Silent Hill: Shattered Memories new gameplay details, screenshots

April 10, 2009

IGN’s calling it: Silent Hill: Shattered Memories “is shaping up to be one of the best games we’ve seen on Nintendo‘s console, period.” That’s a lot of fighting words right there. And maybe they’ve got the basis to say that. Check out the newly-revealed gameplay information and screenshots and you be the judge for yourself.

IGN’s calling it: Silent Hill: Shattered Memories “is shaping up to be one of the best games we’ve seen on Nintendo‘s console, period.” That’s a lot of fighting words right there. And maybe they’ve got the basis to say that. After all, not only did they get an eyes-on impression of the game, they also scored an interview with the game developer, Climax.

Talking with lead designer Sam Barlow, director Mark Simmons and Konami producer Tom Hullet, they worked their at way at further enticing the appetites of Silent Hill fans with this new installment in the franchise — and they told you! It’s NOT a remake!

Said Sam Barlow:

A remake would mean literally re-crafting the same content, the same gameplay, with some tweaks. That isn’t this game. This shares the same starting point as SH1, but then uses it as a springboard to go to new interesting places. It’s a bit like how Zelda starts from the same premise — hero finds sword, saves world — but always reinvents themselves. Well, maybe it’s more extreme than Zelda.

More details are further revealed in the interview, such as Harry being able to interact with environments, pick locks, etc. The dev team says they’re not using MotionPlus for this, however. Explained Tom Hulett:

Traditionally you play games holding a controller which is strapped (literally or figuratively) to a console, which is cabled to a television monitor. Pretty detached from the horror. With Silent Hill, we want the player to know they are reaching directly into this world; they are moving about in Silent Hill itself.

Connecting People — and non-people

Apparently, too, the phone will be a very important tool in Harry’s journey, from making and receiving calls, texting, voicemails, photos, everything. Apart from those real-world capabilities, the phone in the game also serves as a motion detector/ metal detector hybrid for all those non-human, creepy stuff. And get this, there are even certain locations in the game where Harry won’t be able to make good use of his phone because there’s no signal! How’s that for realistic, huh?

Even more interesting is the fact that with the exception of his cellphone, Harry does not carry any offensive weapons. He has to run. And he has no other option, because otherwise, freaky creatures lurking in the dark will make that dash for you. Mark Simmons encapsulates this idea:

This is why you gotta run

This is a totally new nightmare experience. It’s tense, quite often very fast paced, and always crap your pants scary. We didn’t want to follow the same route that other horror games have pushed in and improve combat by making the player adept with guns and melee weapons. We wanted this game to feel like a real horror movie. Where the antagonist is powerful and the protagonist is just a normal guy like you or me. He’s in a horrifying situation and he is desperate to get out of it.

They’ve got a lot more to say about the game, so do follow the source link below for more details. In the meantime, enjoy these screenshots we got for you as well.