Silent Hill(last-gen)

[Spidey17]

Lately I've been looking up stuff on the PS2 Silent Hill games, reading several reviews on each. I won't be getting the first Silent Hill, since I couldn't go back to RE2, it just felt too archaic. I plan on playing them in order, and I was just wondering everyone's opinion. Through reading the reviews, I realized the RE series as a whole is seen as very shallow when it comes to horror. Most of the scares are "boo" scares, where something unexpected happens, but apparently Silent Hill is much more focused on mood, and the psychological aspect of fear. I'm a sucker for that, movies like The Grudge or The Ring freak me out just through the chilling music, but zombie movies only ever scared me via zombies popping up randomly.

And since reading all the reviews, when I just now watched a youtube video of RE4, I thought how there was way to much light to have the game be chilling. Not only should've it always been night-time, but the castle should been more worn-down, and with WAYY less lighting. I mean, how'd Saddler get all that money? Come on. The only creepy parts of the game for me where when the Regenerators came up. Not only were they nigh-invulnerable, but they looked/walked/slithered/sounded terrifying, and their music creeped me out immensely. And the only time it was sufficiently dark was when you were in the village with Ashley. If the rest of the game had been that dark it would've fared much better with old school RE fans.

Idk why, but I LOVE just loved the setting of the Silent Hill games. Just how the walls bled, the near total darkness, the massive amounts of blood and gore and entrails everywhere; I mean I love RE4, but if they combined RE4 control and combat with a Silent Hill type setting, I would go nuts. Unless I end up being a ***** and SH2 scares the crap out of me.

 

[guitarsingerguy]

The Silent Hill series has always been my favorite survival horror series of the bunch. It's a complete and total mind ****. You're exactly right. You're generally much more scared of what you can't see then by what you do. I HONESTLY recommend playing the first. It was a great game, and if you really want to understand part 3, then you have to know the story of the original. They're the only two Silent Hills that are directly connected save for a few Easter eggs dropped here and there. Most people tend to think that 2 is the best, and I probably agree. I didn't like 4 at all. I felt it was just too much deviation from what made the games so great. The gameplay is solid. It's nothing groundbreaking, but you really get lost in the characters struggles. The psychological aspects of the game are immensely interesting. The mood is fantastic, the soundtrack is amazing, and there's something just so eerie about entering a room with nothing but a flashlight and your radio starts to make a faint screech. Then you hear a baby laugh and you realize something is coming for you once the radio begins to crackle louder and louder. Like I said...it's usually what you don't see more then what you do. Anyway, if you're gonna skip the original, at least read up on it before you play part 3. Otherwise you aren't going to get the same enjoyment out of it. Anybody who enjoys survival horror in the slightest really owes it to themselves to at least give the series a try.