Silent Hill 3

The third installment of the Silent Hill series will not disappoint any big Silent Hill fans, and that is a promise. While it lacks the depth and emotion of Silent Hill 2 and is less captivating, it is still a great game nonetheless and doesn't fail to hold your attention.

The game is a direct sequel to the first game. If you haven't played it, that game revolved around Harry Mason searching for his daughter in Silent Hill. Well, now that little girl has grown up and is a young teenage girl, who serves as the character you play as in the game. Like all young teenage girls she has quite a temper on her, but her heart is in the right place and she is determined to find out what is happening to her. Heather wakes up in a shopping mall after falling asleep in a restaurant, and is leaving when she is approached by a detective who goes by the name of Douglas Cartland. He tries to get Heather to come with him to speak to someone, but Heather vehemently rebuffes him and goes to the bathroom, where she escapes through the window. Thinking she is safe now, Heather goes through the back of the mall, only to discover that something has gone terribly wrong. Soon, her whole world has been shattered, and the only thing she can do now is survive.

The graphics are superb, and are much better than any of the other games (including 4) the plot is brilliant, and the characters are all extremely interesting, to the point that you really care about them, and that even goes for the bad guys as well. All in all, Silent Hill 3 is one fantastic game. However, like all games, it has it's pros and it's cons.

Pros: -The graphics. They are fantastic, and are the best of the entire series.

-The monsters are more challenging than any of the previous games, and are often much harder to defeat. This serves as more of a challenge to the gamer which is definitely a good thing.

-The weapons are fantastic. There is a lot more to choose from then in any of the other games. Also you can unlock certain weapons which is really fun.

-The characters are probably some of the best in the entire series, especially Heather, who is my favourite character of the series.

Cons: -The fact that you don't spend a lot of time in Silent Hill irked me slightly. Also, you don't get to run around exploring the town like you did in the previous games. It takes the fun out of it a little bit. However, you can pay a visit to Heaven's Night, the club from Silent Hill 2 just in case any fans of that game are interested.

-The camera angles can get quite annoying at times. Sometimes the camera goes allover the place. I can't really explain it, but you'll see what I mean when you play. It doesn't really cause too many problems though.

Apart from that, this game is well worth buying. I'm not sure that it's better than Silent Hill's 1&2, but it is definitely worth playing if you're a fan of this series, or even if you're not, you should still give it a go, but I'd advise playing the first game before you do. 8/10

I am not too easily creeped out but there are times where I would like to be shocked. I played the 1st one on the PS, and rented the other two when I got a PS2. SH3 is certainly different from the 1st two games, but it still delivers when I want to feel the creepiness around me! The graphics are very good & sure makes for a realistic feel. Included with the game was the original CD music soundtrack and it makes your mind wander when you listen to it! The bizarre enemy characters, though not as creepy as the ones from parts 1 & 2 still provide a thought provoking "Where the **** did they come from?!" If a movie's made about Silent Hill, it'd better be something more than Resident Evil was. Good movie, but the characters should've remained as in the games. Stay true & all will be fine.

No, I mean it, I am in a state of utter awe of this ability to continue producing grade-A results. This is a review of the PC version. All that appears to mean is that you can save at any time(with a few delectable exceptions), and are not limited to the well-placed(if arguably plentiful) checkpoints. In ways, this is less hard than the others(on the other hand, it is challenging, yes, also on the easiest setting, of the three for puzzles and four for action... yep, adjustable difficulty, so anyone can play this). It's about as long as the first one(in general, it takes a bit of inspiration from it... including in a way that I'd have preferred it didn't, but I understand that others did want that; you should definitely try to play the original one before this, you will appreciate it on another level), but the well-done puzzles seem simpler(that, or I'm getting better... and I tend to think it's the former, not the latter; meanwhile, this has the greatest riddle-solving system yet), if there may be about the same amount of them. On the other hand, this one may have about twice as many types of creatures. They are grotesque and nightmarish again, and this time, a few are downright bizarre in appearance, resembling nothing that we can recognize. All of the design is impeccably done. This again uses our own imagination in conjunction with the unnerving sights and audio to build up the psychological terror. The atmosphere is chilling, carefully established and maintained throughout, by the grisly sights and the incredibly well-done and meticulously crafted sound-side that is either shocking or hinting, never noisy or dull. This has amazing music, if there may be more lyrics than earlier in the series; then again, they are fantastic, and like the second, this does, as it needs to, distinguish itself(without deviating so much that we get alienated), they can't all be carbon-copies, they have to do something new. This hits the nail on the head in that regard. The plot is marvelous, if not as deep as that of SH2. I refuse to give it away. The story-telling is well-done(I swear to you, I was literally touched a handful of times during this, not only scared) with you finding details as you go along, and then the scripted, in-engine cut-scenes(there are no CGI ones in this one, and they are not missed), with a free cinematography(with that said, were there an excess of shots from below the protagonist, or was that just me?), a wide range of animations and rather articulated faces and the like(I do not personally find the introductory movie as compelling as the other two, perhaps that is only me... it might be the pop song, if I will grant that it's sufficiently sad in tone). This has astonishing graphics, and the lighting, shadows and weather effects(love the "grain") are brilliantly done. You now play as Heather, a teenage girl not afraid to speak her mind. I wasn't bothered by the gender in the least, and her personality isn't irritating(I've yet to come across a single obnoxious person in this franchise up to this point); however, her vocabulary, well, fits her age, and it does take away from the mood when something is called/described using words like "boring", "gross" or "yuck". Well, it didn't bother me enough to take me out of it, even briefly. All of the characters are credible, diverse and well-developed, and there are so few of them that you remember everyone and they all matter, none of them can be left out with no impact. Vincent is one of my favorites of all three games. The acting tends to be magnificent. This is instantly engaging and quite exciting. It takes a while before you realize what exactly is going on, without this losing any of its gripping tension. It is a cinematic experience with its strange, interesting and effective angles, and the dynamic camera that you can exert limited control over. The button for this can get you third person view, and that is invaluable in this. It won't work everywhere, still, it will when you have to, as the video-game won't always automatically do so. One thing I suppose one could say is that the enemies can be frustrating, to an extent not seen before this entry. And there are a lot of weapons, if not any that are superfluous. I've heard complaints about the Uzi... well, can *you* use it constantly? Besides, these are not about the combat. The lead now turns her head at nearly everything you can interact with, which at best takes getting used to, at worst is an annoyance. They split up Enter and Use into separate functions... not sure why. There are several endings and other things to unlock. This revisits areas from the previous incarnation, though they do new things with them. Several of your surroundings are creepy places to begin with, like a subway station and train. You now see the elevator as its moving, another of the countless eerie situations in these. It's all so abandoned, so close to quaint, and yet absolutely not. The interface remains unchanged as it should be, and once you are used to the directional keys(shouldn't take long), the way you move in this is rather intuitive, and you can get into this almost immediately. This does tinker with game-play mechanics a tad, all improvements. You can run a nice and fitting distance before tiring, for example. There are immense loads of brutal, bloody, strong violence and disturbing content, as well as a little sexuality in this - you should be able to figure out pretty quickly if you can handle it or not. I recommend this warmly to any fan of the other ones, and of other smart survival horror VG's. An acquired taste that ages like a fine wine, and that I wouldn't dream of doing without. Return to Silent Hill... if you dare. 10/10

There are games you long to play and games you both long for and fear at the same time. Silent Hill 3 is one of the later. Survival horror genre was invented so many years ago with the great Alone in the Dark. Resident Evil rewoked what seemed to be dead. A great game but in comparison to Silent Hill, its a game for great old grandma. Silent Hill 3 is the latest in the serie and the best imo. You take control of 17 years old Heather, a girl that looks like a ordanary girl with sleep disabilitys, maybe even drug use.

She´s agressive, maybe a little neurotic and totally unware of what hell could look like. We who have played the earlier Silent Hill games know to well. The game consists as earlier of two worlds. One dark and gloomy real world, or is it real? When you walk around you may found stuff that doesnt fit in. Like doors in a corridor, maybe to small or to big. Giving a feel of surealism. Nothing you can pinpoint all the time but its there. Its often pitch black where you walk. And the only light you have is from a lousy chestpocket flashlight. Luckily the batterys never run empty. This world is far more scary then what you see in the Resident evil games, mostly because of the darkness.

The other world, makes the first world look like a paradise with little cute rabbits jumping around, peacefully eating flowers and stuff. The other world, is some alternative world. Full of dirty metalgrates. rusty walls with blood patterns. Sometimes the walls itself is made of flesh and blood. Ofcourse just as dark as the first one. In the other world, you could never trust that what you see really exist. Maybe just some mad hallucinations. However the creatures living there exists.

Its been 2 days since i played it last time. And in a few minutes i will continue. I really recomend this game but for your own mental health, you should be around 18 or more and not of weak heart. If Silent Hill 2 had a Sado-machocistic theme with grotesque monsters like the pyramid head the 3´rd have a more blasphemous theme from a religous view. Monsters are well done and the graphics supreme everything seen in Silent Hill 2. You can also turn of the disturbing grain noice effect and even sharpening the texture. The result are a better view. You can also add more blood to the game, witc i did!

Graphics: 10 (Cant really be better on a Ps2) Sound: 9 (Would have given 10 if it wasnt for the pathetic walk sounds) Gameplay: 9 Value: 8 (Rather short but you can replay it with extras)

I´ll give it a 10! If you have the guts you should get this one! A true classic and the best Silent Hill yet!

I rented this game and played it at my friend's house yesterday. This is a very well done game. Maybe because it was so dark that the game seemed extra freaky, but when you enter the small rooms and it is so dark, and so silent...I am just on the edge of my seat, waiting for something to just pop out.

The graphics, while not being as good as "Final Fantasy X's", were very realistic, especially the shadows of the creatures and the girl. The monsters were also very well done; their movements smooth and agile. This game is truly one of the best horror adventures I have seen in a long time. 9/10.