Don't take too many pictures, and save often (but dont go OCD either!). That's all you need to worry about.

@GelatinousEncore

Aa HA! So there IS something supposedly tied to pictures. What if you save AFTER you've taken too many pictures??
Will the game just lock up? What allegedly happens?

I will pass that on though, thanks.. I've already warned her against going "snaphappy."

I just got this recently as well. Only played it once so far. It's scary and I tend to ignore scary games in my collection cause they're scary...

What I played of it didn't scare me. Some parts started out creepy but after a short while the game became so predictable it lost it's fear factor.

Totally off topic but anyone play Homecoming? I got it super cheap like six months ago however I never loaded it up. Is it any good?

@Simbabbad
Agree with every point you made. That said, I think Homecoming had some moments of sheer brilliance. The descent further and further down until you fight the doctor's daughter (Fitch was it?) was all perfect. That entire part and boss battle were incredible imo.

Just finished this game last night, and I think it's a minor masterpiece.

I haven't played a huge number of story heavy games, (because stories in games tend to be awful), but this was genuinely very good. It deserved far more recognition than it got.

The only thing the game lacked was a little depth in the gameplay. The puzzles when exploring were generally too simple, although there were the odd good ones. The nightmare chase sections also could have done with a few more elements than just pushing away the creatures and pulling down furniture. I also wished they showed which options you chose on your other playthroughs so you can choose different ones.

@Simbabbad
I agree about it's importance. Rather than trying to ape a Hollywood summer blockbuster, SM tells a story that only a videogame could tell. I felt the same when I played Braid - it effected my quite deeply too, and the way it matched the gameplay themes to the story was something that could only have happened in a videogame too.

Climax deserve a hell of a lot of credit. I'm tempted to email them. In fact I'm gonna.

@achhibbar
Be sure to put my name down too!!

@carlosrox
Oops, I put your name down in the fan mail I sent to the wrong Climax Studios.... the one in California that makes a different kind of entertainment.

@achhibbar
Sweet! Even better! Maybe I'll get free stuff!!

achhibbar said:

Just finished this game last night, and I think it's a minor masterpiece.

I haven't played a huge number of story heavy games, (because stories in games tend to be awful), but this was genuinely very good. It deserved far more recognition than it got.

The only thing the game lacked was a little depth in the gameplay. The puzzles when exploring were generally too simple, although there were the odd good ones. The nightmare chase sections also could have done with a few more elements than just pushing away the creatures and pulling down furniture. I also wished they showed which options you chose on your other playthroughs so you can choose different ones.

It's been a long while since I finished the game now and I still would totally agree with you. Shattered Memories deserved a lot more credit for its story and immersion.

When you look at some of the other games that were so hyped and championned at the time, like Alan Wake, it's a real shame this wasn't celebrated. Alan Wake... oh man. Such bad writing, especially for a game that's about a writer, and constantly narrated by a writer, and that encourages you to collect and read pages from his new manuscript.


"The man turned to face me. His face was covered in shadows. It was hard to make him out in the darkness of the forest that surrounded us, but the axe he lifted was plain to see. It glistened with the blood of his victim.

He grinned madly. The shadows were alive, distorting his features.

It was a scene from a nightmare, but I was awake. "


Ouch. Just terrible writing. Is that you Dan Brown?

Shattered Memories is exactly the kind of game that should be fillng the Wii's library. Sure, it's low budget and made by an unproven team, but it was still quite special. So just imagine what kind of experiences we could have been playing from better funded, more talented teams. Go on, imagine it. You have to because no-one else joined the party. :-/

@Y-Alpha Wouldn't it be amusing though if it were a well-written story about a bad author?

@Y-Alpha
I'm not sure the writing's supposed to be "good". He is a horror writer afterall and we're supposed to gather he's pretty good but that doesn't mean he might not write cheesy shit, which is what I think they were going for.

At the very beginning of the game one of the shadow things chasing him says "shitty writer" or something like that. He could make a lot of money and sell a lot of books but still be a shitty writer.

Wow. I'll always love this thread's resurfacing tendency!

@Simbabbad

Yep. Favorite use of the Wii remote ever. The phone was one of the small, natural things in the game that affected the overall picture in a hugely positive way. I will never stop gushing about this game. Though talking about it kind of has me worried for Downpour. I wish they'd continue in the direction of Shattered Memories, fine-tuning everything...ah well, still excited. Love this series.

Oh hey, you can still enjoy playing Alan Wake! It just helps to do it in a MST3K kinda way. ;)

The game takes itself quite seriously. It makes out that Alan Wake is a celebrated writer in the vein of Stephen King (the comparison heavily implied in the opening narration). I'd certainly have enjoyed it more if he was supposed to be a popular hack. Might have been a more sensible way for Remedy to go! I guess their in-house writer was a little overconfident.

Seeing a company try and fail to produce a compelling mystery story is fine, admirable really, but the level of hype the game had was completely out of whack. By comparison Shattered Memories was a hidden gem. I'm not sure whether Wake's shiny graphics or Microsoft's marketting machine are more to blame, but gaming journalism generally seems ill-equipped to highlight those games that actually do story well. They love to write articles about how important storytelling is, but they still follow the hype rather than their own hands-on impressions.

Hi Ash,

Glad you liked it. I agree it seems to have been passed over for the
recognition it deserves. A few of the most credible review sites did give it
high marks and clearly loved the story, but it seems to have escaped any of
the writers prizes, which I think is a little unfair.

Best

Simon

Simon Gardner, CEO, CLIMAX STUDIOS



Subject: Shattered Memories

Finished playing this game last night on my Wii, and was struck by just
how well told the game's story was overall.

Instead of copying hollywood blockbusters (like far too many games at
the moment), Shattered Memories tells a story that only a videogame
could tell.

It deserves to be recognized as a landmark in interactive storytelling -
it's surely one of the most important games made in the last 10 years.

(If this email address isn't correct, please forward this to wherever
fan-mail should go)

Thanks,
Ash

@achhibbar
Holy shit that's cool! The closest thing to fanmail I've ever written and gotten a response to (I haven't written much if anything anyway) was from an old editor from Gamefan Magazine. I told him I missed those days and appreciated how they treated gaming back in the day. He was blown away that I remembered him/the magazine and took it very well. We were both reminiscing about gaming at the time and how the magazine was. Other editors too. It was so cool for him to talk to me about them as if we were mutual friends haha. I even got his Facebook add from it! Great guy. It was like getting one of my heroes on my Facebook haha!

I idolized those guys back in the day. To me they still are my definition of a gamer. Gamefan helped shape the gamer I am today. Many of the guys their liked their hyperbole and were super passionate about games. I guess it rubbed off on me.