All right, without even picking up a Resident Evil game in the first place, I did see out this game. But the first time I played it, I didn't know what to expect. I first picked it up from a box of games that someone I knew brought over just for me to check out. I played through all of them and saw this one game called "Silent Hill." I've NEVER heard of the game before then, and after reading the name, I actually thought the game took place on top of a quiet hill where nothing would happen (yeah, I know..."what an idiot"). I popped in the disc and went through the usual opening sequence and menus until coming to the actual opening action of the game. Harry Mason (who I at first thought was a woman) is the person you play, but as you go along, the story gets more involved. Now for a comment on each element here...
GRAPHICS: Not the most extraordinary graphics on the PS1, but they do the job. The playfield camera is well done, here, and there are 3 different camera modes to chose from (one can be unlocked after beating the game). These 3 camera modes are: normal (stationary camera that follows you everywhere), search camera (the camera looks ahead and locks onto nearby enemies), and shoulder-view camera (close to 3rd person view; locks onto oncoming enemies, but this mode points out unfinished polygons that you can't see with the other camera modes). There's also one little problem with the graphics engine...low-resolution. The low-rez lines will cloud your television screen greatly, but these low-rez lines are most evident when the game is set in broad daylight. At night (or in dark areas), the low-rez lines are least evident.
SOUND: Very good sound here. This isn't the most thrilling or mind-blowing soundtrack of all time, but it does the job. I personally like playing the game sometimes with the music on 0 volume, but that's just me. It's nice to run around an empty town hearing nothing but Harry stomping around and hearing monsters come after you. You also have a static-producing Radio that emits static when enemies are close-by. It's very useful, but after playing through the game a few times, you'll want to keep the Radio off because you won't be needing it if you know when and where enemies will show up. The Radio doesn't work in the middle of Boss fights, though. The sound is also in Stereo, and that's useful for finding out which direction enemies are in.
GAMEPLAY: It's extremely similar to Resident Evil's play style...you can run, walk, and shoot enemies while keeping an eye on your health status. The only differences are a) you can move while shooting enemies, b) instead of limping around and clutching your stomach if your health is low, the controller will vibrate. The lower you are on health, the more violently the controller will vibrate. And believe me, you WILL know you're dying if the controller vibrates out-of-control. The health system works very much like Resident Evil's, also...green is for "fine" condition, yellow is for "caution" condition, and red is for "danger" condition. Except here, you won't be mixing herbs to refill your health. You will be using health drinks and first-aid kits. Expect end game bonuses, but after playing through the game about 10 times, every playthrough will be pretty much the same.
STORY: Harry's on vacation with his daughter Cheryl until Harry has an accident trying to avoid a mysterious woman who steps out in front of his car on the street. When Harry comes to, it's daytime, snowing, and Cheryl is missing. When you take control of Harry, it seems as though you're doing absolutely nothing but running around looking for her. This is what I thought of at first, too, so it's nothing surprising. You then follow "Cheryl" around the town until she leads you into an alleyway. As you move through the alley, it gets darker, and rain starts to pour (don't try to go back into the town at this point, because the path has been blocked). As you run along, you start running into scary displays, such as an abandoned wheelchair, a bloody hospital gurney, and a corpse hanging on a fence by half-limbs. After investigating it, baby zombie demons lurk out of the shadows, wanting you dead. At this point, you don't know what's going on. If you run back the way you came, it's no use...the path has been blocked by a fence. You have no choice by to succumb to the demons' power, and you wake up in a cafe with a police officer. She gives you a gun, then it's time to save your daughter...or so you hope you will, because the story gets deeper and deeper as you go along (you will meet up with the zombie demons again, but next time, you'll be "better prepared").
Also, this game takes a different approach at horror than RE...RE uses a modern approach...biological terror and military experts save the day. SH follows another line...psychological terror. No evil biochemists here. Instead, everything happens on a logical case, like the result of some cult tradition.
BOTTOM LINE: This game is a classic. You probably won't be surprised with this because of all the other games like it, but it did serve its time well on the PS1. I just wish it were longer. It barely takes 1 hour and 30 minutes to beat. I give it 8/10.
GRAPHICS: Not the most extraordinary graphics on the PS1, but they do the job. The playfield camera is well done, here, and there are 3 different camera modes to chose from (one can be unlocked after beating the game). These 3 camera modes are: normal (stationary camera that follows you everywhere), search camera (the camera looks ahead and locks onto nearby enemies), and shoulder-view camera (close to 3rd person view; locks onto oncoming enemies, but this mode points out unfinished polygons that you can't see with the other camera modes). There's also one little problem with the graphics engine...low-resolution. The low-rez lines will cloud your television screen greatly, but these low-rez lines are most evident when the game is set in broad daylight. At night (or in dark areas), the low-rez lines are least evident.
SOUND: Very good sound here. This isn't the most thrilling or mind-blowing soundtrack of all time, but it does the job. I personally like playing the game sometimes with the music on 0 volume, but that's just me. It's nice to run around an empty town hearing nothing but Harry stomping around and hearing monsters come after you. You also have a static-producing Radio that emits static when enemies are close-by. It's very useful, but after playing through the game a few times, you'll want to keep the Radio off because you won't be needing it if you know when and where enemies will show up. The Radio doesn't work in the middle of Boss fights, though. The sound is also in Stereo, and that's useful for finding out which direction enemies are in.
GAMEPLAY: It's extremely similar to Resident Evil's play style...you can run, walk, and shoot enemies while keeping an eye on your health status. The only differences are a) you can move while shooting enemies, b) instead of limping around and clutching your stomach if your health is low, the controller will vibrate. The lower you are on health, the more violently the controller will vibrate. And believe me, you WILL know you're dying if the controller vibrates out-of-control. The health system works very much like Resident Evil's, also...green is for "fine" condition, yellow is for "caution" condition, and red is for "danger" condition. Except here, you won't be mixing herbs to refill your health. You will be using health drinks and first-aid kits. Expect end game bonuses, but after playing through the game about 10 times, every playthrough will be pretty much the same.
STORY: Harry's on vacation with his daughter Cheryl until Harry has an accident trying to avoid a mysterious woman who steps out in front of his car on the street. When Harry comes to, it's daytime, snowing, and Cheryl is missing. When you take control of Harry, it seems as though you're doing absolutely nothing but running around looking for her. This is what I thought of at first, too, so it's nothing surprising. You then follow "Cheryl" around the town until she leads you into an alleyway. As you move through the alley, it gets darker, and rain starts to pour (don't try to go back into the town at this point, because the path has been blocked). As you run along, you start running into scary displays, such as an abandoned wheelchair, a bloody hospital gurney, and a corpse hanging on a fence by half-limbs. After investigating it, baby zombie demons lurk out of the shadows, wanting you dead. At this point, you don't know what's going on. If you run back the way you came, it's no use...the path has been blocked by a fence. You have no choice by to succumb to the demons' power, and you wake up in a cafe with a police officer. She gives you a gun, then it's time to save your daughter...or so you hope you will, because the story gets deeper and deeper as you go along (you will meet up with the zombie demons again, but next time, you'll be "better prepared").
Also, this game takes a different approach at horror than RE...RE uses a modern approach...biological terror and military experts save the day. SH follows another line...psychological terror. No evil biochemists here. Instead, everything happens on a logical case, like the result of some cult tradition.
BOTTOM LINE: This game is a classic. You probably won't be surprised with this because of all the other games like it, but it did serve its time well on the PS1. I just wish it were longer. It barely takes 1 hour and 30 minutes to beat. I give it 8/10.