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Silent Hill 3

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 86 / 93
Date: May 26, 2003
Author: Amazon User

I notice a lot of people have already reviewed & rated this game despite having not actually played it yet. I do own it (i live in the U.K. where it was released on May 23rd) & it's excellent. It's extremely similar to the 2nd game in terms of graphics & gameplay, which is a good thing as the 2nd game was extremely well done, & is one of the only truly scary videogames i've ever played. Part 3 lives up to this as well, offering a similar experience to the 2nd game, only with brand new characters, storyline & puzzles. A mention must go to the graphics. Like the previous game, they're excellent, with some brilliantly atmospheric lighting & shadow effects, which really help to suck you into the game. It contains some pretty gruesome images & the soundtack is designed to really amp up the tension. If you compare Resident Evil to a George Romero zombie flick then this can only be compared to something Clive Barker would have come up with. To sum it up, if you're a fan of the series, you'll love this, if you didn't like the first 2 games, then you won't like this one either. If you've never played a Silent Hill game, give this one a try, it's well worth it.

Be prepared

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 44 / 48
Date: July 18, 2003
Author: Amazon User

I've been playing the Japanese import for a couple of weeks:

First, the bad news.

- SH3 is short. Shorter than SH1 and SH2, at any rate. Both SH1 and 2 took me almost exactly 10 hours to complete my first time. SH3 took me 5 hours and 52 minutes. (Some have said that this is because SH3's internal game clock behaves differently, pausing at any time a cinema plays or the menu is opened. This is true of SH3. However, after personally testing the games myself, I have found that it's true of SH2 as well. SH3 is simply a shorter game.)

- SH3 is constrictive. You're never really set free to explore a huge deserted town as in the previous two games. For most of the game you go from one enclosed location to another. The mall leads to the subway leads to the sewers leads to an office building etc. When you finally do get outside, if you try to wander away from your goal, your character will automatically stop and turn around and say "I don't need to go this way." This is really lazy design. One of the neat things about the SH games was that you could explore anywhere in the huge deserted town, until you hit a physical roadblock of some kind. Not so in this installment. Disappointing.

Now, the good news.

+ SH3 is scary. REALLY scary. I thought SH2 was quite mellow compared to SH1, more of a slow burn with a growing sense of dread rather than the aggressively oppressive atmosphere of the first game that got right in your face from the very beginning. SH3 returns to the original's oppressive style and ups the ante a notch or two.

+ Fans of SH1 who were disappointed that SH2 had no direct connection to it will be pleased to know that SH1 and SH3 are very closely connected.

+ Bosses are back, after a hiatus of sorts in SH2.

+ (or - ?) SH3 is the most challenging SH yet. Monsters are aggressive and harder to kill. Ammo is very scarce. You'll want to rely on melee weapons usually and save ammo for bosses.

+ Lots of different monster types. Lots of weapons. Lots of unlockable bonuses. Lots of replay value.

If you can get past the short length and constrictive nature, it's a great and worthy addition to the Silent Hill series.

Terror that breaks your little black heart. (Che disgrazia!)

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 15 / 17
Date: August 20, 2003
Author: Amazon User

Silent Hill 3 manages to be brilliant, horrifying, and somewhat of a let-down all at the same time. This is kind of hard to put into words... I have been hooked on and in love with Silent Hill since the instant I layed my eyes on the first game's preview as it played on a TV in Gamer's Paradise so many years ago. The overwhelming nostalgia and sense of eerie contentment that I experience while playing these games are beautiful and unequaled in their glory. Silent Hill 3 - even with breath-taking graphics and brooding dread extremely prevalent - left me wishing it turned out better. This game is basically a graphical redux of SH2 with a storyline that progresses where the original SH left off. The gameplay is also a bit more linear than SH 1 and 2. Not as much exploring to be done. Which is a damn shame, really. Just more monster killing and puzzle solving. - Don't get me wrong, it's a great game... it just doesn't really add any major boons or benchmarks to the series' overall marvel. - Not really breaking any barriers, so to speak. Che Disgrazia! ** It is a game worth buying, though. It IS Silent Hill and it is well worth the replay time. Loose strings from the first game are finally tied off, and we get to see our dear Silent Hill play host to a whole new batch of wicked abominations. Disturbing imagery is not in scarce supply, and the enhanced, built-in surround sound toys with your mind and raises those little hairs on your neck. Once again this is a game that has to be played in the dark with the TV volume cranked. It's the only way to enjoy the full sense of terror and chaos that the game is trying to provoke. That being said, I must attempt to close. - Silent Hill 3 is worth the cash. If you're a newcomer to the series this game will blow you away, because, after all, it's creepy as hell. But if you've played through the first two releases and are hoping for a major leap, prepare to be a little dissapointed. Scared... but a little dissapointed.

Not as good as Resident Evil.

3 Rating: 3, Useful: 25 / 36
Date: September 01, 2003
Author: Amazon User

I bought Silent Hill 3 because I thought that it would be terrifying. In some ways, it is a little scary, but not that bad. It is definitely not scarier than Resident Evil. Silent Hill 3 is a follow-up to the events of the first two games, and it is the key to the secrets that the town of Silent Hill holds. It sounds great, but in some ways it isn't too great. For example, the sound effects aren't very good, the combat is repetitive, to the point where seeing an enemy becomes a bore and a chore within the game. The graphics are amazing, though, and the lighting effects are awesome. It can almost compete with Resident Evil on graphical detail. The biggezt problem is what I'm about to point out. The game's enemies aren't very tough to get past. It is that the game is EXTREMELY disorienting! It took me days to get past the subway level in the game. WHY does it have to be designed this way? The game's dark atmosphere doesn't help matters either. All in all, if you love horror then you will eat up Silent Hill 3. But if you love scary games that are a straightforward shhot-fest, Doom may be a little better for you.(Especially Doom 3. Yah!)If you buy this game solely for sheer terror, then you may be a little disappointed. My Rating-7.2

One Too Many Naps

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

When a bad dream in a restaurant turns out to be real, Heather, a teenager who is much tougher than she appears, finds herself faced with a steady stream of ugly horrors. As Heather, you will fight,solve, run, scream, and occasionally die. With a high yuck factor, this is not at all a game for the squeamish.

The Silent Hill series has been noted for being horror games with a satisfying amount of story line and psychological effect. This made Silent Hill 2 far more than a gothic shooter. Thus, expectations were high for the third title in the series. Unfortunately, the creators took an unexpected turn in this time. Heavy on graphics and gore, but way short on playing time.

This isn't accidental. Playing time is about four hours at first, and dwindles quickly on repeated excursions. Many of the game's neatest goodies are rewards for completed runs. If you are someone like me - not much on playing a game repeatedly - you will find Silent Hill 3 something of a disappointment.

But the graphics are good - especially if you have a strong stomach. If only the story was more finely detailed, this would have been a monster hit. It still is a very good game, but it is too brief to build the kind of tension needed for a really good scare.

mmm mmm good

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 9 / 10
Date: February 02, 2004
Author: Amazon User

I had just beaten Silent Hill 2 when I found out they were going to release SH3. I was beyond excited. This game has got to be the strangest and most imaginative thing I've ever played. It's not as creepy as SH2, but what it lacks in creepiness it makes up for in weirdness.

I can't even begin to recall what was going on, there are so many instances where I was blown away by how eclectic the concepts were that I was proud of the creative team that put it together. The mirror room alone would be enough to make me buy this game. I mean really, what in the hell? I was just running along, minding my own business and I step into that! Many times during game play did I have to sit back a reflect on what had just happened. Quite impressive. I loved the random rooms that had nothing to do with anything except to just creep you out and leave you asking yourself "what the hell?" Like the room with the strange "sour" smell wafting around and the black curtain in the middle. Nothing ever happened there, they just wanted to let you know that something was expired I guess.

The whole game was just alive. It had a pulse for god's sake. The walls seemed to be breathing and looking at you as you wondered around looking for the room with the guy with his blood let so that you could fill up your plastic bag with his blood to make a sacrifice and move on. Simple as pie! Everything was just so ridiculously weird like that. Fer god's sake! And while your nearing the end everything just gets out of control and the trippy, symmetric wall shows begin. I mean really, could the atmosphere of this game get any more absolutely insane? There are so many worth while situations to mention: the carosal with all the bloody horses; the fairy tale monster; the countless bottomless pits everywhere; the haunted mansion; the friggin' wheel chair scene; the subway; the amusement park... it was all very interesting, believe me.

The sound was great, fantastic even. Definitely responsible for all the tension in the game. Graphics were great too, of course there was a lot going on with them. I've never seen so much detail put into a game. The only big downfall was the superbly crappy ending. Seriously disappointing. I think that they must have so much going on that they just don't know how to end these games. SH2 was in about the same boat. I haven't gone back yet to replay it for some different endings, but the one I got was pretty sad. But it was worth it, I look forward to playing it over again. They've started on SH4: The Room and it looks like it's going to be excellent. I haven't been let down yet.

Silent Hill 3, finally it looks as good as the story is.....

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 9 / 10
Date: October 17, 2004
Author: Amazon User

Oh,oh my!!!! If you have ever played the other two Silent Hill games you are in for a TREAT!!!! We all know how AWESOME the story lines are of these games but the graphics finally step up to the level of the game! If youve never played a Silent Hill game, welcome to a new world of Survival Horror.

First I have to rave about this game a little before I get into the review. I picked up a copy of Silent Hill (the origional on the old Playstation)last year. I forced myself through it even though the graphics were old and it really seemed to impair my ability to get scared by the game. Even with the old graphics the mood, scenery, storyline and overall feel of the game scared the crap out of me! I then just finished Silent Hill 2, which was MUCH better in terms of graphics, though still behind the quality that I have come to love from say Resident Evil games on Gamecube. Now I get to Silent Hill 3 and I almost had the urge to cry and jump up and down with joy at the same time. FINALLY, FINALLY, FINALLY the graphics are beautiful! The backgrounds and settings can live up to the creepiness that it's supposed to have. And the charachters have the detail and movement that makes this one the most realitstic yet. Plus the sound, this one has the clearest most intense sound yet!

Ok,ok, Im gonna get on with it now.....

Silent Hill 3 opens with a bang! You have never experienced anything like this before with any Silent Hill games and I dare say Resident Evil.(Thinking back through my memory Resident Evil 2 does start out with some action but not quite like this)The puzzles in this game are dead on. They make sense and there isnt a ton of backtracking. The controls are great and Ive only experienced a few times where I couldnt get the camera angle to work to my advantage. This is the first Silent Hill game where you play a girl and I love it. The charachter has a smart mouth and you dont feel sorry for her but want to chear her on as she kicks butt.

Lastly let me just say this, Silent Hill games are SMART suvival horror games. The logic needed to solve puzzles ranges from easy to extremely difficult. Of course depending on the setting you choose. I find it really refreshing to have 4 or 5 choices of difficulty rather than just easy or hard. The story line will make sense (as much as it can for Silent Hill) and will make you think about the game long after you beat it or finish playing for the day. These games are truly made with a lot of thought to story and pulling all the details together as well as how to creep out the player without a bunch of silly scare tactics.

Im a big fan of Resident Evil games but I really feel like Silent Hill games just have something special about them that Resident Evil games dont have. If you have never played a Silent Hill game before I would suggest you start here. Even though there are things in this game that tie into the first two I still think starting here would be best. The graphics will help you enter this new world and once you see how different these games are you will be more willing to play the older games with less impressive graphics.

An excellent game but a flawed development in the series.

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 7 / 7
Date: November 19, 2003
Author: Amazon User

First of all Silent Hill 3 boasts probably the best SOUND and GRAPHICS for any PS2 game. Those of you that have surround sound will be shaken to the core of your soul in this survival horror amusement. The cut scenes are hyper-realistic and the Silent Hill 3 maps and worlds are well above standard for a game of its type.

I am now on my third round playing this game and so I have enough experience with it to be able to conduct a realistic review. The first thing you should know is that you do not have to play part 1 or 2 in order to enjoy this sequel but it would help if you did. Fans of this series will note that the game is largely a follow up to the 1st game, revisiting many of the places that where in the original.

The premise in this game is that you play a teenager, Heather, who must discover her past in order to reveal her true identity and save the world from an apocalypse. Sadly this is one of reasons why the game looses a star. It will not please fans of the series to discover that the plot is vastly different from the other two as it is no longer psychologically creepy and instead aims for more scares and blood and guts as Heather tries to prevent the day of reckoning. Although the game gets top marks for the horror and scares it is certainly devoid of the psychological impact that the other two games in the series had. The plot is also marred by an incoherent storyline that really does not make you care that much for the main character or the pending doom that the game is laying down. There are other reasons why this great game looses a star. There are not enough variations in the monsters which can be broken down into two-header zombie dogs, giant walking pillow cases, fat blobs, hammer head type creatures of large and small sizes, three types of stabbing insects, deranged nurses and floor crawlers that look like crocodiles. There needs to be more deviation in the monsters! Many of them are just repeated in size, however their locations are perfectly timed in the game. The other downside is that the game is vastly shorter than Silent Hill 2, being only on one DVD and can be completed in less than 6 hours on the first try (however you will spend a few days at it.) On my second attempt I complete the game in 2 hours. I believe the game can be completed in about 1 hour if you drive at it. The other downside is that the game takes places in two different locations (1) A shopping mall (2) Silent Hill. There was certainly hardly any Silent Hill and only two place to visit in that area! - The Hospital and the Amusement park. The final location takes place in an old church. It is also too linear - the game really only has one direction that is controlled by locked doors and items that you must gather in order to proceed to the next level. Overall the game does not feel like part of the Silent Hill series. I hope that the premise for the next one is located only in Silent Hill with more areas to visit, more monsters to kill and a similar psychological premise like the 2nd one in the series. There also needs to be more outdoor daytime scenes like Silent Hill 2. Too much of this game is fogged or takes place in the dark. The weapons and puzzles in this game are adequate although many of the cooler ones must be unlocked after you play the game at least once.

The upside is that the game, as a stand alone survival horror, delivers in aces. There is lots of action, blood and scares. The locations are unbelievable and the game IS frightening. Some of the rooms will have your jaw dropping to the ground and your eyes popping out of your head. The sound effects are soooo creepy and the shocks do come thick and fast. It is certainly one the best games you can own for the PS2 and is streaks and bounds ahead of most other survival horror games.

Overall it is an excellent game that should have been produced under a different title without the Silent Hill locations. I feel that the second game is still the definitive of the three although the graphics and the sound are not nearly as good. A thumb up for Silent Hill 3 though but both thumbs up for Silent Hill 2.

Doesn't Live Up....

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 6 / 6
Date: May 20, 2007
Author: Amazon User

First I played Silent Hill 2, and it was one of the best gaming experiences I'd ever had -- so I rushed out and bought Silent Hill 3. Now that I've finished it, my final verdict is: Very good, but somewhat lacking. The third installment in Konami's groundbreaking survival horror series has better graphics, more monsters, a more coherent storyline, a better combat system, and more interesting environments -- and yet, it doesn't quite live up to the overall experience.

The thing is, Silent Hill 2 took a break from the mythology-laced storyline of the first game and went off in a totally different, Freudian direction. I found this change to be bold and fascinating. Silent Hill 3 gets back on track; our protagonist is Heather, a cheerful girl with strangely haunted eyes. She's at the mall on an errand for her father and everything seems normal -- except for her nightmare about being killed by a speeding roller coaster in a dark, twisted amusement park. Heather's day goes downhill from there; a detective named Douglas starts following her, claiming to have important information about her birth. She gives him the slip....but suddenly, the lights dim and the bustling mall falls eerily quiet. Where did everyone go? And why is the mall now crawling with horrifying monsters?

Here we see one of the game's biggest problems: considering that it's a Silent Hill game, it takes a awfully long time to actually get to the town of Silent Hill. The first half of the game chronicles Heather's attempts to make it home and evade the creeping nightmare world that follows her everywhere she goes. In the process, she starts to come to grips with the truth about who she really is. The religious cult that inhabits Silent Hill wants Heather for reasons I will not reveal, and two cult members -- the zealous Claudia and the enterprising Vincent -- are both trying to manipulate her for their own ends. The game's "shocking twist" is one that anyone familiar with the Silent Hill mythos will see coming a mile away. Still, the storyline is one of the game's strongest features, fleshing out Silent Hill's history and creating a complex and likable heroine.

It's in the technical details that Silent Hill 3 doesn't fully succeed. First, the game is too short and too linear. I finished it in just over six hours, which was disappointing. In Silent Hill 2, I loved being able to explore the town. In this game, as previously noted, it's a long time before the action shifts to the town itself. When it did, I was briefly ecstatic (The fog! That creepy metallic throb on the soundtrack!), but my enthusiasm faded once I discovered that you can only explore a small corner of town; the rest is blocked off. The other environments (which include the familiar Brookhaven hospital) are similarly limited. When you finally visit the creepy amusement park from Heather's dream, the game designers waste the opportunity to give you a large, rich environment to explore -- you don't even get a map, that's how linear it is. Aren't these games supposed to have endless replay value? The only reason to replay Silent Hill 3 is for the usual unlockable items and secrets. (Which, I hear, include a "Sailor Moon" outfit for Heather....please, say it ain't so...)

Overall, I think this game tries too hard to be bigger and better. Yeah, the graphics look great -- the "dark" areas are a nightmare of bloodstained walls, rusted metal, and ghastly forms squirming behind oily steel grilles, and one room in Brookhaven hospital provides one of the freakiest moments in the entire series (it involves a large mirror and an oozing bathtub). However, I found that the slick graphics lessened the atmosphere of horror; the muted look of Silent Hill 2 was far more sinister. There's a whole rogue's gallery of monsters to fight, but the creature designs, while disturbing, aren't really scary. The infamous Nurses have been given a disappointing makeover; now they just look like ordinary women having a particularly bad day, and the fact that some of them wield pistols only makes them more annoying to fight. Speaking of fighting, the combat system has gotten a major upgrade; Heather can even wield a weapon in various ways. I don't buy it; Heather's mad butt-kicking skills and the unlikely selection of weapons she finds seems a little too Hollywood. (A submachine gun is one thing, but a katana?!) Both the action and the soundtrack are dialed up several notches, and that's bad. Once again, Heather gets a handy radio that crackles with static when monsters are near, but Silent hill 3's beasties make such a racket that the radio is almost redundant. The best analogy I can think of is that Silent Hill 2 feels like a quiet little indie film, while Silent Hill 3 is like an attempt to remake the indie film as a mainstream Hollywood blockbuster.

I'm not saying that Silent Hill 3 is bad -- far from it. The graphics are very impressive and vivid. The plot is nicely structured and will satisfy anyone who enjoyed the first game. The voice acting is better too, although it's anyone's guess why a native of Silent Hill would speak with a British accent. The puzzles are fun as ever. A happy(ish) ending is easy to achieve, and easter egg hounds will be pleased to know that this game, like the first two, has a UFO ending. Yes, Silent Hill 3 is a worthy entry into a standout series and many people will consider it the best of the lot. I just think that it tries too hard to be scary, when the previous games proved that less is more. Silent Hill 2 was a bold and visceral tale of terror, but with this follow-up, it seems like the creators have lost touch with their nightmares.

This one is going to be special

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 14 / 23
Date: December 28, 2002
Author: Amazon User

Needless to say, this is one of my most anticipated games in 2003. The beginning of SH3 isn't Silent Hill according to the director. It's a completely different town at first. But they said 'Since its Silent Hill, I guess its safe to say there will be a connection to the town.".

Now my speculation on it? The town you start out in is actually Silent Hill. The difference is that its not actually 'formed' yet. If you remember back to SH1, Silent Hill really got created when Allesa wouldn't agree to the demands of Dahlia and the member of her cult to do the ritual that rises Samael. So to get back at her they locked her in a room and set in on fire. The result was that half the town burned down, and that created Silent Hill. So what I think is that Heather is Allesas mum. You start playing as her and the game goes on a longer time period than the previous SH games till the point that Allesa is born. So we basically get to see what started SH from the beginning. The woman we've seen in the trailers, Claudia (she's the real white woman), is a younger version of Dahlia.

SH3 seems like it's really going to start showing some answers to the series, and the entire plot should be very interesting.
The visulas have also been vastly improved from SH2, and the monster design is extremely wicked. Suffice it to say, if you thought SH2 was scary, then SH3 will downright frighten you. Can't wait for this one.

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