You're name is Harry Mason. While on your way to Silent Hill you wreck your car. You're knocked out due to the force of the crash. You finally come to and find that your seven year old daughter, Cheryl, is missing. You desperately begin searching for her only to realize that something is wrong, horribly wrong.

Sound familiar? Well, if you've played the original Silent Hill on PS1 is should. I just described the opening story, but it's not just the opening story of the original Silent Hill. It's also how the newest title to the Silent Hill franchise, Silent Hill: Shattered Memories for Wii, begins as well.

Although the two games start similarly, Shattered Memories isn't a remake. Instead it's what Konami has frequently referred to as a re-imagining. Confused? So was I until I actually played it and now I know what they meant. In this trip to Silent hill, Konami has taken what is familiar to Silent Hill fans; Harry, Cheryl, Cybil, Lisa, Dahlia, Silent Hill and the nightmare world, and changed the story behind them and how they interact. I don't want to ruin the story for anyone so I'm only going to say that this Silent Hill title really delivered and leave it at that.

The control mechanics in Shattered Memories takes a sharp turn from the controls of previous Silent Hills. The biggest change being the jump from the Playstation and Xbox consoles to the Wii and utilizing that Wii-mote and nun-chuck. It's surprising how well the developers were able to translate the controls to the new system. You walk with the joystick on the nun-chuck and aim your flash light with the Wii-mote. You can also perform addition actions by using “Z” to run, “B” to zoom in, and the D-pad as hot keys for your cell phone. All the controls are done by using subtle movements and handle brilliantly. In addition, the controls were designed to be played with out the use of the Wii-motion plus.

Shattered Memories has also changed several gameplay mechanics from previous Silent Hill titles, while tweaking some familiar favorites. Of course Harry could never explore Silent Hill with out his flashlight, but he no longer has his radio. (“Radio? What's going on with that radio?”) This time he has an iPhone-esc phone to provide the game with the familiar and foreboding static, as well as other features. And yes, Harry can make calls on it. In fact, he can call any number he finds in game. As the flash light was tweaked, and the radio replaced, the combat system had an overhaul. And by overhaul I mean it was removed. When in the nightmare, you no longer fight for your life. You run for it. You run through a maze of hallways and buildings, looking for the door that is the way out. Although I was skeptical of the choice to remove combat at first, I now think it works great. It's an adrenalin rush that feeds into the nightmare around you.

The biggest change in this Silent Hill is how the story mechanics work and play out. For those of you new to Silent Hill, let me explain how it normally worked. Your actions and choices in game would change the ending you received when you beat the game. For example, in the original Silent hill you would receive the “good” ending if you saved both Cybil and Dr. Kaufmann. In this ending, you and Cybil escape Silent Hill with baby Cheryl and live happily ever after. If you killed Cybil and let Dr. Kaufmann die you would receive the “bad” ending where pretty much everyone is dead or trapped in Silent hill forever. Shattered Memories doesn't work like that though. It's not what you do, but who you are that determined your ending. Yes, who you are- you reading this right now. The game studies your personality and changes the things around you... where you go, how people interact with you and even how people dress... based on how you interact with the game. It evens provides a scarily accurate psych profile on you after you beat the game. In short, Shattered Memories is your own personalized nightmare.

I would also like to take a moment that this game's sound track is amazing. Akira Yamaoka returned again to complete yet another Silent Hill musical master piece. Shattered Memories has a soft piano, strong emotion and melancholy and industrial undertones. It's the perfect tie between Silent Hills harsh visuals and Harry's heart wrenching search.

Over all I absolutely loved this game. It's a new spin on the Silent Hill series that didn't loose the feeling of suspense and curiosity that has made the series a success. My only complain with the game is the length, which is very much on the short side. It does appear to have a good replay value, as there are always new details to discover, but I would have really liked the game to just be longer. Even with the game being a quick play through, it's still a great Silent Hill title. Shattered memories has everything that the long time Silent Hill fans will love with enough allure and originality to bring in new fans on a new system.

Accessibility Review

Silent Hill: Shattered Memories is all over the place in terms of accessibility friendliness, as all Wii games tend to be.

Silent Hill is pretty friendly toward the color blind and visually impaired gamer. There's no HUD to keep track of and no colors to compare. You simply have the world around you to take in. Having problem seeing? Simply take the time to zoom in and take a closer look. Take all the time you need, because you aren't attacked by creatures while in “normal” Silent Hill. The only time there could be a potential problem is during the nightmare world when everything goes dark. It's supposed to be a little difficult for you to see, but that can make things more difficult if you were having problems seeing already. The fact the it is difficult to see details in the nightmare world is counter acted by the fact that anything that is important, anything you can interact with in the nightmare, is highlighted bright blue, making them very easy to see. And in all honestly, the things you may not see or have difficulty seeing are likely just added details and not essential to the story or game completion so you will be able to play the game just fine.

Sadly, Silent Hill is not friendly to those with hearing issues. Although the game offers subtitles, there is still a lot of information lost when there you can't hear the noise and static from your cell phone. The static noise is used to both notify you of close enemies as well as alert you to near-by clues. Without the noise you have to rely on the flickering of your flashlight, which can be really hard to do. Although this game is playable with no sound, you really loose a lot without it.

In addition, Shattered memories is not going to work out for the one handed gamer. You need both the Wii-mote and nun-chuck to play, and I can't think of some way to make it work while playing with one hand. Sorry guys.

On the other hand, this game is fairly friendly to those who have issues with fine motor skills. As long as you can press the buttons on the controller, this game should work for you. There are never any quick button sequences, complex movements, or patterns to follow. You press on button at a time and can take your time to do so. The only time that this may be difficult would be during a nightmare sequence. During the night mare sequence you have to run, and break through doors. The steering may be somewhat difficult since it speeds up, but you don't have to worry about actually pressing a button to open a door. If Harry is running he will automatically break through the door and you need not worry about trying to quickly press the button.

On the side of gross motor skills, this game is iffy and depends on the nature of your disability and your range of arm movement. Most of the movements can be done my simply moving at the wrist, but that may prove more difficult for some actions, such as shaking a attacking monster off of you. Although this game doesn't require as extreme movements as other games, and is meant to be played sitting down, it does require some small arm movements.