Oh man!
It was a game playin’ kinda week, I’ll tell you what. Not only were Mike and I
were able to finish recording our Sly Cooper escapades (which are being edited
upon as we speak) but I also got to watch my partner in slime stumble and
guffaw his way through a sizable chunk of our next Youtube series. I’m not sure
if it’s a secret so I’m keeping my fat ass shut for the time being. Beyond that
though, I was able to finish a couple more games in my ever growing backlog.
Remember that Silent Hill game I was playing? What about that little indie game
that’s kinda like Silent Hill? No? Well, let me take a sip from my analytical
punch bowl and I’ll tell you all about it.
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| This is what the game looks like if your graphics card is good enough. But you wouldn't know anything about that would you? Picture from: www.techzwn.com |
Earlier
in the week I finished up Lone Survivor. You remember this game; I mentioned it
like a month ago, it’s the 2D pixelated survival horror game that I got in the
humble bundle. If you don’t recall, feel free to read through every single
Weekly Shlockness up until this point. I’m sure you’ll find it eventually and
it’s totally worth it to read all of my funny picture captions, I’m not just
saying that. But yea, I don’t know why more people aren’t talking about this
game, it’s that cool. As of late, I’ve been spending a lot of my time on the
Silent Hill Wiki (trust me, this isn’t a nonsequiter) because I love looking at
all of the weird symbolism behind things and why the town manifests the way it
does. For instance, did you know that Pyramid head supposedly represents *SILENT
HILL 2 SPOILERS BIG TIME* James’ guilt for killing his wife as well as his own
sexual frustration (mannequin rape scene explained). There seems to be a lot of
weird esoteric meaning behind Lone Survivor as well. Why does ‘The Man Who
Wears a Box on His Head’ wear a box on his head? I have no idea! And I’ve been
trying to look at forums/web pages to find an answer to this unanswered
question but there’s nothing. What was the deal with the pale faced guy? Who
was Chie? Is there any benefit to playing your Gamejoy? I love asking these
questions, but what I love even more than that is reading all the crackpot
theories and assumptions that people post online; but sadly, it looks like no
one is going to indulge me, which is a shame.
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| The cat actually represents disdain for over pixelated indie games picture from: www.gamespot.com |
I do
recall saying in my last post about this game that there are a lot of gameplay
elements that aren't very apparent as to what their purpose is in the overall
game. However, after my play through this week I have been able to piece
together a lot of the goings on under the hood. Take the food mechanic for
instance. I found out that food will heal you and the level of enjoyment gotten
from a particular food item results in more health being restored. I’m still
not sure what happens when you starve completely, but I assume that you start
to take damage and eventually die. There is also a neat pill mechanic that I
really had no idea existed. If you go into your bathroom within the game you
can find an endless supply of different colored pills. The red ones will perk
up your character so he doesn’t get tired (I still don’t know how being tired affects
your character) but the blue and green pills will take you to crazy dream lands
where you meet the crazy dream people. The green pill lets you talk to the man
with the box on his head (as I mentioned before) and he’ll ask you some very
philosophical questions that apparently have right and wrong answers. Either
way, he’ll give you some food if you need it which is good. The blue pill does
basically the same things except you get to go see this normal looking dude in
an armchair and he give you ammo if you’re low.
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| The controls weren't very responsive picture from: www.amazon.com |
There
are multiple endings to this game (I got the red ending) and I’m really not
sure what the criteria for achieving these endings are. When you beat the game,
you’re treated to a ten page list of all the things you’ve done in the game.
How many pills you’ve popped, how many bad guys you’ve killed, how many times
you talked to your plush kitty cat. It’s really interesting to read how I ‘slept
without being tired’ 8 times in my play through, even though it all seems
pretty pointless. There is also a crazy Silent Hill esque twist towards the end
that I totally saw coming. It really isn’t a surprise at all but it’s still
vague enough that internet crackpots from all over could still interpret all
sorts of nonsense from it. Too bad I wouldn’t know anything about that.
All in
all, I adored this game. It’s so wonderfully atmospheric, so wonderfully
psychodellic, so wonderfully…Silent Hill like. If you’re into survival
horrors/Silent Hill like I am, I would highly recommend that you pick this up.
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| Don't let that rack mislead you, her face is pretty bad. Trust me. picture from: www.vgboxart.com |
This
game on the other hand, I can’t speak so kindly of. Now, in my last article, I
say something along the lines of how Homecoming is a natural evolution for the
Silent Hill franchise; however, after finishing the game, I was able to see
scar tissue that’s been left from its western development. Parts of the game
cease to feel like a Silent Hill game. Some of the cutscenes are needlessly gory,
there’s a cheap romance, and even a black guy dies for Christ sake. There is
also too big of an emphasis on the combat which can be described as clunky at
best (but I talked about that last week). These are staples of western horror
which is fine if you’re making a western horror game; this however is a Silent Hill
game. There was very little psychological horror here and overall the game just
wasn’t as thought provoking as the previous entries in the series. Don’t get me
wrong, the game is perfectly ok. Within a bubble this game is a very mediocre
survival horror with some neat story elements; however, if you insist on
comparing this game to something like Silent Hill 2, then you’ll find that
Homecoming is a vastly weaker game.
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| Don't let that face fool you, her rack is pretty awesome. picture from: not ign - www.gamerscorner.co |
Another
thing that this game did horribly was the ending. The actual ending movie
itself was alright, but the criteria for getting the different endings are
blatantly obvious. There are three points in which you’ll be prompted to make
some sort of decision and it is through these prompts that the ending is
determined. There’s not even any gray middle ground to the decisions, it’s
always triangle for the good path, square for the bad path. Come on game, at
least make it a little ambiguous. I got a bad ending in Silent Hill 2 by
looking at a knife in my inventory too much. Why couldn’t it have been more
like that?
There
is good news though, I just ordered Silent Hill 3 from Amazon and it’s on its
way right now. In just a few short days I’ll be able to crack open into what
has been called the third greatest Silent Hill game, then I’ll be able to
change the name of my blog post to Weekly Silent Hill. Until then, I’ve been
John Mikula and this has been your Weekly Shlockness.
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