Silent Hill is a name associated with the all-time greats of horror games. It is not secret that the series has inspired many new scares from budding developers. Most people look at it as the series that defines horror games, along with the likes of Resident Evil, Clock Tower, Fatal Frame, and System Shock. I wish to delve into the franchise a bit due to this.
The first game in the Silent Hill series was released on the Playstation in 1999. With visuals partially inspired by Jacob’s Ladder and the feeling of being alone, isolated. It was a creepy game with (at the time) good visuals. The ever present fog that hid the limitations of the system adding that much more fright to the game. We knew that this was a series to watch.
Fast forward to the sequel released in 2001. A new, stronger, system promised more scares and better visuals. For the most part, this was correct. The Silent Hill creators struck gold again, making children collectively wet their pants and become more afraid of the hospitals and being alone.
Now, some 19 years later, I wanted to see how well the game had aged. I can say now without a doubt it aged well in some areas, poorly in others. To start, I must state I did play the game both with the original disc and system as well as the compilation collection for Ps3. My opinion is not swayed from either.
First, the graphics. Though at the time these graphics blew people’s minds, today they are muddy and a bit washed out with some texture popping and all together blocky models. This isn’t necessarily a bad thing; but it is not really a good thing. Though the fog, once again, covers a lot of the graphical issues, the cutscenes in game (non pre-rendered) show how low res a lot of them are. It is something that can be ignored by people who grew up with them; but younger audiences may find them hard to look at. That being said, the monsters look creepy still (even more so with the thought that they would look like this now) with their jagged appearances and stuttering movement.
Second, the sound. The music and sound effects are simply amazing. They could be used in a more modern game and it would work just the same. The music is atmospheric and brings the feeling of dread, when it is used at least as a large portion of the game is in relative silence. The sound effects themselves are creepy and jarring as can be, giving you the feeling of things crawling on you as you play. Nightmare fuel for sure. However, not ignoring the elephant in the room, the voice acting is sub-par. It is no secret that the game came out when voice acting in games was not the best thing in the world. It was not terrible (looking at you Resident Evil); but it was not even B-movie grade in most places. The re-release did have some issues with some sounds being louder than they should be; but the re-recorded voice acting was just as bad.
Third, the story. The story would have to be the part that will never age. A (spoiler) man handling the grief of his dead wife, who he killed to release her from her sickness and pain. The same man now stuck in a town filled with creatures of his, and others, guilt and inner torment. It is a masterpiece that could have made a wonderful film (don’t watch the Silent Hill films). I would say, ignoring a few plot holes, this is a great story that will make you look at your own thoughts a bit more critically.
Fourth, the gameplay. No and yes. More no than yes. The controls are atrocious, in many cases hindering you to death or frustrating you. The camera barely functions, the movement is like driving a remote control tank with a broken controller, and the options in the pause menu to change how they function just points that they knew the controls were bad. The puzzle aspect is rather clunky, though the clues are well done; but the notes system is not as well defined. Scrolling through notes or having to remember a throwaway line or document piece for some of them. This does exist even in modern games though, so that might just be my own problems with puzzles. The combat is clunky as well, with its only saving grace being the lock on mechanic and ranged weapons. The weapon attacks are slow and easy to miss with the aforementioned camera issues. The traversing of the map, back tracking, blindly wondering, and maze like buildings (sometimes) make the game feel like a real town; but the blocked off areas seem to coral you to where you need to go as much as they can. This takes away from the exploring of the creepy town and things.
All together the game is worth playing now, no doubt about it. I would say it is one of my favorite horror games (yes I like it more than the first one sue me). There is no need to play the first game to understand this one, as it is a separate story than the first one as well. I will state that the compilation (at least the Ps3 one) makes the game almost unplayable at times with broken inputs and other glitches. The game has aged well enough to be approachable, even more so now with the ps1 style horror games being made today.
5 potatos