Retro Review - Silent Hill: Homecoming

In light of the trailers being released for the upcoming game entitled Silent Hills, starring Norman Reedus, I thought why not go back and finally finish and review some previous Silent Hill titles. So without further adu here is my review for Silent Hill: Homecoming.

 

Homecoming cover art.

 Silent Hill: Homecoming is the sixth installment in the Silent Hill survival horror video game series, developed by Double Helix G...ames. The game was announced on July 11, 2007 by Konami at their E3 press conference, and was originally entitled Silent Hill V. This entry follows the journey of Alex Shepherd, a soldier returning from war, to his hometown of Shepherd's Glen, where he finds the town in disarray, and his younger brother missing. As he continues on his search to find his younger brother, he discovers more about the Order—the cult of Silent Hill—as well as the town's history, and his own past.

The game was released on September 30, 2008 in North America for the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360, and the Microsoft Windows version was released for North, Central and South America on November 6, 2008 exclusively through Valve's Steam digital content delivery service. All versions were simultaneously released in Europe, including a retail Microsoft Windows version, on February 27, 2009. The Japanese version was cancelled.

Being an early PlayStation 3 (PS3) release the graphics aren't the best, but they are still rather good. The sound effects are quite creepy indeed and the voice acting is pretty good as well. The story was good with a couple of unforeseen twists, but one thing I love about the series is you never really know just what the hell is going on.

The game play is a bit sluggish and "tanky" but, to me, that just makes the game that much more tense. You don't know what's behind you and you can't just turn and run away unscathed.

I have always been a huge fan of the series and this is the first time I played all the way through this one. The sound and some of the visuals really creep you out and leave you thinking "WTF?"

WTF?

 Overall by todays standards I have to give this title a 7 out of 10 stars and recommend it to anyone looking to play a game that makes them want to leave the lights on.

 - N64