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leave a light on

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 0 / 0
Date: January 29, 2002
Author: Amazon User

If you have played the resident evil series and appreciate being startled, you definately will appreciate the setting that this game provides. Silent Hill takes things a step further though, not having the priveliege of daylight or good visibility. Creatures seem to sneak up on you a bit easier, and especially do when you are not expecting it.

The overall mood of the game is creepy. The absence of people everywhere you visit is like walking through a vacant parking lot to your car in the middle of the night. The background music is disturbing, foreshadowing immenet danger, leaving you restless. The placement of items, such as blood splatters and bodies hanging on the wall leaves you uneasy.

One particular feature about this game that steps it up from Resident Evil is the heartbeat of Harry Mason,the main Character, felt through the dualshock controller. The magnatude and the rate of his heartbeat relates to the extent of his injuries. This feature feels gross as if you were holding a live heart which is particularly difficult to ignore and always let you know Harry is about to die. Sometimes you get a quick jolt from the dualshock when being attacked by something that has snuck up on you, such as the very large cockroaches in the elementary school.

From beginning to end the plot leaves you hanging. You don't even have the sucurity of knowing reality from Harry's dreams, if a difference even exists. None of the characters Harry speaks to give you any reason to trust them, this leaves you wondering if you are being mislead into more danger.

I bought this game soon after it was released. I decided to play it in the dark by myself. After doing this a few times I became afraid of a dark room and to approach the doors to lock up before bedtime. I always left at least one light on so I did not have to walk through the house in pitch black after turning the game off. This game really plays with your head!

You can't lose if you like the Resident Evil series.

Silent HELL

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 0 / 0
Date: February 08, 2002
Author: Amazon User

Silent Hill revolutionized the Survival Horror Genre by creating a world that attempts to scare the player on a deep, psychological level. Previous Survival Horror titles (Clock Tower, Alone in the Dark, and Resident Evil) relied upon sudden and unexpected encounters with enemies to get you to jump out of your chair, whereas Silent Hill introduced a world of subconscious, and was not simply a test of your reflexes.

The basic story to this game has already been told, so I'll move on. There are so many elements that work together to make Silent Hill an excellent horror experience that it is hard to even begin writing what makes this title the best in Survival Horror. I guess I'll start with the basics.

I considered the graphics to this game one of the best during its time. Better, perhaps, than the original Resident Evil. On my HD TV, the pixels are more noticeable than they were on my regular tube, but considering how into the game you'll be, this setback will quickly disappear.

This is an exploratory game where you can tread every street of the New England town. Often objectives are made very clear, and the desired destinations are always marked on the in-game map. The map shows your current location, the direction you are facing, and where you have already been, like a GPS. It's very unlikely you'll ever get lost as you explore Silent Hill, but don't think it will be a walk in the park. You will be faced with quite a few challenges.

Streets often have obstructions (or mysteriously drop into oblivion) and you have to search for hidden routes to reach desired destinations.

Strange horrors come flying at you as you explore Silent Hill. Harry carries a radio that screams white noise every time a Demon is around. Since the fog constantly obscures your vision, and no street lights work at night, you turn in circles with your gun pointing at unseen monstrosities, the white noise getting louder the closer They make their way to you.

You are required to solve many puzzles in order to advance in the game, some of which are morbid poems you must analyze to extract the riddle of opening a locked door, or to receive a vital item.

Interrelated with the exploratory aspect of the game is the downright dark and haunting atmosphere of Silent Hell. In addition to the town and its many streets, you will have to search a few buildings that Harry suspects his daughter to be. Imagine treading alone the dark halls of a rundown elementary school, or the dank rooms of a deserted hospital, or beneath the streets of an abandoned waterworks. Imagine visiting a soulless amusement park at night where the spinning rides are devoid of any occupants. Occasionally the sleeping, haunted town goes into a deep REM state, where buildings and streets and hallways shape shift. Doors that were not there before are there now. Streets that led one way go another. At first, you may blame this on your own inattentiveness, but eventually the changes of things will become too obvious for you to so easily blame yourself. Walls formerly white will appear charred and rusted, adorned with strung up corpses. The monsters become even more monstrous during these transformations. Regular streets turn into metal gratings, and through the gaps you can look into an endless void as if the whole town is just a floating ROCK teetering on the edge of reality and someone's nightmarish delusions. And somewhere in this madness is your daughter, and what's left of Harry's sanity, which he himself comes to question.

The music of the game pounds and screams, often with no consistent rhythm that coheres perfectly with the insanity of the world you have just entered.

As if that was not enough to go out and get this game, arguably the best trademark of all the Silent Hill games is its ability to explain the chaotic world of Silent Hill through suggestion, rather than the answers being spelled out for you in dialog or movie scenes (cutscenes). This is a trick the Japanese in general have implemented and mastered over the years. Often the end result leaves a lot of topics open to discussion on Silent Hill forums. It's usually up to the player to make an effort at interpreting the horror.

This is perhaps why Silent Hill is more effective as a horror game than other titles. The events that occur in the game is not of natural phenomena that can be explained by science like what we have with Resident Evil and Alone in the Dark, nor is the problem as simple as trying to outrun a serial killer like what you have in Clock Tower.

Silent Hill works to scare you in so many ways a horror enthusiast that doesn't even play video games would find it worth their while to buy a PS2 just to play the series (at least the first 3 games). It's the one game that got me into gaming in the first place.

And after you finish with Silent Hill (although you may want to periodically return) you can dive right into another very scary series of games called Fatal Frame.

Good part of the series, but not worth the big $$$

3 Rating: 3, Useful: 0 / 0
Date: April 16, 2007
Author: Amazon User

Since there are already well over 100 reviews for this game, ill keep this short. If you're a SH fan, this game will answer some questions and makes the 3rd game clearer (since 3 continues from #1). Would I have felt that it was worth $50-200 like many are selling it for? NO. I luckily found it at a used game store for $7 which is good cause I wouldnt order it for the amounts that I've seen (and those prices were usually for scratched disks). If you've played the other SH games first (and don't have nostalgic memories of #1), youll probably wonder what the big deal was. While it deals with many issues directly (the change from light to darkness and the spreading of the evil, etc), #2 was creepier, had much better graphics, and more human-like monsters.

because Resident Evil is stupid

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 0 / 0
Date: January 19, 2007
Author: Amazon User

Although outdated, this game is a true classic. The Silent Hill series is an intelligent and more sophisticated alternative to Resident Evil. While it may not have the same level of fun as blowing the heads off of hordes of zombies, the rich, unsettling environments combine with eerie sounds and genuinely disturbing (as opposed to just plain gross) monster designs will draw you into the game.

You all need to play this game earlier

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 0 / 0
Date: August 28, 2006
Author: Amazon User

That's it. It's a PS game not PS2 nor Xbox nor GC, so don't expect the same visual effect as those three above. I've played it in 1999 when PS2 was still in design. I gave rank 5 of 5 that time and also 2 thumbs up. It's so obvious that this amazing game the one of the best survive-horror, the atmosphere is even better than that of Resident Evil. So I'm not saying the Silent Hill is the best all the time, but surely it's the best at its time.

Welcome to Silent Hill - Population: 1

3 Rating: 3, Useful: 0 / 0
Date: September 08, 2005
Author: Amazon User

Silent Hill - Circa 1999

GOOD:
- Considered classic to many hardcore "survival horror" gamers
- Was sort of considered too scary to play in its time, for some gamers
- A complex story, with twists and turns
- travel two different worlds, this one and a demon one

BAD:
- Graphics look pretty dated; fog is not graphically very pleasing
- Voice acting can be bad at times
- Controls feel dated

WILL IT FIT YOUR TASTE:
- Slow moving "survival horror" game, which is more about solving puzzles, managing items, and unlocking doors then actually fighting for your life
- A horror game set in a town over run with all kinds of odd creatures
- Game and story are similar to books by Steven King and H.P. Lovecraft
- Multiple endings and even some bonus unlockables

GAME ITS MOST ASSOCATED TOO:
- Resident Evil
- Alone in the dark
- Mist

ADDITIONAL NOTES:
- This is the first Silent Hill game in the franchise and from what I've been told this games true squeal (story wise) is Silent Hill 3 and not Silent Hill 2

=) tis my presious

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 0 / 0
Date: February 06, 2005
Author: Amazon User

great, perfect art, no time for action but time to run. great story and everything. id recomend this game being played 3rd of the series for more of a prologe feeling

Silent Hill

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 0 / 0
Date: January 31, 2005
Author: Amazon User

Silent Hill is very much like a great horror movie with very much of the same achievements and flaws. It's scary fun to play with the lights turned out, late at night, especially all alone in the house.
This game is not so much scary as it is freaky. From the very moment you start playing the game, you are immediatly sucked, fearful and, yet, eagar to move forward. I won't describe what happens in the first three minutes, but let's just say it sets the tone of the rest of the game. By far the best feature is the game's ability to draw you in. You become a part of Harry, the main character, and his descent into the madness affects you a personal level. Having to spend a very good portion of the game with a pocket flashlight as your only light affects you in a way only certain entertainment can. You constantly question your every move, question whether you should use your gun or save your bullets, and, when you're attacked,question how to defend yourself when you can't even see your advesary. This feeling of simmering panic is multiplied perfectly by the dark soundtrack and surrounding environments. The first time I emerged into the "other" world, I wondered if I had wondered onto the set of a Hellraiser movie. The radio sigalling oncoming monsters is very nice touch and necessary tool to staying alive. The sudden scares, like noises out of nowhere, is a real bonus, too.
Of course, like any other game, this one isn't without its flaws. Most notably are the frustratingly akward controls. It is very difficult to dodge oncoming attacks. If you don't kill the monster quickly, you end up getting hit yourself. You'll especially notice this with your fight with the first boss. Luckily, I've had experience in games with this control issues, like Resident Evil. The radio is almost equally difficult because while it can detect monsters, it can't accurately tell you if they're in front or behind you. You'll find yourself sometimes successfully avoiding getting hit by dumb luck. The town level in which you walk to and from destinations is a bit too big, especially for a level with very little interactions with your environment. Lastly, while getting hit is inevitable, I detest the damage status. You can't if you are about to die or merely got a really bad scratch.
You haven't already played this game, pick it up today! And while you're snuggled your bed sheets, staring at your T.V. with the lights off at 2 in the morning, remembered this: Samael is watching you!

ENOUGH FEAR 2 GIVE YOU A HEART ATTACK!

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 0 / 0
Date: May 01, 2001
Author: Amazon User

If you think this game is another one of those zombie killer games you r seriously wrong.Not only are the environments eerie and sometimes down right terrifying but you have to be smart to figure its brain-racking puzzles but by all means they r not impossible 2 figure out.After playing this game 4 the 1st time I left a few of my hall lights on at night.One of my favorite things about this game is the sequence before the cafe when your walking through the very narrow alley way.The camera angles r amazing and quite eerie.This game is one of a kind with a very original concept.There's nothing out there like it.It's destined 2 become a classic.I suggest this game to anyone who wants 2 play a really great game.It is truly one of my favorite games up there with Metal Gear Solid.Oh and one more thing Resident Evil is like Elmo's ABC'S compared 2 this.

scary as hell

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 0 / 0
Date: May 18, 2001
Author: Amazon User

I have this game for about one year, i pass it several time, i finish with all the ends, and im still playing! Im scared when i play to it!! it's totaly cool!!! Your Harry Mason, you have a car accident, you fall unconsious, when you wake up, Sherry, you little girl, is not in the car, find her... for this youll have to cross a ghostcity, with zombie, dog, and stuff like this!! Welcome to Silent Hill!

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