Reader Review: Silent Hill: Shattered Memories

Do you have what it takes to get a review published right here on Kotaku? Kenneth has experienced these bizarre events and he hopes you will find his notes useful.

Yes, that’s right, we’re now publishing reader reviews here on Kotaku. This is your chance to deliver sensible game purchasing advice to the rest of the Kotaku community.

And thanks to the very kind chaps at Madman Entertainment, purveyor of all kinds of cool, indie and esoteric film, the best reader review we publish each month will win a prize pack containing ten of the latest Madman DVD releases.

This review was submitted by Kenneth Barmby-Spence. If you’ve played Silent Hill: Shattered Memories, or just want to ask Kenneth more about it, leave your thoughts in the comments below.

Silent Hill: Shattered Memories (Wii)

Silent Hill: Shattered Memories is a reboot of the long running Silent Hill franchise offering a new take on the original title.

Loved

Not A Remake: Shattered Memories takes some basic themes of the original titles and goes in an entirely different direction. The Silent Hill fan should be pleased with being able to play something new and innovate with this ageing franchise. The ability to shape the story with the choices you make will draw you in an unnerve you.

Wiitastic: The latest iteration can be found on the PS2 and PSP but the Wii version is definitely the one to play. Fantastic use of motion controls and the Wiimote speaker too. One of the better examples of how Nintendo’s unique features on the Wii can further immerse you in a game.

Mature: Shattered Memories not only deals with some mature themes but conveys them to the player in a very mature fashion as well. One of the strongest aspects of the title.

Hated

The Not So Great Escape: The ‘nightmare’ sequences in the game are just that. Clunky controls paired with the nightmare on screen makes deaths quick and frustrating. An intentional design choice perhaps but it will leave you angry rather than scared.

Buggy: The second time the game crashed on me it corrupted my save. A half hour away from beating the game I had to start over. The game would crash on me two more times after that. Playing an import of the US release I hope the local release irons out some of the bugs I encountered.

I’m of two minds with Shattered Memories. The atmosphere of the game is a great return to form for the series but the gameplay during nightmare sequences are a real turn off and a detriment to the game. The bugs don’t help either. I hope Climax get another chance with a sequel to tighten up the gameplay as the formula established in Shattered Memories is a winning one.

This is a great game for a fan of Silent Hill or for anyone looking for some quality mature content on their Wii. I was able to overcome some gameplay issues and enjoy this game and would recommend readers out there to give the title a chance too.

Reviewed by: Kenneth Barmby-Spence

You can have your Reader Review published on Kotaku. Send your review to us at the usual address. Make sure it’s written in the same format as above and in under 500 words – yes, we’ve upped the word limit. We’ll publish the best ones we get and the best of the month will win a Madman DVD prize pack.

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