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Silent Hill: Homecoming | 
| From: Konami
Category: Video Games
List Price: $59.99
Buy New: $54.99
You Save: $5.00 (8%)
New (25) Used (9) from $50.00
Avg. Customer Rating:  7 reviews
Sales Rank: 129
Platform: Playstation 3
ESRB: Mature
Media: Video Game
Age: 17 - 20 years
Operating System: PlayStation 3
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.4
Dimensions (in): 6.7 x 5.3 x 0.6
MPN: 20179
Model: 20179
UPC: 083717201793
EAN: 0083717201793
ASIN: B00149MEVY
Release Date: September 30, 2008 (New: Last 30 Days)
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
Condition: New/factory packaging
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| Features:
| • | Enter the next chapter of Silent Hill and learn the town history | | • | first silent hill game on PS3 | | • | All new next gen graphics bring silent hill to life like never before | | • | solve treacherous and deadly puzzles to learn dark secrets | | • | features an all new soundtrack by acclaimed series composer Akira Yamaoka |
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| Editorial Reviews:
Product Description
Follow the story of Alex Shepherd, who is returning to his hometown of Shepherd's Glen to investigate the sudden disappearance of his brother. From Shepherd's Glen to the foggy streets of Silent Hill, Alex must face the darkest of horrors in order to find his brother. Struggling with his own grip on reality, Alex must unravel the mystery behind his nightmares, discover the truth behind his brother's and father's disappearances, and confront the evil that has taken hold of his own flesh and blood.
Amazon.com Product Description
Silent Hill: Homecoming marks the debut of the renowned psychological horror series on next-generation consoles. Building upon the series' trademark foundations of atmosphere, adventure and storytelling, it introduces a frightening new and standalone gameplay experience destined to haunt the dreams of both first-time players and those with some experience wandering the famously fog-shrouded streets of the town of Silent Hill and its new sinister sister city Shepherd's Glen. 
Survive Shepherd's nightmare | 
Explore Silent Hill as Alex Shepherd.
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Battle frightening enemies.
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And the unexpectedly frightening.
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Use tools and your wits to puzzle-solve.
View larger. | The Story of a Grim Homecoming
Homecoming's story follows the nightmare turned real life of Alex Shepherd, a war veteran returning to his hometown of Shepherd's Glen to investigate the sudden disappearance of his kid brother, Josh. From Shepherd's Glen to the foggy streets of dreaded Silent Hill, Alex must face the darkest of horrors in order to find his brother. Struggling with his own grip on reality, it's here that Alex must unravel the mystery behind his nightmares, discover the truth behind his brother's disappearance, and confront the evil that takes hold of his own flesh and blood in the process. Improved Gameplay
Firmly steeped in the Survival-Horror genre its series has been pivotal in establishing, action in Homecoming remains based on exploration of the terrors residing in the communities surrounding Toluca lake and puzzle-solving skill as a means of surviving them. But to its credit game developer Double Helix refuses to rest on past laurels, choosing instead to include new more accessible gameplay in the hopes of gaining a new audience for Homecoming. Examples of this gameplay include:Next-Gen Visual and Spatial Features - Every sequel seeks reinvent the namesake game in their series. Homecoming does this in three ways, by adding the ability to toggle between a traditional third-person view and an action-oriented first-person view; by adding fully 3-D physics to the game, creating a realistic range of motion for any and all objects impacted by the player; and by adding transitions or "Hell States" that alter the game's physical landscape at points in the game both in real-time and via cinematics. All three actively change the way players see themselves and in the process create a whole new game experience.An Enhanced Combat System - Adding to the standard knives, axes, pipes and other melee weapons that made up the arsenal of previous Silent Hill games, Homecoming adds a wide variety of guns and explosives. Fitting with the military back-story of protagonist Alex Shephard, these weapons can be wielded in attacks weighted as weak or strong and can be strung together in combos to stun or incapacitate opponents, who can then be taken out with powerful finishing moves. With practice players can even perform evasive ducks and rolls and follow these up with counterattacks. But remember that enemy AI has also been significantly improved to compensate for your higher degree of combat prowess, and that it's not uncommon to battle multiple monsters simultaneously. Key Features: - Enter the next chapter of Silent Hill as you delve deeper in the tormented history of the town and learn of the evil that surrounds Toluca Lake.
- Silent Hill: Homecoming is the 1st Silent Hill game designed for PlayStation 3.
- From the murky fog to the ominous shadows, all-new next-gen graphics bring Silent Hill to life like never before.
- Survive the denizens of Silent Hill with an all-new enhanced combat system that gives you a wide array of attacks and counters.
- Solve the treacherous and deadly puzzles of Silent Hill to discover its darkest secrets.
- Silent Hill: Homecoming will feature an all-new soundtrack by acclaimed series composer Akira Yamaoka.
Exceptional Replay Value
Although Alex Shepherd is the only playable character in Silent Hill: Homecoming there are many other important characters--some returning from earlier games in the series--that can have a dramatic impact on the game. When interacting with these, players are given a choice in how to proceed via dialog trees. Will you take the short route letting only the search for your brother guide you or will you explore the nooks and crannies that make up the mystery of Silent Hill hidden in the small talk you share with non-playable characters? The choice is yours, with different paths providing for possible alternate endings each time you delve into the game.A Frighteningly Masterful Soundtrack
All games in the Survival-Horror genre seek to create tension and unease through sound and Homecoming does this masterfully through the compositions and sound engineering of Akira Yamaoka. Having scored the music and effects for dozens of video game titles, including all of the previous games in the Silent Hill series, Yamaoka is considered a master at using sound to illicit a response.
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| Customer Reviews: Read 2 more reviews...
 The Problem With Silent Hill October 6, 2008
3 out of 6 found this review helpful
When Silent Hill arrived on the Playstation 1, it did some great things. It used the deficiencies of the console to it's advantage.
Programmers were still figuring what worked and what didn't on the then-new console. So as gamers, we were willing to put up with things like fog being used to mask the limited draw distance, clunky control schemes and collision detection, grainy, chunky graphics... and so on.
Silent Hill was different.. it did alot with a little.
So why is it that 10 years later, Konami is still using the same design that arose from console flaws when the new hardware is capable of so much more? The character models in this game are a step up from the Playstation 2.. but not by much... nor are the environments. Still tons of fog, still a flashlight that illuminates very little, still third person camera weirdness when you corner, still bad collision when you're trying to pick up items.
And the new combat system (since our hero this time is a soldier) takes all the scares out of combat. It's too easy.
I read on Gamespy that the game gets better if you can forgive the first 3 hours of introductory gameplay. Too little too late for this gamer.
Since the gameplay and presentation is subpar for a nextgen system title, I can't rate this one that high. And I wanted to. But I think Konami would rather just crank out SH titles from hunger right now than risk getting some new ideas for this franchise.
 Solid entery into the world of Silent Hill October 4, 2008
2 out of 3 found this review helpful
With the lack of survival horror games on the Xbox360 on the market at the time of release, Silent Hill:Homecoming is a nice addition to the library. While it might not have the polish or hype of such games and Dead Space or Resident Evil 5 it is still a beautifully made game in its own right. If you enjoyed the previous titles you will be able to respect that despite the change in development team that the new installment stays true to the series. While the graphics could have been better,the environments are spectacular, and now include the ability to interact with them. Objects fall off of shelves when ran into, IV stands fall over and overall the entire gameworld has some sort of interactive ability. The combat system is completely redone and in my opinion better than previous installments. You play as a soldier and the combat reflects that. While it may lack the true horror of not being able to deal with the enemies at hand, the new system more than makes up for it in the difficulty that it takes to bring down these enemies. Each creature has its own weaknesses and strength and these are reflected in the combat as not only are you required to dodge attacks but also to come up with specific strategies to deal with the creatures. (some may require fast attack melee weapons, some may require stronger attacks and some may only be weak against firearms.) The environments are as creepy and disturbing as any other game in the series but at times lacks real horror. Don't get me wrong, there are plenty of encounters that left me jumping in the back of my seat, but I never really felt unprepared for a fight. The camera work keeps the grainy feel of the other games while also texturing the environment much further than other games. (you can actually make out buildings in the distance, unlike the previous titles.) The score is of course amazing and helps with the overall horror and despair of both Shepards Glenn and Silent Hill itself. The NPC's are well done and the voice acting is superb. (think the opposite of the original Resident Evil for PS1.) Overall I would have to say this is a strong entry into the survival horror library for the 360 and is worth picking up even if you have already preordered RE5 and Dead Space. Silent Hill: Homecoming brings a familiar yet refreshing feel to the 360 library and brings back the type of survival horror that we used to all know and love.
 This game was good!!! October 3, 2008
3 out of 5 found this review helpful
This game was good and the perfect combination the sound and graphic design. I like this game. This game has new player and new enemies. Even more special endings. This game was really fun game. I enjoyed it.
Returning to the now-improved nightmare October 3, 2008
8 out of 10 found this review helpful
There are some games that are so anticipated that it seems like everyone can wait to experience the awesomeness of "game X". The resulting reviews will reflect this with people saying how amazing the game is and how it's a must-have for system owners. But then you get the 2 oddballs: the ones that praise a mixed-reviewed game (Force Unleashed, for its many flaws was FUN) or giving a huge game a decent score saying it's just good but not revolutionary. Silent Hill: Homecoming, the 6th in the series and the 2nd done outside of Team Silent is here and it seems like people just want to read the review and make sure it didn't suck. Well I'm happy to report that the game is actually quite a sweet surprise and aside from the inevitable gripes since no game is out-and-out perfect, it's still an enjoyable playthrough.
Story: You play as Alex Shepherd, a 22-year old soldier returning from the war. Seems he's been having nightmares involving his brother Josh and returns to his hometown of Shepherd's Glen. Turns out there's even worse news as the town is now empty, filled with creatures and blanketed with a thick fog. His mother is catatonic and his father has gone missing so Alex tries to find his brother and unlocks some secrets involving everyone's favorite spook town of Silent Hill.
While the story is indeed interesting, some might gripe that it's not as layered in terms of what actually happened. Previous games have always had a sense of ambiguity or at least a feeling like certain things weren't quite explained, either through laziness or preferring to let gamers decide. Here, the story is as direct as they come. Oh, and for those of you wondering: this is more like 2 and 4 were with a stand-alone story with the occasional bit of dialogue or journals hinting at previous characters so don't expect the guy from the first game or James to make a strange cameo.
Graphics: Survival horror games in general have never really been about wow-inducing graphics (though they help) but rather creating a certain emotion in the player, that of fear, adrenaline and paranoia. Homecoming certainly looks more impressive than before with detailed environments, well-done character animations and great use of lighting. Keep in mind though, this game is dark and you will frequently have an entirely black screen save for your character and a dim instance of light from your flashlight. With grain, real-time overworld changes and enemy designs, this might not have the amazing look of other games but what it does it does well.
Sound/Music: Anyone who's ever been a fan of Silent Hill knows how vitally important composer Akira Yamaoka's score is and here it definately excels. From the eerie atonal ambiance to beautiful serene moments (if you can believe it) as well as his near-trademark of having rock songs sung by Mary Elizabeth McGlynn, people will be more than happy with this. Ditto with the sound design which has strange noises, creature noises but no creature...at least right away and disturbing sounds, it's all there. The voice acting has always been fairly inconsistent for the games since there's always one or two characters that really work while others are iffy. Alex for example has a great VA performance while the youngster doing Josh is a bit too, idk, snotty?
Gameplay: One of the frequent gripes about the past games was having fixed camera angles which made it frustrating to run from enemy encounters since you'd find yourself running right back into them when the camera angle changed. Now the game takes on more of a Resident Evil 4-style camera where it's behind you and it's more free-range. This helps not only with navigation and the aiming of your gun but gives a bigger immersion factor in the environments. The big plus of course is the aiming with specific targeting which helps bring down monsters quicker instead of just chestshots galore.
Speaking of changes, the other notable and obvious one is the combat system. Instead of just smacking enemies but having to be close in order to even hit them, now we have the Combat Stance where holding L2 readies Alex's melee weapon/gun and is ready for action with X being quick attack, Square being strong attack which can be held for bigger damage or pressing R2 to fire your gun. Also added (and practically required really) is using your Circle to dodge. See an enemy about to smack you, just press Circle and you can dodge the move and be able to get a Counter attack or build up a combo and there can even be finisher moves for some monsters. The problem with this is that sometimes I wanted to dodge one way but didn't and got smacked anyway or sudden moves that knocked some of your health off without room to dodge and some enemies are a little cheap and actually smack you just as you get up. It isn't overly frustrating but you might find yourself yelling "let me up already!".
That takes care of the changes, how about the rest? Well it's quite easy to get back in the game so to speak since the game's interface is very familiar with sound effects, text, puzzles and the items collected have the same feel as in previous games. Also, changing your items is a bit more quicker since L1 controls your Health/Items like your first-aid kits as well as puzzle items while R2 controls your weapons which makes it easier to switch from knife to the favorite Steel Pipe more quickly than before. Pressing Triangle will bring up the Map which will have markings written into it based on your room discoveries. Saw a door you can't enter cause "the lock is broken?" The door will be scribbled onto, holes located will be marked and save points and rooms that connect via a hole you duck under or openings you cut/busted your way through will also be marked which helps a huge deal when you're looking around.
So some enemy encounters are a bit too frustrating (those damn nurses will basically cut endlessly until you dodge and Smogs are annoying runts) and save points and health drinks are a bit less frequent but pay no attention to negative reviews and give the game a shot. It might not de-throne Silent Hill 2 but the fact that the game is as enjoyable as it is makes up for it.
A great new addition in the spooky series October 3, 2008
4 out of 8 found this review helpful
Silent Hill Homecoming is a worthy addition to the scary series and still has the amazing grainy/creepy atmosphere of past games. Alex is a skilled protagonist with great combat ability and the story is actually very good. I recommend this for fans of survival horror and just those who enjoy great games.
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