psycho_gamer's Full Review: Silent Hill 3 for PlayStation 2
I'll admit it, I'm a sucker for a good scare. My favorite movie of all time is Halloween and I love that uneasy feeling you get when watching something frightful and unordinary play itself out. That being said, it's no surprise that one of my favorite series of video games is Silent Hill. Ever since I played the first one back in 1999, I was instantly hooked on its surreal story and otherworldly visuals and sounds.
So naturally, I was first in line on August 5 to pick up Silent Hill 3 when it was finally released in the United States. After a month of wrapping up other games (I'm looking at you Knights of the Old Republic), I finally got around to playing it this weekend and finished up the game last night.
The Story
The Silent Hill series has always been known for it convoluted plots and non sensical endings that leave the gamer wondering what the hell just happened. This is not so much the case in Silent Hill 3 as it actually has an ending that does provide some closure. Which is a first for the series.
The story of SH3 is a direct sequel to the first game (not quite sure where Silent Hill 2 fits into the story time line, and for our purposes here, it doesn't really matter). You play as Heather, a 17 year old typical teenager who likes typical teenager things, like going to the mall and hanging out with friends.
In fact, the game starts out in a mall, how convenient. Soon though, things start to go to Hell as they always do in Silent Hill games. Along the way Heather meets an enigmatic Detective named Douglas who was hired by a mystery person to seek out Heather for reasons unknown. Heather will also meet up with the even more enigmatic Claudia, who, without giving away to much of the story, will provide Heather with the answers as to why she is experiencing the things she is experiencing.
The game is called Silent Hill 3, but that title is misleading for a few reasons. Like I said, it is a direct sequel to the first one and when it's all said and done, most of the answers you were left with after beating the first game are addressed and cleared up in Silent Hill 3, making its more appropriate title that of Silent Hill 2.
It's also misleading because about half of the game isn't even located in Silent Hill, Heather travels there at about the mid point of the story. The other half, she is in another town. Not too big a deal, but I would have liked a little more Silent Hill with my Silent Hill game.
The other gripe I have is the game play time. I beat it in under 5 1/2 hours the first time through. I was on the final boss (didn't really know it was THE final boss) and I said to myself, this can't be the final boss, I feel like I just started playing it. Sadly it was. Now either I have become really good at video games and am able to beat a game the first time through in under 6 hours (usually takes at least 10 for a Silent Hill game the first time through) or this game is sickenly short. I believe it to be the later.
The game play time can be misleading though, as there are multiple endings and it is clear the developers expect you to play through the story multiple times. More on that later.
Graphics
The graphics in SH3 are spectacular rising above those in Silent Hill 2 in most ways. The character models for Heather and all the characters are life like down to the freckles on their faces. Animation is also very well done, though Heather does run like a girl, it's fitting because she is a girl. No harm, no foul.
The shadows and lighting effects rival those seen in Splinter Cell. Shadows grow and shrink as you shine light on the object casting them. A real nice touch.
Also a nice touch are the environments. Extremely well done and extremely graphic in the case of the room made of flesh. Walls will bleed in real time making for a soul shaking gaming experience. The game is, of course rendered in real time 3D, allowing for you to enjoy the game from most any angle you want. It does employ some preset camera angles for effect, but they are far and few between.
The enemies in SH3 are also very imaginative and well, gross. Not quite as menacing and original as those found in Silent Hill 2, but they are still pretty freaky. The bain of my existence is that damn skinless dog like thing that knocks Heather down. I hate that thing. All the enemies animate nicely and offer the unique trademarked gross out factor that Silent Hill enemies are famous for.
Game Play
There are a few game play twists concerning combat, like using beef jerky to distract your foes. (Wha? That's kind of silly), but for the most part, the combat remains tried and true Silent Hill style. That being, run like hell. You can stick around and fight, but the enemies will take an amazingly large amount of bullets to the chest before finally dropping, then they still might be squirming on the ground, requiring you to kick the unholiness out of them once and for all. Your best bet, run right past them and save that ammo for the bosses.
There is a nice variety of weapons to be found in the game. I like the katana myself, but there's also a 9MM, a shotgun, a stun gun, some club/mace type deal and a crowbar. The real manly man weapons get unlocked after you beat the game (more on that later).
Game play is typical survival horror type fare, try each door until you find one that's unlocked, search room for clues, solve puzzle to get to boss, beat boss move to next level. Nothing new or fresh here, but still fun. The puzzles are all pretty easy on the Normal setting requiring not much thought at all. But that is why they make the level of difficulty adjustable I suppose. The only real hindrance is trying to avoid all the enemies while trying to find the next room you need to be in.
The boss battles in SH3 had me shaking my head after the credits were rolling. I honestly only remembered fighting 3 bosses, but on my stat screen afterwards, it gave my fighting time for like 5 or 6 bosses. See, apparently, the boss battles in SH3 are so freaking easy, easier than the normal enemies in some cases, I mistook them for just that, normal enemies. The first boss in the game (on Normal setting) required roughly 7 9MM bullets to kill. Pathetic. The final boss took me 3 minutes to beat and about 10 shotgun blasts and a few lessons from my katana. That's not survival horror, that's just horror. But again, the difficulty can be adjusted, but usually on these types of games Normal setting means somewhat of a challenge. Maybe I'm just really good. Nah.
The designs of the bosses were also pretty unforgettable. Nothing compared to the genius design of them in the second game, or even the first for that matter. The final boss was such a huge disappointment I almost shed a tear. I said almost.
The level designs are pretty good. My favorite is the Haunted House. Nothing says creepy like a Haunted House. You will revisit many locales from other Silent Hill games in this one, like Brookhaven Hospital and the amusement park. They are all logically designed and easy enough to navigate and look damn scary, there's just not enough of them.
Control in SH3 is identical to that of SH2, which is good and bad. Sometimes you can get disorientated and not know which direction you are going, but for the most part after a half hour or so, control becomes second nature. Targeting is again done by pressing the R1 button and firing with the X button. Square makes you run. Triangle bring up the handy and well executed Silent Hill mapping system that is a must for navigation. Pressing Select brings up your inventory menu where you can read memos you've found and look at your items. While it takes some getting used to at first, Silent Hill 3 controls like all the other Silent Hills before them, kind of clunky and not perfect, but not as bad as, oh say, Tonm Raider.
Sound
The sound in SH3 is simply brilliant. The use of dynamic 3D sound makes you hear virtually everything around you despite the quality of your speakers. SH3 continues to play on your emotions a psyche just by its audio track alone. Sheer genius. The voice acting is all well done and delivered like pros, Heather especially.
Bonuses
Bonuses abound in Silent Hill 3 and quite frankly, without some of them, it would be hard to justify full price for this game. Multiple endings increase the game play time. To coerce you into playing through the story again, the developers added super weapons you receive once you beat the game, including an unlimited ammo Sub Machine gun, a Flamethrower, and a lightsaber (they call it a beam saber as to avoid any lawsuits).
To acquire the Unlimited Sub Machine gun, you must beat the final boss using mainly melee weapons. You'll get the flamethrower if you killed most of your enemies by shooting them and you'll get the Beam Saber if you killed more with melee weapons. They are awesome weapons that make the game even easier!
There's also multiple outfits that you can acquire codes for (one code is given to you every time you beat the game) My favorite is the wacky and weird in the japanese kind of way, Transform Costume. Equip this bad boy and a wacky anime type cut scene occurs turning Heather into a fruity looking super hero. Cool to be sure.
Since I am feeling generous, here's a list of codes I have gotten so far for Heathers clothing options. Enter them once you beat the game under the Extra Costume option on the main title screen. Enter them all or as many as you like and start a new game, go to your inventory screen, and all the outfits that you entered codes for will be equipable items. Neat-o!
(These ARE case sensitive, so enter them exactly as they appear)
Costume......................Password
Heather Shirt.................HappyBirthDay
Onsen.........................I_Love_You
Block Head....................PutHere2FeelJoy
Don't Touch...................TOUCH_MY_HEART
God of Thunder................GangsterGirl
The Light.....................LightToFuture
Transience....................ShogyouMujou
Killer Rabbit.................BlueRobbieWin
Royal Flush...................01_03_08_11_12
Golden Rooster................cockadooodledoo
Transform costume.............PrincessHeart
Zipper........................Shut_your_mouth
Game Reactor T-shirt..........SH3_Wrestlarn
Play-shirt....................sLmLdGhSmKfBfH
Also, for fun, if you want to make Douglas only wear his boxers, a tie and a trench coat, once you beat the game, go to the main menu, highlight Extra New Game and press:
up
up
down
down
left
right
left
right
circle
x
(The infamous Konami code) If entered right, once you choose the riddle and combat difficulty levels, Heather will sigh.
Also included is a free soundtrack to the game on a separate CD. Very cool feature, but just avoid the song Hometown, sweet lord that guy cannot sing. Overall though, it's a nice bonus.
Overall
Overall, though it pains me to say it, I was a tad disappointed with SH3. It is still a brilliant game with a brilliant story that finally ties up many loose ends that have been dangling since the first game, but I guess I just liked it so much, I wanted more and then it ended. Since I bought it at full price, it has seen a price drop down to $39.99 everywhere and for that price, it is a definite must buy game if you played and liked the first 2 games or even just the first. It doesn't really offer anything new to the genre, but keeps the same great formula of the other games and ramps it up a notch in a very small amount of time.
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