Product Description

Silent Hill: Homecoming marks the debut of the renowned psychological horror series on next-generation consoles. Building upon the series' trademark foundations of atmosphere, adventure and storytelling, it introduces a frightening new and standalone gameplay experience destined to haunt the dreams of both first-time players and those with some experience wandering the famously fog-shrouded streets of the town of Silent Hill and its new sinister sister city Shepherd's Glen.

The Story of a Grim Homecoming
Homecoming's story follows the nightmare turned real life of Alex Shepherd, a war veteran returning to his hometown of Shepherd's Glen to investigate the sudden disappearance of his kid brother, Josh. From Shepherd's Glen to the foggy streets of dreaded Silent Hill, Alex must face the darkest of horrors in order to find his brother. Struggling with his own grip on reality, it's here that Alex must unravel the mystery behind his nightmares, discover the truth behind his brother's disappearance, and confront the evil that takes hold of his own flesh and blood in the process.

Improved Gameplay
Firmly steeped in the Survival-Horror genre its series has been pivotal in establishing, action in Homecoming remains based on exploration of the terrors residing in the communities surrounding Toluca lake and puzzle-solving skill as a means of surviving them. But to its credit game developer Double Helix refuses to rest on past laurels, choosing instead to include new more accessible gameplay in the hopes of gaining a new audience for Homecoming. Examples of this gameplay include:

Next-Gen Visual and Spatial Features - Every sequel seeks reinvent the namesake game in their series. Homecoming does this in three ways, by adding the ability to toggle between a traditional third-person view and an action-oriented first-person view; by adding fully 3-D physics to the game, creating

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Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #1195 in Computer & Video Games
• Brand: Konami
• Released on: 2009-02-27
• Rating: Suitable for 18 years and over
• Number of discs: 1
• Platform: PLAYSTATION 3
• Original language: English
• Subtitled in: English, German, French, Italian, Spanish
• Dimensions: .55" h x 5.32" w x 6.77" l, .33 pounds

Manufacturer's Description
Amazon.co.uk
Silent Hill: Homecoming marks the debut of the renowned psychological horror series on next-generation consoles. Building upon the series' trademark foundations of atmosphere, adventure and storytelling, it introduces a frightening new and standalone gameplay experience destined to haunt the dreams of both first-time players and those with some experience wandering the famously fog-shrouded streets of the town of Silent Hill and its new sinister sister city Shepherd's Glen.

Survive Shepherd's nightmare

Explore Silent Hill as Alex Shepherd. View larger.

Battle frightening enemies. View larger.

And the unexpectedly frightening. View larger.

Use tools and your wits to puzzle-solve. View larger.

The Story of a Grim Homecoming
Homecoming's story follows the nightmare turned real life of Alex Shepherd, a war veteran returning to his hometown of Shepherd's Glen to investigate the sudden disappearance of his kid brother, Josh. From Shepherd's Glen to the foggy streets of dreaded Silent Hill, Alex must face the darkest of horrors in order to find his brother. Struggling with his own grip on reality, it's here that Alex must unravel the mystery behind his nightmares, discover the truth behind his brother's disappearance, and confront the evil that takes hold of his own flesh and blood in the process.

Improved Gameplay
Firmly steeped in the Survival-Horror genre its series has been pivotal in establishing, action in Homecoming remains based on exploration of the terrors residing in the communities surrounding Toluca lake and puzzle-solving skill as a means of surviving them. But to its credit game developer Double Helix refuses to rest on past laurels, choosing instead to include new more accessible gameplay in the hopes of gaining a new audience for Homecoming. Examples of this gameplay include:

Next-Gen Visual and Spatial Features - Every sequel seeks reinvent the namesake game in their series. Homecoming does this in three ways, by adding the ability to toggle between a traditional third-person view and an action-oriented first-person view; by adding fully 3-D physics to the game, creating a realistic range of motion for any and all objects impacted by the player; and by adding transitions or "Hell States" that alter the game's physical landscape at points in the game both in real-time and via cinematics. All three actively change the way players see themselves and in the process create a whole new game experience.

An Enhanced Combat System - Adding to the standard knives, axes, pipes and other melee weapons that made up the arsenal of previous Silent Hill games, Homecoming adds a wide variety of guns and explosives. Fitting with the military back-story of protagonist Alex Shephard, these weapons can be wielded in attacks weighted as weak or strong and can be strung together in combos to stun or incapacitate opponents, who can then be taken out with powerful finishing moves. With practice players can even perform evasive ducks and rolls and follow these up with counterattacks. But remember that enemy AI has also been significantly improved to compensate for your higher degree of combat prowess, and that it's not uncommon to battle multiple monsters simultaneously.

Key Features:

• Enter the next chapter of Silent Hill as you delve deeper in the tormented history of the town and learn of the evil that surrounds Toluca Lake.
• Silent Hill: Homecoming is the 1st Silent Hill game designed for PlayStation 3.
• From the murky fog to the ominous shadows, all-new next-gen graphics bring Silent Hill to life like never before.
• Survive the denizens of Silent Hill with an all-new enhanced combat system that gives you a wide array of attacks and counters.
• Solve the treacherous and deadly puzzles of Silent Hill to discover its darkest secrets.
• Silent Hill: Homecoming will feature an all-new soundtrack by acclaimed series composer Akira Yamaoka.

Exceptional Replay Value
Although Alex Shepherd is the only playable character in Silent Hill: Homecoming there are many other important characters--some returning from earlier games in the series--that can have a dramatic impact on the game. When interacting with these, players are given a choice in how to proceed via dialog trees. Will you take the short route letting only the search for your brother guide you or will you explore the nooks and crannies that make up the mystery of Silent Hill hidden in the small talk you share with non-playable characters? The choice is yours, with different paths providing for possible alternate endings each time you delve into the game.

A Frighteningly Masterful Soundtrack
All games in the Survival-Horror genre seek to create tension and unease through sound and Homecoming does this masterfully through the compositions and sound engineering of Akira Yamaoka. Having scored the music and effects for dozens of video game titles, including all of the previous games in the Silent Hill series, Yamaoka is considered a master at using sound to illicit a response.

Product Description
Follow the story of Alex Shepherd, who is returning to his hometown of Shepherd's Glen to investigate the sudden disappearance of his brother. From Shepherd's Glen to the foggy streets of Silent Hill, Alex must face the darkest of horrors in order to find his brother. Struggling with his own grip on reality, Alex must unravel the mystery behind his nightmares, discover the truth behind his brother's and father's disappearances, and confront the evil that has taken hold of his own flesh and blood.

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Customer Reviews

One man army
Oddly, Silent Hill Homecoming isn't developed by Team Silent (responsible for the seminal parts 1-4). Instead duties have been given to Double Helix, who have produced a solid but flawed entry to the series.
From the nightmare opening, Silent Hill's bleak atmosphere is well captured. The plot is typical, a lone protagonist with a troubled past. Homecoming's charcater is Alex Shepherd, returning home to learn his brother Josh has gone missing. He's one of many reported from Shepherds Glen and neighbouring town Silent Hill. This leads Alex to search both towns, and literally the depths of hell to unravel the mystery.

The visual style is impressive, with the distinct grainy look of the series preserved, despite moving to HD. Walking the town is incredibly eerie, with thick fog choking the air. The desolate streets reinforce the fact something is very wrong. Double Helix has taken visual inspiration from the Silent Hill movie, with an identical shift between 'worlds', complete with sirens. The use of music is also effective, with a haunting score by series composer Akira Yamaoka. Sound effects are stomach churning, and voice acting is solid throughout.

Homecomings puzzles are familiar, probably because they havent progressed since the PSOne original. They mainly consist of obscure fetch quests or frustrating puzzles. Typical examples include finding the combination to a keypad, or rewiring a fuse box.
Another stale feature is the lack of save functions. Rather than use an auto save, Homecoming favours save points, located throughout the game. These are usually few and far between, making the game unnecessarily difficult. With a maximum of 5 save slots, it can affect gameplay. Especially with limited items and health. Death causes a restart of the immediate area, which does help.

The only major overhaul is the combat; coincidentally Homecomings biggest problem. Whereas previous games made fighting a last resort, Shepherd can wield a fire axe with brutal efficency. This means the number of enemies is significantly greater. Confrontations are mostly unavoidable. It's the law of diminishing returns, and removes any real threat, or potential scares. The collision detection is horrendous, especially during boss battles. Fighting a 15 foot porcelain doll with a lead pipe soon becomes a glitch filled mess.
Firearm controls are noticeably improved, taking inspiration from Resident Evil. This weapon proficency is linked to the character, a former soldier. But the inclusion of QTE's is completely unnecessary, and shoddily applied.
Despite a faithful collection of enemies (nurses, smogs etc), there is some needless recycling. Pyramid Head makes a cameo, despite being a manifestation of the character in Silent Hill 2. So his inclusion makes no sense, and feels like a desperate attempt at wish fulfilment.
A collection of photos are hidden throughout the game. Accessing them all unlocks an additional scene during the credits. In typical Silent Hill fashion, there are numerous endings to the game, based on decisions made. New costumes and weapons are available on a second play, extending longevity.

On the whole, Homecoming is a good, not great Silent Hill game. The reigns should be handed back to Team Silent for a 'true' sequel; one that places psychological terror above repetitive combat.

A combat-heavy Silent Hill
`Silent Hill: Homecoming' is the latest game in the survival horror series and introduces a new character named Alex Shepherd who returns home to Shepherd's Green and to Silent Hill to find his lost brother Josh.

I've been a huge fan of the series since the first one on the Playstation 10 years ago (is it really that long ago!?) and just couldn't wait to play this one so I imported it a few months ago and have just gotten round to finishing it. My first impressions were very, very good - it has all the charm of the old ones such as the haunting music, the foggy streets, the twisted monsters and the blood-curdling sound effects. The story is pretty good too and the characters are all well designed. The graphics are fantastic and although they are in HD and are very detailed and realistic, it still manages to keep the original grainy feel to it that made the originals so creepy.

The gameplay is pretty much the same as before where you have to lead your character through various sections of Silent Hill and Shepherd's Green such as the hospital, cemetery, sewers, a hotel etc and solve puzzles, collect items and battle enemies, but the one thing that really lets this game down is that the developers have concentrated a lot on the combat side of things as there is a lot of bashing nasties with a metal pole or an axe, and let's face it, Silent Hill has never been great for the fighting sections and it hasn't at all been improved here (other than the shooting, which has been improved a little bit).

Overall this is a great addition to the series and is one that any fan of Silent Hill should get into as soon as possible. If the rumours are true that this is going to be delayed for even longer in the UK, the US copy of the game is region free so I'd import it now to save waiting.

Not the rubbish Silent Hill that a lot of people are saying!!
I have finished this game about a day ago and yes I do have mixed feelings of this chapter in the Silent Hill games but most are positive.
This review is going to be based on my own personal opinion and experience of the game there will also be no spoilers in this review either.
You play as your typical Silent Hill character a young male who has a similar dress sense to James from SH2 lol (Although the game puts him at 22 years of age that always bugged me as he looks older in the game).
He must try to find his Brother throughout the game and also his dad and the what happened to the other inhabitents of Shepards Glenn not Silent Hill straight off.
A good part of this game is based in Shepards Glenn it's only as you peice together the story Silent Hill then makes it's mark.
The game has been taken over by an American developer Double Helix as opposed to the Japanese Team Silent and what do I think?

I think they have done an excellent job okay so some of the atmosphere has been dumbed down for that reason but it's still a scary game with the lights out and it still has the excellently haunting soundtrack and industrial sounds and creature noises all present and correct.

The creatures themselves are groteusqe to behold and designed excellently very convincing animation and the bosses well they are the stars of the game as always.

I have to say this isn't the combat heavy game that a lot of people are saying it is there are still parts of the game where monsters are evenly spread out in fact some parts take a while before you encounter anything to fight so therefore it still retains a lot of the atmosphere from the other games.

Also a lot of people complained the game is too dark in places well maybe they had a problem with there brightness or something because I could see everything fine even in the dark areas there are some dark bits but then it's a silent hill game surprisingly.

I thurougly enjoyed this installment and hope double Helix or Team Silent decide to make another one as this series has always been about the story and atmosphere and the story to this one whilst not very original is still brilliant!!

Now for the pros and cons...................

Pros
*Great enemy design and level design graphics look amazing in places

*The soundtrack is as awsome as always I can't rememeber the guys name but credit goes to him yet again

*Great beleivable characters and great storyline

*A tense atmosphere that keeps going throught and brilliant boss battles

*Saves are always near so you can save the game between major parts the game even has a checkpoint system so if you day and you didn't save it for a while you can start of from the last checkpoint

*One thing that annoyed me about the other games was that ammo was plentyfull making the games far too easy even on a hard difficulty not so in this game limited ammo more so for the harder difficulty and limited life so this time it feels like a forced survival horror brilliant!!

*Some of the puzzles are hard to work out at first but are never so difficult that you get stuck good old feindish puzzles

*This game has a very adult theme thus the 18 certificate and there are parts of the game that will make you go "Whoa!!!!" so it's far darker this time

Cons
I have to say for me these are based on the frustrating parts of the game that definately need improving for the next one.

*NPC's can be a bit dumb and certainly a bit useless when fighting enemys in the game Double Helix could have made them more intelligent

*The combat now I know silent hill's combat has never been it's strong point and I know they have tried to revamp it for this one by making Alex an ex soldier so he is well trained in combat but it does make taking out most enemys slightly easy and dodging as well (you will need to do this a lot as if you don't enemys will zap away your life pretty quickly especially the nurses)I like the change in combat but you can take out most enemys with one basic weapon but you will find out what that is for yourself

*Combat in small corridors is a real pain in the bum sometimes as you either hit the wall or you can never dodge around an enemy to get a decent hit in

*For some reason you may get to a room with five enemies for example but each one takes it in turns to fight you I had a bit where I was fighting five nurses and they all politly stood there whilst I took each one out at a time but it's the same if you get to a mixture of enemies as well very odd AI!!

*I thought this game was pretty short about 8 hours in total on my first play I didn't want it to end

*The graphics were so so great in places and PS2 standared in others this is the next generation for crying out loud!!


My overall conclusion is this is a brilliant addition to the silent hill games Double Helix have not ruined the series they have just created a silent hill game in there style and it's still tense and atmospheric with great enemys and bosses iffy combat but like I said before it's not silent hills strong point the other things I described are!!

If your a fan buy it just to see and judge for yourself!!