Well with GamesCom now over with there has been a maelstrom of new videos, articles and juicy details that is sure to find some appeal in most gamers. A lot of what I’ve seen so far has been pretty uplifting and continues to build this frenzied hype I’ve had with the anticipation of all these killer games we get to look forward over the next 10 or so months. Though the item that is at the top of my wishlist is the PSVita , with it’s very desirable technical attributions and the ever-growing list of games from major franchises, I have little doubt Sony can follow through on the promise to have the best launch library yet for their Playstation IP. With the many games announced so far one game I have had my eye on was Silent Hill: Book of Memories. Though, with some recent video that has hit the net I feel I may need to look elsewhere for my petrifying portable.
Now, to be fair, there really isn’t a whole lot to condemn this game for if you look at it on its own and we still a lot to learn as to how this will play out in the end. But, from what I can tell so far is that it’s essentially a quest-based dungeon crawler with character customization and multiplayer capabilities. Now, for a dungeon crawler that’s exactly what I want, but for a Silent Hill game, this is perhaps the exact opposite. And by the looks of the video's rating, it seems that this is nearly a unanimous sentiment.
Now I have little issue with spinoffs of great franchises, but the series that it’s being spun off of has to be in good repair, and last I checked the Silent Hill series hasn’t released a decent game since 2003’s, Silent Hill 3. And judging from the ratings Book of Memories videos have gotten, I’m not the only one.
It’s clear that Konami obviously has something to gain from this in the form of brand recognition, but at the same time they are damaging the name of that brand and seriously confusing customers who pop this in and go, “What the hell is this? I thought I picked up a Silent Hill game”. In fact I have already ready experienced that when I picked up Silent Hill: The Room some time back, thinking I was in fact buying a Silent Hill game and… well…. yea…
So to sum up how I feel about this game is that, it looks like it has the potential to be a lot of fun if they do it right, just call it something else and let the game sell its self. And, honestly I’m not sure how much weight the Silent Hill name carries with all the lackluster titles they have popped out the past few years. But there is certainly no need for anymore self-inflicted brand defacement, when all you gain is one sale at the cost of a jaded customer who will likely avoid this franchise out of sheer confusion as to what they are actually getting when they pick up one of their titles.
Hopefully, with the upcoming release for an HD remake for Silent Hill 2 and 3 I hope Konami is reminded of what made this series so spectacular in the first place and pray that the impending Silent Hill: Downpour for the PS3 and 360 is a back to roots Silent Hill title that makes me regret turning off all the lights off and not an ultra-cinematic Uncharted-esque vibe, or an overly campy third-person shooter like EA’s Dead Space. (I really enjoy both of those franchises but I don’t need those gameplay elements in a Silent Hill game.)
But, what do you guys think about how publishers brand their games. Is it fine as long as the game delivers something great regardless of what that content might be, or do you find this type of name-tossing misleading when you’re looking for the experience that a brand is associated with would imply?
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