The folks at Gametrailers have posted a few gameplay videos of the upcoming Silent Hill 5, all of which are just long enough to just barely tease those who are desperately searching for more details.
The Collective (the developers that Konami chose to take over the series) said that they wanted to include the wall-melting transformation sequence from the recent Silent Hill theatrical release, and judging from the above video, it looks like they nailed it. My only issue is with the siren noise, as it was more cute than scary; it sounded like something that would be mounted on a kid's toy. Also, I wonder if the clip music is really from Akira Yamaoka's score, as it sounds a bit tame.
Other videos include a very quick look at some gameplay (ooh, HD!), and a stair climbing sequence that goes nowhere. The more I see, the less I worry. Aside from looking a bit clean, Silent Hill 5 appears to be coming together to be a worthy addition to the series.
Dale North is Destructoid's Editor-In-Chief, a founding editor, and specialist in Japanese gaming. An accomplished musician, Dale was reporting from Japan during the earthquakes of 2011. Luckily, he got the fuck out alive and is home in America now with his wife and beloved corgi, Einstein. Dale is also a co-founder of Destructoid's sister anime site Japanator. Likes Corgis, Sega Saturn, PSP, iPhone, Photographic tools.
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Im actually still a little worried. I know this sounds supid stubborn fan boyish, but i WANT the action to suck. I dont want to be able to fight back. Thats what made the previous games so terrifying, the feeling of helplessness. I think thanks to RE4, which is one of the best games i have ever played btw, they are trying to make the game more action oriented, and thats just not silent hill. sorry.
Ummm... these are oooooold videos. It does look nice, but from the developer interviews, I'm a bit iffy about the focus on combat... especially after what I heard about Origins... augh...
Though I like the premise for the character, a lot I've seen seems to borrow a bit _too_ heavily from previous entries in the series. It leaves me wondering if there will be anything new here.
I agree with the combat sentiment here. Silent Hill had some pretty basic combat, but that's the whole charm of the series. It's more about the environment and narrative. I think of Silent Hill as an adventure game, like Hotel Dusk, but with a very basic combat system. Making it more action-oriented like RE4 is going against what made the game so good. And the first clip with the bathroom reminds me too much of the movie, something that goes for cheap thrills. The other videos, like the general gameplay, one look better, (especially the one with Yamaoka's song in it), but I'm still worried that the Collective doesn't know why Silent Hill is so great. And yeah, the graphics look too clean. They need to put that grainy filter back in.
Actually, this looks better than we all expected. Remember our first reactions? Now we are just mildly worried about combat. And that's a better thing, no? I didn't mind too much the combat in Origins (the demo at least), and why shouldn't it become more elaborate? We've had a widow dad, an alcoholic sex maniac, a holy teen, and a muted guy-next-door as main characters - I'm up for some change.
Posted on Game trailers, and it said I had to login to post. Why be able to type if it was just gonna throw out what I typed. Digressing.
Lame, pre-rendered. volz0r called it I think.
An American take on a Japanese take on American horror? Wow, if that's not a recipe for failure, I don't know what is.
Don't get me wrong, love the series (SH2, rules), but a lot of Silent Hills charm was it's ambiguity. I just don't think an American company can pull off something like this. Maybe Sam Raimi could act as a consultant? I thought Grudge was quite good and while basically an American horror, it had nice elements of Japanese horror.
This just looks like an attempt to remake SH2, a game I love, but I don't need an americanized version of it with more "combat", frankly.
For instance that world 'bleeding' effect is nice, but like you said, they get the siren wrong (a very subtle, but really creepy effect that is largely emblematic of SH itself). And it phases *immediately* into a nurse with big boobies coming at you with a knife. Enough with the nurses already.
These videos really don't bode well, IMO. At their best, their imitative, and at worst they don't really get the spirit of the game quite right. I'm getting a "fanfic" vibe from it that bugs me.
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Contest:
10:22 PM on 09.26.2007
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Though I like the premise for the character, a lot I've seen seems to borrow a bit _too_ heavily from previous entries in the series. It leaves me wondering if there will be anything new here.
Exactly what i was going to write, Damn!
quite some time now.
Lame, pre-rendered. volz0r called it I think.
An American take on a Japanese take on American horror? Wow, if that's not a recipe for failure, I don't know what is.
Don't get me wrong, love the series (SH2, rules), but a lot of Silent Hills charm was it's ambiguity. I just don't think an American company can pull off something like this. Maybe Sam Raimi could act as a consultant? I thought Grudge was quite good and while basically an American horror, it had nice elements of Japanese horror.
For instance that world 'bleeding' effect is nice, but like you said, they get the siren wrong (a very subtle, but really creepy effect that is largely emblematic of SH itself). And it phases *immediately* into a nurse with big boobies coming at you with a knife. Enough with the nurses already.
These videos really don't bode well, IMO. At their best, their imitative, and at worst they don't really get the spirit of the game quite right. I'm getting a "fanfic" vibe from it that bugs me.