Upon completing Silent Hill: Shattered Memories, I find myself with mixed feelings towards the game. The experience, on the other hand, was a very good one... but it isn't much of a game. That's what makes it tough for me to truly evaluate this game. I highly recommend anyone who's a fan of psychological horror to play this game, but it still feels lacking. The gameplay can be divided into 4 categories, some of them far more interesting than others. The 4 categories are therapist sessions, exploration, puzzle rooms, and running.
The therapist sessions are interesting, and are among the best parts of the game. It's interesting to know that the answers you pick will somehow affect parts of the game. Despite how intriguing the therapist sessions are, the exploration portions are the heart of the game, which begs the question, "Does wandering around really constitute a game?" Once again, I enjoyed my experience with this game, but there isn't a lot of gameplay. In these exploration sections of the game, you know that it's safe, and nothing will harm you. There are many objects or "mementos" hidden about, but I believe you could beat the game without picking up a single one of these mementos. In the olden days of Silent Hill, nearly every item had a purpose, so this was difficult for me to get used to. I wouldn't be surprised if I could have finished the game 2 hours faster if I had simply just run towards my objective without looking around. 2 hours may not seem like a long time, but this is a very short game.
With the heart of the gameplay covered, that leaves only 2 more categories. The puzzle rooms should be the best part of the game. Unfortunately, the majority of the puzzle rooms have painfully obvious solutions and thus posed very little challenge. I am told, however, that I took the easy way out. Of course I didn't choose this easier path, but the ways in which I answered the therapist's questions and explored the town, I evidently was able to bypass a much trickier puzzle. Whether or not this is a positive or negative thing is debatable. It's good that there are multiple pathways with different puzzles; it offers a lot of replay value. On the other hand, it doesn't seem right that one path would have an extremely simple puzzle, and a different path would have a much more complicated puzzle. Some people want harder puzzles, and others would rather just see how the story pans out. What happened to the "puzzle difficulty" option that was used in Silent Hill 2 and 3? I'm sad to see that go.
Usually before or after one of these puzzle rooms, there is a "running" sequence. The combat in Silent Hill has always been clunky, awkward, and broken, (and don't even get me started on those "better" fighting controls in Silent Hill: Homecoming) so this game has elected to remove combat entirely. While I'm not entirely against the idea, these sections are more annoying than frightening really. I've always admired the monster designs of Silent Hill games, but how am I supposed to enjoy them if I'm constantly just running from them? Oh... I can't admire them because there is really only one type of enemy that has one variant. That's 2 similar-looking creatures total, and that's it. To be honest, I think the running sections could have worked if there were other monster types. For example, while running, when being chased by a human-type monster, crawling under a small opening would be more beneficial to your escape than if you were being chased by a dog-type monster.
Seeing as I have already been wordy, I'll conclude briefly. SH: Shattered Memories wasn't much of a game, but it was a very immersive experience that kept me playing to see what would happen next. Its short length may not warrant a purchase for many, but if you're a fan of the genre, it's worth a playthrough.
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