Video Games : Silent Hill: Homecoming

• Enter the next chapter of Silent Hill and learn the town history
• first silent hill game on XBX360
• All new next gen graphics bring silent hill to life like never before
• solve treacherous and deadly puzzles to learn dark secrets
• features an all new soundtrack by acclaimed series composer Akira Yamaoka

• Dead Space
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Survive Shepherd's nightmare

Explore Silent Hill as Alex Shepherd. View larger.

Battle frightening enemies. View larger.

And the unexpectedly frightening. View larger.

Use tools and your wits to puzzle-solve. View larger.

The Story of a Grim Homecoming
Homecoming's story follows the nightmare turned real life of Alex Shepherd, a war veteran returning to his hometown of Shepherd's Glen to investigate the sudden disappearance of his kid brother, Josh. From Shepherd's Glen to the foggy streets of dreaded Silent Hill, Alex must face the darkest of horrors in order to find his brother. Struggling with his own grip on reality, it's here that Alex must unravel the mystery behind his nightmares, discover the truth behind his brother's disappearance, and confront the evil that takes hold of his own flesh and blood in the process.

Improved Gameplay
Firmly steeped in the Survival-Horror genre its series has been pivotal in establishing, action in Homecoming remains based on exploration of the terrors residing in the communities surrounding Toluca lake and puzzle-solving skill as a means of surviving them. But to its credit game developer Double Helix refuses to rest on past laurels, choosing instead to include new more accessible gameplay in the hopes of gaining a new audience for Homecoming. Examples of this gameplay include:

Next-Gen Visual and Spatial Features - Every sequel seeks reinvent the namesake game in their series. Homecoming does this in three ways, by adding the ability to toggle between a traditional third-person view and an action-oriented first-person view; by adding fully 3-D physics to the game, creating a realistic range of motion for any and all objects impacted by the player; and by adding transitions or "Hell States" that alter the game's physical landscape at points in the game both in real-time and via cinematics. All three actively change the way players see themselves and in the process create a whole new game experience.

An Enhanced Combat System - Adding to the standard knives, axes, pipes and other melee weapons that made up the arsenal of previous Silent Hill games, Homecoming adds a wide variety of guns and explosives. Fitting with the military back-story of protagonist Alex Shephard, these weapons can be wielded in attacks weighted as weak or strong and can be strung together in combos to stun or incapacitate opponents, who can then be taken out with powerful finishing moves. With practice players can even perform evasive ducks and rolls and follow these up with counterattacks. But remember that enemy AI has also been significantly improved to compensate for your higher degree of combat prowess, and that it's not uncommon to battle multiple monsters simultaneously.

Key Features:

• Enter the next chapter of Silent Hill as you delve deeper in the tormented history of the town and learn of the evil that surrounds Toluca Lake.
• Silent Hill: Homecoming is the 1st Silent Hill game designed for Xbox 360.
• From the murky fog to the ominous shadows, all-new next-gen graphics bring Silent Hill to life like never before.
• Survive the denizens of Silent Hill with an all-new enhanced combat system that gives you a wide array of attacks and counters.
• Solve the treacherous and deadly puzzles of Silent Hill to discover its darkest secrets.
• Silent Hill: Homecoming will feature an all-new soundtrack by acclaimed series composer Akira Yamaoka.

A Frighteningly Masterful Soundtrack
All games in the Survival-Horror genre seek to create tension and unease through sound and Homecoming does this masterfully through the compositions and sound engineering of Akira Yamaoka. Having scored the music and effects for dozens of video game titles, including all of the previous games in the Silent Hill series, Yamaoka is considered a master at using sound to illicit a response.

Average Rating:

Rating: - Made for theaters than for consoles.
I am a die hard fan of the silent hill series, i wish they wld come out with the first one again with better graphics, it was such an amazing game. the thing about homecoming is the plot is too straight forward, not the typical silent hill way. and why the hell does the game feel a little like Eli Roths HOSTEL and other movies like SAW. too much of an influence there, stick with the jacobs latter guys. next the combat was a clever addition to the game but it was very frustrating at first, needs to be tweaked for silent hill 6. the graphics were very well done, the fog was good as ever, next they shld re-visit the school from the original silent hill, that was one of my fav. locations and the ghost children were creepy as hell. and it was nice to see pyramid head but it was a shame that he was only a guest appearance, why not fight him or have some more interaction with him, over all for a western company to make the game it was like seeing a B rated horror movie had its moments but in the end keeps you waiting to the next great thing comes, that being Dead Space.

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Rating: - Not the Silent Hill I remember
Homecoming is a good horror game, just not a good Silent Hill game. This little jewel does not stand out from the plethora of other horror titles like Resident Evil or The Suffering. In fact, in many places I felt like I was playing The Suffering instead of Silent Hill. It pains me to say, but there will never be another Silent Hill 1 or 2 again. I think the old school Silent Hill fans like me will just have to wait until some genius dreams up another physiological horror title that will be more powerful than the fear the original Silent Hills instilled in us.

Rest assured, though, that this is in no way a bad game. With an American team building upon a Japanese horror concept, this game plays like a toned down version of The Suffering. You have extremely violent creatures coming after you in this game, and Alex Shepard, the man you control, to dispose of them acts just as violently. A simple combo system of three fast attacks and one slow strong attack is what you will be doing throughout the whole game. In addition to this easy system, you must dodge the attacks of your enemies, especially if they are bigger than you, until you are able to attack them from the side or from behind. I always thought that if the other Silent Hills were lacking something in their combat, it was this. I'm actually glad of it.

Other than that, there is really nothing new about this game. Shepard's Glen, a town neighboring Silent Hill, is being swallowed up by fog and the streets are infested with creatures as the evil of Silent Hill spreads. An idea borrowed from Silent Hill 3 and The Room. Alex Shepard returns home to visit his family in Shepard's Glen to find only his mother in a catatonic state and his father and brother missing. The story that unravels as he searches for them in both Shepard's Glen and Silent Hill is rather disturbing. The other characters you meet, especially the four founders of Shepard's Glen, are completely insane, having all broken a sacred vow with certain demonic deities. Their actions and behavior remain completely inexplicable to the player probably up until you play through the game a second time and have a better idea of what's going on. This is good, since I don't like answers being spelled out for you. It's a good story, but it is not as emotional as in other Silent Hill games. You want to know what's going on, but you are not as intimately involved with the character as players were with James Sunderland or Harry.

Atmosphere is important in a Silent Hill game and the lack of creativity as you explore this world is disappointing. Much like Origins, the world of Silent Hill just seems so bland. What I mean is that whenever you walked into a building in the first games, you saw many personal belongings of the people who once inhabited the town. Each apartment left behind the personality of the person who had lived there, the bar you had to walk through still had an unfinished game of cards on the table or empty beer bottles lying around. In this game, it's like the people just packed their things and left instead of mysteriously vanishing and what we explore is empty rooms. Boring, right? Even the prison cells of Silent Hill 2 had articles of its previous inhabitants lying around. Learning a little something about the lives of all these missing people in a town now overrun by monstrosities did not just have a haunting effect, but it brought the town to life and gave it a personality.

I don't remember so many big open areas to explore in Silent Hill. Call me claustrophobic, but narrow alleyways and hallways creates a real sense of helplessness, having little space to run or move when you know something will be coming out of the darkness soon.

And the flashlight in this game is so weak it's almost not worth having. I like to turn down the brightness of a horror game. So it's nice to have a flashlight that illuminates things nicely, whether it be a bed, a wall, the floor in front of you or that creature standing in the corner. That was a huge highlight in the first few games.

Still, Homecoming delivers a worthy experience for anybody who is into the horror genre, especially at the beginning of the game that somebody at Team Silent did a good job with.

I loved the music.

And the alternate realities that Alex transverses through can be mind bending.

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Rating: - Best Silent Hill since Silent Hill 2
This game really redeemed the Silent Hill series after the disappointment that was Silent HIll 4: The Room. Check it out!

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Rating: - Do not buy if you use inverted controls.
This game is totally unplayable for me, because it does not support inverted camera controls. I tried to like it, and I played for a few hours, but I became so frustrated by always looking at the ground, that I had to stop playing. And Konami refuses to patch the game! I want my money back.

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Rating: - Not for the impatient gamer
I love the Silent Hill games, always have and probably always will. I have enjoyed the creepy atmosphere in this current game, and am interested in finding out what ending I will get. I like how you can change the game by responding to conversations in different ways.

My complaint is that they have made the game a little too hard for the casual, impatient gamer. I hate that you can no longer save up ammo for the hard creatures - you are limited to a certain amount per gun. Yes, that makes it more realistic, but it makes it very hard as well. Without the extra ammo I find myself running out and dying far more often, which frustrates me and makes me want to stop playing. I was so frustrated the last time I played I haven't played again for almost 2 weeks, when I used to get so into the game I played every day until I finished it.

Overall, I would recommend the game, but would warn the buyer that they will need a lot of patience as they play.

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