2. • Introduction
This report will inform you about Silent hill homecoming for Playstation 3 and
a bit of game history.
I have always been intrigued by the little town of Silent hill and the people
that live in it or just pass through it. There is so much evil that fits inside this
small ghost town. I love the environments, sound and atmosphere the game
offers you while playing and lingers with you when you turn off the game.
Silent hill follows you where ever you go and that makes the game
experience so much more alive.
I have decided to try and give the perspective of a long time game player
and a Silent hill fan. I myself have mostly played Silent hill one and two
before playing Homecoming that is the fifth in the original series. I hope you
will be interested to try the game after you read this report.
3. • Silent Hill in the beginning
The story of Silent hill began in 1999 when the first game was released called Silent
hill for Playstation one. Konami presented it like a survival horror game and Silent
hills followers grew with every title released. The most popular titles are Silent Hill 1, 2
and 3 the odd one out is Silent hill 4 The Room that wasn’t the same success as the
first three and made the series lose some fans.
4. • Silent hill – The game
All Silent hill games take place in several realities one more “normal” with a
thick mist covering town and one dark and deranged the city and places are
the same but still they look very different the dark side of Silent hill is filled
with blood and gore and mutant monsters.
Our hero Alex and his brother Josh that your searching for.
5. • The people
• In all the games you meet people from town or members of the police force.
Homecoming is no different here you meet old childhood friends, people
from Shepherd’s Glenn and your mother who still lives in town. In
homecoming you can for the first time in the series, you may select
responses when engaging in dialogue with other characters that Alex
encounters in the game, which in turn may affect how you will see the plot
unfold.
• Here is a childhood friend and a villager living in Shepherd’s Glenn.
6. • Puzzles
A big part of Silent Hill is small puzzles or quests to be able to get forward in
the game you have to solve them. Often you really have to bend your mind
to be able to crack the puzzle and get past the problem.
Here are two pictures of what the puzzles might look like.
7. • The game play
In homecoming you use a new fight system with “fast and weak attack”, “strong
and slow attack” and “dodge” this allows the game play to become more
versatile and gives the player an opportunity to fight in a more advanced
way with different styles and combinations. At the same time the developers
made the monster in Silent hill more aggressive to even out the balance
while fighting. In earlier Silent hill games monster had a more pattern like
movement so you could easily predict and what the monster would do after
a while of playing.
Here is a picture with our hero character Alex fighting an evil nurse.
8. • The environment
When exploring Silent hill or Shepherd’s Glenn you will experience a few
different areas most of the time you will run around on the city streets and
inside schools and hospitals. The way the town looks depends if you are in
the normal realm or the darker one this varies from time to time. Of course
you will be presented graveyards, shops, junkyards and other houses.
When you are in town and try to leave the town you will see that it won’t let
you leave and you will find that the street ends in a ravine.
Here a picture of a typical street
9. • The monsters
In the game you will encounter a lot of different creatures and mutant
people few things that has followed Silent hill though out the years that’s the
Nurses and fleshy feral dogs. In homecoming you will encounter both these
and Lurkers and much more. Monsters can hide in houses, water, small
holes and almost everywhere so you are always hunted, and remember
your radio so you know when something is coming for you in the dark and
misty town.
Here are pictures of a fleshy feral dog and a Lurker.
10. • The music
Music and sound has always been a large part of Silent hill and a part that
makes the game play even scarier, since the sound is so well designed and
placed just right to make your spine chill when you least expect it. Akira
Yamaoka returned from the past Konami team for the Silent hill series to be
the game's producer for homecoming, as well as to create both music and
sound effects for the game.
Akira Yamaoka has been the music designer though out all the different
Silent hill games. Akira has been the primary contact between Double Helix
in USA and the Konami studios in Japan with the collaboration that took
place making Silent hill homecoming. This is the first time Konami has
joined forces with a western company and makes a great fusion for future
collaborations.
11. • The Bogey man of Silent hill
Every story needs a character that’s in the center of attention and “Pyramid
head” is the one in this series. He’s very evil and he is the one who brings
the darkness to Silent hill and Shepherd’s Glenn you can often hear him in
the darkness dragging his huge knife against the floor. Pyramid Head is one
of the few monsters that’s portrayed with very masculine appearance. He
resembles a tall, pale, muscular man covered with a white, blood-soaked
robe reminiscent of a butcher's smock. His most outstanding feature is a
large, red, triangular helmet that covers his head completely and his very
large knife of course.
Here is a picture of Pyramid head from the Silent hill the movie.
12. • Save symbols of the game and inventory
When you find a room with this special symbol on the wall is to know that
you are safe for now and may save the progress you have made so far.
This symbol indicates that your ok and may rest a bit
13. • Conclusions
As an experienced survival horror enthusiast I must say I really like Silent
hill homecoming they have grasped much of the details I’m looking for when
playing. Great graphics, music and sound, game play and well designed
environments. I my own mind Silent hill really fill the need of today’s survival
horror game demands and should be played by many people. (I recommend
that young persons and people with heart problems stay away from the
game thought). Silent hill comes with an age marking of 18+ so young
people should not play it. I know I would play it still if I were under 18 but the
marking is just a recommendation.
Thank you for reading.
If you are more intressted please read the full report.
Your author – Andreas Halonen 2009/05/29
If you have comments on the report please let me know you can reach me at:
www.bloodmoon.se or info@bloodmoon.se
