Silent Hill

"Confusion. Panic. Terror. Silent Hill."

One of the scariest games to have ever been created, Silent Hill is a classic that everyone must play. Released in 1999, it is dismissed by many as a cheap rip-off of Capcom's Resident Evil series, but nothing could be further from the truth. While Resident Evil deals with slow moving zombies and jump-scare tactics, Silent Hill features various forms of bizarre creatures and environments that simply freak you out to the point at which you might feel like turning off the game. With a deep storyline involving cults, drugs, and Samael, this game is true perfection on the Playstation.

Silent Hill tells the story of an author by the name of Harry Mason. His wife having died several years ago, he is the single parent of the adopted 7-year-old child Cheryl. As the game begins, they are driving in Harry's Jeep during the foggy night on a mountain road toward the resort town of Silent Hill. After being passed by a motorcycle cop, they soon drive past a lone motorcycle on the road. Gawking at it, Harry loses awareness of the road, and as he looks back, he suddenly becomes aware of the presence of a shadowy female person. Slamming on the brakes, he quickly propels himself into a world of horror. Thus begins the tale of Silent Hill.

Immediately after these events, the player is given control of Harry. In Harry's view is a child that looks like Cheryl, but she quickly runs off into the dense fog. It is your duty as a father and a gamer to chase her into the dark recesses of the town. As you do, you enter an alley in the northwest side of the town in one of the most terrifying sequences of the game. While running through the alley, it becomes increasingly darker until it is pitch black. Camera angles are set in bizarre locations to add tension. A broken wheelchair squeaks as one of its wheels swivels in the wind. Suddenly, Harry comes to an end . . . bloody corpses are hung on fenced walls, and demonic beasts kill Harry. But don't worry, now the game is REALLY beginning.

Harry wakes up in a small café, where he is greeted by a policewoman from the town next door who introduces herself as Cybil. After conversing and taking note of the falling snow outside, they both come to the conclusion that they are stuck in this town in which very odd events are occurring, Cybil gives her handgun to Harry, and then Harry is on his own yet again. Around the room are various items to collect, such as bullets and a pocket radio. After collecting these and attempting to leave, the first true enemy of the game startles Harry, and he is given his first lesson in combat. The rest of the game is home to many more surprises, and is much more intense and frightening.

Another item of importance regarding travel in the game is that Harry occasionally switches from one version of the town to another. While starting out in a snowy Silent Hill with skinless dogs and flying creatures is bad enough, the other version is much more evil. More devilish creatures await in this realm, it is always dark, the ground has been transformed from cement to corrugated steel, bodies are hung on seemingly every interior wall, and the buildings are decaying. This is another unique element of Silent Hill in the gaming world, and it is much more bizarre than could be described in this short text.

There are a few other great aspects to the story as well. Aside from Cybil and Harry, there are several other people that Harry will meet in the town. Harry first meets the shrieking Dahlia Gillespie in a church, where she vaguely tells him what to do. He encounters the odd-natured Dr. Kauffman in a hospital, and he finds the a nurse by the name of Lisa in a similar location as well. Another young girl's existence is mentioned throughout the game, but, like his situation, Harry is unable to make sense of her presence. In addition to characters, Harry will find many items that simply confuse him, as well as information about a drug by the name of White Claudia, and information about cults. Depending on the events that you trigger throughout the game involving all the preceding, there is a total of five endings to view. What have these all got to do with the events in Silent Hill?

The control scheme of this game is similar to that of Resident Evil, and is perfect for this style of game. Of most importance, the directional pad and left analog stick are used for navigational purposes, X is used to investigate and collect items (this is to be done often), R2 is held to ready weapons (press X to use them when ready), and Triangle is used to bring up the map screen, which is extremely helpful. For the various areas in the game, Harry finds maps. His destinations are almost always circled on the maps, and areas he cannot pass are designated with a large X. When in certain buildings, Harry notes which doors are locked by drawing on his map. There are several maps throughout the game, and they are usually found in or near the area for which they are to be used.

Throughout the game, Harry will find several conveniently placed weapons, though they are not all necessarily better than the weapons previously used. In terms of firearms, Harry can find both a shotgun and a hunting rifle, not including the handgun with which he begins his adventure. A unique aspect of this game involving guns is that Harry is just an ordinary man with no experience in weapons training; therefore, his performance using these firearms is not always as good as one would like it to be. The other weapons Harry receives are to be used with his hands. From an awkward but powerful long hammer to a short-range, quick axe, these weapons can be useful when trying to conserve ammunition, which can be found hidden in alleys where you normally don't need to go. In a town of such evil, weapons can be Harry's best friend; but that doesn't mean he should kill every creature that steps in his path . . .

Another important aspect of the gameplay is that puzzles play a large role in getting from one area to the next. While some may be as simple as running around gathering keys, others involve knowledge such as those of music theory and the signs of the Zodiac. Vague clues are given to help get through these puzzles, and they help. The puzzling nature of this game is yet another testament to its superiority.

The atmosphere of Silent Hill is brilliantly conveyed through the masterful work of KCET in graphics and sound. While the graphics may be considered bland by today's standards, they are perfect in this game. Harry looks like an everyday man, and the town looks like a random, small American town -- in his journey, Harry passes grocery stores, restaurants, police stations, and houses. He also enters an elementary school and a hospital, which are two locations very familiar to people. Seeing these locations shrouded in darkness and evil can definitely have effects on the mind of the player traversing through them. In addition to interior locations, the exterior of the town is great as well. In the ''lighter'' version of the town, dense fog is used to make it difficult to know where Harry is going, and to hide oncoming enemies. In the more evil version, the game is pure Hell. As mentioned before, the ground is all corrugated, bloody steel, and the buildings are decaying while corpses hang on the walls. Demonic apes, children, and other unmentionable foes try to kill Harry as he just tries to search for his daughter. It's all very disturbing, but it's all very good. There are a few bosses in the game, and they might be the only thing disappointing in it; they're large and sometimes difficult to beat, but they just aren't scary. This isn't too much of a problem, though, as the whole game could be compared to the greatest psychological enemy possible. Furthermore, some of the scenes in the game are shown via CGI cutscenes. The characters are depicted in these quite well, and they show the town of Silent Hill in an even more evil, realistic way.

In addition to the graphical excellence of this title, the sound is spectacular as well. There are very few actual musical compositions in the game, but those that do show up are brilliantly composed and quite beautiful. The bulk of the background noise is similar to industrial music. These ''tunes'' set the mood quite well with pounding beats and extremely odd noises. More important than the music, or lack thereof, though, is the noise emitted by the pocket radio found in the beginning. Whenever an enemy comes near, the radio emits white noise that grows louder as Harry comes closer to the creature. Similarly to this, when Harry is active, he breathes more quickly, and his heartbeat can both be heard and felt thanks to the Dual Shock controller. When all the previously mentioned sounds intertwine, it makes for a very frantic, disturbing experience.

Another noteworthy fact about this game is that a new mode, ''Next Fear,'' is unlocked after the game is beaten. In this mode, the difficulty is increased, new weapons can be found, and a new ending may be found as well. Also, the ''Bad+'' and ''Good+'' variations of endings should both be viewed to see various outcomes of the game, and they can help make sense of the storyline. This is yet another great feature of the game which adds to its replayability.

For all the previously mentioned reasons, and then some, Silent Hill is perhaps the most disturbing game to have ever been released. While some might feel that the vagueness of the game's storyline mars its ability to scare as much as it could have, it allows much discussion to be had based on the events of the story and what actually went on in the game. Although, like everything else, this game is by no means perfect, Silent Hill is perhaps the greatest, most unique experience available on the Playstation game console. As such, I have decided to give at a score of 10.

Reviewer's Score: 10/10, Originally Posted: 08/11/02, Updated 08/11/02