25th February 2003, 9:28 PM
Silent Hill
The survival horror genre is a relatively new one in comparison to most others. For the longest time the genre was defined by the one game series in it that was, and still is the most popular: Resident Evil. But in 1999 Konami released, to little fanfare, a survival horror game of their own. Titled Silent Hill, the game features a John Q. Public protagonist, a 32-year old novelist by the name of Harry Mason. As Harry, you must search the town of Silent Hill for your missing daughter Cheryl... among other things. Unlike Resident Evil, Silent Hill is a true horror to behold, brimming with creativity, visceral disgust, and surreal imagery that will last with you long after you shut the game off. You'll see less "Boo!" horror as opposed to suspensful, drawn-out, mind game terror, to the point where even though you know what's around that dark corner and you're ready for it, you fear it anyway.
Silent Hill is a resort town of waning popularity that thrives on the tourism industry. Harry and Cheryl plan to vacation there in the summer, when just outside of the town Harry crashes his Jeep after nearly hitting what appears to be a young woman crossing the street. When he awakens, Cheryl is gone, the summer atmosphere has somehow been replaced by overcast fog, and snow. Tracking Cheryl, he quickly is exposed to the horrible dark side of Silent Hill, where normal surroundings are replaced with bloody, rusty and gory counterparts, where crucified bodies decorate the walls and the streets are mere chain fences placed over bottomless pits. It is a hell which he will be forced to traverse many times in his hunt for Cheryl, along with the terrible plans of an evil cult and a demon angel's resurrection.
Gameplay
Veterans of Resident Evil will notice a few differences and many similarities. Harry moves much like any RE character, insofar as turning and firing your weapons. Firing? Well, not all of your weapons will do so. You control three different guns in the game, the standard handgun, the shotgun, and the hunting rifle. You will also make use of many melee weapons, such as a kitchen knife, steel pipe, and the fun emergency hammer. Obviously the guns are best used on enemies in the distance, however, ammo for them is scarce. One neat feature that the handgun and shotgun allow is the ability to aim, and fire, while you walk. Reversing while firing is a good way to avoid taking hits. Just be careful about what may be behind you...
A neat feature in this game is also the most useful: The radio. In the beginning of the game you will pick up this most useful device that will help you gauge the proximity of enemies to you, via white noise and static. This tool is your best friend in the game, and while you have the option to turn it off, you must have balls of steel to do so.
The other useful item you make use of is the pocket flashlight. Many places in Silent Hill are enveloped in total darkness, and the flashlight is the only way you will be able to see in it. You can also turn it on and off at will, though there is a reason to do so for the light: It attracts monsters like a magnet. Turning the light off makes it possible to sneak past an enemy without being detected... just be sure not to brush them in passing, lest they be alerted anyhow.
And, thankfully unlike Resident Evil, you have both an unlimited inventory capacity, and you can save anywhere you find a notepad, without having to collect items to do so.
Graphics
This is the low-point of the game. Unfortunately the game was simply too ambitious for the aging PlayStation, and it shows. The framerate is pretty laggy and the graphics are pixelated. There is loads of detail however, and you have an entire town to see. Silent Hill 2 on PS2 and XBox show what the programmers definitely were trying for, a game of this size with beautiful graphics and smooth framerate.
Objects are detailed pretty nicely, though they tend to be blocky as the game pushes the PlayStation's polygon power to it's limits. Enemy designs are nice, you have the pterodactyls and the skinned dogs which look okay, and then you have the evil nurses and doctors of Alchemilla Hospital which look better, and then you have the most terrifying monster in any game, the demon children. These monsters are small children with stubby legs and evil smiles on their faces, they cry and giggle when they see you... and they brandish knives. They also like to use group tactics, as do many monsters in this game. It's not the monsters though, that inspire the true visual effect of Silent Hill, however. It's the enviroments, especially when the dark Silent Hill takes over. The snow changes to rain, whatever maps you have are erased, and enemies become far deadlier in this evil doppelganger of Silent Hill, and it is home to some of the most terrible imagery ever seen in a video game.
The FMV in the game is also very well done, definitely the best of it's day, and is even more impressive when you consider it was all done by a single person!
Sound
The game opens with a song played with a mandolin and distortion guitar, it is very similar to the theme of Twin Peaks. the David Lynch television show that shares a few more subtle similarities to the game. The opening title is shared with FMV clips from the game (some of which you'll never see in the game).
And that's about half of the music you'll hear in the entire game.
Silent Hill does not feature much music at all. In the lighter portions of the game you'll hear nothing but lonely wind and the sounds of your own feet (and, of course, the static of the radio). When Dark Silent Hill comes out however, you're subjected to a bevy of disturbing ambience, mechanical sounds played in rythym, hydraulics, things of that nature. It does not do justice to explain in words, but the ambient noise you hear in DSH will provide you with whatever terror your eyes do not provide. And on top of that, you'll learn to cringe when the radio starts to sound, because it means trouble is nearby.
In various cutscenes and events you will hear actual music, which tends to be pieces much like the opening theme, using the shimmering guitar and piano. There is very little musical track in the game, but it is all appropriate, and well done.
Longetivity
An experienced player can likely tackle this game in 9-10 hours. Despite the rather short gameplay time, there are a whopping five endings you can get in the game, four of them based upon your actions in two particular parts of the game, and a secret fifth ending based on using a special item in certain areas. Certain endings also net you secret items for future playthroughs, so it's worth checking out all five.
Pros
+Excellent storyline
+Definitely more deserving of the title "survival horror" than any other game
+Better gameplay and controls than most in the genre
Cons
-Average graphics
-Framerate is choppy and uneven at times
Final Word
This game, in my opinion, is better than any other in it's genre. If it doesn't outright scare you, it WILL disturb you, and if you like games of this ilk, you'll enjoy every minute of it. Sometimes some of the puzzles and tasks seem strange, but in the insane town of Silent Hill, everything is done for a reason. The storyline takes a little understanding, but it's definitely one of the best in the genre. Overall, this game is a true classic and one of the PlayStation's truly great games.
Overall: 9.7/10
The survival horror genre is a relatively new one in comparison to most others. For the longest time the genre was defined by the one game series in it that was, and still is the most popular: Resident Evil. But in 1999 Konami released, to little fanfare, a survival horror game of their own. Titled Silent Hill, the game features a John Q. Public protagonist, a 32-year old novelist by the name of Harry Mason. As Harry, you must search the town of Silent Hill for your missing daughter Cheryl... among other things. Unlike Resident Evil, Silent Hill is a true horror to behold, brimming with creativity, visceral disgust, and surreal imagery that will last with you long after you shut the game off. You'll see less "Boo!" horror as opposed to suspensful, drawn-out, mind game terror, to the point where even though you know what's around that dark corner and you're ready for it, you fear it anyway.
Silent Hill is a resort town of waning popularity that thrives on the tourism industry. Harry and Cheryl plan to vacation there in the summer, when just outside of the town Harry crashes his Jeep after nearly hitting what appears to be a young woman crossing the street. When he awakens, Cheryl is gone, the summer atmosphere has somehow been replaced by overcast fog, and snow. Tracking Cheryl, he quickly is exposed to the horrible dark side of Silent Hill, where normal surroundings are replaced with bloody, rusty and gory counterparts, where crucified bodies decorate the walls and the streets are mere chain fences placed over bottomless pits. It is a hell which he will be forced to traverse many times in his hunt for Cheryl, along with the terrible plans of an evil cult and a demon angel's resurrection.
Gameplay
Veterans of Resident Evil will notice a few differences and many similarities. Harry moves much like any RE character, insofar as turning and firing your weapons. Firing? Well, not all of your weapons will do so. You control three different guns in the game, the standard handgun, the shotgun, and the hunting rifle. You will also make use of many melee weapons, such as a kitchen knife, steel pipe, and the fun emergency hammer. Obviously the guns are best used on enemies in the distance, however, ammo for them is scarce. One neat feature that the handgun and shotgun allow is the ability to aim, and fire, while you walk. Reversing while firing is a good way to avoid taking hits. Just be careful about what may be behind you...
A neat feature in this game is also the most useful: The radio. In the beginning of the game you will pick up this most useful device that will help you gauge the proximity of enemies to you, via white noise and static. This tool is your best friend in the game, and while you have the option to turn it off, you must have balls of steel to do so.
The other useful item you make use of is the pocket flashlight. Many places in Silent Hill are enveloped in total darkness, and the flashlight is the only way you will be able to see in it. You can also turn it on and off at will, though there is a reason to do so for the light: It attracts monsters like a magnet. Turning the light off makes it possible to sneak past an enemy without being detected... just be sure not to brush them in passing, lest they be alerted anyhow.
And, thankfully unlike Resident Evil, you have both an unlimited inventory capacity, and you can save anywhere you find a notepad, without having to collect items to do so.
Graphics
This is the low-point of the game. Unfortunately the game was simply too ambitious for the aging PlayStation, and it shows. The framerate is pretty laggy and the graphics are pixelated. There is loads of detail however, and you have an entire town to see. Silent Hill 2 on PS2 and XBox show what the programmers definitely were trying for, a game of this size with beautiful graphics and smooth framerate.
Objects are detailed pretty nicely, though they tend to be blocky as the game pushes the PlayStation's polygon power to it's limits. Enemy designs are nice, you have the pterodactyls and the skinned dogs which look okay, and then you have the evil nurses and doctors of Alchemilla Hospital which look better, and then you have the most terrifying monster in any game, the demon children. These monsters are small children with stubby legs and evil smiles on their faces, they cry and giggle when they see you... and they brandish knives. They also like to use group tactics, as do many monsters in this game. It's not the monsters though, that inspire the true visual effect of Silent Hill, however. It's the enviroments, especially when the dark Silent Hill takes over. The snow changes to rain, whatever maps you have are erased, and enemies become far deadlier in this evil doppelganger of Silent Hill, and it is home to some of the most terrible imagery ever seen in a video game.
The FMV in the game is also very well done, definitely the best of it's day, and is even more impressive when you consider it was all done by a single person!
Sound
The game opens with a song played with a mandolin and distortion guitar, it is very similar to the theme of Twin Peaks. the David Lynch television show that shares a few more subtle similarities to the game. The opening title is shared with FMV clips from the game (some of which you'll never see in the game).
And that's about half of the music you'll hear in the entire game.
Silent Hill does not feature much music at all. In the lighter portions of the game you'll hear nothing but lonely wind and the sounds of your own feet (and, of course, the static of the radio). When Dark Silent Hill comes out however, you're subjected to a bevy of disturbing ambience, mechanical sounds played in rythym, hydraulics, things of that nature. It does not do justice to explain in words, but the ambient noise you hear in DSH will provide you with whatever terror your eyes do not provide. And on top of that, you'll learn to cringe when the radio starts to sound, because it means trouble is nearby.
In various cutscenes and events you will hear actual music, which tends to be pieces much like the opening theme, using the shimmering guitar and piano. There is very little musical track in the game, but it is all appropriate, and well done.
Longetivity
An experienced player can likely tackle this game in 9-10 hours. Despite the rather short gameplay time, there are a whopping five endings you can get in the game, four of them based upon your actions in two particular parts of the game, and a secret fifth ending based on using a special item in certain areas. Certain endings also net you secret items for future playthroughs, so it's worth checking out all five.
Pros
+Excellent storyline
+Definitely more deserving of the title "survival horror" than any other game
+Better gameplay and controls than most in the genre
Cons
-Average graphics
-Framerate is choppy and uneven at times
Final Word
This game, in my opinion, is better than any other in it's genre. If it doesn't outright scare you, it WILL disturb you, and if you like games of this ilk, you'll enjoy every minute of it. Sometimes some of the puzzles and tasks seem strange, but in the insane town of Silent Hill, everything is done for a reason. The storyline takes a little understanding, but it's definitely one of the best in the genre. Overall, this game is a true classic and one of the PlayStation's truly great games.
Overall: 9.7/10