I'm a huge SH fan and I thought this game was great. I didn't mind the fact that this game relied on running away from the enemies instead of fighting them like in the previous games, I actually found the chase sequences very suspenseful and decently difficult. I understand that this is a re-imagining of the first game but my only gripe with this game is that they could have easily made it fit into the continuity.
== SPOILERS BELOW ==
Don't get me wrong, I'm not really even griping with most of the storyline of the game. Since this is actually Cheryl/Heather's re-imagining of the events of SH:1, I completely agree that she could have remembered, or speculated how the events took place differently than Harry actually saw them in the original. Thus, the pretty much entirely different story that we see in this game makes perfect sense to me since it is Cheryl/Heather's take on what happened that night and what she believes/wants to believe. That is all fine and dandy.
What I was a little disappointed in is the changing of the events after the game so that they don't fit into the series continuity. In this game we find out that Harry had actually died in a car accident when Cheryl/Heather was younger and blah blah blah. . . Now my gripe is; why couldn't they have ended it so that it fit with the events surrounding SH3? We know that Harry is actually killed during the events of that game, and not in a car wreck, why not work that into this game? Why couldn't the story have been Cheryl/Heather visiting a shrink after the events of SH:3? Say even she had mentally blocked out those events and the events of her father's death and at the end of this game she could have realized that he was dead still, just being how he died in SH3 instead of this made up past history that this game introduced. She still could have told the exact same story as though it appears in this game (as she was only 7/ didn't even really exist yet when it happened) but just make it fit with the Continuity of the original and SH3. The only real change during the events of this game that would have to be changed would be that Harry's wife is Dhalia. And since the Dhalia in this game is more or less an entirely different character, that would not have been a problem. A simple name change and presto.
*whew* lol
Like I said, other than that I thought this game was great. Let me know what you guys think of my ideas.
My DVD Collection: http://www.imdb.com/mymovies/list?l=8504358
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chambersjad
14 years ago
It would have been easy to do, and it's not a bad idea. But I don't think making a new "in continuity" story for Silent Hill was the idea. Neither was this an attempt at a series "reboot." I think it was more of a test. Konami wanted to test the waters and did so in several different ways.
1. Is the Wii a viable playground for the traditionally "hardcore" survival horror fan?
2. Testing Wii hardware for the idea of flashlight/cellphone and seeing how immersive it is.
3. RE 1, 2, and 3 tried to achieve higher levels of tension by limiting the amount of ammo and healing one could find in a game. Konami really wanted to see if immersive storytelling, sound, and backdrop can be superior so they eliminated ammo and healing (and combat entirely.)
They could have tried to do this with just some stand-alone title, but you need a large sampling for a good test. Putting the SH brand on it guaranteed it would sell better than a new brand. Having said that, it wasn't just "some new game with SH written on it." They did a good job of making this kind of an alternate "what if" scenario. I really hope it did well enough for Konami to pursue the idea, whatever is next. I think with Kinect and Move out there, there would be more incentive to do so. I hope so, it was really good.
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washbrook45
13 years ago
Agreed, it definitely wasn't intended or wanted to be a new "in continuity" story with the rest of the series. I just wish it had been. I'm a big fan of the series (it's one of my all time favorites) and I'm a bit of a stickler for canon. Otherwise, the game is fantastic.
Think we will be looking at Mary's view of James' nightmare in the next installment - a'la SH2? Hehe.
My DVD Collection: http://www.imdb.com/mymovies/list?l=8504358
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