CGI's HYPE Series: Silent Hill Downpour

disolitude

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disolitude on 05 May 2011

CGI-Quality said:

disolitude said:

jonager said:

iam glad we are seeing some good horror games this gen even some horror shooters

Like what? I can count decent horror games this gen on 1 hand...

Siren: Blood Curse

Alan Wake

Condemned: Criminal Origins

Dead Space

Dead Space 2

F.E.A.R.

Deadly Premonition (depending on who you talk to)

Silent Hill: Shattered Memories

A bit more than one hand for me. It's truly a shame that Alone in the Dark couldn't be on the list, it's so ambitious, but was executed so poorly.

Yeah, I guess it depends what you put under horror.

The gameplay design of...

- enter room/area

- clear enemies by blasting them to pieces and using slow mo as well as other shooting mechanics

- pick up ammo found in the room

- push the map button telling you exactly where you need to go next

- repeat 100 times till final boss

...is not and will never be a horror game to me. They are shooter games.

So Alan Wake, Dead spcae 1 and 2, FEAR...yeah, not too keen on calling those horror. They are not bad games by any means, just not scary.

Horror games have to be unpredictable, anything goes...to generate fear. Once you have the formula down, it ain't scary no matter how many times Dead Space tries to hammer me with scary sound effects and pop up creatures.

I'd say Condemned 1, Shattered Memories, Deadly Premonition and...umm...Siren maybe (didn't play it) can be called a horror games as well as a few others I may have missed like Amnesia.

Lyrikalstylez

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Lyrikalstylez on 05 May 2011

I've always been a fan, I even liked Homecoming!

and I will be getting this game day 1

Reasonable

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Reasonable on 05 May 2011

CGI-Quality said:

Reasonable said:

cr00mz said:

this game looks interesting, i wonder if this will be like the PS3s Alan Wake

The first Silent Hill was released in 1991 on PS1 I believe... so technically its more the other way around really.

As for this entry in the series, I'm optimistically pessimistic about it, if that makes sense.

Silent Hill 2 (and to a lesser extend 4) for me mapped out what I want - a physcological horror narrative where the emphasis is not on combat or traditional gameplay but the atmosphere and the experience of a journey down a dark path with your protagonist - something SH2 in particular pulled off supremely well.

I'm not really sure the current market can support that kind of title well, and I'm sure that in the end they'll try and shove in too much combat, but we'll see.

Really, speaking of Alan Wake that probably neatly sums up my fears for the title. Remedy tried to capture an element of SH mood (and borrow - or is that steal?) a generous helping of Twin Peaks atmosphere into the bargin, but in the end it ended up mainly combat centric and repetitive without a deep enough narrative to carry it through (it also nabbed a fair bit from In The Mouths of Maddness as well thinking about it).

A good SH title is about the town, and the experiences of someone drawn to it. Something that peaked with SH2 but has been wavery in the series ever since.

They've emphasized that there won't be a lot of combat, but the formula will mix what worked in Silent Hill's 2 & Shattered Memories.

Read the recent link, they stand by their statement.

Yah - the optimistic bit of my view comes from the article. They're saying all the right things, and I'd really like a SH2 experience, I'm just not going to get my hopes up until I see some more detailed previews.

But, they are saying the right things, and it sounds like they've given the franchise some thought. By comparison as soon as I read interviews with the Homecoming, Origins developers I know they didn't full "get" the core elements of SH that appealed in the first place, and indeed those titles were simply average "paint by numbers" recreation of SH elements rather than genuine titles with heart.

They need to be brave and realise there should be no Pyramid Head (he belongs to SH2 only really) and no repeat monsters. There should be the town, and a character with a motive for being there and an exploration of why they are there that unfolds via specific monsters, clues and elements that all relate to their narrative arc.

Anyway, fingers crossed at this point and I'll hope for good previews.

Try to be reasonable... its easier than you think...