Silent Hill
Score: 98% ESRB: Mature Publisher: Konami Developer: Konami Media: CD/1 Players: 1 Genre: Action/ Adventure
Graphics & Sound: Silent Hill is easily the goriest, scariest, most intense game I have ever played. Almost from the very beginning, you are gawking at blood-splattered surroundings and rotting corpses. While parents may not find this suitable for their children, those of us who are huge fans of horror genre games such as Resident Evil will absolutely love it! The eerie background music and realistically foreboding levels will terrify you from the start. The characters look pretty good, but the enemies weren’t as scary as the ones in RE (at least up until you run into the psycho nurses). Although, I must admit that the idea of knife-wielding school kiddies is a little more unsettling than your average zombie. There’s amazing attention to detail, even down to oil spots on the concrete at the service station. As a whole -- top-notch graphics and sound make this game a winner.
Gameplay: Pretty good. Silent Hill is, of course, very similar to RE. You are Harry Mason, on vacation with his young daughter, Cheryl, until a car wreck separates you. As you search for her, there are many puzzles to solve along the way, many puddles of blood to trudge through, and scores of enemies to scare the hell out of you. The puzzles I found to be very similar to RE, to the point that some things were just too similar. Hehe. You’ll know them when you see them. Silent Hill has a few drawbacks. First, when the screen gets cluttered with too many enemies, Harry’s response time seems to slow down. This is not a good time for him to falter. Second, Harry’s not that good of a shot. Of course, he’s not a member of the R.C.P.D. either, so I guess we can cut him some slack. Third, there are certain “forced” things you have to do in the game. For instance, you must follow Cheryl’s apparition in the game’s beginning. Even if you wander about, in time you have to do it. Also, you can’t leave the cafe without the radio (which alerts you to the presence of enemies), which I think should be your own choice. At any rate, the good far outweighs the bad and the game is awesome.
Difficulty: O.K. -- This is a hard game. Period. You start off with no weapon and in the first few minutes, you are “killed” by zombie kiddies and you are defenseless against them. It works out o.k., as you are saved by another character, but it’s frustrating nonetheless. I highly recommend using an Xploder or Gameshark code to at least boost your handgun bullet supply. It’ll be much more enjoyable that way. Silent Hill is a game to buy, not to rent. It’s a storyline game, so it does take some time. But you won’t be disappointed.
Game Mechanics: Fairly similar to RE with the supply of weaponry and inventory ring. Harry has the standard moves, but he can’t jump, except when you make him run off the side of a porch. This is really funny, as he launches himself forward and trips to the ground groaning. It’s highly gratifying, especially if you are frustrated. Hehe. Silent Hill is a 3rd person adventure in a fully explorable 3D world, and fog is used ingeniously to shroud pop-in, while adding to the creepy atmosphere. A good horror game is one where you are actually scared to proceed. Scared of a game. Now, that’s real! With a smash hit like Metal Gear Solid last year and a follow-up like Silent Hill, Konami has just upped the standard of quality and the expectation level for all future games. I, personally, can’t wait to see what’s next.
-Psibabe, GameVortex Communications AKA Ashley Perkins
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