Silent Hill

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.

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.

Silent Hill is by far the creepiest and most disturbing video game ever to grace a gaming consol. Taking you deep into the abandoned Town, the game uses amazing lighting effects and frightening sounds to play on the gamers nerve. Whether it be a sudden crashing noise, the quiet eerie sound of static, the ring of sirens, or the simple sounds of a creaking old house, Silent hill manages to find any way possible to scare the gamer... and it does it in a big way.

The story follows Harry Mason as he is driving to the resort town of Silent Hill with his daughter Cheryl for vacation. Late during a mysterious woman jumps out in front of the car, causing Harry to panic and veer offroad. His car slams into the side of a big tree, knocking him out in the process. When Harry awakens a thick fog lingers about him and his daughter Cheryl is missing. Scared and confused he stumbles about, entering the town of Silent Hill.

Everything about his game is brilliant. Instead of being a typical zombie blasting, monster smashing horror game, Silent Hill focuses on the little, more disturbing things. Take for example the most simplistic chill of the game. Harry is standing in the derelict school when a toy phone rings, picking it up he hears his daughter Cheryl crying and pleading to him on the other end of the phone. While it may sound dumb in writting, when actually viewing the sequence, you cant help but shudder at the thought of what may be happening to her. In your explorations you will come across six key lcations: the School, the Hospital, the Church, the Docks, the Amusement Park, and the Sewers, all of which have their own horrifing secrets. I myself got most creeped out in the Sewers. Imagine yourself trudging through a disgusting tunnels in pure darkness, when all around you hear is gurgling noise of a creature and your own heartbeat. And at any moment it may attack you. But from where? You can barely see anything. Belive me when I say I nearly jumped out of my skin every time a creature jumped out or sewer grating dropped out from beneath my feet.

If your looking for a REALLY good scare, rent Silent Hill, turn off all the lights, and cuddle your favorite teddy bear. It is THE best survival-horror game ever. Every town has its secrets, some are just darker than others...

With movie companies wanting to turn games into celluloid, why can't they do it for games that deserve such a distinction. Tomb Raider, Super Mario Brothers and what not were horrible. The industry finally got it right when they made Resident Evil. So now its time to give Silent Hill its due.

As for the game, it was one of the few that ever got my heart racing. The music added so much atmosphere to the game, and the never ending stream of bad guys made my skin crawl a few times. When I get the Playstation 2, I'm going to purchase Silent Hill 2. I highly recommend this game, and its best you get yourself the players guide.