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indigozealIt's a wonder I keep playing this series, considering how much I complain about it. At least at the beginning of each game.
I'm reconsidering my previous kind words about the combat in this title. Yeah, they've made it easier to dodge in the early going, but they're kind of making up for it now through the sheer number of enemies. It's different from, say, 1, where combat is rarer (but "stickier" in that you can't dispense with foes as easily and have to deal with an instance, through either combat or an involved chase, once it's triggered) and you spend a lot of time lying in wait to determine via the radio static from where your foes are coming. You're crouched in defensive mode, carefully considering how best to move and how to react once it's signaled that a threat is in your vicinity, and it builds this pervasive dread. Here, there's so much stuff constantly coming at you that you're just always jumpy and wary and on your toes. The radio's near-useless, since whenever there're monsters, the environment's just packed with 'em - you're seldom, in other words, trying to get the fix on a single stalker - and while you can dodge a lotta stuff, you're also gonna hafta shoot a lot of stuff (the game gives you a lot more bullets than the first two games to cope with this), and the focus turns from the measured strategy of the first two games to...well, not even tactics, but pure instinct: you're just go-go-go most of the time. That's a valid choice, a different type of fear, one that draws the player out into a more aggressive playstyle, but I'm getting kind of worn out emotionally. I appreciate the dread more.
(The game's sheer number of enemies also prevents you from using the nearest save room as a hub from which to explore your current environment, as you did in the first two games. You're very much always going forward in 3, with little backtracking. Again, it's a valid approach, a different feel, but one that doesn't sit as well with my personal preferences from a gameplay or horror perspective.)
3 is a good deal more into the combat system than the previous installments. There're new accoutrements: beef jerky, for example, which allegedly serves as bait for distracting monsters (though it's in my experience of limited use, as only one monster seems to fixate on it at a time, and there's never only one damn monster). There's also a bulletproof vest, which reduces damage but makes you run more slowly. A good tradeoff, I think, but the game seems to engineered for you to be wearing this vest all the damn time; without it, one hit from one of the big suckers brought me all the way down to Danger. I hit the manual after this disproportionately disabling blow and discovered that the game also includes a parry function. I am certain, however, that I will never be able in the heat of battle to remember which button triggers it or time it correctly.
Furthermore, in my latest excursion, I had a bad time being ganged up on by a dog and a flying thing at the same time, accidentally paused the game in my flailing, and in my frenzy to unpause, apparently found the soft reset function the designers were considerate enough to provide via a SEEEKRIT yet easily-mashed combination of buttons on the controller. Goodbye, half-an-hour's worth of progress! Is there a gamer alive who's gone through a run of a Silent Hill without opening the map when they want to check their status or whatever? I am always confusing what button does what in this series. Was any playtesting done on including the EZ-access "nuke your game" function?
As I've mentioned previously, I did indeed play through Silent Hill 4 halfway a good while back, and though I didn't post about it, I did note, as many others have, that the installment seemed to be much more combat-oriented, with the dodging and charge attacks and whatnot. After playing 3, that now seems to be part of a gradual progression more than the off man out. The designers want the series to support a more robust combat system, and it really can't. You need instinctive controls for good combat, and that's at odds with all the map and item stuff Silent Hill needs to support its adventure-game elements.
.
I'm reconsidering my previous kind words about the combat in this title. Yeah, they've made it easier to dodge in the early going, but they're kind of making up for it now through the sheer number of enemies. It's different from, say, 1, where combat is rarer (but "stickier" in that you can't dispense with foes as easily and have to deal with an instance, through either combat or an involved chase, once it's triggered) and you spend a lot of time lying in wait to determine via the radio static from where your foes are coming. You're crouched in defensive mode, carefully considering how best to move and how to react once it's signaled that a threat is in your vicinity, and it builds this pervasive dread. Here, there's so much stuff constantly coming at you that you're just always jumpy and wary and on your toes. The radio's near-useless, since whenever there're monsters, the environment's just packed with 'em - you're seldom, in other words, trying to get the fix on a single stalker - and while you can dodge a lotta stuff, you're also gonna hafta shoot a lot of stuff (the game gives you a lot more bullets than the first two games to cope with this), and the focus turns from the measured strategy of the first two games to...well, not even tactics, but pure instinct: you're just go-go-go most of the time. That's a valid choice, a different type of fear, one that draws the player out into a more aggressive playstyle, but I'm getting kind of worn out emotionally. I appreciate the dread more.
(The game's sheer number of enemies also prevents you from using the nearest save room as a hub from which to explore your current environment, as you did in the first two games. You're very much always going forward in 3, with little backtracking. Again, it's a valid approach, a different feel, but one that doesn't sit as well with my personal preferences from a gameplay or horror perspective.)
3 is a good deal more into the combat system than the previous installments. There're new accoutrements: beef jerky, for example, which allegedly serves as bait for distracting monsters (though it's in my experience of limited use, as only one monster seems to fixate on it at a time, and there's never only one damn monster). There's also a bulletproof vest, which reduces damage but makes you run more slowly. A good tradeoff, I think, but the game seems to engineered for you to be wearing this vest all the damn time; without it, one hit from one of the big suckers brought me all the way down to Danger. I hit the manual after this disproportionately disabling blow and discovered that the game also includes a parry function. I am certain, however, that I will never be able in the heat of battle to remember which button triggers it or time it correctly.
Furthermore, in my latest excursion, I had a bad time being ganged up on by a dog and a flying thing at the same time, accidentally paused the game in my flailing, and in my frenzy to unpause, apparently found the soft reset function the designers were considerate enough to provide via a SEEEKRIT yet easily-mashed combination of buttons on the controller. Goodbye, half-an-hour's worth of progress! Is there a gamer alive who's gone through a run of a Silent Hill without opening the map when they want to check their status or whatever? I am always confusing what button does what in this series. Was any playtesting done on including the EZ-access "nuke your game" function?
As I've mentioned previously, I did indeed play through Silent Hill 4 halfway a good while back, and though I didn't post about it, I did note, as many others have, that the installment seemed to be much more combat-oriented, with the dodging and charge attacks and whatnot. After playing 3, that now seems to be part of a gradual progression more than the off man out. The designers want the series to support a more robust combat system, and it really can't. You need instinctive controls for good combat, and that's at odds with all the map and item stuff Silent Hill needs to support its adventure-game elements.
.
