If you're a fan of twisty psychological thrillers, this is virtually a must-play. As you probably know if you're reading this, Shattered Memories is a complete imagining of the original Silent Hill game-I really wouldn't call it a remake. That too had an intriguing story, but it's important to remember that this is an entirely new take on just a few of the original ideas from that game.
Like the original, this starts off with a man in a car crash, and follows him as he explores a creepy town (the eponymous Silent Hill), looking for his daughter.
This version intersperses scenes in Silent Hill with scenes in a psychologist's office...a narrative device I found interesting.
The game also "profiles" you in subtle ways-changes some things (including the ending) based on your actions in the game.
In terms of gameplay, I mostly love what they did with this. One of the points of the original Silent Hill was to make the lead more of an "everyman", someone NOT equipped to deal with the monsters that haunted that world. Shattered Memories in a sense takes that to a further extreme. Developer Climax has basically removed literal monsters from the game entirely, and there's no combat of any sort. There are a handful of sequences where the protagonist runs from monsters, but he has no real way of fighting them (just slowing them down at best)-you basically just need to get through the sequence. It's those sequences that I felt were the worst part of the game. The very first one in particular was too long, and too difficult-I ended up consulting a walkthrough to figure out which way to go.
Aside from some of those sequences though (a minority of the game) I loved nearly every moment I spent with Shattered Memories. In terms of gameplay, I'd liken it to something of a modern take on a PC-style adventure game. There are various types of exploration, and simple puzzles to solve-all of which I found compelling, and I felt the developer didn't repeat themselves either.
The locations are varied and interesting. The game is very linear, but that's just an observation, not a criticism.
The graphics and audio are superb. While developed in England, the composer is the same guy who did the earlier games in the series. The game knows how to use silence and environmental sounds, and the music is catchy but weird and unsettling in just the perfect way.
Visually it's one of those games that really shows off what the PSP can do, and how underutilized it was. Everything looks good, and the protagonist's ever-present flashlight casts weird shadows that distort as he moves through the environment.
And the storytelling-that's the biggest star here. I'm avoiding saying much of anything about it because it very much is the point of the experience. But if you liked the psychological aspects of the original Silent Hill, or like M. Night's twistier stuff, you'll probably like this too.
I'm super disappointed that Climax isn't making a literal or spiritual sequel to this, though it's so good, I've ordered their previous game in the series. I want more games like this!
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