Silent Hill

Fear for the flesh creates fear for the blood.

Released: 1999
Platform: Playstation (the original)
Players: 1
Rating: M (Mature)
Playable Character: Harry Mason
Summary: (from the back of the game)
Harry Mason and his daughter Cheryl are driving to their favorite vacation spot. Late that night, a figure suddenly appears from out of the darkness. Harry turns the wheel in panic, and the car careens off the road, knocking Harry unconscious. Awakening sometime later, he realizes that Cheryl is missing. Stumbling out of the wreckage, he heads towards the small town of Silent Hill.

Every town has it's secrets.
Some are just darker than others.

Review

This is the game that started it all. First, a few things to get out of the way: it was on the Playstation 1, so I'm not going to nit-pick the graphics-which were good at the time, but not so great today-or voice acting, which, as a warning, can get a little annoying, with the length of time that passes between sentances in a conversation. That aside, the game itself-story, play, and atmosphere-is amazing.

This game possesses one of the darkest and most complicated stories that I've ever seen in a PS1 game. Dealing in cults and demon worship, child abuse, drug abuse, and themes of guilt and innocence, Silent Hill is distubring enough for twenty Resident Evils, and its impression on your psyche will last twice as long. I could never play this game without at least two other people in the room, mostly because of its stellar sound effects, nerve-wracking background music tracks, and oppressive, isolated setting. And the multiple endings, selected in responce to how well you play, the side quests you've completed, and the choices you've made, are just another wonderful, immersive aspect of this already unique game.

Game-play wise, the controls are fair-they do take some getting used to, and frustration is a possiblity, but once you get the hang of them, they're not much of a hinderance. There's monster-shooting (auto-aim) and puzzle-solving, with three levels of difficulty (the usual "easy", "normal" and "hard") but even on easy I'd recommend having a walkthrough handy, only because it can get boring wandering around in the fog for three hours without knowing exactly where to go.

Summed up? Just as good as the other three, maybe better, even with its just-okay graphics. Certainly the scariest I've played.

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