I'm a huge fan of the Silent Hill series, in fact I just ordered this game from Amazon, but based on what you guys are saying, I'm about to be disappointed...

So what's good about the game?

Well, after about a week of owning the game, I've finally beaten it, and here's what I think:

Pros:
-In most Silent Hill games, there's usually a lot of dialogue between characters that really doesn't make a whole lot of sense...until a major plot twist is revealed. Homecoming is no different. Homecoming keeps up with the Silent Hill tradiction of a superb storyline.
-You're no longer limited to just standing around and whacking a monster; Alex can actually defend himself with some prowess.
-The new finishers (example: Alex stabs a nurse in the neck repeatedly with a knife) are full of win.
-The best acting of any Silent Hill game
-Five endings!
-Even though it was developed by a different company, the atmosphere of the "otherworld" is still spot-on. (Particularly Dr. Fitch's "otherworld")
-Scarier, bloodier, and gorier than most Silent Hills

Cons:
-Silent Hill has always been puzzle-oriented, but some of the puzzles are just downright ridiculously hard (the second slide puzzle, the three-dial puzzle where you have to stick your hand in that...thing..., and the big metal circle puzzle in particular)
-The enemies are also ridiculously hard (tons of cheap hits and the Smog monsters are almost impossible to kill without a gun)
-The cheap hits from monsters combined with the utter lack of enough health and ammunition means that you die. A lot.
-Sometimes the game had a Resident Evil 4 type feel that I didn't really like. I mean, not that there's anything wrong with Resident Evil 4, but that's just not the kind of vibe I want when I play a Silent Hill game.
-Not really any ties with the other Silent Hill games (other than a cameo by Travis and a mention of the fate of the main characters from Silent Hill 3)
-The soundtrack is quite good, but sometimes the music doesn't really fit the mood (somber piano music while I'm beating up a skinless dog with a lead pipe? No thank you.)

I wouldn't go as far as to say that it's better than Silent Hill 2 or 3, but it's definitely third-best in the series.

Tebor wrote:

Cam-win wrote: -Scarier ... than most Silent Hills In those terms, do you think I'd find Homecoming the scariest too? I realize this is an almost impossible question to answer as what scares who is completely different, but hopefully I gave some indication of what I find spooky.

Well, I said most Silent Hills, not all of them. Silent Hill 3 is the scariest, in my personal opinion. I don't if you remember, but that one part in the Hospital where Heather enters the room with the huge mirror and...yeah. And I thought Silent Hill 2 was scarier simply because of the claustrophobic dark wetness of the Prison stage.

But I think Homecoming is scarier than most for two reasons:

1. Although Alex is a better fighter than any other SH character, the enemies can and will beat the crap out of you. This gave a sense of urgent fear as some of the particularly harder monsters ambush you (like when you're being chased by these pink...things...with split knife heads.)

2. I just think they did a generally better job with the "otherworld" than in other Silent Hills. You only enter the "otherworld" maybe three or four times in the whole game, but when you do, it gives off this brooding, oppressive atmosphere that for me just really scares me. I won't spoil anything, but the second time you enter the "otherworld" (hint: Doctor) is probably my favorite representation of the "otherworld".

Tebor wrote:

I really don't think that the fear of: "you can die at any moment!" is particularly bad. It's the safety net of saves and reset buttons. Those shadow children in the first game were freaky because they came out of nowhere, would disappear inexplicably, make these horrid squeaking sounds, and would sometimes follow you. Every one of them seemed to act differently. As I said before, they couldn't even hurt you, but yet I think it's the most effective monster Silent Hill has done. They kind of implemented it again in 2 in the prison level where there's monsters above you causing your radio to blast static, but you couldn't kill them nor could they hurt you.

I know exactly what you mean. The shadow children kept running into Harry's legs and I thought that if I touched them I'd end up poisoned or something, or that maybe they'd latch on and eat his ankles up.

Tebor wrote:

My own thoughts on the Otherworld so far: In 1, the blood, the chains, the machinery, all of that was blocky pixels but it just works. And works well. In 2, there is no Otherworld. There kind of is, but not with blood, just dilapidation. 3 brought back the blood, but also used the more dilapidated Otherworld too. 4 had that icky living flesh walls and umbilical cords. I'm not against it, especially because it gives me a queasy, nauseating feeling. In 0rigins, the only Otherworld I thought was really effective was in the theater where you go to a library. I can't explain it, but I love the dimension it hints at. It's Shakespearean inspired and there's trees growing amongst the ruins, but the back is filled with darkness. You know the library is part of a bigger world, one you can't explore. I can't help but wonder what else is there.

SH1: I can't really relate, as I entered the series with SH3, and at the time the graphics and awkward pausing in the dialogue just didn't do it for me. I've grown to appreciate the first game, but I've already beaten it about seven or eight times by now.
SH2: I think this did a much better job of the "fear of the unknown" aspect. For example, when you go in the hospital basement of the otherworld, you hear this weird...dead bug suction-y noise, which I thought was completely psychotic. And also, in the hospital, you get this note from the second floor that hints at a kind of unimaginable horror in the basement's basement. And then when you finally get there, you only find a bloody ring. It always gave me the chills to think, what exactly transpired there?
SH3: I think SH3's otherworld is phenomenal; everything just looks nasty and the way hallways just kind of end gave this hopeless, lost feeling. To me, the fuzzy, infectious looking walls and random bizzare noises really gave the feeling that you were separated from the real world.
SH4; other than the hospital and maybe the prison, I never really thought this game really got the atmosphere down. I think the fact that you had a partner who could tag along and fight with you everywhere you went kind of ruined the mood for me.
SH0: This game wasn't really that scary until I played it through and got the "bad" ending. I won't spoil it if you haven't seen it, but after seeing that the game really made me wonder if the events of the game really happened or if everything was just a hallucination and Travis was actually a psycho. Unfortunately this ending isn't canon, though.

Tebor wrote:

I've just realized that what I find scariest is the unknown or things I'm left to put together in my mind. This depresses me, I normally hate that surreal shit.

It's getting really hard to restrain myself, but I'll try not to spoil anything for you. But I think Homecoming did a better job of catering to what scares me; not just with the enemies, but with the wistful, hopeless, lost feeling that the otherworld gives you, and, not unlike the second game, the feeling that every other character knows something that the main character doesn't gave off a creepy feeling.