Variety raves about Silent Hill Homecoming, others not so much

When I was editing Leigh Alexander's review of "Silent Hill: Homecoming," (which ran in today's Daily Variety), I cut out this paragraph for space, but noted that it was pretty interesting:

Real purists may still dislike the increased combat, and the critical trade press is likely to fault the gameplay's distinctive format. Then again, gamers have always hated Silent Hill's combat, and mainstream reviewers have never "gotten it" - but Silent Hill: Homecoming is sure to be recognized by true fans as a proper franchise heir that, in many ways, is the best yet.

Boy was she right. About the first part at least. I can't say what "true fans" will think. But GamePro wrote "though Homecoming boasts some genuinely intense moments of dread, its equally distressing gameplay flaws will take a big bite out of your enjoyment" and gave it three stars out of five; IGN called it " a major letdown for a title with such a great horror pedigree" and scored it 6.7 (which regular readers of that site know is about as low as they go for a major release); Crispy Gamer concluded that it has "some genuinely frustrating moments; Painfully obscure puzzles; Depressing as all hell" and recommended that readers "fry it" (as opposed to "try it" or "buy it"). Some others were a little kinder (1UP gave it a B), but the reactions seemed to range from bad to decent. Whereas Leigh thought it was, well, to put it in her words, "A true heir, lovingly crafted with the same psychological intensity as its predescessors while improving on their weak combat controls."

For those who want more insight on why Variety critic Leigh Alexander is so much more passionately positive about this game than most other critics, here's an excerpt from her review:

"Homecoming" follows in the series' tradition of casting an emotionally unsettled protagonist into a disturbing wasteland that suggests allegories to the personal Hell in his mind. Developer Double Helix's steepest challenge -- and therefore its greatest achievement -- is the game's thematic consistency, drawing identifiable relationships to the four previous "Silent Hill" console titles and even the regrettable (if visually correct) film -- though fans will be glad to know it doesn't take very many cues from the latter.

And you can read the whole thing here.

Leigh also wrote a long and heartfelt post on her SexyVideogameLand blog about how critics react to games like this. It's well worth reading. I actually have some thoughts in response that I'll be posting here soon.