Silent Hill: Shattered Memories is a lot like those old point and click adventure games if they ever managed to evolve. The primary focus is on the story and exploration, the suspenseful action is mechanically unsound and in the end it doesn’t feel so much like a game as it does an interactive film or novel. Oddly enough these aren’t strikes against it. In fact, for me it is a shining example as to why those old LucasArts games started to fail. They were prehistoric. Ancient. They weren’t keeping up with the times. Here is a game that shows how the old style of games can live on, only good.

After I completed my first run of the game I had scoured the Internet for information on the first Silent Hill and any additional information to help me experience more of what is available. It turns out the original game was all kinds of freaky super natural and the film wasn’t as far off as some folks had led me to believe. I’d like to say that I am glad Shattered Memories follows a more plausible route grounded in reality. It’s also part of the reason so many insist it’s not a real Silent Hill game. Let’s face it, there’s no real suspense or terror in the game. Things aren’t quite as supernatural as they appear. The story itself is a head trip rather than being so out-there that it screws with your mind.

I like that.

This isn’t to say that it’s better. I’d like to see proper horror done in a video game with supernatural creatures aside from trying to make you jump. Shattered Memories has some decent intentions considering real terror can only come from the unknown and what cannot be destroyed. Think about the many stories told by Lovecraft. The source of fright was in things beyond our capability to defeat or comprehend. It either killed you or drove you to madness. Shattered Memories introduces foes that cannot be defeated, but they are in isolated sections where the only option is to run through a maze. Exploration is limited, hiding spots are pointless and overall there’s no way to get through without being spotted.

What matters is that it tried to begin with. No matter what problems you run into your heart will be pounding as you struggle to safety. It works effectively in its brief moments, just doesn’t spread throughout the entire game. Hopefully there will be designers out there that see how this is executed, nod and say “let’s see where we can go with that”. Shattered Memories provides an excellent starting point for true horror in games (as would Call of Cthulu: Dark Corners of the Earth).

While the rest of the game may not be horrifying, it certainly provides a world worth exploring. By using the camera in the lead character’s cell phone or following the sounds emitting from the Wii remote you can follow events from various lives within the town. The messages and recordings that result often change based on your personality, and it’s interesting to see the different approaches to the same situation that may be taken. One recording you may hear pity while another you hear fury.

This is the real charm of Shattered Memories, and also provides an example of how actual mature entertainment is handled from adolescent indulgence. Hints of violence and sex are portrayed as they are in the real world, simulating actual situations that may remind us of people we knew or situations we had been in. Most of all, the different personality types do change some characters enough that it reveals a different sense of philosophy and consequence that these characteristics embody. It is tough to explain without getting too in-depth, but if you are to play the reliable fellow with a good nature then you will find one character romantically optimistic while another reacts to you with warmth and even melancholy. Act the part of a playboy and the reactions are a romantically pessimistic and confused anger.

This is where the real worth of replaying the game comes in. Some characters won’t really change all that much, and most of the dialogue remains the same, but those few moments are interesting to compare and contrast. They are done with subtlety, as might happen in real life if we could actually go back and do things differently. The influence we had on others could change who they themselves are in some ways.

Again, actual mature entertainment as opposed to indulgent tripe.

The real thing to discuss here is the ending twist, which means I can’t actually discuss it at all. It is predictable in its own ways, but it is very possible that the player won’t get the full view of it until they beat the game. There’s bound to be a little bit of surprise for everyone. The game’s end does seem to be a bit sudden, but it is also appropriate. There is no final boss fight, nor is there a frustratingly difficult maze to run through. It’s an appropriate climax that is actually easier than any of the previous sections of the game, but it still feels like a proper build-up to the end.

I was surprised at how satisfied I was with the end of the game, which is structured excellently. The music, the expressions on the characters, the diagnosis and analysis of the player’s personality, it all felt appropriate. It didn’t follow the typical pattern that a game does, and it is all the stronger for it. Shattered Memories stands on its own in terms of narrative in every way, including how it draws everything to a close. While not all of the endings line up with how the protagonist’s personality plays out in the entire story, the majority of it is still fulfilling and synchs up right.

If you want something to compare Shattered Memories to, take Alone in the Dark and make it good. The world is built around providing a narrative that works with the interactive medium. The Wii remote not only works excellently for puzzles but as a flashlight as well. The lighting engine is good enough to have been pulled from one of the more powerful systems establishing an excellent mood and atmosphere for the different areas. Sound is used excellently to hint towards excellent finds or dangerous foes. The cell phone acts as a method of discovery, a map to find your way and even a route to small hints or additional narrative changes. You can dial random numbers you find across the levels for no other reason than to see what comes up.

If you want to play a game that takes itself seriously as opposed to just being a glorified high-tech version of Doom, then Silent Hill: Shattered Memories is an excellent choice. The Wii is the ideal platform due to all the methods of interaction with the world. You may not play it more than once, unfortunately, but it will be like an excellent movie rental. In fact, it’s worth keeping to experience a second time like you might a film.

With luck more games will play this way. It’s similar in vein to what Heavy Rain and Alan Wake are each going for, though different enough to stand on its own. It does lack the budget of either title, but that doesn’t make it any less enjoyable. This is the future of point-and-click adventure, an old genre founded on thinking and narrative rather than reflex and intensity. Hopefully it’s a well populated future.

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