Silent Hill

The Good
I loved the spooky sound effects, and creepy lighting and darkness effects. I also loved the story of this game, very involving and deep really sucks a person into the plot of the game. I also liked the different and unique characters, very life like and had a certain life to them. I was on the edge of my seat through the entire game, and I just couldn't bring myself to shut it off.

The Bad
I didn't like the voice acting, it seemed rather wooden and emotionless at times. Then again there were times when it was rather well done as well. But some of the main plot elements, which in my opinion required a great deal of skill in acting. Just didn't have the skill that it required in my opinion. I think that the producers of this game, could have worked much harder on the quality of the voice acting in this title.

The Bottom Line
Very frightening, I found myself leaving the lights on at night, while i played this game in my room. I found myself hearing strange noises in my house every night my first time through this game. It's a feast of fear and puzzle solving that I think everyone will appreciate. Now there maybe some that do not like games that have a great story and presentation. But even with those particular people, I think that even they can appreciate the beautiful lighting effects, and story presentation in this title.

The Good
I really tend to go for games with good story lines, and this one is no exception. It definitely is not one of those scooby doo-like mysteries where everything is solved and all taken care of in the end. I still cannot exactly figure out what the hell happened here. I definitely can't believe that the ending I've seen- even though it is called the "Good +" ending, is really as complete as it gets. Email me if you want to know what I think I have figured out. Also, the lighting effects are superb. You can even change what color the blood is. I love that feature. Also, the game is replayable because of a feature called "Next Fear mode", which is kind of like "New game+" in chrono trigger. It becomes available after you beat the game. You start the game over, only with a higher difficulty level and there are secret items available, like the chainsaw, the rock drill the katana, the channeling stone and, if you're really good, the hyper blaster. Very good stuff.

The Bad
Too short. WAY too short. I can beat it on easy mode inside of 3 hours. And I keep running out of handgun bullets...

The Bottom Line
If you thought the X-files movie was too hard to comprehend, then this game is like... dude. You play as a tourist who got in a car crash and awoke to find his daughter missing. The town is completely desserted, save for a police officer from out of town and a couple of others who usually claim that they fell asleep and when they woke up, it was like this. In attempting to find your daughter, you encounter swarms of bizarre, nightmerish creatures and sometimes get teleported to what seems like a paralell universe where everything is totally sick and twisted and there are mutilated bodies everywhere. Horrifying, and yet... fun!

The Good
After over five years, Horror games finally got their due. As the genre became more and more prevalent, a slew of the games hit the gaming world, one of the best of the early Japanese horror invasion, Silent Hill, was a little late, as it did not hit the PS ’till 1999, when the console was practically dead.

In Silent Hill, you are Harry Mason, a widower, and struggling writer, whom often takes vacations to the isolated Silent Hill, with his daughter. After a wreaking his car when he swerves to avoid someone in the road. And upon regaining consciousness, Harry cannot find his daughter. This leads him around the city, as he searches, the plot thickens as he learns the city is changing, and he meets others, including the strange Dahlia Gillespie.

Apparently the small village, like something from Lovecraft, is being devoured by an ancient evil. Will Harry be able to survive long enough to find his daughter, and get the hell out of Silent Hill?

Silent Hill, thankfully does not play like the more popular and crappier Resident Evil. It has some similarities, but there are many improvement as well. For instance, you are not stuck in a clichéd “scary” mansion the whole game. You can explore most of the town, of course there are barriers, and places you simply cannot go, but there are also optional places that can be entered.

The item management is also handled better. There is no limit to the items you can carry, and no annoying go and find a magic box and swap out items crap. Puzzles are often less obtuse, with a few exceptions, ahem, the piano puzzle. ( I guess Konami, expected us to be concert pianists.)

The combat is not a good a some other horror games, such as D2, or the more recent Call Of Cthulhu, but better than the clunky Resident Evil, and Parasite Eve. Either with melee or guns you take aim and fight the monsters that range from freaky to corny. And melee combat actually works unlike RE.

The Graphics are good for Playstation, but hardly good otherwise. The game makes use of full 3D, and not pre-rendered, as was the tradition during these days of horror games. Constant fog hides the view distance problems, which are thanks to the PS’ low RAM.

The Sound Department is more of a mixed bag. The music and sound effects are quite good, however the voice acting is atrocious, more on that later.

The Bad
Some obtuse puzzles can kill the fun of the game, and there are parts of the game in which you will do a lot of wandering, as it is not always clear what has to be done next.

The Graphics suffer from typical PS problems, this is only a minor flaw, but one none the less.

The voice acting is horrifying, but not in a good way. But it is not only the way the lines are read, but how they are written, is often howling bad. “Dahlia Gillespie”. And the whole “Gyromancy” thing, what the hell is this? The magic of sandwiches?

Finishing the game with the best ending takes very special requirements, and if you miss something you will not get the best ending, the only way to assure gaining this ending, is to either have a game guide, or by having already finished the game.

Also you unlock special weapons, but the catch is that they are not always where they are supposed to be when you start a New + game, WTF? They only appear about 75% of the time, you can likely imagine how pissed I was when the chainsaw I took the trouble to unlock was not available. You can also likely imagine the expletives I let fly upon this discovery. Why Konami?

The Bottom Line
Overall, Silent Hill is still one of the best horror games on the PS, and one of the best Japanese ones as well, despite it’s many flaws.