PS3 Fanboy

The new Silent Hill game isn't completely abandoned by the original Japanese devs: long-time composer for the series, Akira Yamaoka, is still on board and singing praises to the new staff and the new game. Yamaoka sat down with Gamasutra at a recent Konami event and spoke a bit about the game. Let's listen in.

Yamaoka thinks it's a natural step for the game to move on to Western developers -- it had originally been a game whose horror is derived from American cinema. Plus the franchise is more popular in the US, he says. Yamaoka is also trying to move away from the horror genre, saying he "worked on some other titles that are not horror titles. But also I have something, another project in mind, that I'm trying to develop." If you're looking for what influences the Silent Hill team, he says it's probably David Lynch (The Elephant Man, specifically). So there you go. At least we can expect his white-noise style of music to scare us silly in Silent Hill: Homecoming, right?

An exclusive interview was snagged by SilentHill5.net with the game's lead designer over at Double Helix, Jason Allen. Since this is more of a fansite than anything else, the questions are actually geared toward easing the thoughts of longtime Silent Hill fans -- which means the questions are probably what you want to hear answers to. Our summary, naturally, will cover the answers as well.

While the game appears action-oriented, the developers have focused primarily on the signature atmosphere of the series. However, Double Helix was asked to create the game to appeal to a larger audience and they felt a revamped fighting system would assist in that regard. This change may also be felt with the puzzles -- they're a more seamless experience now, instead of moving to a static screen with a puzzle, they will be viewed in a more seamless manner (that's probably easier to see than explain).

The game is trying to remain true to its roots. The developers understand people's hesitations and have done several things to keep the game in-line with its roots: the text, map system, sounds, picking up notes and other items has remained the same as ever. Difficulty settings will exist for the game, but they will not have an option for puzzle difficulty. They hope people realize they've kept the heart of the game alive and the magic is still there. There are more questions to go over, like boss battles, objectives, and item management. However, they didn't really give any valuable answers to them, so we'll leave checking those out to you. We'll remain cautiously optimistic about this game, but our anticipation is growing.

Well... if you can handle the guy talking in a foreign language in the background (we won't even guess which language to save face), you've got a couple minutes of Silent Hill V to watch. The atmosphere is as moody and daunting as ever and it seems to be a throwback to the original game's tone -- walking into some random house, that is. Maybe we'll get more random homes to walk into. And the "checkpoint" that comes up on screen? Kind of strange, but if it gets rid of save points, that could work out for the better. We'll keep you posted as more details emerge.

We've been wondering what's in store for us in Silent Hill V ever since we first caught sight of it a long time back. Would the American company, The Collective, simply mash together existing elements in the franchise to give us a ho-hum formulaic view of the mist-ridden town as a different character, or offer something new to bring some life back into arguably the most horrifying series of games known to man? Well, we still don't know, but some of the latest scans from PLAY magazine give us some idea of what to expect, including a little bit about the characters you'll encounter.

Better combat seems like a promise, since the protagonist Alex was taught to be a hunter at an early age, with proficiencies in grappling, using weapons, and evading attacks. The radio, which emits static when enemies are nearby, and the flashlight were dropped in Silent Hill 4: The Room because ... well ... for some reason, but they're returning in this title. The camera will feature full 360-degree motion, which is a nice touch, and the PlayStation 3 version is noted to have some possible Sixaxis functionality.

An interesting tidbit paying homage to Metal Gear Solid 3 is the active wound system. No more health drinks to heal up those scratches! You've got to take care of those wounds the old fashioned way, though there's no detail to go off of yet. It probably won't be as in-depth as MGS3, but it should give you an added sense of fear as you try to get to a safe zone while your arm dribbles a path of blood for critters to follow. We'll keep you updated as we find out more on the game!