Games review: Silent Hill: Shattered Memories, Wii, £39.99 (From Chorley Citizen)

Games review: Silent Hill: Shattered Memories, Wii, £39.99

4:07pm Wednesday 20th January 2010 in

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IT might be one of the last video games to trickle out of the gate in 2009, but Konami's Silent Hill: Shattered Memories is one of the best Wii titles of the year — if you're into scary stories, that is.

This 18-rated thriller, which is also available on the Sony PlayStation 2 and Sony PlayStation Portable, might be considered a new spin on the original, decade-old Silent Hill game.

You play as Harry Mason, who wakes up after a car accident outside of the spooky town of Silent Hill, only to find his seven-year-old daughter Cheryl is missing. In order to find her, you'll wander the snow-covered streets and through diners, warehouses, hotels and malls — while also unraveling a chilling secret about the town and how fate brought you back “home.”

Compared to other “survival horror” games including the Resident Evil series, Silent Hill: Shattered Memories is unique in that you never wield any weapons to fight back against the hordes of bizarre creatures you'll come across, such as the gyrating fleshless bodies that look like they're swathed in plastic wrap.

Instead, you'll perform defensive manoeuvres if they grab you by following the onscreen instructions — such as waving the Nintendo Wii remote and connected nunchuk controller in a specific direction — or you could always run if you can see an escape route.

Not having any weapons to protect yourself from these demons adds tension to the game, as does the fact that your flashlight, controlled by your wireless Wii remote, only beams a small circle of illumination in an otherwise dark and dangerous world. You'll know you're getting closer to an area with bad guys when the static noise gets louder and louder, emitting out of the Wii remote's speaker. As you play from a cinematic third-person perspective, much of your time in Shattered Memories will be exploring the many icy environments for clues, solving puzzles (such as finding a key that can be used to unlock a door) and using your cellphone as a critical tool.

The game is on the short side (averaging about six or seven hours), which means you could tackle it in a weekend, and it only has one mode to indulge in which limits its replayability.

But it's the quality rather than quantity of this interactive experience that makes Silent Hill: Shattered Memories a great pick for fans of the series or horror films.