Silent Hill: Shattered Memories

Developer: Climax Group
Publisher: Konami
Systems: Wii (reviewed), PS2, PSP
Release Date: Dec. 8, 2009
ESRB Rating: M
Official Web site

In a nutshell: A cautionary tale featuring ice... and cell phone cameras!"

0:00 Even though others have called it the greatest game since sliced, uh, games, I wasn't a huge fan of Silent Hill 2, the only Silent Hill game I've actually played. So my expectations aren't super high for this one. But hey, that means they have nowhere to go but UP!

0:01 I like the static TV signal on the preview screen. If only that bright blue title didn't ruin the effect. 0:02 "Nunchuk is required," says the screen. Nunchuk is acquired, says I. The title comes up and is quickly replaced by a white on red "Psychology Warning: This video game psychologically profiles you as you play." I don't have time to read the rest, but I am somewhat bemused by this over-the-top omen. 0:03 The title screen appears again, crackling free from an icy prison. I hit A and B on the Remote and see a grainy VHS tape of a child running along a white picket fence. His dad scoops him up and the tape pauses, complete with a big white "pause" in the upper left corner. The "Profile Select" screen rudely pops over the video. As the scene continues a bit, I realize the child is actually a little girl, who waves at the camera as I bring up the options screen. Let's "Play Game."

0:05 The tape continues as if it never stopped. The little girl loaded into car, then we cut to a park of some sort. "I love my daddy!" says the little girl as as she puts her head though one of those cardboard face-replacer things that makes her look like a damsel in distress and him like a dragon. The tape rewinds to the beginning and the scene plays out again. And a third time, as the credits roll over top. I love the shaky camera work and the elegant piano music. The tape turns off. Heartbreaking.

0:06 In a dark office now, a well-dressed man sits staring at a laptop. As the man gets up, we cut to snowy roadway at night. Inside again, the man is at the bar, putting ice in a drink. More great camerawork, with some odd, low angles. The character models look a bit otherworldly, but move in a pretty lifelike fashion. I'm digging the largely silent storytelling so far.

***-->CONTINUE READING AT GAMESHARK<--***

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Resident Evil 5

Developer: Capcom
Publisher: Capcom
Release Date: March 10, 2009
Systems: Xbox 360 (reviewed), PS3
ESRB Rating: M
Official Web site

In a nutshell: A little less survival horror, a little more action.

0:00 I can't say I was enamored with the co-op demo I played with Kotaku's Michael McWhertor at this year's CES. I think Left 4 Dead has spoiled slow, shambling zombies for me forever. We'll see if I can get over it for an hour at least...

0:01 A quick downloadable update and some animated logos and we're ready to go. A microscopic view of a bunch of black-and-white cells splitting zooms out to become the Resident Evil 5 logo. "Resident Evil ... FIVE," says a creepy voice, predictably.

0:03 Is it me, or does this seem like the kind of game that shouldn't have a "Leaderboards" option on the main menu...

0:04 I know this game is really best played cooperatively, but no one is around and the only friend I have online is playing Halo 3 and doesn't seem eager to stop.

0:05 Available difficulties are Amateur, "A mode for those who enjoy the journey"; Normal, "A mode for those who find reward through slight struggles"; and Veteran, "A mode for those who believe challenge breeds excellence." I'm somewhere in between the first two, so I err on the side of Normal.

Read the full review at Crispy Gamer

Dead Space

Developer: EA Redwood Shores
Publisher: EA
Release Date: Oct. 14, 2008
System: Xbox 360 (reviewed), PS3, PC
ESRB Rating: M
Official Web site

In a nutshell: In space, no one can hear you run out of ammo.

0:00 I'm only, what, five months late to the party on this game that everyone says is a must-play? I'm looking forward to diving in, but simultaneously scared that it won't live up to the exceedingly high expectations set by everyone.

0:01 An EA logo fades out and the title fades in on what looks like a reddish dust storm or the inside of a vein or something. Now that's how you introduce a game!

0:02 Before I can hit start, an ethereal voice starts singing "Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star" as the camera cuts to external space shots of elaborate space freighters drifting. The song continues into the unfamiliar verses: "When the blazing sun is gone/When the nothing shines upon/Then you shine your little light/Twinkle, twinkle, all the night..." As it does the song is intercut with scenes from inside the ships of corpses in space suits and horrible attacks from misshapen monsters making ear-screeching sounds. "Though I know not what you are/Twinkle, twinkle, little star." CREEPY!

0:04 New Game difficulty choices are Easy, Medium and Hard. I don't want to wimp out and pick Easy, but I'm probably going to want to actually get through the game, so I don't want Medium to be too hard. Aw hell, Medium it is.

0:05 "ELECTRONIC ARTS PRESENTS AN EA REDWOOD SHORES PRODUCTION: DEAD SPACE." The scene starts as static, then the camera zooms out to show a blue-and-white video message from a girl. "Isaac, it's me. I wish I could talk to you. I'm sorry. I'm sorry about everything. It's all falling apart here. I can't believe what's happening." She looks kind of harried. Zoom out more to show me sitting on the bridge of a spaceship going through hyperspace, with two others standing in front of me. "How many times you watch that thing?" asks one of them. "I guess you really miss her. Don't worry, you'll be able to look her up when we're on board." We jump out of hyperspace and the pair introduces me to the USG Ishimura, the "biggest planet-cracker in her class." It was on a mining mission, but now we're responding to a distress call. "You'd think with 1,000 people onboard, someone would pick up the phone." Dun dun DUN!

Read the full review at Crispy Gamer

Silent Hill: Homecoming

Developer: Double Helix, Foundation 9
Publisher: Konami
Release Date: Sept. 20, 2008
System: PS3 (reviewed), Xbox 360
ESRB Rating: M
Official Web site

In a nutshell: Dark, dull and incomprehensibly creepy.

0:00 While most people were scared and/or intrigued by Silent Hill 2, I was mostly bored by it when I had to review it for the college paper years back. Will this second foray into the series be more engaging? Here's hoping...

0:01 A few logos, and we go directly to a title screen. Creepy piano music and abandoned areas -- a playground, a clock tower, a beat-up car -- are shown in the background. Cut to a montage of scenes from the game. "Josh ... Josh ... don't let me fall," says a guy in an army jacket clinging to an edge. He lets him fall; then the guy wakes up in a truck. "Bad dream?" asks the trucker. Welcome to Shepherd's Glen ... echoes of the iconic "Welcome to Silent Hill" sign. "I miss your father Alex ... everyone's gone," says his mom. "We're going to Silent Hill," says Alex. "We won't be going anywhere!" says ... someone. A guy shovels dirt. Grainy video of a strangling. Josh looks demonic. "Where's ... my ... BROTHER?!" "I'm sorry, Mom." "Our sacrifices were in VAIN!" Alex falls again. "We've been gone too long." "I'll find them." W. T. F.

0:05 "On Normal difficulty, all monsters and ammo are set to default values. On Hard difficulty, the monsters are tougher, hit harder, and there is less ammo available in the world." Call me a wimp, but I go for Normal difficulty.

0:06 The sound effects are subtitled ... a nice touch. "Where's my squad? Are they here? Did they make it?" I'm in a first-person perspective, looking up from a stretcher being wheeled down a dark hallway. "Hey ... hey, talk to me. Say something. Oh God. Oh ... oh God!" I cry out to the guy wheeling me. There's screaming in the next room. I'm clearly distressed. "Hey, where are you taking me? No!!! Hey!! No!" Pretty creepy, but not exactly "scary" yet.

Read the full review at Crispy Gamer

Siren: Blood Curse

Developer: SCE Japan
Publisher: Sony Computer Entertainment
Release Date: July 24, 2008
System: PS3
ESRB Rating: M
Official Web site

In a nutshell: Is the curse being forced to play this game?

0:00 I know next to nothing about this episodic horror game, but Sony gave me a code for a free downloadable copy, so...

0:01 I get thrown directly to the title screen, with some eerie theremin music and raindrop ripples on a blood-red background. I'm already a little creeped out.

0:02 I start Episode 1, Chapter 1 on Normal difficulty (rather than Easy). "In 1976, a village deep in the mountains of Japan vanished overnight." Later, a TV crew came to investigate. The camerawork looks like it came right out of "The Blair Witch Project." The crew is apparently witnessing a grisly murder, but I can't make out what's going on between the shaky camera and extreme darkness. Thank god for the film crew's curse-filled narration: "Damn, that's some f***ed up shit. They straight-up killed her. F***!"

0:05 "Shit. How could they have just murdered her like that? Goddamn psychos. F***. F***!" Apparently the translators come from the Quentin Tarantino school of curse-filled dialogue design. Anyway, Howard Wright, one of the students, runs off from the carnage to an abandoned house looking for help. The phone is out. Uh-oh.

Read the full review at Crispy Gamer

Obscure: The Aftermath

Developer: Hydravision
Publisher: PlayLogic
Release Date: March 25, 2008
System: Wii (reviewed), PS2
ESRB Rating: M
Official Web site

In a nutshell: A game that should remain obscure

0:00 I never played the original game, but I love highlighting obscure titles, and they don't get much more Obscure than this one. HA! I kill me.

0:01 After some elaborate developer and publisher logos, we jump directly to the title screen. Refreshingly simple, that.

0:02 I'm told that a second player can join in any time just by hitting "2" on his or her Wii remote. Nice touch.

0:03 "I always thought that urban legends were fairy tales," but two years ago, the students at the narrator's high school were used as guinea pigs in an experiment that involved mutated flower spores. "To survive, we had to kill our teachers." Uh, OK. After that, the narrator did some bad stuff and went to prison, but he's out now and wants to forget. This backstory is told at an extremely rapid-fire clip that seems to assume most players already know it.

0:04 Cut to a messy college dorm room. A guy with a spiky haircut wants to go out for drinks at Sven's. A tank-topped girl seems irritated, but says she'll come along.

0:05 "This bed has seen a lot of girls come and go," says the guy. The girl calls him a pig. "But you're the only one who stayed, Meg!"

0:06 The hallway is full of stuff like a beer can pyramid, two co-eds making out and, um, an office-style water cooler. "I drink water here whenever I have a hangover." If you say so.

Read the full review at Crispy Gamer