#SILENT HILL BOOK OF MEMORIES SOFTWARE#

I nimbly dodged out of the way, firing my dual pistols from behind our cohort. In one online match, a trio of split-head canines attack my group of three. Coordinating with your fellow hell-explorers and focusing attacks on enemies drives home a feeling of frantic survival, even on the Vita's slightly smaller screen. Hopping online or playing over ad-hoc is easy and fast, and adds a layer of extra challenge. There's no doubt that Book of Memories is better with friends, though. There aren't any combos to speak of, but players can unlock power moves in the store with their hard-earned credits. All you do is mash the square and triangle buttons to wield your left- and right-handed weapons. This is because the combat is monotonous. Most levels play out with combat, loot, exploration, and puzzles in equal measure, though it certainly feels like there's more combat than anything else. You'll have to clear the map in order to progress as each level ends with a puzzle, more often than not relying heavily on logic.īook of Memories makes for a nice rhythm, even in short bursts. Players begin each level with a blank slate, filling out the map with each new room. Mixing Diablo with more psychological horror elements doesn't reap many scares, notably because I felt distinctly overpowered throughout each level. Of course, that's old hat for SH, and there are heaps of new franchise elements, much of which will be familiar if you've ever looted in your life. Hacking your way through a level is rewarded with a few beats of character development. Like many SH games before, Book of Memories turns the mundane details into emotional points of contact. What you look like matters little, but depending on your aesthetic choices, you might be in line for some varying story elements. Players can choose their avatar at the beginning of the game, whether they want to play as the preppy school boy or the goth chick. Would this dungeon crawler be a welcome turn into the fog or am I ready to leave Silent Hill prematurely?

#SILENT HILL BOOK OF MEMORIES SOFTWARE#

Who was I playing? What was my objective? Why was the mailman also the shopkeeper? It seemed that Silent Hill's ever-present fog had seeped into my brain, warping the details I thought I had nailed down.īook of Memories is certainly a departure for the long-running series from Konami, but any software for Sony's flagging PlayStation Vita is worthy of a look, even if you (or I) have never played a game in the series before. In my attempts to start a review for Silent Hill: Book of Memories, I continually found myself running into mental roadblocks.

Silent hill book of memories