Silent Hill 3
Description official descriptions
In Silent Hill 3 the player controls Heather, a simple teenage girl. One fine day she goes shopping, but suddenly finds herself trapped in a strange, terrifying place - the eerie town Silent Hill. She hears footsteps; disgusting, creepy monsters attack her, and she has to defend herself. Exploring Silent Hill - and her own past - Heather must find a way to escape the dreadful town.
The third installment in the Silent Hill series is similar to its predecessor visually and gameplay-wise. Like the previous entries, it is a survival horror game combining action-based (predominantly close-ranged) combat and puzzle-solving. The game is somewhat more combat-oriented than the preceding installments. Heather is able to side-step and block some attacks, but in general shares with the other protagonists of the series their relative ineptitude in combat.
Spellings
- サイレントヒル3 - Japanese spelling
- 寂静岭3 - Chinese spelling (simplified)
- 寂靜之丘3 - Chinese spelling (traditional)
- 사일런트 힐 3 - Korean spelling
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Credits (Windows version)
138 People (121 developers, 17 thanks) · View all
Graphic Engine Program | |
Character Program | |
System Program | |
Collison Program | |
Converter Program | |
Event Program | |
Monster Program | |
Shadow Program | |
Camera Program | |
Another World Evil Effect Program | |
Effect Program | |
Sl Tool Program | |
Sound Program | |
Character Modeling & Facial Motion | |
Monster Design & Modeling | |
[ full credits ] |
Reviews
Critics
Average score: 80% (based on 44 ratings)
Players
Average score: 4.1 out of 5 (based on 121 ratings with 8 reviews)
Dammit, get out of my nightmares SH3.
The Good
- Gorgeous graphics that hold up remarkably well 8 years later
- Akira Yamaoka's finest soundtrack; which is saying alot.
- Story is a valid and memorable extension of the original
- Memorable characters & writing overcome bad VO's
- Great boss fights
- Scary. Really, really really scary.
- Fantastic sound design rounds out production values
- Strong artistic sense thanks to Ito's twisted designs
- Almost perfect balance of atmosphere, psychological horror, and even some gross out/shock horror.
**The Bad**
- Voice work slightly improved over past games, but not by much.
- Weird performance issues even on modern computers
- Ugly lack of Vertical tearing, and no - forcing V-Sync won't work.
- Some enemies can be more annoying than anything
- Retreads some areas from the previous game.
- Story, while good - lacks the emotion and poetic nature of its predecessor.
- Same gameplay flaws as before
**The Bottom Line**
Awhile ago, I reviewed the brilliant
Windows · by Kaddy B. (777) · 2011
The game where the Silent Hill series should have ended.
The Good
Silent Hill 3 is one of the best survival horror games on the PS2, and it shows.
The game excels in areas such as graphics (which are so much more detailed and well executed than the ones in the previous titles, and are actually some of the best in the whole PS2 game line) and sound (maintaining the gripping quality we were used to in the series).
The plot might seem a bit convoluted at first (particularly if you haven’t played the first Silent Hill, as this is its direct sequel), but in the end it does the series justice and actually provides interesting food for thought.
What is probably the main attraction in the game though, is its constant feeling of dread and despair. Unlike Silent Hill 2, which provided a more subtle, psychological type of horror, Silent Hill 3 is actually very visually (and audibly) compelling in conveying its horror elements. It is graphic, it is gruesome, it is scary and it is wonderful. Everything, from the environments to the enemies, to the characters themselves, is incredibly dark and moody - including the main character. Heather looks like she was designed to pass on a feeling of stress and fatigue to the player right from the start of the game, with those big dark circles under her eyes.
And of course, speaking of dread, one character cannot go by unmentioned - Robbie. That is the cutest-yet-scariest bunny I have ever seen in my life.
The Bad
The main negative aspect of Silent Hill 3, if one might call it so, is a rather curious one - it is simply the fact that the previous entry was the pinnacle of the series. While this may seem like an unfair derogatory comment, the fact of the matter is that Silent Hill 3, despite having made certain improvements, still isn’t as gripping as its predecessor - while Silent Hill 2 made me dwell on it for quite some time after I had finished it, finishing Silent Hill 3 just didn’t have that long-lasting effect.
Aside from that, it simply suffers from the usual Silent Hill problems, such as not-so-great controls and sometimes poor camera angles. However, these are minimal issues that do not detract from the experience at all.
The Bottom Line
Thus, Silent Hill 3 is not without its flaws, and certainly seems to lack a certain something the previous title possessed that contributed a lot to the mystique of the series.
But when all is said and done, the game essentially marks the end of the GOOD Silent Hill games, not only providing a satisfying conclusion to the first game in the series, but also standing proudly on its own as an excellent survival horror game - in fact, one of PS2‘s finest.
PlayStation 2 · by Rik Hideto (473489) · 2014
The Good
I loved the voice acting of this game, very well executed. I also loved the sound effects of this game, very realistic and interesting. also the graphic's in this game are soo realistic, that's almost hard to separate reality and fiction in this game. I also loved the connection between this game and Silent hill part 1. Very nice connection of the two storylines here, I think the production team really put quite a bit of heart into this installment of the series.
The Bad
The challenge was a bit cheap at times, your health goes down way too quickly at times, and you die too easily.
The Bottom Line
I would describe this game as a solid installment to the Silent Hill series. However, if you are not a Silent hill fan, then I suggest that you rent this title. Some people may find some of the puzzles, and storyline of this game a bit confusing, I understood it. However, those that did not play the first Silent hill game, will find theirselves lost with this title.
PlayStation 2 · by David Bryan (21) · 2007
Trivia
Budget
The budget was US$3Million.
DVD
A DVD was also released on the same day the game was released, called Lost Memories - The Art & Music of Silent Hill. The DVD includes illustrations, sounds, trailers, production materials, and the hidden endings of all the Silent Hill games - all in all 200 minutes of footage. The disc also features unlockable hidden bonuses.
Extras
The US and Japanese version ships with a bonus soundtrack CD which features music from the game. The CD has five tracks, which includes a track that was not used in the game.
Graphics
In the PC version of Silent Hill 3 the rendering resolution can be increased up to 4096 by 2048.
References
- The game starts with a nightmarish sequence, after which Heather —the main character— wakes up at a diner, in a shopping mall. When she gets out of said diner, we can see its name: "Happy Burger". In Silent Hill 2 there was a local called Happy Burger, in the corner of Sanders St. and Neely St.
- Two of the stores encountered in the mall are named after women from Goethe's Faust: Boutique Marguerite and Helen's Bakery.
- Near the end of the game, the player will encounter areas identical to the end of Silent Hill. This includes camera positions, captions and even notepads (used as a save point in Silent Hill). These notepads have messages on them from Silent Hill's protagonist, Harry.
- The game features numerous references to Silent Hill 2 (2001), including several small Silent Hill 2 posters in the Mall. When playing the game with a Silent Hill 2 save game on the memory card, other references appear:
- In the Mall, you are given the option to retrieve something from a dirty toilet. When doing so, Heather will crouch and hesitantly move her hand towards the toilet, accompanied with suspense music. At the last moment she comes to her senses, turns to the camera and says "Gross. Who would do something like that anyway?". (In Silent Hill 2, the player had to retrieve a wallet from a clogged toilet).
- When examining your mailbox in the apartment building, Heather comments that there is no mail, not "even from a dead wife". Silent Hill 2 starts with the player receiving a letter from his wife who has been dead for three years.
- When examining the fence on the roof of Brookhaven Hospital, Heather says "it doesn't look like it's about to break". James from Silent Hill 2 was thrown through the fence off the roof.
Awards
- GameSpy
- 2003 – Scariest PS2 Game of the Year
Information also contributed by Dr. M. "Schadenfreude" Von Katze, Karthik KANE and Tiago Jacques
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Hints for Silent Hill 3
Question and answer type Universal Hint System hints give you nudges in the right direction before final solutions are given. -
Official European homepage
Official European homepage in English, German, French, Spanish and Italian -
Silent Hill 3
Official North American website -
Silent Hill 3 (Japanese)
Official Japanese website
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Contributors to this Entry
Game added by Unicorn Lynx.
Windows added by Slug Camargo.
Additional contributors: Macintrash, MAT, Jeanne, Paulus18950, Patrick Bregger, Rik Hideto.
Game added June 5, 2003. Last modified April 20, 2024.