« A Picture for Kevin... | Main | Something Random »
September 13, 2007
Silent Hill 5
Because I have nothing else better to do at the moment, I have been watching a Podcast about the new Silent Hill game for the PS3/360. Needless to say, with the next gen hardware behind it, the game LOOKS spectacular. The environments really do look sinister, the character animation is flawlessly detailed and the reality shift animation blew me away. However, I do have some concerns.
First off, Team Silent (the crew behind the last 4 games we know and love) has handed the project over to an American company known as The Collective. Their track record isn't bad (Mark Ecko's Getting up) but it does have its blemishes (Buffy the Vampire Slayer). They were not chosen at random, several other companies competed for the chance, but the Collective put together an impressive real time demo and really sold their idea to Team Silent. However, I worry whenever a franchise changes hands. The Collective seems to be sticking to the tried and true formula, but that doesn't mean that they have whatever made those first four games special.
For example, what set Silent Hill apart from Resident Evil? The controls were the same essentially, the graphics were comparable, they both fit nicely in the survival horror genre. Yes, Silent Hill's story was distinctive, but what REALLY made it great were the character's you were forced to control. In Resident Evil, every main character is specially trained in combat, either as a cop, a mercenary, a special ops solider, you name it. But in Silent Hill, your character is the every-man. He is Joe- six pack with little more than a driver's license and a board with a nail in it between him and a really sticky, long lasting death. This really made the game more terrifying because you were confronted with really horrible things, and you are ill equipped to deal with it so you do what any of us would do... you RUN.
Which leads me to my greatest concern with Silent Hill 5: the main character is a solider. His story is he has just returned from war (which war has yet to be revealed fully) and he is in Silent Hill looking for his brother and, like it does, wackiness ensues. So now, you have a guy with full combat training and field experience running around dealing with all the nightmares, and so The Collective has created a whole new combat system, with counter moves and dodges.
I know Kevin, you are intrigued, but we all know I am a purist, and if it ain't broke, don't fix it. But, I am open to this change. I am really looking forward to it, in spite of my reservations. Anyway, rant over. We should chill soon.
Posted by Vilhelm at September 13, 2007 9:28 PM
Trackback Pings
TrackBack URL for this entry:
http://www.churducken.com/mt/mt-tb.cgi/248
Comments
I'm actually not as intrigued as you may think. I think there were all kinds of things wrong with the Silent Hill series, especially the combat system. You fuckers may run when faced with danger, but that is the difference between you guys and me. However, if the world is ever run-over with zombies that don't ever stay down, it may be a different story.
Anyhow, I agree with Will about the change. It would be nice to take control of a character who was experience in combat and throw them into a world infested with evil nurses and your worst nightmares (although the board with a nail in it was pretty damn sweet, and the katana. I love you, Heather). I can see the game taking greater interest in how you are going to fight the monsters instead of achieving your ultimate goal in Silent Hill. I'm not quite sure how things will turn out now that there is a new company developing the game, but it's way too early to make any judgments yet. We'll just have to wait and see what happens, although the screen shots looked pretty sweet.
Posted by: Ninja McFear 
at September 15, 2007 12:16 AM
Some of my opinions on Silent Hill 5:
Silent Hill 5 will probably be a letdown, no matter what. We've all gotten incredibly into and wrapped up in the Silent Hill franchise. Our hopes have been set unreachably high for Silent Hill 5. Imagine there's a movie that looks so/so to you, and someone tells you, "Hey, you've GOT to see this movie, it's AMAZING" and then someone else says the same thing, and someone else, and so finally you go and see the movie, expecting it to be the mother of all movies, and it kind of sucks. Silent Hill 5 is bound to be like that, because everyone's expectations are so high.
Can anyone name me an instance where a successful video game series that broke ground, and garnered a cult following, switched design teams and IMPROVED? Switching teams was a BAD idea, and nothing good can come from it. We're all just crossing our fingers hoping it doesn't drag down the new game "too much".
On "The Collective"... I looked over their games list and didn't see ANY winners. Penny Arcade called their supposed best game (Mark Ecko's Getting up) "God's punishment for an evil world."
Also, aren't there already enough games with a military protagonist? Do we really have to bring it into Silent Hill too? One of the things I liked was that we were always the lay man, making his way through hell. I simply won't be able to empathize with the new lead character because I find it impossible to empathize with military people.
AND THE COMBAT SYSTEM... oh man, it's all down hill (no pun intended) here... I'd prefer a no-combat system myself. I'm about the puzzles, the setting, the plot, the characters... I am NOT about the combat, and it seems the main change between 4 and 5 is the combat system... increasing it's complexity and importance. I think that is that WRONG way to go, and will inevitably take away from the other more important "core" aspects of the game.
In short I have many grave reservations about SH5. As we all are, I'm EAGERLY awaiting it's release, and I can't wait to get into another Silent Hill game. I just hope my instincts are wrong about it. Because if they arn't, then what I'm really waiting for is SH6, when they realize the change was a bad move, and the give the franchise back to the original team.
*crossing my fingers hoping I'm wrong*
-Geoff
Posted by: Geoff at September 16, 2007 2:42 PM
Oh yeah, I forgot to mention that The Collective's last game contract was canceled, pulled, and begin given to another game design studio because of "trouble."
http://uk.gamespot.com/ps3/action/dirtyharryworkingtitle/news.html?sid=6166620&om_act=convert&om_clk=newlyadded
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dirty_Harry_%28video_game%29
Posted by: Geoff at September 16, 2007 2:48 PM
Geoff makes some good points. Some very good points, actually. The videos I've seen look pretty good, but they don't actually show the main character fighting, but one of the videos on http://silenthill5.net/ does comment on the new combat system. Moving the character around looks like it has made a drastic improvement, and the bunny from SH3 + SH4 makes a comeback. One of the videos shows the transition from the normal world to Hell, and it is very reminiscent of the movie. I'm a little more intrigued than I was previously. Check out the site, it's got some cool stuff.
Posted by: Ninja McFear at September 17, 2007 12:46 AM
I am 100% behind all that Geoff said. The writers at EGM are huge and loyal SH fans, and they have actually had a chance to mess with the demo the Collective gave to Team Silent, and if they are as optimistic about it as they seem to be, it can't be a total failure. But once again, we will see. Hopefully we WON'T have to wait for SH6 for a decent game.
Posted by: Vilhelm at September 17, 2007 6:59 PM
Post a comment
Thanks for signing in, . Now you can comment. (sign out)
(If you haven't left a comment here before, you may need to be approved by the site owner before your comment will appear. Until then, it won't appear on the entry. Thanks for waiting.)