Silent Hill series, a review.

[Kz3r0]

After seeing in Ghostdog' s LP that many here hadn't played this fine games I decided to provide a review, hopefully other fans of the series like Lesifoere and Phantasmal will provide their own insight.

Silent Hill I
Graphics:
Probably the only game that had some benefit from the over pixellated ,horrible, thurd dimension, PS1's polygonal graphics.
It added to the nightmare atmosphere.
Audio:
The fisrt thing that will impress you is the wonderful and evocative music, it really stands on its own, and probably you couldn't separate it from your memories of the game' scenes.
Great voice acting too
Gameplay:
You will control an average guy, clumsy with weapons and movements and that can't run that much, sorry no Rambo here.
It goes without saying that this will not be your usual pixel massacre as in other games.
Most of the game will take place in dark ambients, so you will be equipped with a torchlight to illuminate the horrors ahead, you can turn it off by the way, along with a portable radio that will start making 'funny noises' in the presence of the creatures,ithey will be your basic equipment in the game, be warned however, when they are on they can attract undesired attention.
The weapons that you will use most frequently are a gun and a steel pipe, not that many bullets around by the way.
To advance you shall be forced to explore your surroundings and solve some nifty puzzle, also some of your actions will influence the final outcome of the game, nothing major but it add something to the story and they are completely optional.
Level Design:
Prety banal but extremely functional coupled with the atmosphere and pacing of the game.

Why you must play it?
Because is a masterpiece, and one of the few games that can be called experiences, however I'd noticed that Resident Evil fans tend to dislike this series, so, be warned if you are one

 

[Wolfus]

And SH2 is even better.

 

[Multidirectional]

Bullshit on voice acting bit though. As much as I love SH1, voice acting is pretty bad. And while sound design and music is top notch, audio quality isn't. This is the only game in the trilogy that could use a remake. Don't mean to sound like it's unplayable though. It still manages to be way more atmospheric and creepy than most "horror" games today.

 

[Wolfus]

..."short, black hair"...

 

[Konjad]

SH 2 >>>>>> SH 1 > SH 3 >>>>>>>> SH 4 >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> any other SH

 

[Wolfus]

Basicly I agree, but Origins is not so bad...

 

[Multidirectional]

SH 2 >>>>>> SH 1 > SH 3 >>>>>>>> SH 4

Yes. Except SH4 shouldn't be viewed as Silent Hill game at all. Silent Hill is a trilogy. But at least The Room was still made by Team Silent and still contained some of their quality stuff.

 

[Antediluvian]

SH4 shouldn't be viewed as Silent Hill game at all

Yep. None of the atmosphere of previous installments, even the city itself was present only in a small episode

But at least The Room was still made by Team Silent and still contained some of their quality stuff.

The "quality" of SH4 is questionable to say the least. Gameplay-wise - too much backtracking, shooting Walter is a nightmare cause you have to guess where he is (not in the line of sight, that's for sure), ghosts were a real pain; story-wise - deranged (also dead) killer commits ritual murders to reconcile with a room which he regards as his mother because he found his umbilical cord in there.......yeah. Not exactly an appropriate follow-up to amazing predecessors

Edit: I don't think rating SH1 and 2 is necessary. They're actually surprisingly different, both have a unigue feel of their own

 

[Jick Magger]

My list is
SH2
SH3
SH1
SH:SM
SH: H
SH4
SH: O


With Homecoming you can tell they've got their heart in the right place, they got the looks, the environments and the monster designs right, but no matter how much I play I always feel as though the makers just did not fundamentally understand what made Silent Hill so scary. It's almost as though they're too scared to try the ambient, claustrophobic type of horror the other games went by and just went with trying to shove the hellish imagery and unusual monsters down our throats.

Origins just felt lazy, though. It's as though they threw their hands up in the air and just decided to copy everything from the first and second games and hoped it'd work.

 

[Konjad]

It's time to incline this topic with Heather's pics:

 

[bonescraper]

I threw up in my mouth a little bit

And SH2 is overrated as fuck. The plot is decent but the charaters suck, and most of all, it's not scary. Not. At .All. It's a new kind of game - a survival melodrama

 

[ChristofferC]

I threw up in my mouth a little bit

And SH2 is overrated as fuck. The plot is decent but the charaters suck, and most of all, it's not scary. Not. At .All. It's a new kind of game - a survival melodrama

What games do you consider scary?

 

[Konjad]

I threw up in my mouth a little bit

And SH2 is overrated as fuck. The plot is decent but the charaters suck, and most of all, it's not scary. Not. At .All. It's a new kind of game - a survival melodrama

What games do you consider scary?

man, i herd ded spaec is pretty scare and fuck me if resident evil series isnt. oh and theres a lot of other scary shit man, i shit my pants in bioshock and doom3 man, that was scary as hell.


Seriously, the only more scary game than Silent Hill I have ever played was Blair Witch Project. Well, I was 11-15 when I played these series and when I tried to replay Silent Hill 2 lately I wasn't scared at all but that's probably because I already completed it several times and I know what will happen in every part of the game...

 

[bonescraper]

What games do you consider scary?

The first Silent Hill, Blair Witch Project: Rustin Parr (that maze in the woods, damn!), Thief: The Dark Project and System Shock 2. Now, even the kritikally akklaimed Amnesia doesn't do shit for me. And SH2 for me was a major disappointment in the horror department. While playing it my mind was more focused on all these annoying characters i got to meet and how i fucking hated every single one of them.

Seriously, the only more scary game than Silent Hill I have ever played was Blair Witch Project.

 

[Phelot]

Please don't post those "erotic" pics of SH3 with the demented bunny and the penis and the weird proportions and OH GOD MAKE IT GO AWAY!

 

[Heresiarch]

Please don't post those "erotic" pics of SH3 with the demented bunny and the penis and the weird proportions and OH GOD MAKE IT GO AWAY!

Lol I was just about to post them.

 

[.Sigurd]

In Silent Hill 2 the moment you get the first weapon the game cease to be scary since you have no motive to fear the monsters.

Penumbra: The Black Plague and Amnesia: The Dark Descent on the other hand...

 

[genci88]

Please don't post those "erotic" pics of SH3 with the demented bunny and the penis and the weird proportions and OH GOD MAKE IT GO AWAY!

Lol I was just about to post them.

Please do, so that the rest of us know WTF he's talking about.

Also, I think SH2 and SH3 are the best in the series, mainly because you can fucking save anywhere (on the PC, at least)!

They took the save anywhere capability away in SH4, and never put it back. That's when I stopped and didn't even touch the rest of the series. Lack of save anywhere is what killed the series for me.

Also, I know the SH1 didn't have save anywhere capability, but I played it on a Playstation emulator which allows me to save the entire game state (basically giving the game a save anywhere feature ).

 

[RottingNaziSurfer]

Why you must play it?
Because is a masterpiece, and one of the few games that can be called experiences, however I'd noticed that Resident Evil fans tend to dislike this series, so, be warned if you are one

I guess it could be said I would be in a minority because I have always enjoyed both series. However, I've always leaned more towards the RE series as I've completed the first Silent Hill with multiple playthroughs, half of the second SH, and finished all of the RE games, with the exception of not playing RE5.
Regardless of the fact that the two series are two different beasts with different "horrors", only '02 RE remake captured that same quality and love(albeit the slightly better from the original cheesy voice acting in the remake.) that is also found in the first Silent Hill. The first Silent Hill game is definitely a survival horror experience in terms of atmosphere, music, and gameplay--and one I've enjoyed time and time again.

 

[ghostdog]

As I've said, SH1 would always be my favorite. In terms of atmosphere, scariness and ingenuity it's the best of the series. SH2 comes close, less scary , almost as good in the atmosphere department, better graphics , slightly better plot.


SH3 was a major disappointment for me, despite the awesome graphical engine and despite the fact that it tried to tie its story with SH1. A shitload of the same crappy rooms with the same crappy mannequin enemies, over and over again. Crappy level design. No open urban spaces, no fog, no real interest to move on because what little story it had was banal shit boring. I'm not saying that all SH games must use the exact same gimmicks, but if your alternatives are inferior then you have a problem.


I actually found SH4 slightly better than 3 , mainly because it had a couple of good ideas. Unfortunately the execution sucked. Levels were still uninteresting and the fact that mid-game they made you go through the same areas again, was one of shittiest ideas ever.


I actually gave SH5 a try. The game tried to capture the atmosphere of the first 2 games and failed miserably. The fact that it was made by a talentless bunch of new developers might have something to do with it.


It seems some people have good things to say about Origins. I might check it out sometime.

 

[Jick Magger]

Silent Hill 2 was a very, very different game from the rest of the series. You could almost call it a gaidan game from how much it departs from the other games feel and how none of the other games ignore the elements from it save PH.
The other games tend to make Silent Hill hell manifest. They've got a very industrial feel to them, huge metal gratings over giant furnaces and black pits, hell dogs, bats, and giant insect creatures, demented aspects of a disturbed little girls' psyche. But throughout the game there was Cybil, who acted as a sort of tether to reality. She was there to remind you that you're not alone, that this isn't just all some weird hallucination you're having.
Silent Hill 2, on the other hand, has a very run-down and isolated feel. All the places you go to are derelict and run down, most of them are damp and strewn with puddles of water and condensation. The creatures are also not just scary, but are just disturbing to look at with their obvious sexual overtones (I don't even need to go into Pyramid Head here). It's also made apparent that the only other people in this town are either cuckoo for cocoa puffs or not who they say they are. The only 'normal' one of them is a little girl, but it's made apparent that she's not seeing the same thing's you are. Everything from the hospital onwards starts to cast huge doubts on James' sanity (Who actually thought there was a huge civil war-era prison built underneath the lake that's apparently capable of growing grass, is accessibly through a huge staircase leading through a wall of the historical society, and also has an exit through a grave that leads to a meat packing plant?)

 

[ghostdog]

Silent Hill 2 was a very, very different game from the rest of the series.

Νο. Unless you don't count SH1 as part of the series. All these attributes of SH2 you've mentioned (and I agree with you , that's what makes these games special) , more or less apply to SH1 too. Basically SH1 and 2 ARE the series. The rest of the games are mostly like retarded little spin-offs.

 

[Lesifoere]

I threw up in my mouth a little bit

And SH2 is overrated as fuck. The plot is decent but the charaters suck, and most of all, it's not scary. Not. At .All. It's a new kind of game - a survival melodrama

The point of SH2 isn't really to scare you, though. It's much more psychological than the rest of the series. Which is fine by me; SH3 for ex relies on too much HURR GORE AND BLEEDING WALLS "horror."

 

[A user named cat]

Yeah, SH3 simply suffered from too much of everything. Most areas I found myself just running through them to avoid the over abundance of annoying enemies, thus not allowing me to really take anything in. Just wasn't enough build up for the scares since they were always right in your face.

SH 1 and 2 will always be the staples of the series. They can keep trying to revamp things, even mimmick said games but nobody is getting it right. Origins tried but it felt like they just copy-pasted a bunch of stuff from the first games out of context and made a dull survival horror game. Also, the new SH coming out looks all wrong as well, appearing to be just another typical American horror release. The wrong music, the wrong color scheme and everything.

 

[Wolfus]

SH3 is trying to scare you.
SH2 is trying to depress you.
For me SH2 is one of the best games ever with one of the best soundracks ever. Damn, I wan't replay. Never got "Maria" ending...

 

[Multidirectional]

For me SH2 is one of the best games ever with one of the best soundracks ever.

+1 This is the first game that comes to my mind whenever I think about that faggy "can games be art?" argument. It's interesting how a game with mediocre gameplay can be so charming. None of the newshit "mature cinematic" games can come close to the quality of atmosphere and emotional impact this game provides.

Damn, I wan't replay. Never got "Maria" ending...

I actually think it is the most interesting ending of all. This is one of those games I have to replay at least once a year, otherwise I'm having withdrawal symptoms.

 

[Wolfus]

First screenshot of Silent Hill 2 - the movie. It will be actually adaptation of SH3 and on the picture is... guess who!

 

[Konjad]

First screenshot of Silent Hill 2 - the movie. It will be actually adaptation of SH3 and on the picture is... guess who!

A block frog as the Alessa?

 

[Kz3r0]

LOL, I think I should be flattered by such a successful necroing.

Well, about SH2, as others pointed out, the psychodrama turn is quite obvious,where Silent Hill becomes a state of mind, a place of the soul.
I consider it a masterpiece as SH1, but absolutely different, and I can't recollect at the moment any other game almost entirely centered about melancholia, this alone put it in a category of its own.


SH3 is just recycled junk and an half-assed game.


The Room could have been a great game, but suffers from the attempt to force it to be a Silent Hill game with Resident Evil-like mechanics, the end result is a, boring, abomination.
I still liked it tho, such a waste.


The only other Silent Hill worth of mention is origins, and only because can be considered one of the biggest, and longest, mind-fuck ever, game-wise is less than mediocre.