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The Foggy Files #3 – Silent Hill 1: Aftermath & Silent Hill 3: Mall Violence

Previously on ‘The Foggy Files’…
I finished a play through of Silent Hill 2 HD (PS3).
I finished a play through of Silent Hill 1 on (PSOne).
I began a play through of Silent Hill 3 HD (PS3).
I began a play through of Silent Hill: Shattered Memories (PSP).


Hold on tight and brace for impact!

I really don’t like Silent Hill 3. I know this may sound like blasphemy to the Silent Hill Nation, but it’s true. Before you gather your pitch forks however, I should explain that this is my initial reaction after only a couple of hours of playing, and the same thing happened when I began playing Silent Hill 1, but after finishing that game, I completely changed my mind and then loved it. I’m sure the same thing will happen with Silent Hill 3. I don’t think SH3 is a bad game at all, but compared to the Silent Hill1 and 2 opening, this one made me feel a bit frustrated.

You see, the thing that grabbed me about the first two games is that you start off exploring a small town, kind of like Grand Theft Auto but smaller. Once you start exploring the foggy world, you make your way to destinations on your map, typically buildings, which then put you on the typical door-to-door item gathering and back tracking meta-game that survivor horror games were known for in the past. The thing is that I really don’t like it when there is “too much” of this “find-the-key” puzzles everywhere. I like to have the key searching and puzzles broken up by some ‘down time’ in between. And Silent Hill 1 and 2 both do this. There are puzzles and item searches, but there is down time when you travel to your next destination.

This is the issue I’m having getting into Silent Hill 3. You don’t start off in a foggy town and look for destinations. You start off locked up in a mall. A very large mall and the typical door-to-door search meta-game starts immediately and is longer than usual because the maps in this game seem bigger. Once the mall area is clear, you move on to other important game areas, but it isn’t really broken up at all. As soon as the game starts, and nearly half way through, the game hasn’t let up with the key and door puzzles. There is no “break” between item searches. You are always doing it. Basically the whole game is a non-stop fetch quest.

The format of this games connected linear structure does make it seem more immersive, like you are trapped in a nightmare from the very beginning and it won't let you go. Also, I suppose the designers didn’t want to start the game off the same way as the first two games. Another thing is that this game kind of broke an important rule, in that the ‘Nightmare/Other World’ doesn’t necessarily have to be in Silent Hill anymore or in other words Silent Hill can be anywhere or any town.  This may or may not have been a good rule to break, because the much disliked Silent Hill 4: The Room, didn’t take place in Silent Hill either and kind of broke continuity.

Visually, Silent Hill 3 HD is stunning. The music and sound design are great. I still need to finish it. It's slowly growing on me.

On another note, another game I started playing is Silent Hill: Shattered Memories, which is a re-imagining of Silent Hill 1 and you revisit the areas from the first game in a very interesting way. I’ll discuss more about Silent Hill 3, Silent Hill 1 and Shattered memories in future Foggy Files.

I should mention that the soundtrack and theme song to Silent Hill 3 is superb, awesome and makes me forget about my discontent. 

-asrealasitgets