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Decent...But not impressive

3 Rating: 3, Useful: 2 / 2
Date: September 06, 2003
Author: Amazon User

Eventhough, i truly miss those Zombie babies. This game is still good, hey its Silent Hill (its the only thing we have left to Resident Evil..since PS2 isnt going to carry it no longer). Silent Hill 3 has an odd and mundane story that comes on really wet..and leaves..well, dry and vague. Its too dark, so, playing and seeing the items are a bit hard, controls sloppy...what else is new and it really doesnt get me into the game like pt. 2 did. Im sorry, this game is just a "rent a game" for me, part one is better...story wise and part 2 is better..graphics wise and both are better than Silent Hill 3. If you get it, rent it first..you'll see what i mean. Decent game...not that great.

Best one so far.

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 2 / 2
Date: September 15, 2003
Author: Amazon User

After playing through Silent Hill 2, a sequel that would outmatch the enjoyment I've experienced with the game, almost seemed impossible... until I picked up Konami's latest survival horror title, Silent Hill 3. It's not often I give a game such a high score(very very rare for that matter). I was able to dive right into this game, and the further I got into it, the more I hoped it would never end.

GRAPHICS - 5/5

The eye candy in Silent Hill 2 was delightful in almost every aspect. Silent Hill 3 takes that experience and pushes it even farther. The lighting effects, high resolution texture detail, and even the animation of the in game, and cutscene sequences are all breathtaking. You'll be amazed by some of these facial expressions used in the cutscenes. Again, we are treated to the grainy gritty nightmarish environments that WILL definitely disturb you now, if they havn't before. There have been a few complaints about the lack of monster types in the previous Silent Hill title. This, in my opinion, is no longer an issue. There is a healthy amount of variety this time around. And expect these beastlies to look sick, and disturbing as to be expected. Silent Hill 3 shines in the graphics department.

SOUND - 4/5

We are treated to some eerie background music once again to enhance the feeling of desperation and entrapment in the game. Also we are treated to some actual soundtrack tunes as well, written by actual artists with full vocals. Very well done. At times I would literally jump out of my chair from a sudden crash, or scream coming from out of the silence in Silent Hill 2. The good thing about Silent Hill 3 is that you can expect more of that, but not too much to over use it. I do have a few gripes though. I think Konami tended to over use complete silence a smidge too much on certain parts. And the voice acting is GOOD, but a few of the character's had me wondering a little bit. The detective Douglas really sounded insincere to me, as well as Vincent. However, the voice actor of Heather (the main character of the game) was really great, and suited the character extremely well. The demented Claudia as well, really had me going too.

GAMEPLAY - 4/5

In Silent Hill, you will venture through dark, twisted environments, and solve puzzles. This time though, your journey is a little more linear than before. You'll no longer spend alot of time actually wandering the outskirts of town. Your quest is MAINLY indoors. The puzzles this time around are some of the easier ones of all 3 of the titles. Nothing to really frusterate you, but they do get you to use your head. However not much has been done to keep the gameplay department fresh, except for a ''parry'' button, and don't get me wrong, it does come in handy. But it would have been nice to have a fresh feeling here. But I personally do not mind the Resident Evil-ish control scheme for these types of games. The one thing I liked the best about this area is that, at any time the camera becomes troublesome (which not often it is), all you need to do is hold down the L2 button which will position the camera directly in front of your character.

STORY - 5/5

Surprisingly, this game has nothing to do with Silent Hill 2. Silent Hill 2, basically strayed away on it's own in this department. If you havn't played the first Silent Hill, you may have a hard time grasping on to what's going on here. The game focuses on Heather Morris, daughter of Harry Mason from the first Silent Hill (... remember Alessa?) Her past has been pretty much forgotten, until one day she wakes up from a terrible nightmare in the mall, and is later confronted from a detective who claims somebody wants to meet her, about her birth. I can't really describe much about the story without giving it away, but I will say that it is extremely charming and pulls you in and will not let go until it is over. It really sick, twisted, disturbing, and at the same time controversial in a way. If you like that sort of thing, you'll get right into it. It really gets inside your head.

OVERALL - 5/5

Both Silent Hill titles scared the living ... out of me, and even still, this game didn't fail to do so. The story is better, the graphics are even better, the characters are really believeable (though some of the voice acters [were bad]), and we are treated to a new gameplay element (only one though). The soundtrack is also really improved. If you're a Silent Hill fan, there's nothing not really to like about this game, and I think newcomers will be able to jump right in and play too, but they may want to play the original Silent Hill to get an insight on what this game is about.

Superb graphics, excellent audio, and a fantastic storyline... you can't go wrong there. Not at all.

Last Thoughts...

Silent Hill has expanded from a cult following, to a full blown loyal dedicated fan base. And I think it's official - Konami is now the leader in survival horror games. Nothing has ever had me in a state of suspense and fear as this series has. I was talking to a guy that worked at a local EB games and he said he's had grown men returning Silent Hill because ''It was too scary'' that has to tell you something. Silent Hill's imagery and storyline really know how to get inside your head and really mess with it, and I love every second of it. Out of all the survival horror titles, this is one franchise they should base a hollywood movie on. It's simply addicting, and unique in it's own twisted disturbing kind of way. Job well done! 5/5

Walk on Vanity Ruins

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 2 / 2
Date: September 24, 2003
Author: Amazon User

This has to be my favorite Silent Hill game. To tell the truth, I was slightly disappointed with Silent Hill 2(great Music in that game). The game didn't seem to have much of a connection to the first. I was pleased as I got into the story line of SH3; this game is more like the "direct sequel" to the first. The story line is nice and complicated so you don't 'fully' understand it until you get far into the game, but it's easy to understand if you played the first installment of the series.

The graphics are amazingly real, they greatly add to the dark atmosphere of the game. Heather is an overall neat character, you can really understand what she's feeling and I love her attitude. She is a dramatic change from the middle-aged men that dominated the first two games. For me, the change of character was welcome. The other characters in the game seem very layered and complicated to make out at first, no wonder Heather didn't trust any of them. Unlike the 2nd game, the puzzles and riddles in this game are very easy to solve; the answer is practically given to you.

The monsters were gruesome and altogether creepy, and a few of them put up a tough fight as well. The bosses were nice and challenging, the Split-Worm in the mall really gave me trouble, as did the final boss. My favorite monster would have to be the Zombie/bobble-head nurses; those things really freak me out. They completely disgust me, I don't like the way they move, sound or attack, its downright creepy. There are new environments to explore, including an abandoned mall, subway, and amusement park. I think the amusement park was a nice touch to the game (those rabbit costumes really creeped me out) It gave you a nice wide area, other then the town streets, to explore. But I hated having to go back into that God-Forsaken Brookhaven Hospital(been there, done that), I have already explored it in a previous game, why do it again?

Overall the game play was nice and absorbing, you can really get hooked on this game. There are very few alternate endings though, consisting of: The normal ending, Alien ending, and the Possessed ending. This seems to decrease re-play value, but the new costumes Heather can pick up are nifty. If you are a fan of the series, I highly recommend this game to you.

Another Bonus to the game: The American version comes with the official soundtrack containing 25 pieces of music. I really love the music from the Silent Hill series, especially the brilliant guitar playing. There is one major thing that separates this soundtrack from the others: There are five songs that contain Lyrics, a nice touch in my opinion, the vocals are wonderful. My Favorite songs/melodies on the track are "Your Not Here", "I want Love(studio Mix)", "End of Small Sanctuary", "Please love me... Once more", "Letter from the Lost Days", and "Hometown". There is a lot of dark, rhythmic music here, and a lot of nice percussion/guitar beats. I find myself listening to these songs repeatedly.

Not as good as SH2, but still enjoyable

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 2 / 2
Date: June 21, 2004
Author: Amazon User

I have played all of the Silent Hill games. I liked this game fine; it was a bit scary and fairly entertaining. This has the good graphics, but that's not all there is to a game. The new monsters aren't very scary looking at all, but they do have strengths and weaknesses to keep a variety in fighting them. For example, the Mandarin is big and slow, but does a fair amount of damage and takes more hits to kill. The double-headed dog thing is fast and tough to hit unless you shoot it, but it does less damage. Each monster gives some of a challenge, and you may dread hearing the radio squeal because of it. The bosses were not very challenging for being the big battles of the game. They didn't have any weaknesses or anything like that; you just dodge and shoot. A couple of examples are a giant worm and a guy with big knives for arms. Not very creative or spooky. A few of the monsters are somewhat scary, however, such as the nurse. I guess because it was once human, or because it is fairly powerful and may wield a gun. I was worried every time the radio went off and hid in a corner with my gun until the creature came to me, but I am something of a chicken... The music in this game is enjoyable; I especially like the song at the beginning. I actually listen to it outside of the game. There is a CD with music on it that comes with the game, most of it is music without much lyrics or just gibberish, but it's more than you normally get. The music adds a good effect during cut scenes and when you're in a scary room. Some of it sounds like monsters or screaming. There are nice little touches in the game, such as the connection to the first and second games. The plot is based partly on the first game and there are posters and such that refer to SH2. Also, you get special weapons for playing through the game once or twice, for example, the beam sabre (for fans of melee weapons) and the flamethrower (for playing through the game 3 times, I believe). I am currently playing the second time for things I missed, such as the katana (a fairly powerful Japanese sword) and I want to get the flamethrower near the beginning in my third play through. The extra weapons are fun, but they deduct from your total points at the end if you use them. There are also ways to make the game easier, especially for playing multiple times. If you die 3 times (?) then you can have a beginner mode, which is quite easy. You can also increase ammo yield from each box (x2, x3, etc.), after playing through. The documents you read during the game are usually interesting, with hints or dark tales. The characters are not very interesting, with Heather yelling at random people instead of getting help from them, and Claudia repeating things and making no sense. But the plot does get revealed, and it is fun along the way. This series is great; it has hidden meanings and disturbing stories. This game lives up to that, although it isn't the best of them. The controls are pretty much the same as SH2, and can be a little difficult. Heather is not very agile, and she can't really dodge. Fighting is pretty straight forward, you just face the enemy and attack. You can change between 2D and 3D controls to make it more like what you're used to. If in doubt, rent this game. But I was happy with owning it. And get the other three games if you can.

Fun... but a little too tight.

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 2 / 2
Date: April 05, 2005
Author: Amazon User

This game is awesome! Do not be put down by my turn-offy title, although the game itself is really fun, its just that the game makes you stick to you its story. You don't have the opportunity to wonder the towns and such. Very good game itself though. The graphics are great and the story plot is extreme. The controls are a teeny-bit wacky, but the game still keeps you crying for more. In breif and specified...

GOOD
* Great story
* Very scary
* All new monsters and horrifying scenes
* New items
* Brand new stories and characters
* Great Game

BAD
* Controls
* Game Time (Dont be turned off again, game is long... just not long enough for me, and its a little longer than Fable too!)
* Freedom
* Nothing else, the game rocks!

A sequel to the scariest video game ever!!!!

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 2 / 2
Date: May 18, 2005
Author: Amazon User

Silent Hill 3 is the sequel to the scariest video game ever made, Silent Hill! It's about this girl named Heather who is just a regular teenager hanging out in the mall and then her whole world turns in a nightmare!! Literally a nightmare!! Silent Hill was really scary musically and visually, Silent Hill 2 is really scary psychologically and musically, and Silent Hill 3 is mainly just really scary visually but once in a while, the music or sound effects freak me out.

What makes Silent Hill 3 so scary are just all these visuals seen throughout the whole game. Like this wheelchair just sitting behind this glass, in this hall with light shining on it and the music is creepy at that point. There is this one part in the Alternate Brookhaven Hospital where you go into this room and it's this big mirror room where you see Heather's reflection and what happens is so scary!!! And it's really cool how they made the hallways in the Alternate Hilltop Center building look exactly like this one hallway in the Final Alternate Hospital from the first Silent Hill. It's such a scary game and there are many times when I have to turn the game off because it scares me so much. If you get scared easily, you might want to reconsider getting this game, it will scare you!!!

'' A DECENT FOLLOW UP '' ! !

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 8 / 25
Date: October 14, 2003
Author: Amazon User

SINCE I AM A HUGE FAN OF HORROR GAMES , I WAS VERY ANXIOUS TO PLAY '' SILENT HILL 3 '' !! IT TELLS THE STORY OF A GIRL NAMED HEATHER , WHO HAPPENS TO BE HARRY MASON'S DAUGHTER .AND HARRY IF YOU REMEMBER- WAS THE MAIN CHARACTER IN THE FIRST '' SILENT HILL '' WHO WAS SEARCING FOR HIS DAUGHTER CHERYL.. HEATHER IS ACTUALLY ALESSA, REBORN AFTER THE DEMON WAS DESTROYED IN THE END OF THE FIRST GAME.AND SHE IS THROWN INTO THE EERIE AND DEADLY WORLD WHICH IS SILENT HILL. WHILE SHE DOES GET COOL WEAPONS , AS WELL AS NEW MORE FIERCE ENEMIES, IT JUST DOESN'T HAVE AS MANY OF THE SCARES THAT THE FIRST TWO HAD..BUT DON'T GET ME WRONG , IT IS STILL A REALLY COOL GAME .THE STORY IS REALLY QUITE INTERESTING , AND THEY MANAGE TO BLEND THE STORY IN TO THE PREVIOUS TWO GAMES.SO IF YOU ARE LOOKING FOR A NEW CREEPY , EERIE, AND BIZARRE , AND AT TIMES SCARY ENOUGH TO MAKE YOU TURN ON ALL THE LIGHTS ,THEN GET IT TODAY ! IT TOTALLY REINVENTS THE HORROR GAME FRANCHISE ... AS WELL AS TAKES IT TO A NEW LEVEL ..SO GET IT TODAY AND HAVE FUN ...

Dont Be scared off

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 3 / 6
Date: February 22, 2003
Author: Amazon User

That guy up there doesnt know what hes talking about, Silent Hill is one of my favorite series, and i STILL cant get enough of silent hill 2, i sold my copy to get the greatest hits version of it, so i could play through some extras it has, and if this games anything like the others, it will be a 5 all the way!!!

Why review a game thats not released yet!

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 5 / 14
Date: January 14, 2003
Author: Amazon User

Some people are complaining & giving this game bad remarks based on the screenshots! It's not even out yet and people are putting it down! The ONLY reason why I reviewed this game is to balance out the negative remarks and to give the game a fair shot when it IS released!

Decent Hill

3 Rating: 3, Useful: 2 / 3
Date: August 15, 2003
Author: Amazon User

Despite upgrades to the graphics and sound systems (this is possibly the best-looking PS2 game to come out so far), I found "Silent Hill 3" to be almost entirely uncompelling. The annoying SH fog is gone, but frankly I ended up missing it. Running around outside no longer has that SH feel; it's just running around in brightly-lit corridors. Oddly, the fog was removed from the outer corridors, but nothing is gained because nothing happens there.

SH3 also has very few cutscenes, and almost no extra characters. This seriously hurts the story. In SH2 the player was constantly running into atmosphere pieces, talking with other characters, or seeing the monsters attack. SH3 is mostly running around on anonymous, linear corridor paths. When new monsters occur, they are rarely given an intro movie - so you are unaware of how you will affect them. Shoot or run? It becomes a matter of trial and error.

As for the locations: they are repetitive, noticeably empty, and mazelike. The first three locations are: the mall, a subway station, and a sewer. Not really breaking new ground there. Most of the game is so darkly lit that it is a chore seeing where you are going. Sometimes this adds to the spookiness. More often it just causes you to miss something important.

SH3 also has new problems with the gameplay. For some reason not all doors show up on your map, which can lead to long trips back through areas you thought you cleared. And the maps are not directly on the main path as they were in SH2. There is no automap. These facts make it even easier to get lost.

A lot was made about the new puzzles. They are better than SH2 - no boxes with four locks just to get a piece of hair. But some of them are kind of confusing. A clamp to crack a walnut, and a nutcracker to turn a bolt? The clarity is generally made by the game only presenting the player with one puzzle at a time. So if you find an object, you can be assured you'll use it before you find another. More straightforward, but a little less challenging.

Combat was slightly revamped, but as usual the lead character is so slow at fighting that it is generally better to run than fight. Trying to sidestep attacks is difficult because the camera usually decides to point at you so you can't see your enemy until too late. I recommend continous circling. And the usual SH dance of death continues: dodge the big monsters, kill the slow ones with a blunt object, kill the others with bullets. Only way you'll survive on the meager bullet ration.

The whole affair feels like a "Silent Hill Lite". Less puzzles, less story, less movies. Less atmospheric pieces like articles about dismemberments and the like. It is enjoyable for a cheap scare - play it late at night and you will be freaked. I was playing and a stray cat ran past my patio door, I nearly soiled myself. But it is nowhere near as compelling as the first two, muddled psychology and all. And it is a very short game.

I definitely rank SH3 as the worst of the bunch. But if you're a fan, it's a decent enough entry to warrant purchase.

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