First Impressions of Silent Hill 5
There’s been a lot of skepticism towards Silent Hill V (now being called Silent Hill: Homecoming officially), and I have no shame in admitting that some of it came from me. A lot of the screenshots and material slowly seeping out from the developers over at Double Helix (formerly called The Collective) had given grounds for those people naturally skeptical anyway, given that the game was not being made by Team Silent, to feel their fears were founded. As I know I’ve said here more than once, I think Double Helix showed potential in projects like the first Buffy game, but there hasn’t really been much to suggest that they’ve stepped up their game for Silent Hill: Homecoming.
Last night a number of people got a chance to play a recent build of the game. I’ve nitpicked the graphics myself, but when the game hits the shelf, all that really matters are two things: Is it fun? Is it scary?
Joystiq (seemingly the only ones eager enough to get the story written up quickly… lazy people and their weekends off) are responding “yes!” to both of those questions. At least for the part they saw.
They bring with them a few nuggets of information: The camera is now player controlled. Alex, the main character, will turn his attention to an important item (not a new feature to the series as 0rigins at least had it, but still useful). Also, the fog, which looks pretty lame in screenshots, sounds really impressive in motion.
The main thing the talk is about is the improvement in combat. Sure, a lot of people will tell you the combat in Silent Hill games is secondary … but Silent Hill 2 would be a better game if it had better combat. Now, instead of just facing enemies that stand pretty much still while you wail on them with a pipe, you have two different types of attacks, strong and weak; and timing those attacks is important. Wait for the right moment when the enemy has its guard down to attack because timing it wrong can lead to causing little or no damage.
For their full impressions of the game, be sure to hit the link above! Silent Hill: Homecoming doesn’t have a definitive release date, but that shouldn’t stop you from clicking here to pre-order it!
Discuss your hopes for the Homecoming in the Dread Central forums!
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