The introduction of a cell phone on Harry Mason's person opens up new possibilities to interact in the story and gameworld. Perhaps clues
and little details that deepen the narrative - a mysterious phone number, a anomaly in that pic you just took - may lead you in one direction,
or another.
title -
Silent Hill: Shattered Memories
platform - Wii, PSP, DS, PS2
developer/publisher - Climax (they also did Silent Hill: Origins for PSP)/Konami
release date - Q3 2009
Throw out (at least partly) your recollection of the original Silent Hill on the first Playstation. This is a
re-imagining of that story and how you'll experience it. The story will be a kind of fugue this time, the characters are a little different in both looks and background, and the permeating theme is that of coldness.
Quote:
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Originally Posted by IGN
The moment you make selections, the game begins your profile and it continues watching and evaluating you as you play.
Armed with the flashlight, you take control and everything you do is being monitored, considered. Based on your actions, the game itself changes on the fly. The design of the world. The characters. How they treat you. Everything. When Harry inevitably walks into a deserted office setting and looks around, the game will be analyzing your decisions. If you immediately look for a map, it'll think you're practical. If you look at a girlie picture instead, not so much. Either way, these decisions will incite changes, possibly even some with consequences.
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IGN.com
Combat is done away with. The goal is successful escape from and evasion of enemies, which itself lends a new dimension through which the narrative will be experienced.
The Wiimote will allow you to do things differently this time around. Things like simply scanning a dark room by panning your flashlight around, and taking pictures of objects and places digitally will involve physical moving and handling as opposed to clicking and analog sticking a controller.
Quote:
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Originally Posted by Wired.com
Harry’s mobile phone is one of his most important tools. He can use it to call phone numbers that he sees scattered across Silent Hill, take pictures of odd-looking scenes to reveal past events, and … well, probably a lot of other stuff that the developers don’t want to talk about yet.
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Wired.com
Puzzles are now less of a disconnected challenge and more emergent in the story and gameworld, as well as more respecting of the immediate environment so that the player doesn't need to go to, say, the other side of town to find clues or elements needed to solve enigmas. They're also more physically interactive this time around.
Quote:
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Originally Posted by Wired.com
"In Shattered Memories, when I come to a locked door, a television I have to turn on, whatever it is, I can stop and think — ‘Look around, what am I missing in this area?’ I’m never going to have to run back to the grocery store two blocks away to find an egg or something ridiculous," says Hulett.
Instead, says Barlow, puzzles are about "giving the player something to grab hold of … interacting in a meaningful, physical way." The one example Konami showed of how this will work was very simple — a key was hidden in a soda can, and the player had to pick up the can with the Wii remote and turn it upside-down to dump the key out.
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The town of Silent Hill will be just as it was in the original Playstation...and yet very different this time around.
Silent Hill: Shattered Memories will also be available on the PS2, PSP, and the DS. However, the very best way to experience it will be on the Wii for the obvious reasons.
For example, the characteristic radio static that sounds when a monster is nearby will feel more immediate and more suspenseful coming loudly from your Wiimote, as mentioned by
Tom Hullet in Gamespot's interview (video). You cannot experience that on a PSP or DS.
Quote:
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Originally Posted by IGN
In my demo, one of the Konami reps tried to dial 911. "911, what's your emergency?" a voice asks through your Wii remote. Harry responds on-screen. There's some kind of interference, though and the 911 operator cannot hear him. She keeps asking if anybody is there and then hangs up. It's a very effective means to maintain Silent Hill's trademark sense of isolation.
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Emphatically, the game assessess YOU, the player, thereby moving the story around you based on your behaviour as Harry Mason. The narrative is treated organically so that it shifts around according to your decisions. You may or not meet a character at a particular time because you didn't do something or go somewhere beforehand. Plot events happen that are triggered by you. You may or may not receive a call on your phone, or have to make a certain call.
Quote:
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Originally Posted by IGN
Here's an example. As Harry explores the town, he will soon see through the snow some kind of open establishment. Based on the choices he's made previously -- both in the profile and presumably along the way in his snowy travels -- something will have changed. In some cases, he'll see an open diner. In others, an open bar. As I watched, it was the latter. Harry walks inside, confused, and chats with a bartender...
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