By Nigel Wood
Konami today released Silent Hill: The escape today (EU only so far!). At it’s core Silent Hill is a tarted up dungeon crawler. Find the key then find the exit, that’s pretty much it. Controls in the game are disappointing. You can tilt the iPhone to control your flash light and gun aiming which is pretty cool, but movement is done by swiping up and down to go forward and back, and swipe left or right to turn.
The forward and back movement is ok, but the turning is terrible. Once swiped, the game simply translates that as a 90 degree turn, just like those old vector based FPS dungeon games on the PC in the early 90s. I’m not sure why Konami didn’t just add a virtual D-pad, because the problem with swiping across the screen is that your fingers get in the way of your view. The shooting mechanic is pretty cool though, with tilt control to aim and shooting by tapping the screen. I prefer the secondary option of tapping the back of the iPhone which you can select from the settings menu. On the high sensitivity setting it works a treat and feels like you are pulling a trigger. I haven’t seen that introduced in any other games out there, it’s definitely something to consider as a solution to stop your fingers getting in the way of the action.
On top of it’s simple base, Konami have dressed it up in some great texture work. The walls in the levels are suitably grimey, and blood sodden, and the enemies look good, though they are poorly animated and have no attack animations, when you touch them you die!
Overall it’s a pretty average game with some good presentation and graphics, but the controls and lack of depth disappoint. If this is a look at what’s to come with Metal Gear Solid, then I’m not holding out for much hope. Fingers crossed I’m wrong!
Check out the video of your’s truly trying to escape!
