While I like the game, there is one majour blooper in it...Dr. Kauffman was a resident of Silent Hill even before Harry Mason came along (see Silent Hill Origins). If the wrecked jeep is supposed to be Harry's vehicle, your timeline is WAY off.
Reviews for "Silent Hill:Distant Scars"
flashdreamsstudiosx responds:
As a spoiler the beginning of the game is a dream somewhat like silent hill 3 - where alessa "heather" sees what her future will bring her.
man i keep dying the monsters are too quick :P and so many tricks in this game :P
Well I liked the story, as far as I could get. But alas, I got lost and stuck, after I went through the door. .-. But still a good story filler, for silent hill <:
flashdreamsstudiosx responds:
Thank you!
Rough but hits most of the right spots
This adventure game remembers the spooky, atmosphere of Silent Hill and offers to start a new descent into her familiar horrors. I was a fan of the first games of the series, and particularly remember getting so terrified one night that I mistook a housemate's hamster for a large rat...
Unfortunately, while this game's heart is in the right place, the creator hasn't mastered the necessary techniques to reproduce those feelings. Combat in Silent Hill should feel desperate and nervewracking, so that in exploring the environment you're always fighting between your need to learn more and sense of self-preservation. Bizarre puzzles are SH's way of yanking you out of your comfort zone.
So the biggest problem with this game is it does not know how to do combat appropriate for survival horror. Enemies will appear in the same few places every time, and defeating them is as simple as clicking on them within a time limit. Since you however can take multiple hits, even that time limit isn't a big deal. You'll always have plenty of ammo. And if you haven't seen any monsters yet, it's because the game hasn't yet given you a weapon.
Since there's only one true puzzle in the game, once you've solved it (down, right, left, up) you've just a few doors to unlock until you've completed this chapter.
The art is crude, but a laudable attempt was made to simulate progression from one area to the next. Similar to the original games the art uses a first person perspective, which encourages immersion, but I felt the big direction arrows called attention out of the world to the interface.
Fortunately the writing's not bad - certainly the strongest aspect of the game. However, I felt the scene at the church didn't work quite as expected. Thought it was intended to communicate that only the main character could see monsters, which ought to feel quite alienating, he didn't bring them up until he met the second group of characters. Since he hadn't mention them in his first conversation I thought that encountering monsters might be normal for members of the church. When the pastor later agreed to spread his warning despite not seeing monsters herself, that conversation actually conveyed reassurance. Also, I don't know whether or not the entire game is played from the same perspective or if the pilot from the crashed plane and the doctor are different characters.
Nevertheless, the writing and design of this game do bring back my memories of playing the original Silent Hill games. I hope this game was a good learning experience for the creator, and look forward new chapters in this series.
flashdreamsstudiosx responds:
Thank you so much for your review. As for a first attempt i wanted to create an opening introduction. This IS the first of the series yet i do truely understand everything accounted for and I appreciate your overview.
The monsters were abit hard to configure since Im still learning actionscripting >_< But overall my point was to bring back the original feeling of the first Silent Hill :).
good luck with your series, you're gonna need it. after this piece of crap, i bet you'll come out with a slightly patched up and yet still crappy game. the old silent hill level destroyed all my inventory and the enemies are piss poor easy with almost no AI at all. it's just shameful, so many talented artists and so few gems. (2.5 stars is my limit, i won't go further)