The Good: Great story, endings based on player actions, actually scary, references all six previous Silent Hill games, minor contents change based on how you play up to that point (messages on blackboards, for example)
The Bad: No combat (unless you count running away), many momentos and echoes hard to locate without a guide, some very confusing puzzles, controls have a bit of a learning curve, flares are lost when exiting the Nightmare and must be found anew when entering a new Nightmare area
SH:SM is a reimaging of the first Silent Hill, though the various characters are often very different and you travel to several new places in Old and Central Silent Hill. This time around Harry Mason is the biological father of Cheryl (Alessa Gillespie is ommitted due to plot demands), for example. Cybil Bennet, the cop in the first game, also plays a much bigger role and is a cop for Silent Hill and not the neighboring town. There are so many things that are and aren't like the original it'd take too long to list them all.
This game literally psychologically profiles you based on what you do or don't do, such as entering a bar or diner, a strip club or repair shop (you can only choose one or the other to enter and it effects the end profile and thus the ending itself). The endings are "Loving Father," "Sleaze & Sirens," "Drunk Dad," or "Weak and Wicked" (and the ever popular UFO Ending on subsequent playthroughs).
Gameplay is something akin to Silent Hill meets Fatal Frame in that you get a (cell phone) camera and can take pictures of otherwise invisible and creepy emotional echoes, or recieve such echoes as text and voice messages. These echoes are vital to solving puzzles and they're not always easy to find, despite visual and aural clues you're near one. There are also numerous phone numbers in the game to find (some of which are solutions to puzzles, others which are tips, and quite a few that are just for fun and/or effect the ending based on what that number calls, like a brothel).
One recurring theme is cold and darkness as one, which explains why the only "weapons" you have in the Nightmare are flares. They represent both heat and light, while the flashlight just gives off light; dispelling just one element doesn't protect you. Flares are also at a high premium (only one to three per Nightmare scene) and you can't take them with you when you enter the Normal world, making it impossible to stock up on them. That last fact alone cost the game half a star in ratings.
As mentioned, there is NO COMBAT. You literally can't fight the enemies that (thankfully) appear only in the Nightmare; the best you can do is use flares to repel monsters or else run away. There are also no healing items and yet you can die from the damage monsters inflict. The lack of any ability to bring the hurt back to the enemy cost it yet another half-star in ratings.
(Perhaps not coincidentally, this inability to fight back directly is the key difference in East Asian vs. Western views of the supernatural. In many East Asian cultures it's believed the supernatural cannot be fought and destroyed, only placated, imprisoned, tricked, redirected to another target, or kept at bay. This is why copying the tape in the movie The Ring is the only way to "break" the curse.)
As far as I can tell the momentos you can find in the game also don't do anything; they're just there for bragging rights. Bonuses like more flares in each Nightmare scene, longer flare durations, and maybe armor to reduce damage from enemy attacks would have been nice prizes for collecting them all.
The Wii version was reported to have numerous bugs (check out the Silent Hill Wiki article under "Glitches" for a list) that would make it impossible to advance the game without constantly saving and reloading; sometimes said bugs would even freeze the entire console and require a player to physically turn the console off or even unplug and replug it just to get it working again. Either they fully debugged the PS2 version or I've had the good luck not to encounter any such problems.
If you're a diehard fan of Silent Hill like I am, it's worth thirty bucks to pick it up new (and maybe fifteen more for the bleeping strategy guide if you buy it at GameStop or another store that discounts the guide if you buy the game at the same time). Even if you're not a diehard fan, it's worth a look at least. Hopefully Silent Hill 7 will reintroduce combat and bonuses for getting particular endings and/or collecting things like the momentos.
