Mr. n00tch's Silent Hill 3 Review
posted at 4:00 PM on Saturday April 3rd, 2004
| Publisher |
| Konami |
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| System Requirements: |
1GHz Pentium III or Athlon or equivalent; 256MB RAM; 4700MB of free hard drive space; 32 MB VRAM
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| Reviewed Using: |
| AMD Athlon XP 2600, 1 gig PC 2700 ram, Radeon 9700 Pro, Leadtek Winfast nForce 2 motherboard (onboard sound enabled), Seagate 7200 rpm drive w/8 meg cache, Microsoft Sidewinder gamepad. |
I am a survival horror junkie. From the first time I played Alone in The Dark, I knew that I was hooked. After playing Silent Hill 3, I can easily say that the Silent Hill franchise has fast become my favorite of the series. The game just oozes quality from the excellent graphics down to the wonderful soundtrack. The overall feeling of dread you get from your environment keeps you coming back for more, and the story line is top notch for the genre.
Silent Hill 3 is the direct sequel to Silent Hill (The second installment was a “spiritual” successor). I’d recommend playing the first two games for some background info if you haven’t already, but the game does stand fairly well on its own. Upon starting the game, you’ll see the intro sequence and get a taste of the excellent musiv . Veterans of the series will notice that the pre-rendered cutscenes are absent, most of the cinematics are rendered with the in-game engine. While they’re still pretty good, the detailed, pre-rendered movies will be missed. You’ll then be presented with your options, some of which are pretty standard (gamma, control scheme, resolution), and some of which are not (filters to make the game looks less grainy, amount and color of blood). Upon starting a new game, you’ll be presented with three choices for the difficulty levels of the action sequences and the riddles. Ramping up the difficulty on the action changes how well you aim and how much damage the enemies can sustain, as well as how and where you are presented with weapons and items to heal yourself. Kicking up the difficulty on the riddles makes a huge difference on the puzzles you are be presented with and the clues you’ll use to solve them. For instance, the first puzzle I came across was located in a bookstore. You’ll come across a few anthologies of Shakespeare’s works scattered across the floor. On easy, it’s a piece of cake to figure out that you need to put the anthologies that you’ve just found back in order (they are labeled on the spine 1 – 4). This nets you the pin number for the lock on the door in the back of the store. On hard, it’s a completely different story. You are now presented with five of the bard’s books and left with this clue.
"In here is a tragedy --- art thou player or audience? Be as it
may, the end doth remain: all go on only toward death.
The first words at thy left hand: a false lunacy, a madly dancing
man.
Hearing unhearable words, drawn to a beloved's grave---and
there, mayhap, true madness at last.
As did this one, playing at death, find true death at the last.
Killing a nameless lover, she pierced a heart rent by sorrow.
Doth lie invite truth? Doth verity but wear the mask of
falsehood?
Au, thou pitiful, thou miserable ones!
Still amidst lies, through the end cometh not, wherefore yearn
for death?
Wilt thou attend thy beloved?
Truths and lies, life and death: a game of turning white to black and black to white.
Is not a silence brimming with love more precious than flattery?
A peaceful slumber preferred to a throne besmirched with blood?
One vengeful man spilled blood for two; Two youths shed tears for
three; Three witches disappeared thusly; And only the four keys
remain.
Ah, but verily... In here is a tragedy---art thou player or
audience?
There is nothing which cannot become a puppet of fate or
an onlooker, peering into the cage."
Yea, you’re gonna need to have a pretty decent grasp of Shakespeare to get this one figured out. Once you’ve got your difficulties selected, you are thrust into a nightmare world… an amusement park that looks like it has been decaying for years, rusted over and filthy. Bodies in bloodied rabbit suits line the side of the metal grating as you walk through the park, where you encounter your first taste of the hellish enemies that you’ll meet, what most people refer to as a double head. It’s basically a dog that looks like it has been cut in half, and is held together by unraveling dirty bandages. Except for the head, that is. A quick look through your inventory reveals that you have more than just the switchblade you’re carrying when the game begins (thank god). As you progress through the amusement park, you’ll eventually get to the point that you wake up, and find that everyhing was just a dream. Or was it? I’ll not spoil the rest of the game for you; suffice it to say that you and Heather (the main character) are in for some nasty surprises. The control is reminiscent of the earlier Silent Hills, with a couple of additions: The ability to block as well as having items in your inventory useable without switching to the inventory screen most notably. The weapons that are available to you range from things like a rusted metal pipe, a 9mm pistol, and all the way up things like a katana and a sawed off shotgun. Plenty of ordinance to take out the evil you’ll be faced with. To break it down for ya…
Gameplay 3.5/5
The action is well paced, and as hard as you want it to be. The riddles are well placed and again, as hard as you want them to be. The problem is that Silent Hill 3 doesn’t do anything to innovate; it just refines what we’ve seen previously from itself as well as its contemporaries. I myself really enjoy these games, but I can see how some people would be turned off by them. The plot is very cool, and well-executed. It’s a whirlwind ride through a nightmare world that will keep you glued to your gaming machine to find out what happens next. Fans of the Silent Hill series will appreciate the continuity this one shares with the first game.
Although they have added new moves to your arsenal, you may be sorely disappointed by the lack of mobility your character has. You won’t be doing combos, jump kicking into enemy’s faces, or activating bullet time. The Matrix this is not. What you can do is serviceable, but a bit sluggish (which is standard for the genre). Weapons produce a satisfying amount of blood, and it’s a joy to unload on a group of enemies with your shotgun or your katana. If your controller has force feedback, you’ll feel it pulse as you take more damage, which is an indicator of how hurt you are. A lot cooler than a having a life meter on your screen to tell you exactly how hurt you are but it’s not new to the series (Silent Hill 2 had this as well).
Aesthetics 4.5/5
Silent Hill 3 on the PC has high resolution textures (if you choose them), well done models, and fluid animation. The filters the game uses to put things out of focus gives the world a worn down and gritty look, and fits the game very well. You can also remove the filters for maximum clarity if you wish. The world is presented to you bleakly, very industrialized and stained which contributes to the feeling of unease you’ll get. Blood seeps from pulsating walls, monsters are slick with the sheen of foul fluids and real-time lighting makes shadows dance into your field of view. A very nice improvement over the PS2 version is that you can display the game in a higher resolution than 640x480.
Sounds 5/5
From the awesome opening track to the howls of your foes, this game has sound quality in spades. Akira Yamaoka, the audio producer of all the Silent Hill games, makes a triumphant return here. The hisses and scrapes your enemies make in concert with the music make you dread going down to the next hallway to face whatever it is you may find. The radio is back from the previous installments, alerting you to how close you are to enemies by the volume of static that is pouring through its tiny speaker. I’ve got the vocal tracks from this game added to my playlist already, as well as some of the non vocal ones - they're that good. My only critisism was that the voice acting was not on par with the second entry in the series.
Value 2/5
Silent Hill 3 has multiple endings, as well as a lot of Easter eggs. The enemies don’t change (except for the amount of damage they dish out and receive), and the puzzles are completely static. Suffice it to say, I think only the hardcore would play this more than once, although the unlockable goodies are admittedly pretty good. Things like a flamethrower, a machine gun with unlimited ammo, and a beam saber? Sign me up!
Overall 4/5
A nice entry into the series for those new to survival horror, and a treat for long time players. Great graphics, excellent sound, and a riveting plot that are all presented to you in one nice, neat package. Do yourself a favor. Go out and buy this game, turn out the lights, and get ready for a good time.
Zombies!
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