Masters's Silent Hill 3 review

You liked this one a bit more than me. I agree with you that the graphics and sound are great (one of my favorite rooms in the SERIES was the one where Heather's mirror image gets frozen in place as the blood flows over everything), but there were some areas... Just thinking of that "funhouse" where you have to battle the controls to stay ahead of the light that will kill you if it catches you pisses me off. It's a rip-off of the Pyramid Head chase through the hospital in a way, but it replaces a mysterious, iconic adversary with...a light. LAAAA---ZEEEEEE!

I've been thinking that I at least have to replay 2 at some time, as it was the haunting one that stuck with me. You mentioning it here just reinforced that.

I just got SH2 off ebay last week and have begun replaying it. I do recall that there was way too much running, but I tried it today for the first time in years... and man was that an understatement. The first ten minutes is just running aimlessly and there's nothing you can do about it.

Great review, Marc!

I agree with you on the downward spiral. I liked SH3 quite a bit, but knew that soon after that it was going to fall apart unless Konami did something.

So they made SH4, and I wanted to cry.

Thanks, Joe!

Haha, they did something alright. They gave up on the series. Wasn't SH4 originally planned as another game entirely, and they pulled a Super Mario Bros. 2 and just rebranded it? Weak sauce. (Although it did work out in the case of SMB2.)

That's right. I forgot about exactly how long the intro segment to SH2 is. Run along a road, run through a cemetery or some ominous location. The first time I played it, I was all creepin' too, because it was a creepy locale and I figured a giant vagina monster with sharp teeth would jump out at James at any time. So, this was a LONG trip for me. Then you get in town and aimlessly wander around around you get to a weird, shambling chap who you decide to follow to have a friendly chat with, only to find it's an insane abomination that needs killed. Even if you know exactly what you're doing, that'll take a long time. If it's your first time with the game, you'll probably take 30 minutes creeping through just knowing some eldrich horror is going to take your head around the next corner.

In a way, there's a neat vibe about SH2, though. It starts out so slow and mundane. You're going around streets that are pretty vacant (a few easily dodged foes) and the first couple dungeons are pretty forgettable, other than a few imagery things. But the game just gradually gets more dark and ominous and after a while, you feel like you're the one in that hellish purgatory. The prison was creepy as hell and that one late-game area where you're just dropping through holes to get from one corridor to the next just had this "descending to hell" feel.

This was a great review. Makes me want to play Silent Hill, since I never have.

I really liked the comparisons to the earlier games, especially for how they illustrated the changes and downhill slide and such.

Rob: you know you've been playing RPGs too much when you call the areas in Silent Hill games, "dungeons." =D

But yeah, it's a long slog to get the game going, but chalk that up to establishing atmosphere, I guess.

That said, even the subsequent important areas, like the apartments are WAY too drawn out.

EDIT: Thanks, Leslie. =D

http://n4g.com/news/718326/honestgamers-review-silent-hill-3/com

You don't know what you're talking about!

Apparently I'm supposed to trick myself into believing it's the early 80s when playing Pac-Man.

I love how it's always about "do I agree with this person or not... if no, BAD REVIEW, if yes, AWESOME REVIEW!"

Yeah, seems like I see a lot of griping on that site, and usually about review score. ZOMG! They gave Uncharted a 9 and not a 10? Injustice!