Silent Hill is a Survival Horror game for the Playstation.
I say streight-out : Silent Hill is an instant classic and IT is a masterpice in the genre.
The series is known for 5 main games, a prequel, Arcade game, Play-Novel of the original, a movie adaptation, dozens of comics, and now we are all waiting for the Reimagening of this classic - Silent Hill : Shattered Memories.
***STORY***
In Silent Hill, you play as a Widowed father - Harry Mason, you went to search his missing daughter Cheryl, after a car-crash, in the mysterios town of Silent Hill ...
The town is deserted, sorounded by fog, thick snow, and filled with diffrent monstrosities.
The stoy is completely unique and psyhological. There are 5 diffrent endings, wich include a joke ending wich the series is known for - The UFO Ending.
There is a cast of suporting characters wich will play a key role in the game.
Will you save a character or leave him/her die? Will you explore a location or go twords your destination? Will you get an item or just pass by? It's all your desicion, and each step will affect the game.
***GRAPHICS***
For a Playstaion 1 game, the graphics are stunning.
Sure, the backgrounds are not prerendered. Sure, there is not that much of cinema cutscenes like Resident Evil.
But the character models look great, the otherworld (wich i will come back to later) looks great, atmosphere is great, and the lightning effect is great.
The otherworld, or Nightmare in the game is Harry's hell wich will haunt him from time to time. Everything will become dark, there will be blood and rust all over the walls, the ground will become metalic.
You will be not only scared to death, but also shocked so bad that you will have a heart attack. I'm not talking about, like, a dog jumping out of the window. I'm talking about genually shoking s*** that will give you nightmares.
***SOUND***
The sound is absolutly awsome... and scary :D
Sure the voice acting is... let's say : not suprising for a Survival Horror game, but it's way better than in the original Resident Evil.
Akira Yamaoka created a unique and errie Soundtrack wich was remembered by many gamers for a long time, even now Akira Yamaoka's music is fantastic!
You always hear, laughs, cries, footsteps, wispers and not human screams.
But the real sence of dread comes when Harry is aproching the corner and the radio he is carring around will blow static, since by doing that, it will alert the players if the enemies are nearby.
***GAMEPLAY***
Silent Hill is a Survival Horror game.
At first, when getting the handun and knife, in the begginning, in the cafe, i thought that Silent Hill will be an another Resident Evil clone... I was wrong.
Out of firearms you get a Pistol, Shotgun and Rifle. The rest of the weaons, are melley weapons, wich Harry will use to defend himself. For instance ; Knife, Pipe, Axe, Hammer and others.
Yet fighting your enemies, remains an option. This is beacause harry isn't from Special-Ops, Black-Ops, Military, or even Police. Harry is an everyday person like you or me, you had no experience with guns or military.
Two famous Silent Hill trademarks are the flashlight and radio.
The radio will blow errie static when danger is nearby and the flashlight will help you find your way around the dark corners.
Silent Hill is also known for its puzzles. You don't just find the right item, place in the right place and open a door, but you also solve psyhological riddles and some of them requier you to know something from real life :
for instance, if know astrology well, then one of the puzzles near the end of the game will give you no problems.
***ENJOYMENT***
Silent Hill is an instant classic.
It's a highly enjoyable and incredibly scary.
You should try this game out, on the Playstation or download the PSX version on PC. If your friend has both a Playstation and the game, ask him/her.
Score - 10 / 10 - Perfect !