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Survival Horror at its best

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 2 / 3
Date: October 30, 2003
Author: Amazon User

OK here's what you do to get the best out of this game; buy it and take it home, start playing at about eleven at night, when there's no-one else around, and turn off all the lights. Now it takes an hour or two to get into the game, but somewhere between the subway and the hospital you should start feeling that classic silent hill experience, edge of your seat stuff, trying to open doors and praying they're locked cos you don't want to know what could be on the other side, and a disturbing sense of wrongness about everything in the world of the game. The effects are subtle but accumulative, and just like Heather you will be drawn into the otherworld, and trust me, those lights will be turned back on pretty rapid! The plot, visuals, and hidden secrets are all excellent, and the action is ok, pretty standard for a survival horror game. I could go on praising SH3 for a long time, but the main point is that this is a genuinely scary game, and those are hard to find.
Oh and if you're having trouble with the view, one of the L2 or R2 buttons centres the camera behind Heather.
Roll on silent hill 4!

Silent Hill 3, everything you never wanted to see.

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 2 / 3
Date: October 26, 2003
Author: Amazon User

If you want a scary game, grab this one! It may not be very long, but it is a lot of funn and it'll scare you more than any movie or other game will. You'll find yourself with a brand new respect for satic and the dark. For the full effect though, you have to play this alone, with no lights on at night and the volume up to a level where you can hear your own footsteps. You'll never sleep again.
But anyways, the graphics are great in this game. It's supposed to look granny, its a part of the ffect. If it realy bothers you (and yes, thats why it's their) then you can always turn it off in options. Sometimes things will look frighteningly real, especially the shadows. The control is good, u can switch it up between 2d and 3d control, so theirs soemthing for everyone. The game is practically without fault (except for its a little short). It even comes complete with three different endings! So if you didn't like the one you got, you can get another one!
So if your looking for something that'll keep your heart rate up and scare you for more than the tiem your playing it, this is for you! If your a survival or horror fan, then you BETTER have this. Resident Evil doesn't have anything on Silent Hill. I hope you enjoy it as much as I do and remeber, what you'll see isn't half as scary as what you don't....

The Third place...

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 2 / 3
Date: March 17, 2006
Author: Amazon User

After seeing a preview for the film Silent Hill, I see that they are using the third horror place from Silent Hill 3 which was AWESOME!
For silent hill players you are familiar with the OK creepy town and the MESSED up creepy town - in Silent hill 3 you have OK creepy town, Messed up creepy town and OH MY GOD HOW HORRIFIC creepy town.
The level of eyeball piercing obscenity is pure gold, it takes a while for your mind to catch up to what its seeing as it really and truely hurts your eyes and brain.
Fabulous. Depth and the bunnies, the fluffy bunnies that run around trying to kil you - joy.
I munched my way through it in 8 hours and played it twice more...
It's at a perfect price now to get in there and fill your boots.

SH games are not intended for dumb people

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 3 / 7
Date: February 16, 2003
Author: Amazon User

people too dumb or too stupid to understand this games are giving it bad credit maybe it was too hard for them or maybe it was too disturbing and scare them anyway both SH & SH2 where great games so here are my STARS to balance it

Silent Hill 3

1 Rating: 1, Useful: 6 / 21
Date: November 10, 2003
Author: Amazon User

What a dissapointment. Before purchasing this game I had gone through all the reviews I could find and determined, from them, that this game must be fantastic. I had played the first Silent Hill game, though not the second as I was low on monetary funds when it was released and had eventually forgotten about it completely. Perhaps if I had played the second I would've known better than to bother wasting my money on this game. The first Silent Hill was interesting, the lack of any explanation enthralled me as did the atmoshpere. This game however, did nothing but laugh at me for buying it.

Survival Horror? It seems more like Catholic Horror to me. Why does it seem that whenever someone realizes that there are huge flaws in their religous upbrining they must write a book, or make a game from the building angst? I, personally, am not afraid of God, thus the entire "plotline" (if it should even be called that)was wasted on me. The atmosphere was good at first, but progressively worsened throughout the game, as it was essentially the exact same thing in every level. The lack of jump factor, while it seemed like a good idea, was terribly done. Instead of removing any excessive amounts of jump factor from the game, it was removed completely, which took away a lot from the game. It didn't have to be an overkill, but when, NOTHING jumps out to get you in the entire game, some of the atmosphere seems to be lost.

Some of the other reviews I had read made mention that supposedly this game was "light on monsters". Quite the contrary. Apparently, instead of spreading the monsters throughout an area the developers though it better to cram them all in one room to mill about making freakishly amusing noises and surrounding your character as so they can all smash you to death, another flaw in the yet to be mentioned but horribly maimed battle syestem. While the monsters looked interesting the first few times, the effect wore off quickly until some of the models actually became annoying.

I feel I have to touch upon the battle system now. The controls of this system were simple enough, though worked maybe half the time. The game designers seemed to feel that you should only use certain weapons on certain creatures. Trying to use a gun on something that crawls on the floor beneath your knee level? Too Bad, haha! Your bullets will all just go into the wall forcing you to attempt to position yourself correctly, wasting all your ammo before switching to a weapon equally as hard to hit the beastie with. So it seemed at least. If it was on the floor, good luck to you in killing it, especially if there's more than one. The only part of the battle system that seemed to make the game harder, wasn't the number of creatures, but simply the controlls.

The last thing to be touched upon is the character herself, Heather. According to the Konami site for SH3 Heather is a surprising 21 years of age. This is also discovered if the math of passed years between events remembered in the game is done. Does anyone know a 21 year old girl who speaks to her father in a manner that would imply she is, at the oldest, 15? Her mannerisms are very much unlike anyone even old enough to drive. Perhaps in Japan she is smart an mature for her age, but it seems the only thing that frightens me about this game, is that there could be people such as Heather, out and about right now, and that I may, one day, be forced to communicate with them. One would think that a character with her supposed role in the universe might be perhaps, slightly intellegent, as opposed to not at all. I am honestly disturbed that this is what a 21 year old woman is portrayed as, and that perhaps, she is the norm. At least she is wearing clothes though, which seems to be almost too much to ask in most games nowadays.

Pretty, Short and Dull...

3 Rating: 3, Useful: 2 / 4
Date: October 12, 2003
Author: Amazon User

First of all, SH3 is simply stunning. I have yet to see a better-lookibg game on any platform. The expressions on the faces of Heather, Douglas, and in particular, Claudia, defy belief. The animation is wonderful, the creatures are more ambiguous and convincing, and the whole shebang is polished to within an inch of its life.

But the Silent Hill series was never about the graphics. It was about atmosphere, characterisation and cerebral chills. SH 1 was released after Resident Evil, and the graphics were frankly poor, yet the storyline and the characters made it one of the most satisfying survival horror games on PS 1. The sequel, on PS 2, introduced James Sunderland, and a deviously complicated plotline with numerous endings to explore. The supporting cast was wonderfully realised and the atmosphere was genuinely disturbing.

Disappointingly, Konami have appeared to go for a superficial slant on SH 3. The game looks and plays beautifully, but that's it. It took me just five hours and twenty minutes to complete the game first-day, with the difficulty levels set to Normal. The plot is thin and totally unsurprising; the locations, albeit beautiful, are basically souped-up renditions of those from SH 2, and Heather, the protagonist, is so whiney and teen-chic that we feel annoyed with her, rather than sympathetic toward her. The fairground and haunted mansion levels aren't half as developed as they should have been, and the game end is so reminiscent of SH 1 that we wonder if Konami actually ran out of time before the game went into production. It's a chills n' spills action-and-puzzle game, rather than the creepy, cerebral head-mess we've come to expect from the Silent Hill series.

On the plus side, if you look really, REALLY hard there are one or two very cool, edgy background vignettes that are very affecting, but on the whole, don't buy this if you're looking for more of the same atmospheric gameplay of the first two installments. It's more of an action game that looks like a Silent Hill clone than anything else.

Based on the demo, SH3 should be the best in the series

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 5 / 20
Date: June 14, 2003
Author: Amazon User

I'd like to state at the outset that I have NOT played Silent Hill 3 in its final form-- it's currently available only in Europe, and I don't own a modded PS2 capable of playing PAL games. But I have played the demo, consisting of the introduction and the shopping mall level, and just from this short excerpt it's clear that SH3 will be the best installment in the series yet.

First, the graphics are dramatically improved from SH2-- there's much greater detail in the textures (check out the bookstore for a good example), and the lighting effects are fantastic, adding greatly to the game's creepy atmosphere. The designers have also decided to use the game engine for all of the cinematics, and these are not only superior to the in-game cut scenes in SH2, they look just as good as that game's brief rendered clips. I've never seen such a level of expressiveness in a character's facial features before-- the evil cult leader, Claudia, is particularly impressive in this regard.

Gameplay isn't much different from SH2-- you wander through mysterious environments, shoot hideous monsters, and solve arcane puzzles. The main difference is that the monsters are MUCH tougher than SH2's wimpy patient demons and mannequins. Even on the Easy action difficulty, the split-headed dog creatures take five pistol shots to bring down; and since you start armed only with a knife, rather than the series' customary plank or steel pipe (the demo ends well before you find the latter), melee combat is insanely hard. But you can still avoid combat much of the time-- indeed, the best way through the amusement park introduction is just to run from everything. Yes, you're armed with a submachine gun, but it's a waste to stand and fight.

If you didn't like the puzzles in previous Silent Hills, you probably won't care for these either-- the first involves grabbing a key with a pair of tongs from a bakery, the second requires you to figure out a lock code by placing Shakespeare books on a shelf. But these puzzles feel better integrated into the game than some of SH2's, and the Shakespeare puzzle on the Hard difficulty setting is a masterpiece-- it actually requires knowledge of the plays contained in each volume. I love the idea of a video game demanding a certain level of literacy on the part of its audience.

My only worries at this point concern the plot-- from the few cut-scenes in the demo, and information I've read online about the European version, it appears to revive the demon-cult storyline of SH1 rather than following the more psychological, Lynchian style of SH2. (There also seems to be little connection between SH3 and its immediate predecessor, apart from a few Silent Hill locales that feature in the new game.) But if Konami brings the same sort of emotional depth and character development to this tale as they achieved in SH2, it should still be compelling. I expect SH3 will be the finest survival-horror game released so far; why Konami is waiting so long to bring it out here is something of a mystery.

If You'd Visited Silent Hill With Harry Mason...

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 1 / 1
Date: June 12, 2003
Author: Amazon User

Silent Hill, our favourite town. It beckoned Harry and James there, now it's calling for Heather. If you've visited SH with Harry, you'll soon find out why. Somebody desperately wants Heather there enough to engage a private detective. Without giving too much away, SH3 is closely linked with SH1. Half the game actually takes place outside of SH, with the town finally forcing Heather to go visit it after she discovered...I must resist giving it away! Some characters (Dahlia, Lisa, Cheryl and yes...Harry) from SH1 are mentioned in this game, although they don't actually make an appearance (or do they?). You might want to visit SH first with Harry (a must, for the plot) and James (for some locations) before trying this game out - it makes more sense and heighten the involvement greatly. Graphically, the game is similar to SH2 although the folks at Konami decided to scale down on the fog. Also, it's bloodier when you enter the alternate dimension. The 'bleeding wall' effect is quite scary, and in one memorable scene Heather will see her reflection in the mirror turn all bloody. Heather will also visit places that James did when he went looking for his wife (yes, you can step into Heaven's Night, just don't expect to find Maria dancing for you). The plot is the most engaging part of this game, it's what pushes you/Heather on, although the riddles and actions lived up to SH1 and SH2. However, the game does seem a little short compared to SH2 although thankfully we've been spared the wandering around town that James went through. The voice acting has seen an improvement too. Heather's voice actor (also called Heather, by the way) did a fine job, unlike James' voice actor. With bits of nostalgia thrown in, it's a must-have for SH fans. It leaves you wonder if SH4 will follow the same thread, linking closely with SH2.

Douglas becomes the only flaw

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 1 / 1
Date: August 27, 2003
Author: Amazon User

Now, I'll be honest. I have never played Silent Hill 1. I bought Silent Hill 2 earlier this year as a late Christmas present (for myself, yes) and fell in love with the graphics and the eery plotline. When my cousin's husband told me the third one was coming out, I had to buy it.

I have to say, this one tops SH2. The plotline had me sitting on the edge of my seat waiting for the cinematics to find out more about Heather's past. My nerves were on edge after playing the first time and I couldn't keep my hands from shaking. I'll admit, I would lie awake in bed at two in the morning, unable to get the visions from my head. Yes, the same monsters popped up over and over again, but when they did, they really POPPED UP. Even the simplest things would make me jump (a mannequin in a store room and an empty toilet that knocks back, for instance)
There were only two things about this game that I didn't enjoy:

1. Douglas' voice acting

Honestly, who cast him? He spoke as though he was reading the script the first time. It almost made me wish I had a fast forward on the game to speed him up.

2. The length of the game

After playing for six hours, I was finally finished. And I wanted more! I wanted to be able to go through another Haunted Mansion, or explore the Silent Hill Historical Society. Even meandering through the foggy streets some more would have sated my horror appetite a bit.

But overall, the game was amazing. The graphics are beautiful, the monsters are gruesome, the plot is wonderful and engaging and Heather is such a likeable character with awesome voice acting. Maybe next time the creaters will realize that they have the potential to make the Silent Hill games LONGER.

The credit it deserves

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 1 / 1
Date: September 01, 2003
Author: Amazon User

... People say they finished it in 4 hours?? I even read one where the person claimed to have finished it in 2 1/2 hours! If you want a longer, harder game, then you shouldn't be playing it on easy mode. ... Also, don't look at your final time as the time it took you to beat the game. Each time you restart at a previous point your clock resets to that time. I clocked in at 8 hours and 44 minutes (I know I spent more time than that) ... This game is truly a piece of art. You want everything supersized, go to Mcdonalds.

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