Silent Hill/THE BITTER END: A Survival Horror and Gaming Community

SILENT HILL

By Fury Of Polaris

Introduction

In 1999, Konami put forth a game to match Capcom's survival horror hit, Resident Evil. The key difference was in the atmosphere of both games. Instead of putting you in the shoes of a trained soldier/policeman in the midst of a zombie invasion, Silent Hill places you in the role of a thirty-two year old author, lost in a town where reality no longer matters.

Story - 10

While on their way to the summer resort town, Harry Mason and his daughter Cheryl are involved in a terrible car accident. Upon awakening, Harry finds his daughter missing, the streets empty, and the town itself shrouded in a deep mist and snowfall. Harry sets out in search of his daughter while slowly unraveling the dark secrets that lie within Silent Hill.

Gameplay - 8

The controls for Silent Hill, like many other survival horror games, take a while to get used to. But in my opinion, it just takes some getting used to. The bulk of the game can be divided into two different sections: The action and the puzzles.
Like other games in the genre, health items and ammo for weapons is scarce, besides which, Silent Hill provides players with a variety of melee weapons, so quite a bit of your battles are up-close and personal with the abominations that lurk in the darkness and mist. Players seeking a challenge may be disappointed in the fact that there is no limit on how many items you can carry in your inventory, unlike Resident Evil, but I personally find that this doesn't make the game easier, simply more convenient.
The puzzles are another key part in Silent Hill. There are occasionally points where you must simply gather keys and use them at the right doors, but often times there are riddles involved, pushing you to use your mind to get through the game.

Graphics/Sounds - 10

While the graphics themselves are not great, they are on par with other games that came out around the same time. However, the visuals make up for the lack of spectacular graphics. The details all over the abandoned town help contribute more to the atmousphere of the game than even the monsters do at times. The rusty, blood-stained walls... The burned, mutilated corpses that sometimes appear directly before you, sometimes distantly in the gloom...The expansive blackness that lurks below you when you're traveling through the dark, nightmarish version of Silent Hill... It all comes together to form a truly terrifying setting, especially combined with the music.
Akira Yamaoka, the composer for the Silent Hill series, has quite the fan following. The songs are often calm, mellow, and even beautiful but contrasted by loud, grating, industrial sounds that are actually a part of the songs. I cannot think of a single piece of music thrughout the game that did not perfectly fit the moment.

Scare Factor - 10

Silent Hill is truly one of the most terrifying games out there, to this day. The monsters that hunt you are well-designed; Nightmares come to life. As previously mentioned, the music and visual setting of the game draws you in, leaving you feeling unsettled and unsafe for some time even after the game has been turned off.
Quite simply, this is not a game for those who scare easy.

Replay Value - 9

With 5 different endings and several unlockable items to gather in multiple playthroughs, Silent Hill is definitely the kind of game that you will be playing over and over again. Even after unlocking everything, you can push yourself to achieve a higher ranking each playthrough. Not to mention, with a game as wonderful as this, why wouldn't you want to play it again?

Overall - 10 (Not An Average)

Silent Hill is perfection in the Survival Horror genre. It creates the genuinely terrifying experience that lets you live out somebody's darkest nightmares, with a story that drags you in and lets you create your own theories and decide for yourself what is real and what isn't. If you're new to the genre and want to see just how scary a video game can be - Silent Hill should be at the top of your list.

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