Silent Hill was my introductory game to the whole survivor horror genre. This was back when I thought Resident Evil was when my grandparents came over and took over my room for a month, and I genuinely thought Silent Hill was a sniper game. So, my expectations were more than met when the game turned out to be an ordinary Joe fighting off the minions of Hell instead of some boring game about sitting in bushes and shooting guys a long way off. I enjoyed the very plastic off the casing of the game. When the second game came out, I was stoked. While it had the same gameplay elements and took place in Silent Hill, it just didn’t feel right. It didn’t tie in with the original events at all.
So, when the third sort of floated in, under my radar to be precise, I wasn’t exactly all too thrilled after coming off the second one. But, things may change; see below for more of the story.
Graphics – Gets the Point Across
The visuals are decent. The trademark grain effect is back, though it doesn’t seem as “realistic” as the grain effect in Silent Hill 2. The effect in SH2 almost perfected what old movies were like. It perfected the crap film quality. The grain effect in SH3 is more parallel to the grain you would expect from a VHS tape from the 80’s. It is still there, but not very much of it exists.
Model details are a bit more defined than in SH2 and effects like shining skin have been toned down to more realistic levels on the monsters. The SH2 monsters looked like they were constantly sweating, the SH3 ones are a bit duller and what you expect a minion of Hell to look like.
Environments are a bit improved over SH2. The colors are a bit more varied in SH3 and as the game is more indoors related, the building details are much better. There is still volumetric fog, but you’ll probably see it for a grand total of 10 minutes in the game.
The effects in the game are rather minimal as, hey, you are using real world weapons. There are the small muzzle flashes from the submachine gun and blood squirts, but nothing overboard as you would expect from shooters. Monsters don’t blow up, blood doesn’t gush and paint the walls, things happen as they likely would happen if it all were real.
The only real negative of the graphics is the character models, specifically, the up close ones. The residents of the SH games have always been ugly mothers, but SH3 pushed that to new bounds. Heather, the main character, has enough varicose veins to put 80 year olds to shame. Every character looks sickly and old, even though the main character is around 17.
Sounds – The Experience
An unusual twist in the world of games, though a mainstay for Silent Hill, the sound department takes the brunt of the experience. Everything about this game is sound. The game doesn’t try to scare you with monsters and other visual signals, as frankly the monsters in the game are as frightening as kittens, but in the odd sound that randomly comes from nowhere and stops. A good example is when running around in the mall. I just cleared out this room of a pair of monsters that had these large arms like pendulums. I walked over some broken glass on the ground and as I hit the end of the hall, a massive crunching sound came from behind. The sound startled me to say the least, so I turned around quickly, but there was nothing. Moans, wails, and other sounds permeate the game to the core… much more so than SH2, as the game went back to the SH roots.
The voice acting is a bit mixed. Claudia and Vincent are very annoying, Heather is alright, but Douglas has a very good voice actor behind him.
Gameplay – Crap Controls, Great Puzzles
As typical with your survival horror games, the control scheme blows. Movement is slow, the camera angles are usually wrong, and hitting anything with a gun is a shot in the dark (literally). I’m sure everyone knows how this game controls as it was pulled directly from Resident Evil, but I’ll explain it for those who have no idea.
Silent Hill is probably the only game in existence I prefer to use the D-pad to play over the analog stick. All movement is character-centric, also known as 3D. This means, if the character is facing the screen, and you want to turn her to the right, you have to push left on the D-pad as that is her left. There is an option for a 2D, or player centric, control scheme, but that is only worse in this situation. So, you move about, use the square button to run (don’t run too much, your character gets tired fast), use the R2 button to aim, X to fire, and X to manipulate the environment. Simple to remember stuff. Basically, combat is a pain in this method, but as enemies are slow, and there is a reasonably alright auto-aim feature, this shouldn’t be too much of an issue.
Where the gameplay shines is not the combat, but the puzzles. Barring the absolutely weak Easy mode, the puzzles are mind twisting, hard, and enjoyable all at the same time. I prefer to play the SH games on hard puzzle mode. This mode offers convoluted clues that take deep delving to figure out. A good example of puzzle difficulties comes in the first puzzle in a bookstore in the mall:
Easy mode – just stick the books in order.
Normal mode – you can see the code on the books, and just arrange it so the numbers fit.
Hard mode – there is this massive story on the wall and you have to read it to discover the order the books fit as the numbers won’t appear until you put them in the right order.
The first two versions make it easy to blow through them; the final version is the most rewarding of the three.
There are a couple of annoyances in the gameplay, though. The first annoyance is when you manage to get the bulletproof vest; you can run all you want, though a tad slower than full speed, without tiring. The second annoyance is aimed at all those jokers who whine about not being able to turn around fast enough. That is why the game, from the first one, allows you to hit R1 and L1 together to do a quick 180. Read the manual sometimes, things can be missed you don’t expect.
Story – There We Go
The story in SH3 is very rewarding. It actually ties in with the events of the first game and wraps things up nicely. It was a shame that SH2 was just some side story, or this could have made a very killer trilogy in terms of story. I won’t ruin anything for you, but you will fully enjoy how the story unfolds. There are even three possible endings, one of which requires you beat the game on hard mode.
Other Garbage That Don’t Fit Above
There are a number of secrets hidden in the game. Some of them are goofy, like the Princess Heart costume and the rip-off Lightsaber, to quite useful, like the flamethrower and unlimited ammo submachine gun (all of which are available to those who beat the game the first time through, meeting certain criteria). I’ll give away the costume, though. Beat the game the first time, go to the costume menu, and type in PrincessHeart (caps matter). It is the most hilarious costume, and if you take it off and put it back on again, it gets stranger.
The loading times are reasonable. Starting up the game and loading the game sucks badly, though. Loading the game for the first time takes around 45 seconds, and for some strange reason, the game insists on scanning each of the 40 memory card slots before letting you load your game. Between areas in-game and saving, load times are quite speedy.
The game is also freaky short. I finished it, hard mode in both puzzles and combat, in 7 hours. Blew through it on normal in 3 hours. Hardly enough gameplay to warrant a purchase if priced more than around $25.
Bottom Line
Silent Hill 3 is a large step above Silent Hill 2, but doesn’t quite reach the standard set by the original. Still, it is an audio experience that shouldn’t be passed up, especially if you are a fan of the series or survival horror in general. It is a shame the controls are difficult and the game is so short, or all would have been wonderful.
