 Silent Hill 3
The New member of the silent hill family has unleashed. Some parts of this game may be considered violent or cruel, we're warned up-front. I guess the old, "This game contains violent and disturbing imagery" disclaimer wasn't penetrating the denser patches of end-user.
For those who have played 1 or 2 in the series may think the Silent Hill quality bubble simply has to bust one of these days - thankfully, we're not there yet. Silent Hill 3 is finally here... and while it's not any kind of gameplay revolution, it's the best, most polished and creepiest of the series.
It also gives us an entirely new protagonist: Heather, a teenage girl. She's not a cop or a special agent, not some oversexed cartoon, and certainly not much of a badass. Truth is, she looks pretty awkward and uncomfortable, especially the first time she holds a gun. The fact that a computer-generated character can actually look "awkward and uncomfortable" at all is some kind of tribute to the game's designers, whom from the beginning have made a point of giving us ever more human and believable heroes. It makes the ensuing darkness and horror all the more threatening by contrast... and creators Akira Yamaoka and Masahiro Ito damn well know it. Much has remained mechanically true to the series (the menus, the difficulty levels, the viewpoint), but Silent Hill 3 boasts improvements across the board. Despite the fact that its first few hours are still a bit sparse, it's more what pop-psychologists call "evened out." While Silent Hill 2 took a longish, empty time to get rolling -- too long for some -- Silent Hill 3 is more action-intensive throughout, and immediately finds Heather in an "amusement park" that blasphemes the very term. It's a nasty place any way you look at it - never before has so much visual wrongness been squeezed out of momentary glimpses of stuffed animals. Previous Silent Hill players may recognize the place, while some may only think they do. The hell of it is, they're both right.
However, as with many of us, Heather's journey really begins to take shape at the local mall. And it's no surprise in a horror game that things have to really go wrong someplace. It's also no industry secret that those who run afoul of the Silent Hill universe begin to see the comfortable, normal world erode without warning (the designers have obviously seen films like Jacob's Ladder more than a few times)... and to watch its corroded, nightmarish doppleganger begin to seep through.
After the mall, the game finds its groove in earnest. The series has always been kinda stingy with the weaponry, but this time the selection is more dramatic (maybe there's a Big 5 in that mall?). In addition to pipes and a less-than-ideal knife, Heather will have access to some serious weapons. These include a shotgun, an Uzi, a stun-gun and even a katana. She can also "beef up" her arsenal with a veritable banquet of... dried jerky strips?
Any game that purports to be Serious faces the hurdle of story-driving cinematics and, more particularly, voice-acting. Even Silent Hill 2 -- a thunderously frowning game on the thematic side, compared to most around it -- was afflicted with some stilted deliveries. Silent Hill 3 isn't completely free of this plague, but fares better. It's also gone back to its roots in terms of sheer overall nastiness and gore - just the way some monsters move is visually disturbing and, after a while, even the very walls are bleeding.
What's more, the game even offers a soundtrack featuring oddities like dub-based mixes, rock-heavy tracks, actual vocals, and the sorts of wavery background that some of us have come to call "ambient space-pudding" music. At first some of it seemed jarring and out of place... but it makes sublime sense when one considers the new, younger main character. The recurring musical themes of Silent Hill are woven expertly even into the new, more raucous content.
Environmental audio, too, is high-calibre; if you're geared for surround sound -- and are hardcore and/or stupid enough to actually play the game with the lights off -- Silent Hill 3 is filled with inspired, awful things you never want to hear in real life. Akira Yamaoka is a genius. And a very sick, sick man.
None of which means squat if the game isn't spooky, right? Long story short, it is. It's disturbing. It's messed-up. It's creepy as hell. Once again, the world is crawling with awful, awful Things the eye can almost identify, and there seem to be a lot more of them this time. Some of these bad things you can simply outrun or otherwise avoid, as you should. Later on, there will be cramped-quarter situations where a fight is unavoidable, as well as "boss" monsters.
Silent Hill is a paranoid place; sometimes the system helps, sometimes it doesn't. Puzzles make more sense, and seem to mesh naturally with their surroundings. When it's not possible to run, the close-in combat is better, and you can continually dodge and shoot around your foes if you want to... or if you have to. The camera has its hiccups, but you can usually realign it. Heather will help you out with key items by casting her gaze toward them, so keep a close eye on her. Most of all, watch whatever you shoot. Silent Hill is a horror movie brought to life... and horror movies have taught us nothing if not that, by God, we should make sure something is dead before letting our guard down.
"By God." That's another thing - there's a lot of religion floating around here, in a very present (but once-removed) way that seems to largely skip over the second game's themes and harkens back to the first Silent Hill. It's not preachy or obnoxious but it's THERE, like a staring totem in your living room. You watch it... and after a while, it starts watching YOU. In terms of concept, Silent Hill 3 is head and shoulders -- and whatever else -- above your typical zombie-through-the-window gun-fest.
Don't misunderstand us: We love mindlessly shotgunning zombie brains into spattered Jackson Pollocks on the walls as much as the next group of sickos. But that sort of game almost always ends when you cut the power to your PS2, turn off all the lights, and go to sleep. Silent Hill 3, on the other hand, is just waiting for you to have some time and darkness in which to reflect. |
