When I heard that Shattered Memories was a re-imagining of the original Silent Hill, I had certain expectations in mind. I assumed that the plot would be the same, or samey, and the characters would be who they were in the original. In short, I was waiting to relive the first experience I had with Silent Hill, and protagonist Harry Mason. Shattered memories took my optimistic predictions, and just tossed them out the window – along with any assumptions I might have had about the game mechanics.

As is the case with all the Silent hill games, Shattered memories sets out to disturb you with the plot and the set pieces spread out throughout the world. The difference here is that this game is out to get inside of your head through a series of psychological tests, which are administered at various points throughout the game. The first test comes in the form of a short series of questions about your general habits. I played through the first section of the game twice, and each time I answered a few of the questions on that form differently. The time I answered randomly, Harry had a conversation about his missing daughter with a waitress. The time I answered truthfully, Harry had a very similar conversation with Cybil, a police officer you may remember from the original game. Though none of the questions directly mention authority figures, the game managed to divine that I would be less comfortable having a conversation with a cop than a waitress.

The game mechanics (mostly) compliment the story nicely. You navigate the world by moving Harry with the analog stick on the nunchuck, and aim the flashlight with the Wii-mote. When you come to a point of interest, you zoom in on it, and use the Wii-mote to manipulate various objects. For example, early on in the game, you will find a locked door, and you’ll have to first remove the pin holding the lock in place, and then slide the lock to the left to open the door. Using the Wii-mote to manipulate the environment leads to some interesting puzzle solving situations as you progress through the game.

Harry’s cell phone plays a major part in the game. It’s used for everything from photographing ghosts to marking a path on the built in GPS. Harry will also make and receive phone calls, and get voicemail at various points in the game. When a call comes in, or when you’re listening to a voicemail, the sound comes out of the small speaker on the Wii-mote. Holding the Wii-mote up to your ear feels a bit silly, but it does ad a certain something to the immersive nature of the game – you’re not just watching Harry talk on the phone, you’re living it.

While exploring the world and solving motion controlled puzzles are both a treat, the combat (or lack there of) is a disaster. Combat was never encouraged in the Silent Hill series, but it was always an option if you were in a tight spot. Shattered Memories takes that option away from you, forcing you to run through any enemy-infested section of the game. On it’s own, this wouldn’t be so bad, except that when an enemy does catch you, you’ll have to swing the nun-chuck and wii-remote in the same direction to throw them off. The game doesn’t always register your motions correctly, and the enemy continues to hang on and slow you down so that their friends can come join in the hug-fest. As you manage to shake one enemy off, two more will latch onto you ensuring your death. The only real solution is to just keep moving as fast as you can, and as such, stopping to check the path marked on your phone’s GPS just isn’t an option. It’s very easy to go in circles when you’re focused on getting away from the swarm of monsters creeping up behind you, and these parts of the game often ended with me throwing the controller down, and screaming at the television in frustration as a swarm of nightmarish creatures patted Harry Mason’s lifeless body.

Shattered Memories does a lot of things right. Exploring the world and discovering all of the horrors tailored to my warped mind is extremely enjoyable. The game does a great job of establishing atmosphere, and immersing you in the world around you. Unfortunately all that hard work is nullified by the broken enemy evasion mechanic. If you’ve got the patience to suffer through the woefully bad waggle, there’s a rich and engaging world here to sink your teeth into. If you don’t have the patience for flawed waggle, then you might consider the PS2 version of this game.

In a move that calls out the fanboy whining about how the Wii isn’t for gamers, HudsonSoft has announced a traditional survival horror game for everyone’s favorite console. Says Mike Pepe, Director of Marketing of Hudson Entertainment, “It is a game that revolves around real people and real emotions – no chain saws or suits of armor. The game is traditional survival horror at its finest.”

Did you hear that? That’s the sound of a dozen chainsaw and suits of armor fans thumping away in their heavy plate mail. Aw, who needs ‘em anyway?

Check out the ten screens below, and let us know if you’re hankering for a little survival horror on your little white monster. Wait…that sounds dirty, doesn’t it?