disillusioned silent hill fan

I agree that this game is not very good, but I think it is unfair single out the reason for this is a simple as the developer's culture/race. After all, The Room is not very popular and it was made by the Japanese.

This game seemed to have really divided fans. I personally think it's the most boring game in the series, with a few good moments. I hope the new developers take note of the criticism received. It is not as good as it should be, getting a score of 72 on metacritic.

Vae victis!!

PSN: lady_mystic

Absolutely, this was a major disappointment. It had a much more "resident evil" feel about it (the controls, actions etc.), and it borrowed heavily from the film.

There was no gradual oppressive build up. No dark, fearful claustrophobia.

Team Konami (the originals) do it best.

It's a sad American travesty.

I know! I loved The Room and I'll never be ashamed of that. There are some really scary moments in that game, but Homecoming is just a joke. No scares, seriously I got nothing from this game. I jumped like once at the start of the game, and that was it. I was so disappointed but the game did start to pick up with the Scarlet fight, and after that I did start to enjoy it a lot more. Still it was a pretty basic game, and not like the other games.

We are standing on the edge.

I think I agree with you, Snow.

I got into the franchise after seeing the film. Feeling that I hadn't given the horror genre of games a fair shake (strange considering my love of horror films and literature), I went down to GameStop and picked up Silent Hill 2 on a whim.

I had no idea what I was in for.

That game (specifically 2) created a very strong emotional response in me. The atmosphere, the unknown, the mist, the jarringly strange creatures, the story, the MUSIC! Wow. This game represented the horrible repressed feelings and thoughts that every normal person has but never speaks of. Silent Hill shows us our inner psychopaths. It personifies our Id. I couldn't get it out of my head and, like a junkie chasing the dragon, I NEEDED that feeling again. So I went directly to 3 and 4. Not even the third installment quenched my desire for that feeling and The Room left me cursing, annoyed and feeling like the only good thing to come out of it were some excellent tracks from Yamaoka-san.

Then Origins was ported for PS2 and I went for it. Although better than The Room (IMO), and irregardless of the awesome soundtrack, it still left this need - this desire - to visit what I considered to be the "real" Silent Hill. So I went out and bought a PS3 just so I could have a Homecoming (if you will).

Getting into the game the first thing I noticed was how awkward the controls had become. The atmosphere felt like an ersatz version of the authentically terrifying and haunting Silent Hill. No wonder they felt the need to primarily set it in Shepherd's Glen - it simply isn't Silent Hill. There are some high notes without a doubt - the graphics, the fluidity. Not necessarily due to developer skill but more the transition onto the next gen platform. The plot felt weak off the bat - very emotionally flat and non-compelling. Who cares about a protagonist that no one else seems to give a *beep* about? The battling was aggravating and irksome and there was far too much focus on this. I did NOT buy this game for battling - that is what RE5 is for. I bought this game to be disturbed, dammit! I came here to be judged, to be punished, and to be forgiven. I bought this game to be psychologically disassembled and reassembled with some parts in the wrong place! I did NOT buy this game to hone my skills with a Ceremonial Dagger for Chrissakes! It went from being a truly scary, psychologically affecting experience to being a cheap Hollywood remake. The original games had an insidious terror that crept deeply and quietly into your psyche. This is just in your face, shouldn't-this-be-scary shtick after shtick. They got all the ingredients right but didn't put them into the recipe in the effective measurements.

Even Akira's score seems tired and like a retread of the earlier incarnations - which takes a lot for me to say because I am convinced the man is a musical genius. The soundtrack does have some wicked high points - better than the game itself. I heard "Witchcraft" (the track that plays in the Shepherd home) before I played the game and felt strong hope that this game would be a return to form. Other standouts on the soundtrack (IMO) are "Cold Blood", "Snow Flower", and the David Axelrod-like "The Terminal Show". Otherwise, a sad addition to the line up. "One More Soul to the Call" is painful. First of all, I am pretty sure it's a re-do of Theme of Laura thinly veiled in lazily dubbed vocals (I blame producers and engineers - not Mary Elizabeth) and overreaching lyrics. It just sounds tired and completely uninspired. What is wrong with that track essentially sums up what is wrong with Homecoming itself. This game didn't leave me pondering what "my" Silent Hill would be like (as anyone with some skeletons who has played these games might think). This game only left me feeling like I was cheated out of an authentic experience. Like a bait and switch. Like I went to the store to buy Lucky Charms and when I got it home and looked in he box, someone had replaced it with Blessed Amulets while I wasn't looking. Like those stupid Hollywood bimbos that had industrial grade silicone implanted in their lips thinking it was the surgical grade they had paid for. Like...

Konami is trying to squeeze blood from a stone.

P.S. Absolutely, hands down the most chilling moment in the entire franchise for me was on my second playthrough of SH2. I used my recording headphones instead of the big sound system and that brought the little sound design details to the forefront. In the scene where you enter the apartment just before you confront Pyramid Head. When you first walk in a scary, whispery voice says something about a dead wife.Totally unexpected and sent hot jabs of fear down my spine. I actually had to get up and walk it off from the adrenaline that surged because it made my hands shake and my butt get hot.
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"Aren't you...Maria?"