Upgrades not so Scary

With the brand new machine setup I've been able to start attacking the games that were previously unplayable, the first of which being Silent Hill: Homecoming. I haven't played many Silent Hill games, the only other one I have was Silent Hill 2 which is what I will use to compare this game against. As an aside, I did enjoy the movie of it too and am looking forward to the sequel of that as well. So back to the game, how was Homecoming?

Well, just like my compy, the protagonist has gotten an upgrade - he's pretty handy with weapons. In fact Alex (protagonist) is so much more proficient than James (protagonist in #2) that it becomes a negative the further you get into the game/as you improve. Why? Because of all the horrible critters and monsters lurking about, Alex is the worst. Once you are experienced enough you will be disemboweling hideous pale spider things, beheading poor half-bodied souls, and eviscerating things that foolishly thought they could eviscerate you!

Everything is less scary if you're an axe murderer.

This in turn, makes it much less scary because you know full well that any creep that decides to pop out of that fog you can just mutilate. Additionally while there are spots where critters just continously spawn, the streets/maps just don't feel as "full" as in number 2 which had the rather annoying repopulation method of - if you exit an area and come back, everything lives again. Strangely I prefer that method as it really puts more focus on fighting as a last resort and running the hell away as priority #1.

The creepy environment is still done well though and the monsters are rather terrifying the first few times. Story-wise I prefer James' plot, it just felt it had more weight to it than Alex's, but his was ok enough. I think the other main problem for me anyway was the scariest part of the game is right at the start, and as you work through it it becomes less so where as the reverse is true for James' visit to the town. All up Homecoming is a decent action game with a few scares. It's definitely not as scary as it's predecessor though, so if you are looking good for horror stuff just go for Silent Hill 2, Dark Corners of the Earth or Nocturne... which reminds me I never did finish the last act of that game. Hmm, maybe it's time for a revisit?