Silent Hill

Silent Hill is a cross between King's "The Mist" and Barker's "Hellraiser". And it makes excellent use of both. From the very first moments of the game, you are truly scared. There were so many parts where I was like, "Oh no, I don't want to go out there." There was into the foggy streets, on foot, all alone, and there are monsters out there. EEEEK! I've been into horror my whole life and this game totally freaked me out. I think the Hospital area was one of the scariest. Just wait till you have to go into the hospital basement. And you just know you have to go in the morgue, too. Really scary. This is the best horror game I have ever played. It beats Resident Evil hands down. If you love horror games, this one is the best.

Let me get something straight: I don't get scared easily. I've played the first two Resident Evil games without breaking a sweat, I watch Hellraiser and The Exorcist alone at night and think nothing of it.

Then there was Silent Hill... This game isn't just another random bloody horror game like the RE series, it's genuinely disturbing, and let me tell you, it scared me a lot.

It begins with a typical cliche... Harry Mason is driving down a road at night with his daughter, going to visit this little out-of-the-way resort town, Silent Hill. A girl steps in front of his car, he swerves to avoid her, and ends up crashing. From here on, strange things start to happen... Harry wakes up and finds his daughter missing, and stumbling through the mist, he sees her disappearing down a dark alley... I won't say anymore, I'll let you find out what happens.

Not only is this game very dark and scary, it's disturbing at a psychological level. It doesn't use big monsters to frighten you; after playing for only a few minutes, the slightest rustle can make you flee in terror. The plot isn't thrown in your face like other games, you have to think, and you're never really told what's going on - perhaps Harry is in a coma and dreaming all this, or maybe he died and went to Hell. The air of mystery and suspense keeps you hooked until the end, and it'll keep you coming back for more.

And I'll tell you this: After playing Silent Hill, those old WW2 air-raid sirens will never sound the same again...

Forget "Resident Evil" if you want to play a game with lots of scares. "Silent Hill" is the scariest game you will ever play! It's certainly the scariest one I've played anyway. What makes this game so terrifying is the sense of isolation and pure silence. I remember running in the streets, and the music track was purely the wind blowing. Then, the radio(which detects incoming monsters) emits a shrieking noise, letting you know somewhere near you, is a monster silently stalking you. The game is very atmospheric, with fantastic graphics that make "Resident Evil" crummy by comparison. Some of the camera angles move up in the air and then pan down again as you move, making it feel cinematic and dynamic. That kind of stuff blew me away immediately! I never completed this game, because it was too frightening for me to deal with. With some respects, video games are much more terrifying than films, because you are no longer observing. You become the characters, who are plummeted into a nightmarish hell of fear. Sure "Resident Evil" scared me when I first played it, but not like this! This was just too much! Try it out, but God knows how long you can handle it!

I'm going to review it on 4 different parts:

Graphics: The graphics are decent. They aren't anything special by any standards, but lighting is impressive for ps1.

Sound: Sound design is excellent, and the music is incredibly scary and intense. Constantly puts you on edge.

Gameplay: It's pretty good. You walk around dimly lit areas and fight off enemies. Very scary and lots of anticipation, since you never know their location, but you know that they are there. Truly amazing.

Innovation: This is one of the scariest and most unique games ever made, and is in the top 10 ps1 games.

Think you don't find any films or games scary any more? You fancy a scare? If the answer to both of these is yes then you definitely wanna play Silent Hill! Just a piece of advice...

Don't play it alone! The atmosphere in the game, How realistic it is, and whats happening around you all contribute to the best horror game ever, and will probably be the best for a long time to go. The closest i have gotten to being this scared was playing The Suffering on PS2, But that doesn't even touch on the effect this game has on you. You'll be walking along and you'll hear footsteps and nothings there, and it will make you freeze! I've heard many a time that the character you play is not very good at shooting, but thats whats good about it. If you just picked up a gun and aimed at something chances are you wudnt hit it! Also the locations; Hospitals, Schools, Petrol Stations, Apartments, this makes you think its even more real which is the main reason i found it scary. You definitely wont find me in a deserted school any more.

This is my personal equation for the game....

(The Suffering x 100) + The Shining = Silent Hill Seriousely the jumpiness, the atmosphere, the locations all make this the scariest game of our time and even 7 years on, the graphics are still playable... My advice is to play this game with at least 2 other people.

If you do not have the game already you will find its a very hard game to get hold of! My advice is try ebay. I got it on there for £22 yes it maybe 7 years old but for how great this game is its worth every penny! Hope you find my review useful :)