While the anticipation of a new Resident Evil game builds up to limited edition consoles, collectors' edition packaging and acres of specialist press attention, Konami's own trip into the world of horror, Silent Hill, has found it hard to get much attention.

With a modicum of good reason, too, it should be noted. A tepid movie didn't help, but the game franchise itself hasn't hit the heady heights of the early days for some time (Silent Hill 2 remains, arguably, the series' peak). So could a trip back to Silent Hill be a journey worth taking.

Well, sort of. But we'll come to that shortly.

The plot this time follows Alex Shepherd, who heads to his hometown to look into the fact that his brother has gone missing. Said hometown duly visited, he then goes off to the dank, murky, atmospheric and at times downright scary town of Silent Hill.

And that's where trouble really starts. Thus, as is the modus operandi of the franchise, he must get to the bottom of the mystery while creeping around a town full of things that don't want him to leave it.

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Chief among the assets of Silent Hill has been the sense of atmosphere it's always managed to generate, even in the weaker instalments. It does so again here. Happy to let things build slowly, and without the frantic bursts of action of many of its contemporaries, Silent Hill: Homecoming takes its time to build up to its jumps and delivers them quite effectively. With an improved in-game camera, too, it's easier to find your way around each nook and cranny.

It's almost an anti-climax when the monsters and nasties start appearing, so effective is the build-up. The high points of the game for us were the bits where you simply had to explore, with half an eye on what's going to come out of the fog.

When the monsters start appearing you quickly have to rely on the combat mechanics, which are decent enough. It's hardly Street Fighter, but you get a strong and not so strong attack, with the former taking longer and thus potentially exposing you. There are combos too, but we still weren't convinced that the controls were responsive enough. Plus, the combat itself we found occasionally annoying and a weak point of the game. There are a few guns littered around, but not too many, so hand to hand is your main method of attack.

The game notches up the difficulty by limiting the number of save points in a game, which you have to find on your travels. This, again, is an unwelcome irritant and stops you being able to simply save the game when you're ready to turn your machine off.

Still, at its best the game very much has the ability to put the scares up you, and Homecoming is a step forward for the series, even if not quite capturing its earlier highlights. It looks glorious and plays a little easier than before. That said, for survival horror, there's a reason it lives in Resident Evil's shadow.

A solid entry in an always-enjoyable series. There's no innovation that's threatening Resident Evil's crown yet, though.