Sept 27, 2007

Silent Hill V will give the horror series a vigorous shaking up on PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360, using the new-gen techno grunt to implement spookier and more alarming behaviour in your lethal fleshbeast foes, starting with an attraction to light and sound. Worse, the stronger creatures will also be able to hammer down doors, hungrily chasing you through the game's hellish environments.

What's more, here's the first footage from Silent Hill V, a chilling cut-scene illustrating how the game will now use real-time shifting to phase between the fog-choked 'real' world and the grimy Otherworld. Shudder. See our movies page for more.

But back to those beasties. The Hill's nurse nasties, complete with unsettling pillow-sized revealed cleavage, are chronically attracted to light or sound. One of your first encounters sees a group of said PVC-clad ladythings gathered around a dulled X-ray viewing box. Flick a switch to turn the box on, and the gray-skinned monsters claw earnestly towards it in disturbing fashion. 

Bump into a nearby table and the noise of tumbling objects will also draw the nurse's attention. Immediately, gameplay effects become clear, especially when you learn that a later puzzle requires access to the beast-surrounded X-ray box. Distracting and avoiding large numbers of enemies is surely now a vital skill to learn.

Fortunately, leading military man Alex Sheppard is no shrinking violent, as revealed in a huge Silent Hill V feature in this month's Official PlayStation Magazine. Thanks to his Army training, Sheppard is a mean man with a blade, or with any other lethal implement, and there's now light, heavy and charged attacks plus an evasion move to dodge incoming blows. And, when things get really personal, shaking PS3's Sixaxis will wrestle off any nasties that get within grappling distance.

For some icky imagery and details on the new enemies (the Schism, Smog and Siam) grab yourself a copy of Official PlayStation Magazine issue #11, on sale from today in all those places selling newspapers and chocolate bars.