SILENT HILL HOMECOMING is a horror game for the Xbox 360 - the latest entry in the SILENT HILL series. The story follows Alex Shepherd, returning to his hometown of Shepherds Glen to investigate the sudden disappearance of his brother. It has been classified ‘18’ for strong bloody violence and horror.

The player controls the character of Alex, who uses weapons such as knives, axes, shotguns and metal piping to defend himself from frequent attacks by freakish monsters, and nightmarishly disfigured human/zombie assailants – many of which appear in earlier versions of the game. Although there is a strong puzzle element to the game, the overall tone is very dark, with a theme of human sacrifice. Strong bloody violence is present, especially in the final level, which involves sadistic torture with a drill, high levels of pain and suffering, and Alex killing his human torturers by slitting their throats. Blood is seen spurting from undetailed wounds, and onto the camera lens at times. Strong horror is apparent from the start of the game, with a grotesque, surreal hospital environment, complete with screams, grisly noises, implied murders etc. Strongly horrific images include sight of bloodied torsos/body parts and corpses littering the place, flayed bodies bound with barbed wire to satanic looking cross/symbol, and what looks like people tortured to death in blood-soaked dungeons.

In combination, it was felt that the gameplay goes some way beyond BBFC Guidelines at '15', which advise that 'Violence may be strong but may not dwell on the infliction of pain or injury ... The strongest gory images are unlikely to be acceptable'.

Silent Hill Homecoming

Silent Hill Homecoming