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 When he awakens, Cheryl is gone, the summer atmosphere has somehow been replaced by overcast fog, and snow.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

Castlevania: Symphony of the Night

The solitary Castlevania entry on the PlayStation is arguably the greatest in the series. In the previous game, Dracula X, the legendary vampire hunter Richter Belmont defeated Dracula in a fierce battle of power and will, which you have the fun of being able to play. After his great triumph, Richter and his sister-in-law Maria Renard, whose rescue was an objective in Dracula X, return to live in peace, now that the scourge of Dracula is gone... or is it? Four years later, Richter mysteriously vanishes. As Maria tracks him, she suddenly sees the legendary castle of Dracula appear again in front of her... but it is only supposed to appear once every 100 years, and yet here it is again, only four years later. Symphony of the Night features, instead of a Belmont lead character as in prior games, the son of Dracula himself, Alucard. With a markedly different look than his previous appearance (Alucard was one of the three support characters in Castlevania III, and looked like a traditional movie vampire as opposed to his current lithe body and long, silver hair), Alucard awakens from the sentence of eternal sleep he levied upon himself after defeating his father in the third game, for he senses the presence of Dracula once again. Armed to the teeth with some great weapons and armor, he storms the legendary Castlevania to investigate the appearance of the castle and put his father down again if need be.

Gameplay
Harkening back to the series' roots, SotN is a beatiful 2D sidescroller, set in a gigantic castle with nearly 2000 rooms in total. The game uses RPG stats to measure health, magic, gold, etc. Alucard can equip literally hundreds of different items to aid his quest, some purchased from the egnimatic Librarian, others found in secret crevices or from defeating enemies. He can also equip two items in his hands, one in each, which makes it easier to plan for dangerous encounters. Will you keep a shield in one hand for defense, or will you equip a sword for power and a knife for speed? There are tons of combinations, and finding the perfect one is part of the fun. With regard to combat, killing enemies nets you experience points, which ultimately raise your levels and stats. There are also many hidden potions which raise your HP and your MP scattered everywhere.

Alucard will also be able to cast various spells by performing certain button combinations. You can learn them by buying the required scrolls from the librarian... though that is not necessary if you already know the sequence. I personally found the magic to be a rather useless feature, with the exception of the neat Soul Steal spell, none of them really have an effect worth all the finger-dancing.

Last, there are a varied assortment of special items you will find on your quest, which give you various abilities, such as a double-jump, super-jump, and seeing your enemies' damage done when you strike. There are three special Soul orbs that allow you to shift your form into a bat, wolf, or mist, as well as various orbs that add abilities to those forms. These are the most important, as you must find them all to proceed at one point or another. Finally, there are the Familiars, friendly monsters that will follow you and aid you in various ways. Faerie will use healing items on you when your health wanes. The little demon can hit some switches you can't reach. The Bat is a good wingman for you when you become a bat yourself. The Ghost performs Soul Steal on nearby enemies, damaging them and healing you a bit. And finally, the Sword Familiar, the most useful, attacks enemies nearby, and when it reaches a certain level, can actually be wielded as a weapon itself! My only issue with the gameplay is that the bosses are just insultingly easy, and that's pretty disappointing. Fortunately, there is still ample challenge in actually getting to them.

The true fun of the game is finding every secret passage and room, and there are plenty of them. Of course, if you are diligent in finding these secrets, you will be able to find the alternate castle... a complete (and far more difficult) inversion of the real castle, which makes for an entirely new game after you clear the first! But it takes some careful searching to find!

Graphics
As far as 2D graphics go, they don't get better than this on PlayStation. Lush, colorful and large sprites dominate the action and are beatifully animated. Some boss monsters are simply gargantuan, one being FOUR TIMES the size of the screen! The backgrounds are similarly beautiful and extremely diverse and detailed, which makes for a very pleasing experience. The single nagging issue is slowdown when the screen gets crowded, but it's infrequent and you really won't care.

Sound
A truly great aural experience is an accurate description of the soundtrack in this game. Impressive tracks ranging from stunning tocattas, to baroque, to some more modern rock guitar, to orchestral, this game has it all. Sound effects are similarly decent. Where it goes wrong is the voice acting. With Metal Gear Solid still a year away from revolutionizing voice-acting in videogames, SotN unfortunately follows the times by having some truly apalling voicing, and worse still, there s a strange echo to it that makes it even harder to understand.

Longetivity
The game has four endings, but if you're good you can really experience all four in one playthrough. The endings you get are determined by the percentage of the game you complete, though there is no real reward for getting good endings... except for one. Getting one of the good endings unlocks Richter as a playable character! Now you can use him beyond the opening sequence, and the game is totally different with him. He cannot use items but he has his awesome whip and many of Alucard's special moves right from the start. It's really just a sidequest however, for there is no story attached to Richter and he cannot go in some places.

Final Word
This game is quite rare, but a good find if you're looking for perhaps the single best 2D Platformer on the PlayStation.

Overall: 8.9 / 10

The NES game... only Mega Man game with a score. Hard... :) Will someone else win (or bother to enter)? I've won all 3 of the new challenges...

Sure its no Star Fox Adventures in the graphics department, but it still looks pretty darn good.

Kirby's Air Ride:





Pikmin 2:








Kirby's Air Ride seems to be strongly influenced by Mario Kart and F-Zero, which can only be viewed as a good thing. Pikmin 2 looks similar in style and graphics to the first game.

Since the idea of posting news in a seperate area hasn't worked well yet, I set the main page to display topics out of Tendo City instead of just the News area. There are some blank items there, because for whatever reason it won't display items that were posted before the forum was marked to be displayed. It's no big deal though, as all topics after this one will display, no problem.

So now we'll have our frontpage news without as much hassle, I hope. This is only a testing period to see how it works out.

Quote:Shigeru Miyamoto and Eiji Aonuma of Nintendo Co Ltd. divulged in an interview with Dutch game jouralists that an entirely new Zelda is being worked on for the Game Boy Advance. While the topic of conversation was mostly The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker for GameCube, Miyamoto gave small preliminary details on the next Zelda adventure for handheld. Capcom will handle the development on the title. The company also developed the Oracle of Seasons, Oracle of Ages and the new A Link To The Past under the supervision of Nintendo. This would be the first truly new Zelda game for GBA, and work started on the title in 2001. Miyamoto ended saying "We have many new games for you at E3!"

Quote:Matrix Semiconductor usually creates commercial 3D integrated circuits. Saying that they recognize Nintendo's "dominant" position in electronic entertainment, they state how fortunate they are to have them as investors. Nintendo has interest in Matrix's "Matrix 3-D Memory" for use in portable electronics. It helps in the programming, flexibility, and cost of games such as those for the GBA.

"The portable and mobile device markets are expanding rapidly. Matrix's cost and density advantages over existing technologies support the memory requirements of our portable video game machine, Game Boy Advance," says Yasuhiro Minagawa, Manager of Public Relations Section at Nintendo's headquarters in Japan. "We believe Matrix's technology will help us to make our exciting game titles more efficiently."

SANTA CLARA, Calif.--Feb. 24, 2003--Matrix Semiconductor -- the first company to commercialize low-cost, high-density 3-D integrated circuits -- today announced that Nintendo has invested $15 million in the Company. This financing brings the total raised by Matrix to $95 million.

"Matrix has always focused on securing relationships with the world's leading consumer electronics companies. These relationships provide countless benefits to the Company in addition to dollars," says Dan Steere, Vice President of Marketing for Matrix Semiconductor. "We recognize Nintendo's dominant position in electronic entertainment and feel very fortunate to have them as an investor in Matrix."

Matrix's first product -- Matrix 3-D Memory -- is a low-cost, high-density, non-volatile memory technology specifically designed for use in portable electronics. For developers of content such as games, Matrix 3-D Memory is field programmable, enabling programming flexibility and greatly reducing inventory complexity and costs.

*Sigh*

Quote:Metroid Prime was reviewed by Japanese magazine Famitsu Weekly. Metroid was always more popular in the US then in Nintendo’s homeland, leaving worries as to how the region would take to the game. A score of 33/40 (three 8s and one 9) gave the title a gold award.

February 21, 2003 - Earlier today Nintendo producer/director Shigeru Miyamoto and director Eiji Aonuma showed off two new GameCube projects to the European press. The first, Kirby's Air Ride, a unique, colorful 3D romp which may or may not be based on the cancelled N64 game of the same name, was described as sickeningly cute. No further details were revealed.

The other, the previously revealed but little known Pikmin 2, was said to look nearly identical to the original game.

Pikmin, released last year for GameCube, is Nintendo's attempt at a strategy game of sorts. It starred players as a marooned space man who must meet and then command an army of alien creatures, the Pikmin, to do his bidding and help him escape the oxygen-filled planet.

Pikmin 2, according to reports, will at least have a new split-screen multiplayer mode in which two players can manipulate the environments, and the Pikmin, at once. Apparently the hero will now also be able to carry items from place to place.

More details for both games will likely be unveiled next week. Stay tuned.

Source: IGN Cube