Let me just start off by saying I am a HUGE fan of the Silent Hill series as a whole and when I found out that SH2 and SH3 were getting an HD upgrade I was ecstatic. 2 of the greatest survival horror games ever made being put into a nice new collection.
I remember playing SH2 when it first came out in 2001 on the PS2, it was one of the most engaging stories that I remember playing through at the time.The main character, James Sunderland is the driving force in this game and his journey is gripping one. As you first start to explore the empty streets of Silent Hill you hear and see things that are jarring and rattle you and when you first come across your first enemy and you hear the static on the radio your heart beats fast. After your first encounter you explore the rest of the town in search of answers, while you are exploring you can feel the trepidation that James feels. Yet he pushes onward looking for answers for the reason he came back to the sleepy town of Silent Hill. The town is inhabited by only 4 other people all with there own demons and reasons for being in the town. While I'm not going to go into the whole game because let's face it the game is over 10 years old and I'm sure a lot of you have played it to death. So instead I'll just go over the HD edition. The graphics are the best I've ever seen this game look and the sounds and music sound great coming out of my stereo. The controls are a little odd at first on the 360 controller but you get used to them. But onto the hot button issue the new voice acting. I must say I loved the new actors with one exception which breaks my heart because I am a huge fan of this voice actor. Liam O'Brien provides the voice for Eddie Dombrowski and for some odd reason it just doesn't fit the character right but he still does a good job but I think the top honors go to Troy Baker who voices James. He does an amazing job giving James the emotions that the original VA didn't give, again just my opinion.
Now to the other half of the HD collection Silent Hill 3. Much like my review of SH2, SH3 is still a fantastic game. There are a lot of scares, jumps and a few sad parts. The game looks amazing and the music and sounds are fantastic too. The new voice actors really do a nice job with the dialogue but unlike SH2 I liked everyones new voice. When I played the HD version of SH3 I noticed something that I hadn't when playing it on the PS2 and that is that the actual streets of Silent Hill are exactly the same as in SH2 which I think is really amazing continuity. In all the games that have come out since nothing is the same so I got a real kick out of that. Out of the 2 games on the disc SH2 will always have a special place in my heart but I do love SH3. I had played it so long ago so I played it on the HD collection I was taken aback by how good it was. The puzzles are great, the enemies are creepy and the level designs are great and every time I went into the Otherworld my heart raced. The game designers did a fantastic job of making you feel the terror.
So at the end of the day I would highly recommend picking up the Silent Hill HD collection whether you played them back in the day or if you've never played them they are two amazing games. I give the HD collection a 10 out of 10.
One of the things that made the game unique (for me, at least) is when it was released. It came out in September 2001. The themes of the game- horror, fear, tragedy, loss, etc. mirrored the feelings of the nation and my own personal thoughts in the immediate aftermath of such an unimaginable evil. People sometimes forget the timing of this release (just as some forget how Lord of the Rings also came out December of that year, and its story of war and evil also resonated).
ReplyDeleteI personally think it is a fantastic game, worthy of any excellent psychological horror movie. Your review makes me want to turn of the lights and play it all over again.