Review by: Brandon "Happy Family" Cackowski-Schnell

Silent Hill: Shattered Memories' original incarnation on the Wii is the perfect example of a game that divides players right down the middle. On the one side are folks who felt that the "running" sections of the game, where you as Harry Mason can do nothing but beat feet as faceless bogeyman attempt to kill you, were aggravating impediments to the game's progress. On the other side are folks like myself who found these sections to be profoundly terrifying and only helped to jack up the already immersive atmosphere created by the game. Unfortunately with the recent port to the PSP I have shifted camps from the latter to the former.

It's not that this is a bad port, far from it, just that the limitations of the game's new home lower the immersion factor to the point where the game moves genres from survival horror to creepy adventure. Still though, even creepy adventure games can be entertaining if you know that's what you're getting.

Harry Mason has crashed his car in the sleepy town of Silent Hill, creepiest town this side of the Mississippi. Upon coming to, Harry realizes that his daughter Cheryl has wandered away from the crash site. Armed with only a flashlights, his wits and his rapidly deteriorating psyche Harry sets out to find his daughter. Interspersed among Harry's antics you'll be questioned by a psychologist about your feelings on things like cheating on a partner, time spent with family and friends as well as a host of other topics. Your answers to these questions helps drive the game and determines the appearance and mannerisms of the citizens of Silent Hill that Harry meets up with as well as which areas Harry can visit. It's an interesting system and it works well to change the game experience even if the ultimate source of the mystery is unchanged.

As ports go, this is (technically) one of the better ones you'll play. The same particle effects used in the Wii to illuminate the falling snow is used to great effect here. Character animations are similarly well done with all of the game's characters having noticeably distinct personalities and mannerisms before they ever open their mouth. The same thing goes for the game's creepy audio effects and excellent voice acting. There are some noticeable hiccups, particularly when opening doors and the occasional pause for loading, but neither of these things diminish the overall quality of the game. On the PSP the game is almost exactly the same as on the Wii except for one very large detail and unfortunately it's this detail which ultimately brings the game down.

For a game like this to succeed, the player needs to feel like they are in Silent Hill. On the Wii version you held the Wiimote like you would hold a flashlight. Point it up to the roof and Harry points his light up to the roof. Moving and looking around was completely natural, as were the various gestures needed to interact with the world. In the PSP version the lack of a second thumbstick means that Harry can walk or look around, but never both at the same time. This coupled with the inherent reduction in immersion brought with a noticeably smaller screen makes it so that you never feel like you're in Silent Hill. You always know that it's only a game.

So when the world inevitably ices over and Harry is beset by faceless, pale demons and can do nothing but run, what had been a terrifying experience in the Wii filled with tense moments of gesture based defense when Harry had a demon jump on him, becomes just another quick time event. Oh, here's a demon on my shoulder, ok, I'll hit the circle button. Stripped of the immersion these sequences become impediments to your progress rather than pulse pounding amplifications of the game's dread inducing atmosphere. Harry can't run and look at his cell phone at the same time causing lots and lots of running around in circles. Again, in the Wii version this only amplified the terror. In the PSP version it only increases the irritation.