Silent Hill 3 is easily the scariest game I have played to date.
The Good: Great story - Outstanding visual design - Plenty of creepy environments - Great sound effects and soundtrack to make the creepy environments even more creepy - Great sequel.
The Bad: Unless you are playing on hard, the game may be too easy - The game is too short - The combat sucks.
Silent Hill has always been known for its ability to put you in a very unsettling atmosphere, have a couple of odd characters and would compliment those factors with a great story. In Silent Hill 3 it is no different. Silent Hill 3 is "you could say" a direct sequel from the events that took place in Silent Hill. Silent Hill 3 is the second installment on the PlayStation 2 and had huge shoes to fill after Silent Hill 2.
In Silent Hill 3 you take on the role as Heather Mason a teenage girl with a bit of a chip on her shoulder. At the beginning of the game Heather is walking into an amusement park with a knife in her hand, eventually you will complete the task and the game will go to a cut-scene of Heather waking up in a restaurant. Soon after Heather goes to a pay phone and calls her father, she tells her father she is on her way home. As soon as she hangs up she notices a middle aged man standing not far away looking at her. Heather turns to him and gives him a look as if she wants him to leave her alone. She walks away and the man continues to follow her. The man trys to talk to her claiming he is a detective and wants to tell Heather about her childhood. Heather does not care to hear about her childhood so she trys to lose the man by going into the women's restroom. Here you will have you first save point and this is where the game really begins.
Before the game even starts you have to choose the level of difficulty, I suggest you put both Riddle and Action on hard. If you do not then the game may seem way too easy and you can just run through 90% of the game. The story is no doubt a great one, but some of the characters such as Douglas the detective have no emotions and make the game seem less believable. One of the main problems is that the combat is really horrible, whether you are shooting something or beating it with a pipe. The final boss is the only boss that provides somewhat of a challenge, but all of the other bosses and enemies really are way to easy to beat even on hard. For example: The second boss. You are at the bottom of the sewers, it is a pretty big demon probably over 10 feet tall and could probably kill you in two maybe three hits. But all it does is swim around just to stand up, get shot as soon as it stands up, start swimming again and this is repeated until it dies.
For those of you who have played a previous Silent Hill game you know that the camera angle can sometimes get a little frustration and can leave you helpless to attack in certain areas. It is no different in this one. One of the parts that I thought was pretty cool was when you were in that Haunted Mansion at the amusement park. It was kind of like when you went to an amusement park with your family, your little brother saw the haunted house attraction, and your parents made you take him. Throughout the whole thing your brother was scared and amused but you were like this is lame. I thought it was pretty funny to say the least. There are three possible endings for Silent Hill 3, and at the end of the game (after all of the credits) it shows your stats for the game. Varying from the time it took for you to beat the game, to how many the times you saved the game, and even things such as boss fight times. If you happen to do good the game unlocks some new features and cool new items which will make you want to play again.
Graphically Silent Hill 3 is phenomenal, everything looks just simply amazing. The character models are top notch, the enemies look great, and the environment looks breath taking, literally. The lighting makes areas look realistic and the shadows can play tricks on your eyes making you question "Do I really want to go that way?" Now to compliment the games amazing look Silent Hill 3 also has a outstanding soundtrack to go with the dark creepy locations, and makes them, well creepier. The sound effects are great too. When you see the shadows and hear the sound of an enemy around the corner, it makes you nervous ever time. Then when you actually turn the corner it would be considered and "Oh snap!" moment but with dirtier words.
Though the gameplay was not the best, Silent Hill 3 is still a great game and a wonderful addition to the franchise. The story was great, the graphics are probably the best I have ever seen on the PlayStation 2 and the soundtrack is amazing too. If you are a fan of Silent Hill, or survival horror games Silent Hill 3 is a must buy. Of course since it is 2008 and the game came out in 2003 it is probably more realistic to say it is a rental.
The Bad: Unless you are playing on hard, the game may be too easy - The game is too short - The combat sucks.
Silent Hill has always been known for its ability to put you in a very unsettling atmosphere, have a couple of odd characters and would compliment those factors with a great story. In Silent Hill 3 it is no different. Silent Hill 3 is "you could say" a direct sequel from the events that took place in Silent Hill. Silent Hill 3 is the second installment on the PlayStation 2 and had huge shoes to fill after Silent Hill 2.
In Silent Hill 3 you take on the role as Heather Mason a teenage girl with a bit of a chip on her shoulder. At the beginning of the game Heather is walking into an amusement park with a knife in her hand, eventually you will complete the task and the game will go to a cut-scene of Heather waking up in a restaurant. Soon after Heather goes to a pay phone and calls her father, she tells her father she is on her way home. As soon as she hangs up she notices a middle aged man standing not far away looking at her. Heather turns to him and gives him a look as if she wants him to leave her alone. She walks away and the man continues to follow her. The man trys to talk to her claiming he is a detective and wants to tell Heather about her childhood. Heather does not care to hear about her childhood so she trys to lose the man by going into the women's restroom. Here you will have you first save point and this is where the game really begins.
Before the game even starts you have to choose the level of difficulty, I suggest you put both Riddle and Action on hard. If you do not then the game may seem way too easy and you can just run through 90% of the game. The story is no doubt a great one, but some of the characters such as Douglas the detective have no emotions and make the game seem less believable. One of the main problems is that the combat is really horrible, whether you are shooting something or beating it with a pipe. The final boss is the only boss that provides somewhat of a challenge, but all of the other bosses and enemies really are way to easy to beat even on hard. For example: The second boss. You are at the bottom of the sewers, it is a pretty big demon probably over 10 feet tall and could probably kill you in two maybe three hits. But all it does is swim around just to stand up, get shot as soon as it stands up, start swimming again and this is repeated until it dies.
For those of you who have played a previous Silent Hill game you know that the camera angle can sometimes get a little frustration and can leave you helpless to attack in certain areas. It is no different in this one. One of the parts that I thought was pretty cool was when you were in that Haunted Mansion at the amusement park. It was kind of like when you went to an amusement park with your family, your little brother saw the haunted house attraction, and your parents made you take him. Throughout the whole thing your brother was scared and amused but you were like this is lame. I thought it was pretty funny to say the least. There are three possible endings for Silent Hill 3, and at the end of the game (after all of the credits) it shows your stats for the game. Varying from the time it took for you to beat the game, to how many the times you saved the game, and even things such as boss fight times. If you happen to do good the game unlocks some new features and cool new items which will make you want to play again.
Graphically Silent Hill 3 is phenomenal, everything looks just simply amazing. The character models are top notch, the enemies look great, and the environment looks breath taking, literally. The lighting makes areas look realistic and the shadows can play tricks on your eyes making you question "Do I really want to go that way?" Now to compliment the games amazing look Silent Hill 3 also has a outstanding soundtrack to go with the dark creepy locations, and makes them, well creepier. The sound effects are great too. When you see the shadows and hear the sound of an enemy around the corner, it makes you nervous ever time. Then when you actually turn the corner it would be considered and "Oh snap!" moment but with dirtier words.
Though the gameplay was not the best, Silent Hill 3 is still a great game and a wonderful addition to the franchise. The story was great, the graphics are probably the best I have ever seen on the PlayStation 2 and the soundtrack is amazing too. If you are a fan of Silent Hill, or survival horror games Silent Hill 3 is a must buy. Of course since it is 2008 and the game came out in 2003 it is probably more realistic to say it is a rental.
