Bitz: THE Radio burbled.

Byline: Ewan Ross

Silent Hill: Homecoming (Konami, XBox360/PS3, pounds 44.99)

THE Radio burbled as I staggered out of the wreckage into the foggy night. Looking over my shoulder, the scene painfully repeated itself: I'd hit a tree and rolled down an embankment. Panic started to cross my mind as I realised my daughter was missing.

I ventured into the misty town ahead of me and a small silhouette started to reveal itself in the distance. I shouted for her; whatever it was giggled ghoulishly and ran down an alley faster than my eye could track. What was going on?

I was curious, I was scared, but mostly I was absolutely overjoyed.

You see, this moment of tension and fear on the original PlayStation was a crossing point for me. Fate had given one horror fan a brain for programming and made him the inventor of Konami's horrific masterpiece - Silent Hill. The other (ie: me) was sat in a dark room, drinking a beer and thinking this game would be another Count Crapula.

How wrong I was.

And the next few hours of sheer terror that followed inspired me to write about games.

Needless to say, every succeeding Silent Hill episode has been met with the same ritual: Late night, beer for the nerves, and no interruptions.

And predictably each one has lapsed over the time limit I've set myself, with me hitting the wee hours fuelled on nothing but adrenaline and fear.

Ten years after this epiphany, Homecoming has arrived, telling the story of ex-soldier Alex Shepherd who has returned to the town of Shepherd's Glen.

Plagued by horrific dreams and odd visions, Alex sets out to discover why his hometown seems to be slipping into hell.

Stylistically, the latest part in the Silent Hill series hasn't changed. Shot in the third person and ghoulishly graphic, it is survival horror at its best and riddled with devices to make your spine tingle. In fact there have also been significant improvements to the sluggish control system - meaning this outing wasn't laced with late night curses at a dodgy attack system.

Purists will argue that this added to the tension and Alex's moves are too good this time. But in all fairness the opportunity to have a decent fighting chance against things - whose only purpose is to scare the bejesus out of you - is a no-brainer. The more skilled the better, I say; and the fact that this episode features crowds of hideous creatures lurching towards you does balance the tension.

New weirdness is more challenging though, and doesn't seem to be something Homecoming has succeeded with. That's not to say the blood-drenched industrial "otherworld" doesn't get a little spooky - more than doffing its cap to classic films like Jacob's Ladder and Ju-On - but this is something I'm getting fairly familiar with now.

For my latest venture I allowed an uninitiated horror fan into this evening ritual, and the effect was exactly like my own almost a decade ago. Homecoming isn't a bad game but its effect on the stalwart fan will be less than someone new to the series.

RATING: 7/10 - The silent treatment

Skate 2 (Electronic Arts, PS3, pounds 44.99)

SKATE has been one of the few challengers to the Tony Hawk's franchise. In fact with its sales debut it quite literally smashed ol' Hawky's waning series to pieces.

Featuring the "flick it" control system, the game allows you to perform stunts with the analogue sticks on the pad. This of course allowed for more error but more control too and led an overall greater mastery of stunts.

Skate 2 brings the magic back with it a host of new tracks. The controls system's bugs have also been slightly ironed out and new stunts like hand plants have also been added.

Definitely one for the skater fans.

RATING: 8/10Wheeled out

CAPTION(S):

TERROR: Fear Stalks the streets in Silent Hill