I have always looked forward to becoming an adult, because the crown jewel of adulthood is the ability to stay up all night eating ice cream and playing video games. And that’s just what I did (along with three intrepid friends) to review Silent Hill: Shattered Memories for the Nintendo Wii.

Like many gamers I hold the Silent Hill series in high regard…kinda. The games have clearly suffered from adaptation decay since the acclaimed Silent Hill 2, moving away from carefully plotted psychological horror and slowly turning into a series of lengthy Pyramidhead cameos.  Hearing that the new one was supposed to be good was like hearing that someone had made a new Neverending Story worth seeing: so simultaneously implausible yet tempting that I had to see it.

Your flashlight is your best friend. Use it well.

You play as Harry Mason, a protagonist veteran players will find familiar. After crashing his car in a snowstorm in his hometown of Silent Hill, Harry wakes up to find his young daughter Cheryl missing from the wreckage. As he wanders through the eerily unpopulated town searching for her, it becomes clear that all is not well—especially clear when nightmare-fuel monsters start chasing you.

Now the most striking feature of the game (and the feature that gives it incredible replay value) is the personalized psychological tests you’re given throughout the game. They determine every aspect of your experience: how the monsters look, how the NPCs behave and treat you, what levels you’re given to explore…your whole game is literally customized to you. I had the good fortune of playing with a friend who had already completed one game, and a character who was polite and well-dressed for him was rude and dressed like a floozy for me.  And this was only the beginning: we solved different puzzles, went into different rooms, and basically played a completely different game. The intricacy is astonishing, and although the options are somewhat limited, it makes the game completely compelling for multiple play-throughs.

Some may call him Dirty Harry, but it's not because of his guns.

In this installment, it’s the small things that packed the biggest terrifying punch.  When your in-game psychiatrist hands you a coloring book image of a house and asks you to color it in, my friend Joe squiggled a pink house with a green car and a family dressed in red.  When the action picks up again, Harry is standing in front of his house: pink, with a green car in the driveway. But when he rings the doorbell he finds not his daughter, but a happy couple dressed in red… A happy couple who’ve lived there for twenty years and have never heard of him.

Harry is a refreshing protagonist in his completely normal reaction to danger. When horrible shambling monsters slither out of the darkness and start running, screaming, toward him, he RUNS like HELL. Yep, this game has no weapons. No guns, no baseball bats, no fists…Your choices are to run, hide, or die, and I strongly suggest running. I’ve overheard some griping about this feature, but when given the fight or flight options, gamers will always tend to pick a fight.  Forcing them to run for their lives not only provides for a new challenge, but also enhances the feeling of complete helplessness and panic you should be feeling. (And besides, when was the last time you REALLY enjoyed a complex control system on the Wii? That’s what I thought.)

Speaking of controls…Like most gamers, I can be easily frustrated by the Wii. Often the Wiimote would refuse to recognize this simple formula:

Frantic shaking = Oh god, oh god, get this monster off me

…but overall the controls are very effective. One sequence in particular comes to mind: you’re trying to escape from a car that’s slowly sinking underwater.  You need to jump into the front seat, roll down the windows to depressurize the cabin, lift the tab to unlock the door, then push it open.  The game won’t give you any handy clues either—like Harry, you’re on your own.

The functions of the game are so well integrated into the world that they are almost hidden.  Your only real tool is your cell phone, which allows you to navigate using a GSP, take pictures to expose paranormal activity, and receive text messages and voice mails that will guide you to the game’s conclusion. Silent Hill the Video Game takes a backseat to Silent Hill the Emotional Journey, and the lack of showmanship is (in this case) a hallmark of an extremely well-designed game. The design team was intuitive enough to know when dungeons were getting repetitive, chase sequences getting dull, and they never pushed anything to the point of boredom. At about 6-8 hours, it’s a perfect length for a game designed to be replayed.

Blast Factor: I’m shocked; I’m amazed; Shattered Memories is a really great game! It may not be quite as scary as previous installments, and it fits very nebulously into the series’ continuity, but who cares? Ambiguity, atmosphere, character, and psychology are unique elements that need to be nurtured in the gaming industry. If you’re looking for style and action and guns, play Bayonetta; Shattered Memories shows a refreshing new approach and is a fantastic addition sure to breathe life into this decaying (but redeemable) franchise.

Silent Hill: Shattered Memories is available on the Wii, Playstation 2 and Playstation Portable, and retails for $49.99. A copy of this game was purchased for reviewing purposes.

Grab your flashlight because it’s almost time to visit Silent Hill again.

Yes, Konami Digital Entertainment, creators of the original Silent Hill, is looking to have players return to that dreadful place in the upcoming Silent Hill: Shattered Memories.

Due out in October, Shattered Memories will be a reimagining of the first Silent Hill.‚  With this in mind, though some general aspects of the game may seem familiar (man looking for his daughter in a mysterious town, etc), Shattered Memories should play like a completely different experience thanks to its development for the Wii console.

Helping nurture this “completely different experience” was the developers’ idea to customize each game for every player.‚  This is accomplished through a number of in-game mediums.‚  The first method used is a psychological survey in which a series of questions are asked about the player.‚  These questions can as impersonal as how easily the player makes friends, to something as forward as how much does the player enjoy role-playing during sex.‚  Each question plays a role in how the game plays out later.‚  For instance, when the player is asked if they have ever cheated on a partner and says “yes”, the game will feature more provocative clothing on some characters (ex: the female police officer will show more cleavage, etc).‚  When taking this survey during an exclusive demo in Konami’s offsite event at Comic-Con, I felt like it could have been legitimate.‚  Though it was short in length, the survey seemed to be personal enough to be a psychological analysis, but distanced enough to be tolerable in a mature video game.

The Shattered Memories gameplay also helps further customize a player’s experience.‚  Using the Wii Remote to control the flashlight, the in-game computer monitors how often a player will stop to admire certain paintings or points of interest in the environment.‚  The game will also keep track of how quickly or tentatively a player will “peek” through a doorway before entering a room.‚  All of these aspects (and possibly more that we don’t even know about) will be constantly watched by the game, making every play and replay of Shattered Memories unique.‚  Sadly, however, my demo was too short to be able to appreciate most of the customization features that were in store for me.

What’s great about Shattered Memories’s gamplay (besides the fact that it is constantly monitored), is the fact that it really helps promote the overall creepy feel to the game.‚  Developed as a third-person adventure game, Shattered Memories really captures the loneliness of the main character.‚  Armed with nothing but my (lack of wit) and a flashlight, I couldn’t help but feel an overwhelming sense of helplessness during my entire hands-on experience.‚  Also, as mentioned in an earlier paragraph, players must “peek” through every door they want to enter to check if the room is safe.‚  Gamers will have the choice of either slowly opening each door to prevent unnecessary attacks, recklessly entering every room with little regard for their safety, or doing something in-between.‚  This peeking feature was especially affective with me because I take a very conservative approach when it comes to these types of games.‚  Well played, Konami.

Shattered Memories gameplay is also fairly simple.‚  Walking around is as simple as moving the joystick on the Wii Nunchuk, while shining the flashlight, as mentioned earlier, requires players to point the Wiimote at the screen.‚  With the simplicity of the controls and sophistication of the Wii’s technology, making a Silent Hill game for Nintendo’s current console seems like a no-brainer now.‚  Again, well played.

Overall, Silent Hill: Shattered Memories looks like it’s going to be a pretty solid game.‚  The gameplay was fun, the customization is fantastic and the title is a perfecft fit for the Wii.‚  Though I wasn’t able to enjoy all of the customization that Shattered Memories had to offer during my demo at Comic-Con, the details the devs gave me and the excitement they showed make me a believer of this feature.‚  I know how much fun the Wii can be, but now I’m excited to see how thoroughly it can scare the crap out of me with the release of Silent Hill: Shattered Memories, dropping this fall.