SILENT HILL HOMECOMING

By GARRETT MARTIN

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KONAMI | 9.30.08

So here it is: my first crack at the Silent Hill series. I avoid these "survival horror" games because they're never scary and usually constricted by odd and unnecessary genre hallmarks like horrible controls, embarrassing imagery and storytelling—and ridiculous difficulty spikes. But the word was sometimes good on Homecoming, and thus my interest was piqued. "Sometimes good" is exactly what I'd label Silent Hill Homecoming. It's a solid, puzzle-filled action game with a suitably creepy atmosphere and an inoffensive story. It's clunky in a lot of ways, but the number of off-putting elements (like a turgid pace, awkward cut-scenes and better-than-expected but still imprecise controls) doesn't distract from the oddly satisfying core experience. Even with lame dialogue and "shocking" imagery straight out of a Marilyn Manson video, Homecoming's story kept my attention, and the game-play is just acceptable enough to see it through to the end.