls seemed very fluid, while the big focused spotlight appeared effective in its creepiness.

 

The flashlight will now be even more important in light of the outright removal of combat. That's right: Harry will now be forced to run from every enemy he spots. One scene saw him scrambling underneath tables and dodging his way through doorways. It's a refreshing change of pace for a series that never emphasized combat in the first place.

 

Did I mention there is no inventory system whatsoever? Harry's cell phone will serve as the game's only menu-based device, serving several functions in a single in-game interface. Basics such as a GPS fill in for the usual map; players can scrawl notes on the device that stay, and plot routes through the city streets that transpose to the mini-map.

 

But probably the most interesting aspect of the phone is the basic phone functionality. Players will sometimes find phone numbers located throughout the world, such as a billboard or, if past games are any indication, scrawled in blood on a wall. Calling these number on the phone will yield surprising results, and unlock extra story content.

 

The phone also has a built-in camera, which features an impressive low-resolution effect as Harry lines up his iPhone-like LCD. Of course, this is Silent Hill, so your subjects will largely be dead; pointing the camera at an empty swingset, for instance, might reveal a ghostly little girl, or a scene of a grisly murder. For taking the pictures, players will receive voicemail and text messages, acting as further story elements.

 

On top of all that, the phone also allows players to save, and fills in for the usual Silent Hill radio. When enemies approach, it is now the phone that hisses with demonic white noise--a sound that will emanate from the Wii remote's speaker.

 

Beyond the gameplay mechanics, an overarching "psyche profile" system will provide some level of dynamic progression to Harry's journey. The game will be analyzing the player's personality at every turn and adapting the level design and characters based on choices as mundane as looking a picture first as you walk into a room. It remains to be seen whether this will be a robust, complex system, or simply a shuffling of the cards.

 

Hulett also gave us a look at a few of the game's puzzles, some of which are physics-driven. Environmental interaction will be possible in many situations, allowing Harry to change the channel on a security camera or, in the case of one scenario, shake several aluminum cans to discover a hidden key. This did not look exciting in the least, and one would hope that tapping the "interact" button as you walk around a room has not merely been replaced by equally silly exercises.

 

Despite that one stumbling point, the concept that Hulett kept hammering at--a streamlined version of Silent Hill, where the game world is never broken by a loading screen or inventory menu--seemed a sensible goal. As strange as it sounds, I found the simple mechanical improvements and additions more exciting than any grotesque monster concepts or in-depth story treatments would have been. If the basic horror setups have been given as much thought, Shattered Memories could shape up to be a worthy reentry to a great franchise.

 

When Silent Hill: Shattered Memories was announced Konami went out of their way to stress that this would be a re-imagining of the original Silent Hill and not a remake. The underlying plot remains the same: you’re still Harry Mason and you’re still searching for your daughter in the abandoned town of Silent Hill. After that, the game looks completely new and, thankfully, looks to the use the Wii Remote in all the right ways.

 

The gameplay is primarily centered around exploration and puzzle solving and you’ll need a flashlight to navigate the dark streets of Silent Hill. Hold the Wiimote in your hand. That is your flashlight. Point it where you want Harry to look and you’re good to go. Remember the creepy radio static from the original? That’s going to be emanating from the remote speaker. The developers are going for immersion this time around. In addition to the flashlight controls, they have removed all non-essential game menus. There is no inventory management and you won’t be reading text when you examine an object in the world.

 

In the original Silent Hill, if you wanted to read a newspaper headline you’d walk up to the newspaper and press a button to examine it, bringing up a bit of text about the paper. In Shattered Memories, you just point your flashlight at the paper, zoom in, and read the words. Any additional information is conveyed through Harry’s vocal reaction to that you’ve looked at.

 

You’ll also get a cell phone that is used to replace the menu system, much like Grand Theft Auto IV. It features a map with GPS, camera, and can dial out. This is great for immersion as you’ll find billboards with numbers on them. Call them and you’ll get some extra details about the world of Silent Hill. The camera is potentially the coolest feature as it will let you take pictures that reveal ghosts. Snap one and you might receive a chilling voicemail.

 

Puzzles have also been simplified, and you won’t be doing any backtracking. The solution to every puzzle will be in the immediate area and based on interacting with objects. For example, a key to unlock a door might be hidden in some soda cans sitting in the back of a truck. Using the Wiimote, the player can pick up and shake each can. When you hear the key clinking around, tip it over and the key comes tumbling out. A puzzle like this isn’t too difficult and shouldn’t send too many players running to a FAQ. The developers have been clear that they want everyone to be able to finish this game.

 

As for the horror elements, expect to be creeped out by the spontaneous transformations of your surroundings and being chased by demonic creatures. Unfortunately, one chase sequence I was shown used the dreaded quick time event Wiimote shaking to escape the clutches of a monster. Looking past that, the chases looked good, and were full of tension and Harry can even look back over his shoulder while running to see how close enemies are. The developers also promise that the game will adapt its scares based on the decisions you make in the game.

 

The game, however, features no combat. Shattered Memories has no inventory system and the focus is mainly on the flashlight. This isn’t a bad thing, though. The game will feature a new soundtrack, composed by Silent Hill legend Akira Yamaoka, which is excellent news for series vets. Graphically, the game is about what you’d expect from the Wii. In fact, the lack of draw distance is good for some unintentional nostalgia.

 

Shattered Memories is being developed by Climax Studios (Silent Hill: Origins) and will be released later this year for the Wii. It will also be ported to the PS2 and PSP at some point, but is definitely a Wii game first. In fact, I don’t even know how these new features will play on platforms without motion controls. This is also the third Silent Hill game in a row to be developed external studios and not by Konami Japan and it makes me wonder if we’re ever going to see another game in the series from Team Silent.

 

Sounding good : peace:

[Fierce_LiNk]

Here's a few impressions of the game.

 

 

Sounding good : peace:

 

I read the first loads of impressions, and skimmed the second. But, this is sounding really promising. If this game fails on a gameplay level, at least it might encourage other developers to take note of the ideas here and perfect them in another game.

 

But, so far, it's all sounding rather lovely. At the moment, this is still in that early stage where it could be absolutely incredible, or where it just doesn't live up to what it could have been.

 

Perhaps the best piece of information from all that is the fact that they mention that this is a Wii game foremost, and that they're not sure how it'll play on other systems. To be honest, is there even any point porting this to the PSP or PS2? Maybe they'd replace Wiimote flashlight control with analogue...but where's the sense of immersion?

[darksnowman]

For some reason I'm naturally skeptical about these types of games. I read the interview that Retro_Link posted and to me it just seemed like the devs were spouting buzzwords that would appeal to the "hardcore" gamer. Horror games do really need to be sold to me but that was just going overboard. Then, just there now, I read the stuff H-o-T posted up and one thing stood out to me:

 

In the original Silent Hill, if you wanted to read a newspaper headline you’d walk up to the newspaper and press a button to examine it, bringing up a bit of text about the paper. In Shattered Memories, you just point your flashlight at the paper, zoom in, and read the words. Any additional information is conveyed through Harry’s vocal reaction to that you’ve looked at.

 

Just being able to seamlessly zoom in and read things like that sounds really cool to me. I'm not willing to just give Silent Hill the benefit of the doubt based on just that, but even still, nice touch.

[Fierce_LiNk]

Just being able to seamlessly zoom in and read things like that sounds really cool to me. I'm not willing to just give Silent Hill the benefit of the doubt based on just that, but even still, nice touch.

 

That's it, there are a lot of nice touches in this game. Basically, the ingredients are all there to make this a nice, refreshing and individual game. So, all that remains is for those ingredients to be blended together to make this a good gaming experience.

 

The danger with Wii games is that if you just shove in nice graphics (or styles which may not be all that familiar on the console), or good controls, the danger is that many other elements are left out to make the experience a complete one. I get the feeling that developers sometimes think "ok, we've made use of the controller..." and just leave it at that. The controller is a great tool, but it needs to be used effectively, and I think a great criticism over past Wii games is that use of that controller. Look at Zack and Wiki...15 (I think) different ways to use that controller in the game. Use it well, and it can be effective. Then, the other side of the coin...Super Monkey Ball: Banana Blitz. They basically shoved the Wiimote on to the multiplayer, and it just failed. The games were already bad to begin with, but it was even worse with the controls.

 

Having the ideas is one thing, but is this going to be a short but sweet experience, or will it get repetitive? I think the developers have the makings of a classic here, so it'll be a shame if it goes to pot after this promise.

Edited April 13, 2009 by Fierce_LiNk

[Strange Cookie]

Less text, more spoken dialogue? No more combat? Wii-controlled flashlight? No loading times? Photo-snapping investigation? Sounds good! Very good, indeed!

 

The only points of concern for me are the simplification of the puzzles (Hooray for less backtracking, but please, not too simple. And the developers want to make sure every can finish their game? Noble, but don't patronize gamers too much) and the waggle-the-controls-to-escape-mechanics. Minor points, though, and the promising far outweight the worrying.

Edited April 14, 2009 by Strange Cookie

[Retro_Link]

Developer Interview:

 

 

Awesome!

Edited April 14, 2009 by Retro_Link

[DuD]

Lots of good ideas within those impressions. Also its a nice little interview.

 

I've never played a Silent Hill game before, but i've spoke with mates about this and a couple of them recon Silent Hill is the only game that they've ever turned off because the experience is so intense. If thats true, and the developers manage to create this game as they're imagining it, we should end up with a must play experience.

 

I didn't like the sound of possibly over-simplified puzzles either, but as strange cookie said "the promising far outweight the worrying".

 

I'm definatetly going be keeping tabs on this

Edited April 14, 2009 by DuD

[Dante]

New interview.

[STOOPIDDITTIES]

New interview.

 

Souding better all the time to be honest.

 

After the work these guys did on Silent Hill Origins, i'm extremely hyped about this. Easily one of my most anticipated games for any console.

[Dante]

IGN - First Trailer

IGN - Hands-On

 

Perhaps most impressive of all though is Shattered Memories' much-touted psychological profiling feature. It's a cool concept on paper but even more exciting when you see it in action. Playing through the demo a few times, it's evident that profiling has the potential to revolutionise the survival horror genre as the game tailors itself around your subtlest actions to truly get under your skin. While Shattered Memories will ultimately build your psychological profile throughout its entire duration, we only had chance to see how the world shapes itself based on the game's opening questionnaire.

 

Probing everything from how easily you make friends to whether you've ever role-played during sex, even these early questions have a radical effect on Silent Hill's opening few sequences. State that you're fond of a drink and the game replaces the town's diner with a bar. We also noted our answers affected whether an early store location sold electrical goods or clothing – each permutation featuring unique puzzles – and if our first character encounter occurred with a cop or a waitress. Even conversations take on a different tone – from perfectly pleasant to outwardly aggressive - and answer phone messages switch from inquisitive to thoroughly menacing. It all goes a long way to ensuring your experience is relentlessly, refreshingly, unpredictable and you're never at ease with your surroundings.

 

That's compounded by the inclusion of 'echo photos' and 'echo messages' - clever game mechanics that upend the otherwise sedate pace of exploration, throwing set-piece-style frights into the mix. Echo photos ("layers of reality that cannot be seen by the naked eye", as Climax puts it) utilise your PDA camera and come into play whenever you stumble across unusual distortion in environments. Snapping a picture reveals the true nature of the disturbance and shunts your progress along a little. Echo messages - manifestations of strong emotions attached to physical objects – are more elaborate. At one point in the demo we were roaming the electrical store, following the escalating crackle of static from our PDA, when the noise ruptured into a deafening howl of audio interference. Suddenly, a TV burst into life and, through the static we could make out the barely audible whisper of wedding vows. It was both unsettling and unexpected and, hopefully, Climax can maintain the intensity of these moments over the game's duration.

Edited May 28, 2009 by Dante

[david.dakota]

I'm so looking forward to this. Its about time we had a decent survival horror on the system.

[Retro_Link]

I'm so looking forward to this. Its about time we had a decent survival horror on the system.

Yeah!

 

If I'm honest I wasn't as impressed by the footage as I thought I would be, damn IGN and their hype!...

Because if we judge it by Konami's standards it wasn't any better looking than MGS:TTS on Gamecube.

But it could have come from an earlier build, or even if not, there's still a long way to go in the development.

 

Still, I'm really looking forward to this.

[STOOPIDDITTIES]

Oh god that trailer makes me want this bad. This game is going to be incredible.

 

CANNOT WAIT!

[Shino]

Yeah!

 

If I'm honest I wasn't as impressed by the footage as I thought I would be, damn IGN and their hype!...

Because if we judge it by Konami's standards it wasn't any better looking than MGS:TTS on Gamecube.

But it could have come from an earlier build, or even if not, there's still a long way to go in the development.

 

Still, I'm really looking forward to this.

 

MGS was done by Silicon Knights and it doesn't look nearly as good as this.

[Retro_Link]

MGS was done by Silicon Knights and it doesn't look nearly as good as this.

I thought it was co-developed, but still!

Really, you thought character models/textures in that video were way better than...

 

 

I wouldn't agree, but like I said I'm still really looking forward to this.

Edited May 29, 2009 by Retro_Link

[STOOPIDDITTIES]

To be honest both Twin Snakes and this are graphically great games in their own right, no matter what system they were made for. But yeah, this isn't going to win visuals of the year, but I think we should look at this more from the point of view that it looks damn decent along with a truckload of other recently announced Wii games and be thankfull there are more developers out there now really utilising the Wii's power. Climax included.

[Dante]

Should'nt we be talking about the SH series than MGS:TS?

[Noku]

But yeah, this isn't going to win visuals of the year

 

I know I'm quoting you out of context here mate, and apologies if necessary, but seriously:

 

 

The only thing I'll admit is that the last screenshot doesn't look to hot. But I'm certain it'll spook the hell out of me in motion. Giving me that Zelda-facehugger feel and all... Yuk.