Silent Hill was released by Konami in January of 1999. It released to major critical acclaim and moderate commercial success. However, Silent Hill revitalized the survival horror genre. It would later see many reiterations and re-releases on the Sony Playstation network. The game took a very different take on the genre. Eschewing the typified action oriented B-Movie feel of a Resident Evil. Silent Hill focused more on psychological terror. Harry is not an elite super cop, he is an "everyman." While he is not totally helpless as he can defend himself, the game was designed to discourage combat. The game itself focused on terrifying the player with dark, suffocating images, versus outright violence or gore. It was there but more subdued, instead it tried to get you to focus on the fear of the unknown. 

Silent Hill is the story of Harry Mason and his daughter Cheryl. While on a vacation Harry swerves to miss a pedestrian in the middle of the highway and crashes into Silent Hill. When he awakes he finds his daughter is missing. The streets are empty and an oppressive fog covers the town. He begins to run in a desperate attempt to find his daughter and escape. However, he will soon find out about the towns dark past and his own associations, with the evil slowly awakening. 

Graphics: Silent Hill met the standards of it's time. It was a good looking game and the limits of the system were hidden by clever use of light mechanics. The game is deliberately designed with a short draw distance. This would usually be the sign of technology not being able to show things in the scope of modern games. Silent Hill uses the limitation as a plot device. You the player can only see so much by design. It helps create an atmosphere of fear and dread. During the day the town is covered in fog, it is oppressive and designed to make the player feel claustrophobic. At night or inside most buildings, there is little to no light. Harry finds a portable pocket light early on and it is his savior. It is the only means of navigating the dark labyrinth  Admittedly a lot of the images are blurry, this is a limit of the technology and software. However, there is still a good amount of detail. The environments sent the tone as the light world has the normal mutable details of an average town. And, the dark world is a wretched place of atrophy, it is a void of decay and horrifying emptiness. 

Sound: Silent Hills track of songs are memorable but play little throughout the story. Instead you are treated to mostly a deafening silence of an empty world. Instead you hear ambiance. It is used to spectacular effect as sounds clearly meant to unnerve you do so. It can be terrifying as you hear the gurgles, moans, and cries of monsters as you try to hide in the darkness. Otherwise the quiet is only broken by the creak of doors, the crashing of unseen objects and other terrifyingly normal sounds. The game also has the iconic fog horn, it still gives me nightmares when I hear it. It signifies the transition into something terrible and nightmarish. It's antithesis is the pocket radio, as it's white static can only be heard by the player. It is used to identify where enemies are, it also serves as a effective generator of tension.Sound in the game is used for dramatic effect and helps to build the tense and frightening atmosphere. Dialogue is handled decently by the voice acting, but honestly there is very little of it. Harry only interacts with other humans very rarely throughout the game. Other than some minor exposition as Harry thinks out loud you don't hear much. This is a good choice as the best character in the game is the town.

Difficulty: Silent Hill is definitely a challenging game. It certain is in the vein of the survival horror genre but takes it to an extreme. Harry has access to a few melee weapons which are his primary mainstay. He does have access to guns eventually but ammo counts are low by design. The game really stresses the notion that Harry is not a Super Cop/Soldier. He can fight well enough in a tight spot but it is generally not recommended. Instead you must utilize the mechanics to avoid enemies. The flashlight helps you to navigate the pitch black darkness of most areas. However, it also shows enemies right where you are. You have to make tough choices about when to turn off the light and risk complete blindness. Sound is similar, gunfire and running will attract enemies you can move slower to help you avoid them. However, this mechanic is not reliable, more a limit of the technology rather than bad design. Either way you will find yourself having to manage your resources intelligently. Gunfire and your light can draw enemies out, you don't have enough to kill them all but maybe you can use it to your advantage. Unfortunately, like its peers the tank controls do add some degree of unfairness of the game. Movement at times requires precision that just was not delivered. You get used to the controls but they always remind you that they are not great. Be ready to feel moments of frustration as this makes boss battles, which require split-second precision, deadly. I died many times in these places to have to go back to an earlier save that consumed a great deal of time repeating completed areas.  

Story: As mentioned before the story is of Harry and his daughter Cheryl seeming to end up in Silent Hill by coincidence. That is not the case. Harry spends much of his time reading in broken excerpts and books about the towns dark past. This is a story of the occult, it is meant to be ambiguous and is told in fragmented entries. You must read; to truly understand the plot. If you don't have the patience to do so, the game is much less meaningful. There are less than 10 human characters in the game. Dialogue is minimal and is cryptic at best. This helps to create a mystique around the town and the situation.It's hard to describe it in any detail without giving away major plot points. But suffice it to say the town is empty for a reason. That reason is twisted and terrible. Among those that remain are factions fighting to take power and cope with the horror that was unleashed in the town.

Depth: At it s heart it is an exploration game. Combined with the horror creates a true depth to the game. You struggle to find your way through labyrinths. You can barely see and the creates an ambiance I have yet to see in other games. There is combat, but it is difficult. You should only really fight when you are backed into a corner and cannot get out. The game wants you to avoid enemies and you must learn how to use the mechanics to your advantage. Buried everywhere are the fragments of information that actually provide in great detail the background of the plot. It is key to understanding the events and becomes just as important to collect as does supplies. The game boasts five different endings. A really good, kind of good, kind of bad, and really bad ending are just the tip of the iceberg. The fifth can only be found  in a new game+ and requires exquisite attention to detail to unlock. 

Addictiveness: The game is a lot of fun if you are fond of the genre, it's atmospheric and cryptic story are it's greatest assets. The multiple endings require that you trigger certain sequences in the story. They are all similar but unique in their own ways. This adds a great deal of replay-ability. It's also nice that in the new game plus you get access to more resources making some of the tedious navigation unnecessary. A lot of the fun is realizing you missed crucial background that details the locations and characters in the game. Which mean you spend some more time trying to discover the journal entries you missed. Really reading is key and it really fleshes out the story. Nothing ever captures the tension of the first play-through. But, that first time can be terrifying. The violence in most cases is subdued. There is gore and grisly sites to see. But, they are  not common and for some that is appreciated. We have a tendency to cater to ultra-violence and that is less scary in most cases.

Overall:  Silent Hill is a genre defining game. Honestly few horror titles struggle to match it's quality, save it's even more terrifying sequel. It suffers limitations of it's time, the technology was used to great effect though. The game is varied, deep and challenging. It requires involvement you don't see from a lot of titles these days. There is little exposition, you must read. However, that can be one of the titles nagging problems. At the time you needed to be a literary savant to understand some of the references; there are frequent truly obscure references to authors, books, short stories and more. That is not so much a problem now given the power of a search engine and easy access to the Internet. Something I didn't have access to in my teenage years. Yet if you spend the time to understand the fragmented logs you will find a depth in storytelling rarely seen. The controls are what kept this game from getting a perfect score. Like I said you get used to them; but, they surely with frustrate you many times. That comes with the territory of some classics.

Great review! I kind of wished you included a number rating system, so we could see right off the bat your opinion, but your summations were so detailed, even mentioning positives and negatives, it was easy to see how you felt anyways. So, nice!

I love this game. I actually played 2 before this one. My friend knew I had only played 2 and made me play this. Everyone talks about how Silent Hill 2 is one of the scariest games ever. Those people should play 1, I thought it was much more creepy.

And since most people compare the Silent Hill series to the Resident Evil series, I usually sum it up like this. In Resident Evil, when a window breaks, you have to fight something. In Silent Hill, when a window breaks, maybe you have to fight something, maybe not, either way, it's terrifying. So, for action/horror games, play Resident Evil. But for straight up horror gamers, play Silent Hill. I like both series. Probably Silent Hill more though.

Again, nice review.

It is not my kind of game, but your review might have convinced me to try it.. a little. Your structure is perfect, you give it ample details and you show that technological limitations were used to the game's advantage at times. However, you do not make many comparisons with Resident Evil other than in the introduction. Are they too different to make comparisons? And how does the game stand compared to other PSX games with respect to graphics and music?

janus : In a way the comparison in minimal. They are games in the same genre and contemporaries but are very different games. I actually did write the review for Resident Evil 2 as well.

janus : I've played most of the games in both series so... For a more in-depth comparison than my previous post. I'll start with a similarity, then tell how they differ.

   In both games, there is an element of puzzle solving. A little more so in SH (Silent Hill). In SH there is even an option to change the difficulty of the puzzles, it has been years since I've played them, but I know for a fact that SH2 has that option.

   In both games, there are weapons to defend yourself against enemies. In RE (Resident Evil), you have a limited space to carry items, including bullets, but you generally have enough ammo to kill most things you see, assuming the difficulty isn't set on the hardest mode. In SH, you never have enough bullets to kill everything you see, it's recommended you save your ammo for boss fights, and try to melee most things. Trust me, when you get good with the Board with Nail weapon in SH2, it's probably the best weapon in the game.

    In both games, there is a horror element. In RE, it relies more on violent imagery, large monsters, and the occasional jump scare. In SH, it relies on more on super creepy atmosphere, large monsters, very disturbing images and cutscenes, and the occasional jump scare.

   In both games, it requires you to search EVERY nook and cranny for files, reports, bullets, keys, and other stuff that helps with the story and advancing through the game. In RE, most important items like keys and weapons will actually give off a shine, allowing you to see it easier. In SH, you pretty much have to just search every inch of every room.

   In summation,l if you want a game that you can just run and gun down zombies (plagas/majeeni in the newer ones), do some puzzles, collect weapons like handguns, shotguns, rifles, assault rifles, grenades, grenade launchers, and much, much more, then try the Resident Evil series. However, if you want a game that doesn't focus on combat, but on incredibly subtle horror and terrifying enemies, tragic story, and multiple endings, try the Silent Hill Series.

   So, I probably could go on a little more, but this is already pretty long. I hope this helps you decide on which game series you might be more interested in, they're both pretty great. I love the action of the RE series, but the masterfully done horror of the SH series.

janus : I realize that I didn't answer you question very well. F. Star did a good job explaining a lot of the differences. I am going to give it another shot. Silent HIll at the time was par for the course in terms of graphics. A lot of companies were struggling with PSX horsepower which really limited things like draw distance. They covered it up with darkness and fog. A lot of people felt the images were blocky and hard to low-res. That is normal for the generation. The music in the game is minimal, but it is good. The game focuses instead on things like atmosphere and noises designed to create fear and tension. The "white noise" of the radio is iconic and is the majority of what you hear throughout the game. Finally if it helps a comparison of movies might help to allude to why the games are different. Alien and Aliens are two very different movies in the same genre. Both are great movies for very different reasons. Silent Hill would be more like Alien and Resident Evil 2 would be more like Aliens. 

Don't see the need to compare Resident Evil and Silent Hill very much, you might as well compare Dragon Warrior/Final Fantasy or Sonic/Mario. Its same genre, different feel. 

As a kid, RE 1 made me drop the controller as my character was suddenly, violently vanquished. 

As a kid, SH 1 made me turn the music down to mute just to get through a deserted light house, just cuz the music was that creepy. 

endings : I think the comparisons are fair for technical points (graphics, music). Even stories can be compared if you talk about its depth.

F. Starr : Since the review talked about RE, I thought there would be more comparisons since both games *seemed* to be very similar. I never played any so I can't personally make the comparison.

janus : I don't see what your sentence does to validate that RE and SH needs to be examined together apples to apples for this particular review, but whatever. Different strokes, different folks.