There's something eerie about this game.... and that's the very best of it!
But, Silent Hill 3 is one of these rare games, as it may be one of the most frightening games of all times, and with that, one of the best games ever made.
Where can I start? Let's review the great things first, as they are the most:
- Graphics: Outstanding, just hallucinating. I may say there are better graphics in this game than in FF XII (and FF has awesome graphics). The details on the cutscenes, and the extreme cleanness on everything other than just the necesairly creepy has been perfect. Not only the graphics are good, but the entire rendering, and by this I mean every wall, every single leave out of a tree, are just dedicated and well achieved. If a game can score points by looking good, this one just has'em all.
- Sound: The best thing about music is that it is almost inexistent, as many of the climatic parts of the game are just plainly silent. Music appears, altought, every now and then and with a great roar, as this game has a fairly nice soundtrack, quite in the mood of the entire Silent Hill experience. Also, the great thing about sound are the sound effects; they're just as disturbing, and many times even more disturbing than the very same monsters. An example are the freaking nurses that seem to breath over your neck even if you can't see them. Add to that a deserted and putrid hospital and you're in for a psychiatrist! Weee!
- Love: It may sound hilarious, but it can't be imagined this game making without effort, love and extreme hours with no sleeping at all. Is one of those games, so well and nicely made , where you can see dedication in every single detail, and for that we, the players, are very thankful.
- Sensation: Totally, totally gives the SH sensation, as it delivers that uncomfortableness so well achieved in previous releases and adds to that the extreme urge of sometimes turning off the console, something just hard to achieve after 2 incredible predecessors that seemed to have achieved all that there was to achieve. Well, guess again!
If I could complain about one thing it would be gameplay. No control configuration other than 2 models is just too lazy to be believed, not to mention the terribly slow-motioned Heather who couldn't be slower and the awkward shooting/running interface with no lock-on nor nothing even similar to that. Yeah, all these are details, but being this game makers as dedicated as they seemed, it surprises to find a so flawed system of gameplay; not that it takes any credit away for us, but things like this could and should be refined in the future.
So, all in all, this game deserves an 8.5 because of its minimum gameplay issues, and because.... it scared the hell out of me at least two times. The first time I had to get up, light the room and put some music just to keep playing, so, call me a chicken if you will but I would like to see you people playing this game alone in your room a stormy night and with nobody around, let's see who is the chicken then!