Silent Hill

[Judas]

The graphics are grainy, there is slowdown, and the controls are worse. But the game is better. It's more creepy, it's more disturbing.

Pffft. Thoose stupid flying dragon thingys looks like it belongs in the Circus.

But thats like your opinion and thats cool. Personally I think the "sadness" that was the theme of part 2 has been the best so far.

[Judas]

Everything in the game is there to do your head in.

Heh the UFO ending

[Spacehost]

Heh the UFO ending

Best. Ending. Ever!

[Tom_B]

Better than SH2's 'Dog' ending? I think not!

[Spacehost]

Better than SH2's 'Dog' ending? I think not!

I've still not worked out how you get that...

[DirkCrisis]

I've still not worked out how you get that...

IIRC

You've got to get a key from the Dog kennel outside one of the houses which unlocks something

Unless I have the wrong end of the stick

[D-Side]

I reckon I'm going to go and get Silent Hill again. And 3. Should be knocking about on the cheap now. I might even get Resi 0 and really punish myself.

[Alan Stock]

I finally finished Silent Hill 3 the other night. I was quite dissapointed really as the game was even less scary than Silent Hill 2 overall. There were only a few moments in the whole game that I even felt anything close to the terror I did in Silent Hill 1 or 2. The best impact of Silent Hill 3 is definitely at the start, when all the sounds and enemies are fresh. After about half way through though, I became desensitised to most of the unease you are supposed to feel.

If you are going to get one of the Silent Hill games, get 1, then 2 as second choice and 3 as 3rd.

Ok now follow lots of Silent Hill 3 SPOILERS

*************SPOILERS SPOILERS SPOILERS BELOW!!!!!! ***************

I thought the ending was really dissapointing. The game had no climax to it at all, the only time I felt scared was in that final corridor with the big fan just before you fight the final boss. What I did like though, was that for once in a Silent Hill game they give you a "nice" ending. For the first time - I was the proper winner! Hurray! I always hated the bad endings of the first two games because I felt cheated for having completed them. I felt like all my effort had been in vain and it annoyed me. Yes they made it kinda creepy but it was very unsatisfying. In SH3 at least I felt like I'd done something right for once.

I thought the plot in 3 was gash. Apart from the nice "twist" I didn't find it scary or worrying at all. The tie ins to the previous games was nice but because it was all explained most of the fear was removed. Also there were only 4 characters and their actions in cutscenes made little impact on me. Silent Hill 1 had Harry's quest against the horrors of what was happening to his daughter and all the background stuff on Silent hill and Dahlia etc. Silent Hill 2 had James' quest to find his dead wife, and then all the confusion with Maria, plus the other characters. Silent Hill 3 just has a tiny bit of plot about who Heather is, you know nothing about Douglas really, or Vincent, until the very end. And Claudia isn't scary at all wheras Dahlia was evil. Ah well.

The level design remained shite till the very end. The hospital and amusment park were the most "fun" parts, the rest was pretty awful. The final Church was absolute rubbish.

The cutscenes and characters were quite amazing really but the dialogue poo again. The motion capture really helped the characters a lot.

I think the most scary/disturbing bits of the game for me were at the very start when the horror's all fresh. The alternate hospital was quite scary, and that mirror room was brilliantly scary. The amusment park was quite scary too, and there are some great tension and moments which make you jump in it (like in the haunted house).

The puzzles were shite because I played it on Hard. I really wish I had played on normal as I've seen the walkthroughs and the puzzles look fun and logical instead of insane and impossible.

Overall I just didn't find Silent Hill 3 as gripping as the first 2. At no point apart from the very start did I feel the same kind of fear and horror as I did in the first 2 games. Heather was too blase about it all and the emphasis on combat actually made the game less scary in my opinion. The game didn't climax in fear at all and all of the exporation was cut out in favour of those rubbishly designed locales. The amusement park was the only breath of fresh air in the game.

Lets hope Silent Hill 4 returns to form, if not I won't even bother with it. From the video things don't look promising though.

*************SPOILERS SPOILERS SPOILERS ABOVE!!!!!!**************