Silent Hill

To help get over the recent death of his wife, 32-year old Harry Mason follows his just-turned 7 years old daughter Cheryl's advice: take a vacation to the little resort town of Silent Hill. En route, Harry is passed by a female officer riding a bike on the highway, and, farther down the road, passes by that same bike, lying on its side, devoid of driver. You turn your eyes back to the road just in time to catch a glimpse of the young woman you are about to hit, swerve off the road and crash, knocking yourself unconscious. You "awaken" in a cafe with that same woman officer who passed you on the road. She says her name is Cybil Bennett, from the nieghboring town of Brahms, and she's here to investigate the strange goings on. As you turn to leave she tries in vain to stop you, leaving instead a loaded 9mm and a stern warning about the dangers you will likely (definitely) encounter. With gun in hand, you step out into the town in search of your daughter as the mysterious fog and falling snow surround you...

GRAPHICS: Stunning CG depics characters and backrounds with unprecedented detail on Playstation. In-game engine though could have used some tweaking. Yes, the mysterious fog is both creepy and appropriate, but its still just a mask for the fact the PS cant handle that many on-screen pixels. Graphics are also grainier than they should be, though the enemies and locales are still depicted quite well.

SOUND: Pulse-pounding (literally) soundtrack will make the hair in your ears stand on end. Gunshots ring out realistically and empty shell casings bounce off the floor. And the radio's static noise is a key audio clue to the presence and proximity of any monsters to you.

CONTROL: Harry moves very stiffly and can be difficult to turn, which can make fighting and running from enemies a real pain. This is somewhat balanced out by the auto-aiming. The Dual Shock's vibrations are right on cue, and the beating of Harry's heart in relation to his health is a cool feature.

GAMEPLAY: Despite the somewhat grainy graphics and frustrating control, they cant take (much) away from the experience of playing Silent Hill. The disturbingly fascinating storyline, strange characters, even stranger demons, and horrific atmosphere will keep you coming back. And if that doesn't, the multiple endings and secrets will.

GRAPHICS: 8 SOUND: 10 CONTROL: 7 GAMEPLAY: 9 OVERALL: 8½

Come to Silent Hill, and you may never (want to) leave...BWAHAHAHAHAHA!

-Ragnarok the Red

What should be considered the scariest game since the first Resident Evil, (C'mon guys, R.E. 2 was more of an action game than anything) Silent Hill offers up a kind of gameplay that could best be described in one word; creepy. Unlike Resident Evil where you have all sorts of monsters jump out at you, Silent Hill leaves you on a nervous, creepy edge from begining to end. everything about this game will slightly make your skin crawl, the atmosphere the town, the gore, and the extremly creepy music. This game should win an award for scariest music in a video game.

In Silent Hill you play the role of Harry Mason, (wasn't that a T.V. show?) a divorced single father who was almost in a car wrek as he swerved to miss a mysterious woman. His duaghter Cheryl, is flung from the car. As Harry gains consciousness, he notices right away that his daughter is missing. This is where the game starts as you chase someone who looks like your daughter down a fog-filled town. (No N64 trick, the developers put the fog in on purpose this time.)You end up chasing her down a blood filled alley as your camera drunkenly swerves sround to put you on edge. You find a blood-soaked wheelchair, a blood stained gurney, and a dead, skinless corpse hanging in a crusifix position!!! Just then is when the faceless demon children attack, and you're trapped in the alley with them. You get stabbed till you think you're dead. (Bythe way, one of the COOLEST effects in this game is when your dual shock mocks your heartbeat when you're low on life. The closest you are to death, the stronger the beat. Creepy!) You wake up in the morning next to a police woman. What happens from there? Well, buy the friggin game and find out stupid!!

Graphics 85% - While they are a wee bit grainy, the dark atmosphere and camera angles are perfect for a game like this.

Sound 100% - Damn! You couldn't ask for a scarier atmosphere when it comes to sound like this. Harry carries a radio that has no station to hear, but emits a loud static when a monster is neaby. When you playing the game in stereo, you can actually hear the monster come closer if he's in the direction of your ears. Music will build up creepily sometimes when nothing big is going on just to keep you, lets say it together now, on edge! Even the demons themselves will emit a creepy sound.

Challange 75% - As scary as the game is, it does not put up much of a fight. I've got plenty of ammo, and have been using a crowbar on the evil ones for the most part. The puzzles are fairly obvious too. Scooby and Shaggy wouldn't have much trouble here.

Gameplay 90% This creepy, gore filled game will have you on edge for a long time. The conrtol could be tweaked a little bit, but is pretty good nonetheless.

Overall 93% - If Resident Evil scared the piss out of you, this'll make you crap your pants. Non-voluntarily too!!

Review by

Joey Jo Jo Shigamado