Silent Hill

The Good
The atmosphere is undoubtedly my favourite part in Silent Hill. And to it there are three main contributors – the soundtrack (a horror piece in itself), the setting and the plot. The soundtrack is so eerily creepy that even standing still while listening to it can give me the creeps. The setting is wonderfully done, at all times conveying a feeling of loneliness and despair, with beautifully arranged camera angles – very cinematic indeed. The graphics, (even though they haven’t aged very well), still convey the message Silent Hill is trying to pass on, with the transitions between worlds very cleverly done. Finally, the plot is outstanding, making you gather bits of it throughout the game in order to fully comprehend what has come to pass – when I finally got it all, I was simply blown away.

The Bad
The gameplay in Silent Hill is, sadly, its weakest point. The controls are incredibly sluggish, and moving Harry around is not only a challenge but also very annoying, to the point where running from enemies seems much more tempting than to simply try and face them. I hate trying to shoot an enemy and suddenly finding myself with my back to them, without knowing why. And of course, one cannot mention Silent Hill’s flaws without referencing the god-awful voice acting – it is no Resident Evil by any means (“NO, DON’T GO!”…ugh), but it still sounds incredibly cheesy, and it doesn’t look like the actors are even trying (particularly in Harry’s case).

The Bottom Line
This game was the first of its kind to truly tackle horror from the psychological perspective, and able to do it successfully. If you have the patience to deal with the cumbersome controls, it is a must-play of the horror genre, and would have been the best of the series if not for its immediate sequel, Silent Hill 2.

The Good
Since I have beaten all of them, 1-4, I understand the story behind, and I love it. This game is the scariest game you will ever play. It makes Resident Evil 4 look like a game for babies.The graphics on the PlayStaTion add to the effect of the overall experiance, because everything looks so gruesome and just plain BAD that you can't tell what it is, and that makes it scary. Also, the music will adds to the experiance with ambient sound effects and cool piano and guitar tunes (but throughout the playing of the game, the music is creepy sounding.) I love the movie graphics and the out loud talking. I really don't care about weapons, but it has a lot for a game that you could beat in a day.

The Bad
The fact that you have to have an audiance behind you to be able to turn the PlayStation on (at least I did.) I could not go to the bathroom for weeks after visiting the bathroom stall in the Elementary School. This game is a little too scary, even for 18+, even though I not even that old yet. Also, this game's puzzles kept me playing for hours. Especially the one in the dungeon of Nowhere.

The Bottom Line
The best Survival Horror game on the face of the earth. You havn't felt true fear until you have played this game.

The Good
Egad, whatever you do, don't play this game alone! Not because it's scary as hell, but because you need someone to give you CPR when you have a sudden heart attack!

Seriously, most "horror" games rely on sudden surprises like Resident Evil. Silent Hill is like the movie Blair Witch Project (of which I haven't played), where the overall game itself is creepy...everything misty and mysterious...makes you wanna cuddle up somewhere warm with a lot of blankets. Yep, this is the type of game where even the audience needs a place to hide. Which is why I could barely continue with the game for more than several hours due to the lack of moral support and failing morale...turning down the volume didn't help either...

With beautiful cutscenes and detailed graphical background, this game has an A+ for graphics all the way...and dang those monsters are hard. Killer dogs, monster-like pterodactyls, how I managed the courage to play this game in the first place eludes me. A toy chicken has more guts than I do.

Anyway, I had to play the most difficult level (since I have my pride) and the fact someone told me the ending would be different...though that kinda backfired on me...

The Bad
First thing's first, killer dogs I get, zombies I get, flying pterodactyls in the beginning of the story? Come on!? The story just begin, don't start with the weird stuff at the front, maybe in the middle of the story but certainly not the beginning! The beginning of the story is more or less a mystery which kinda hard to explain what the hell are pterodactyls flying around without a reason. Sequencing please!

So I'm playing the hardest level of difficulty, doesn't mean you have to be so dang cheap with the bullets...I'm cheap already shooting those bullets, don't be cheaper than the player! Do you know how many bullets it takes to kill those "stay-down-will-you-dang" monster dogs? It even takes more bullets to kill those baby-like monsters. What I'd give for an AK-47...

The Bottom Line
Unless your a horror fan, wussies like myself should get full audience backup (and a medkit).