Silent Hill [Playstation, PS1]
by Konami
![Silent Hill [Playstation, PS1]](/images/Silent-Hill-Playstation-PS1-B00001XDUB-L.jpg)
Our Price: $199.99
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Category: Video Games
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Product Summary
Author: KonamiBrand: Konami
Audio: English (Subtitled); English (Original Language); English (Manual)
Published: 1999
Platform: PlayStation
Publisher: Konami
Video Game Reviews of Silent Hill [Playstation, PS1]
Customer Review: Enter Silent Hill if you dare
Summary: 5 Stars
What a perfect day to review a dreary, scary classic video game. This is one of those rainy, cold and windy April days. We have them every year. After being teased with exceptionally warm weather a couple days ago, days like today make you realize how lucky you are to experience warmer than normal temperatures. I could sit here and talk about the weather all day (and I probably will after this review is finished) but it's time to review a game that was groundbreaking at the time of its release. A game that was VERY disturbing then, and just as disturbing today.
For those of you older gamers who've been playing games way before Silent Hill was released, I bet you've played games that had their share of creepy moments- a certain memorable level in a video game that you've always felt uncomfortable exploring because you just didn't think you'd be able to calm your nerves when you arrive to that area of the game. Come on now, you can tell me it's "just a video game" but when everyone leaves your bedroom, and it's just YOU in front of your TV screen playing a video game late at night, you're bound to come across SOMETHING in SOME game that will frighten you. Now imagine if an ENTIRE game featured TOTAL nonstop adrenaline-pumping fear. A game that strikes fear inside of you like no other. We're talking about a game that forces you to think about death, and really frightens that little part inside of your head that you thought had been permanently laid to rest once you entered your teenage years. This game brings back every childhood fear and then adds some more.
This is truly a game for the strong-gutted. It's true that the level of fear in this game is so high that you will constantly be looking over your shoulder whenever you begin to feel frightened- you will be looking down the hallway of your home and looking out the window to make sure nothing is there. You want to make sure all those noises you are hearing are coming from the game and not under your bed or somewhere else in your home. I never thought it was possible to create fear in such a way and pull it off successfully in a video game, but that's what Silent Hill is all about. Believe it or not, I really think this game is scarier than any movie I've ever watched, and that includes classics like the Exorcist and the Ring. That's because, in the world of video games, you can picture yourself as the main character (Harry) and picture what it must be like for him to visit a town like Silent Hill and the amount of fear that must be going through both you and Harry. You see, because you, the gamer, are controlling Harry, it's not just Harry going through the dreaded town of Silent Hill by himself, it's YOU and Harry. You two have to stick together and make it out alive. Both of you have to put those scary feelings aside and progress through the game.
There's a little something that makes this game even scarier- the sound of hearing an enemy coming closer to you but not being able to find it. Many times it will be too late and the enemy will have found you first, and you'll take an unexpected blow. That's not to say the game is a frustrating experience with enemies coming out of nowhere cheap-shotting you, but occasionally it will happen, and this makes the game a LOT of fun. It makes the atmosphere so real and intense you can almost taste it. If you like entering the world of survival horror and thriller movies, this is the game for you.
Just picture this- you're walking down a street in an empty town. It's snowing, and it's quiet all around you. Suddenly you hear wings flapping far off in the distance. You stop dead in your tracks. The sound becomes louder and louder as *something* gets closer and closer to you. You quickly check all around you to try and see if you can find where that sound is coming from, but you don't see anything. A scream is heard from far away, a demon-like scream, and then another louder scream soon follows. Before you know it, you see giant flapping wings right above you, attacking your head. Your instinct is to defend yourself, but when you turn and aim the gun, the enemy is nowhere to be seen. You continue to hear flapping sounds and prepare yourself for another round with the beast. But the sounds get softer and softer until they disappear. You ask yourself "is it gone, is it over???" while continuing to hold your gun in the air. Sometimes during these moments the enemy WILL be gone, other times it will trick you into thinking it's gone but then come back for another fight. And this is just in the DAYTIME part of the game! Imagine how much harder and more frightening this battle becomes when the sky suddenly turns dark and the enemies want to come out and play. That's what makes the game so great- you just don't know what to expect.
Or how about when you arrive to the hospital? You enter a hospital and no one is around. Once again, everything is quiet. It's not so scary, but it's definitely eerie, and it makes you cautious. You think about what might be ahead of you. You don't want to explore this hospital but you HAVE to if you want to finish the game. You look outside the hospital window to see snow still falling to the ground, just as it was before you entered the hospital. Not so scary, but MAYBE I would feel better if I could find someone. This hospital is just a LITTLE too empty for me!
You explore all the rooms, find some clues, and arrive to an elevator. You click to go to the third floor but the door is locked, so you have to go back. You try the second floor and once again, you can't go through the door so you have to go back to the elevator. You think to yourself "okay, this is just strange". Back inside the elevator, for some unexplainable reason, a 4th floor suddenly becomes an option, so you go there. You ask yourself "was that 4th floor ALWAYS there?" This time, when you come out of the elevator the door isn't locked, and you're allowed to enter the floor. Once you enter that floor you WISH that calm, snowy daytime scenery from a few moments ago was still around because now you're in a dark haunted hospital surrounded by nurses with knives constantly slashing at you, floors that have been turned into gates and dreary walls soaked in blood all over every room in the hospital, and the music that plays here is simply amazing the way it makes you think about blood just waiting to ooze from all over the place. It scares you so much you just want to throw up, and there's no avoiding it- you can't turn back now. It's a total nightmare!
I know the Playstation's old graphics look dated by todays standards and many people have a problem with them, but this game is an exception because the grainy graphics really add more fear and excitement to the game. It makes it so, no matter where you go, you're surrounded by this world of dreariness. The level of fear doesn't let up at ALL throughout the entire game- you are forced to either get used to it or else turn off the game if you can't handle it. I honestly believe there's nothing to be ashamed of if you can't handle it. Many people can't watch horror movies because after the movie is over and they turn the television off, they're afraid of the silence. Every little sound they hear after the movie is over will make them jump and yell "what was THAT!!"
Silent Hill features a variety of fears- you have the "boogeyman in the closet/sleeping with the light on" type of fear, and the other major and more dangerous "please don't make me think about death because I don't know what happens when I die" type of fear. It's important to realize, no matter how frightened you may be, in the end you're only playing a video game. I don't want anyone to go crazy letting the amount of fear in Silent Hill get the best of them, and walk around all day light-headed and nervous. It's just a game (and you may think I'm exaggerating, but I'm honestly not- it's very well possible Silent Hill could bother you days after you play it).
But you have to give a lot of credit to all the people that brought this game to the Playstation- they set out to make the ultimate psychological horror experience, and they succeeded. It was groundbreaking at the time because no other game company at the time dared to attempt to turn up the amount of horror that this game offered. It was revolutionary in the world of video games. With all due respect to Capcom and the Resident Evil series... those games are fantastic and a lot of fun, but Silent Hill made the amount of fear so high that many gamers are afraid to not only play it, but even THINK about it.
I think the one thing that makes the experience so overwhelming is the music. In the final level of the game you will come across some atmospheric parts that sound exactly like an evil wind blowing right by you (and I mean YOU, not Harry Mason). That's an incredible sound right there. I'm not someone who usually exaggerates but the creators of this game may have surprised themselves with this constant flow of creepiness!
Silent Hill also offers plenty of other things. A good (but confusing) story, plenty of enemies to shoot with your three guns (or smash with your hammers and swords) and fantastic attention to detail in every area of the game. Truly deserving of 5 stars.
Description of Silent Hill [Playstation, PS1]
This is the game Silent Hill for the Playstation 1. This game may not come with the original case and instructions. We stand by our products and offer a 60 day guarantee. If a game does not work within 60 days from the time you receive it we will gladly exchange it for you.A downright creepy "survival horror" title, Silent Hill succeeds where most Resident Evil-inspired titles suck: keeping you hooked and instilling you with fear throughout the game. Players are cast as Harry Mason in his desperate search for his daughter, who mysteriously disappeared after their car crashed into a gully outside of a desolate resort town.
The 3-D environments in Silent Hill are bathed in fog or darkness, making its dismal setting all the more eerie; this also allows for some spectacular lighting effects when using a flashlight in the dark. Granted, there are some pretty coarse graphics being obscured here, but it's a fair trade-off, considering the game's short load times.
Silent Hill is played from a third-person perspective, viewed from both fixed and moving camera angles. As with similar games, the viewpoint can be awkward at times, especially during combat, which here is so clunky that you should try to avoid it whenever possible--something you should do anyway, as this isn't Tomb Raider.
Rather than resort to cheap scare tactics, Silent Hill features a gameplay twist that works very well with its limited visibility environments. Harry carries a radio with him that crackles with static whenever the game's nasties are near, and continues until they're no longer in the vicinity or have been killed off. (Enemies may require further whacking when they're down, as they like to play dead.) Additionally, the supported Dual-Shock controller pulsates in a heartbeatlike fashion whenever you're moderately or seriously injured. --Joe Hon
Pros:
- Suspenseful story with bone-chilling gameplay
- Short load times
- Excellent lighting and fog effects
- Five possible endings add replay value
- Coarse graphics
- Clunky combat
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