Silent Hill

This was the game that catapulted the genre of psychological horror into the video game medium. And my, oh my, what a beginning. I can't quite give this game a 10 simply because its sequel is THE BEST survival horror game ever made, but this is definitely a near-masterpiece. The fact that they were able to pull a game like this off on the PS1 is nothing short of incredible. The graphics, gameplay, story and character development all stand out; I think what impressive me the most about this game at the time, however, was the actual environment of the town itself. We don't think anything about open areas in games these days but at the time this was really mindblowing.

If you somehow haven't played this game, do not be afraid to jump in due to its age. You'll get used to the graphics in no time at all and will find yourself sucked into the game as if it was brand new.

The only reason I finished this game the first time is that my girlfriend kept insisting that I play it to entertain her; even with company it was too freaky for me to play for more than about an hour, and alone? Don't even think about it. The creepiness factor of this game is unbelievable: the soundtrack has only moments of music; mostly it's dominated by industrial machinery or natural wind. The monsters are seriously nightmare-based, ranging from tiny knife-wielding mutant children to nurses with parasites clinging to their backs to these horrific gorilla-like things that jump and make a guttural "Unnh" sound. I mean, it's unbelievable.

There's graphic fog all over this game, but it really adds to the atmosphere, and in all fairness, for a six-year-old PSone game it has remarkable rendering and lighting effects, and some good cutscenes. Of course, the reason to play this game is the sheer psychological terror. Somewhere in Japan, somebody said, "Let's make a video game where everything might or might not be real, where the player probably doesn't have the resources to kill all of the enemies, and where the few interactions with other characters are unnerving and leave you feeling even more lonely than before." By the time you reach the "Nowhere" section at the end of the game, I swear you will be going insane.

Suffice to say that the endings are unsatisfying, but nothing could really sum up a game like this. After playing it once or twice for real, do yourself a favor and get the procedure for the "UFO Ending"; it'll help calm your nerves and keep the whole thing in perspective.

Truly a unique game.

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...

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.