Silent Hill 3

[John Beaulieu]

yes it does

camps

[darkangel]

but is it coming out for xbox?

[PeteJ]

PS2 and PC only at the moment.

I have to say, this is the best game I've played all year, but I don't really want to talk about it until it is finished.

It's difficult to say how far I'm in without giving away any spoilers, but I've just had the cutscene...

...in the car, which is shown briefly in the trailer at the beginning.

Excellent game, loving it.

[wazy15]

lads, your getting me too excited Shame I can't play this for another 2 weeks until my exams are over though ft: I just hope it doesn't have the aimless wandering SH2

[PeteJ]

I've had almsot zero wondering about so far, and am a far way into the game.
From a purely gameplay perspective, this is easily the strongest in the series. Atmosphere is less obvious, ie it doesn't do things blatently to spook you (well it does, just not so often). Sound wise though, this is a leap ahead of SH2 - even the smallest of enemies make some truely horrible sounds.

Ugh. I could stop thinking about this and Matrix Reloaded last night, made for some strange dreams alright....

[Concept]

Unfortunately, I've not read the later posts in fear of seeing significant spoilers.

My impressions (possible minor spoilers):

But I played the game late last night, whereby at the end of my session I'd just arrived in Silent Hill. God, is this game sick... The fear I experienced in the original is back with a vengence and I'm glad, from what I've played so far, to see a direct sequel of the first game, especially with it incorporating elements of the second as well. Sure, it might not reinvent the wheel or innovate new gameplay dynamics, but what Silent Hill 3 does, it does exceptionally well.

There is some dark, dark stuff here that really gets under the skin, and while I can't read some of the later comments, I hope some of you are feeling the same. There's been a magnificent sense of pace from what I've played thus far and it feels as though some of the wandering parts of Silent Hill 2 have been cut to beneficial effect. I suppose it also helps that the enemies feel like they are hunting you now. No longer do they just look disturbing, they act far more disturbing too.

I just hope from arriving in Silent Hill onward, that it gets even more progressively fu*cked up.

Can't wait to get back on the game tonight for (hopefully) a good few more hours.

[PeteJ]

You are a little way behind me then Concept, and there is nothing to fear in the previous replies. People are being careful with spoilers

As I said before, this is a slow burner in terms of 'getting to you', but it sure does dig deep...

[Concept]

Tell me about it.

Spoilers

The part when the appartment building transforms into a dark version of itself in the bathroom was sick. Just what was that monster on the first floor, or that figure holding that strange baby on one of the upper floors??

And then speaking with Vincent... Finding Harry dead. Discovering Heather's true past in the car...

I've got to agree. This is great, albeit warped, stuff so far.

[PeteJ]

Not really a spoiler:

The cutscene in the car where Heather reveals her past was so exceptionally well done; I was in awe the entire time.

I'm still at the location after this cutscene, and it's...horrid. In a...horrid way.

They've done a brilliant job in making you really not want to walk through a door, and then painfully forcing you through. This is the defining horror experience, over any medium. Utterly wonderful.

Love it.

[Concept]

Gotta agree.

I've just completed the game after a six hour night-time stretch, and nothing I've read, seen or heard before has been quite as messed up as what I've just witnessed.

(Major spoilers) Parts which stood out for me:

The dark version of BrookHaven Hospital, when the actual aesthetic changes and becomes very distorted, like the surface on everything has been scratched and scribbled in crayon.

One of the most disturbing moments in the game was when I found a room in this place with a large mirror. Blood starts pouring out of every single crack in the room like veins on the other side of the mirror... Then all of a sudden it all starts pouring into my side at an incrediably fast rate focused on Heather, and the reflection of her gets infected and starts moving about by itself.... I'm not sure if the blood could hurt me, but I didn't hang about... As soon as the various lines started approaching I really freaked out. Completely lost my breath for a few seconds.

Other parts... God there are so many...

In the Cult's church at the end when reality starts getting VERY messed up... There were just so many, unbelievable things going on. I can't comprehend how Team Silent think of this stuff because Silent Hill 3 is utterly shocking in parts. I was getting physically tired towards the end, and what I was seeing really started to play on my mind. I think my body was trying to persuade me to shut off because my sub-conscious didn't enjoy what it was seeing at all.

...And when Claudia takes in the embryo from Heather and what it does to her right at the end...

The only serious problem with the game I've found were the boss battles, which I think lacked tension because they went on too long and didn't feature enough variation, consequently making them repetitive. In particular, the last boss took me ages because I'd wasted most of my ammo beforehand and I had to keep using the mace over and over.

But apart from that. I'm in awe. Silent Hill 3, particularly towards the end, has blown my mind. Although I'm not sure if that's in a good or bad way...

There are so many points to look at that it's hard to know where to begin.

[PeteJ]

I'm near the end too, but I won't read what you've just put until after I'm done with it.

Got really freaked out when playing last night and had to stop

[NeilMcRae]

I think this game is pretty, but the controls like Biohazard are pretty poor. The demo is on this months UK OPS2 mag. Along with VF4Evo.

Neil.

[PeteJ]

Well, just cleared it...and
That was just plain...wrong!

Moments which stuck out in my mind, plus a few questions - major spoilers, naturally.

Stand-out moments:
You've already mentioned the mirror in the hospital, which just about killed me. It was just a cool effect 'just' scary, it really got to me. It was odd, because I really, really wanted to leave the room with the mirror, but felt compelled to stay and watch just to see what would happen. I had to actually force myself to stay in the room. Totally freaky.

Another in the hospital, was when you first go down into the basement and you see the shot of the wheelchair, with the wheel slowly spinning. That also got to me in a serious way. What the heck was in the lift anyway?

The build-up for Leonard was excellent too, though the boss fight itself was weak. As you said, the bosses were quite poor. The first was probably the best, thinking about it.

Douglas - probably the best character in the series. I don't know why, but he deserves a game of his own.

I think the standout moment in the entire game though was the Haunted House. Really well designed, and downright scary for a haunted house! I shat my pants at the jumpy bit, naturally, and almost yelped out loud during the end section. Brilliant.

Some questions, and further spoilers. Please only read if you've finished the game.
What was the meaning of the wheelchairs? They were everywhere, even in non-hospital locations. There is one part in the office block (with the strange monster at the door) where there is a glass wall preventing you from continuing, but on the other side there is a wheelchair sitting there in the light. Heather says something along the lines of being compelled to walk into 'another world'. Do the chairs only exist because they are creepy, or does it actually mean something? I feel that they meant a lack of control. Heather was sitting in the chair, while the god inside her was pushing her. The God was always in control, depsite what Heather may have thought.

In the Hospital, a phone rings (very spooky). Happy Birthday? Who says this, and why is it said?

What happens if you say "I forgive you" near the end?

If you watch the trailer at the beginning, you'll see a small clip of Heather being dragged away while appearing dead - throughout the entire game I did not see this...

I'm sure there will be plenty more questions soon

[Concept]

"The build-up for Leonard was excellent too, though the boss fight itself was weak. As you said, the bosses were quite poor. The first was probably the best, thinking about it."

--It really brought up the tension when Leonard tells you to go to the end door on the 2nd floor because on the map there is no door at the far back of the hallway. I'm not sure if this is the part where you were talking about not wanting to walk through the door, but it was for me.

"I think the standout moment in the entire game though was the Haunted House. Really well designed, and downright scary for a haunted house! I shat my pants at the jumpy bit, naturally, and almost yelped out loud during the end section. Brilliant."

--Intertextually it's very clever, because it almost mocks the game's own pretentions. In fact there is a very dark black comedy element running through several parts of Silent Hill 3. I think the reason the haunted house is in there because it's very hard to distinguish the horror the voice-over talks about from the horror in the main game. This is demonstrated when you find out the haunted house is using real body parts... So the fantasy of the attraction becomes very hard to separate from the reality of Silent Hill. This almost suggests that the whole of Silent Hill could be an attraction just for Heather... After all, the voice-over does say "...Or if you want, we'll come and visit you."

"What was the meaning of the wheelchairs? They were everywhere, even in non-hospital locations. There is one part in the office block (with the strange monster at the door) where there is a glass wall preventing you from continuing, but on the other side there is a wheelchair sitting there in the light."

--Personally, I also felt they represented a lack of control. Having said that, in the original Silent Hill, Alessa/Cheryl's burnt half-dead corpse at the end is placed in a wheelchair by Dahlia Gillespie, so I think this may be some reference to that. The wheelchair turned on it's side, with the wheel spinning, could mean that Alessa has escaped her restrictions and believes there is unfinished business in Silent Hill, hence the reason why the wheelchair is knocked over.

Heather says something along the lines of being compelled to walk into 'another world'. Do the chairs only exist because they are creepy, or does it actually mean something? I feel that they meant a lack of control. Heather was sitting in the chair, while the god inside her was pushing her. The God was always in control, depsite what Heather may have thought.

Well, there are four beings in Heather towards the end, as crazy and as complex as that sounds. There's Samael's embryo, Heather's own personality, Alessa's personality and Cheryl's personality. I think symbolism is rife in Silent Hill 3 for interpretation and that the story isn't as clear cut as was made out in some reviews. For example, take the tea cup imagery at the very start of the game.

What does this indicate? Heather, Alessa and Cheryl all trapped within the ring (or shell) of Heather's body, constantly moving about for a way to escape. Again, the mark of Samael makes sense now. I'd always wondered what it meant. It's a triangle, representing the three distinct personalities (circles) in Heather's body (triangle). Although Alessa and Cheryl are two halves of the same soul, they are actually separate in Heather's body. For example, just like in the first Silent Hill, it's Cheryl which lures Heather towards Silent Hill, not the Alessa half. Remember the TV in the dark version of the shopping mall with Cheryl screaming out for help, and the bunny rabbits and various childhood iimagery throughout the opening... That's all Cheryl... It's only when in Silent Hill that Alessa begins to regain her powers in Heather and become the dominant personality. That isn't to say she's bad. Indeed, she wants out just as much as Heather... I particularly enjoyed the Chapel scene with Claudia... Because we don't know if that is Alessa talking to her through Heather, or if Heather is pretending to simply be Alessa to scare Claudia. The distinction is never made clear.

Another factor I liked was that when you start examining the environment in the Cult's church, Heather is in a constant state of fluctuation. Sometimes she speaks as if she were Alessa commenting on things, then at other times Heather.

Which makes sense, because Heather has to fight her percieved demons in the funfair ride when she's confronted by Alessa. Personally, I believe this is happening within her mind and not within Silent Hill, because it's at this point that Alessa begins to take over. After killing "herself" and reading the blood on the floor, Heather begins to realise she can't run from "herself" - Which kind of plays on the whole notion of what we think of as the concept of the individual... Which is what the horses on the ride represent... Creatures that are supposed to be able to gallop away, trapped going around endlessly in a circle.

"In the Hospital, a phone rings (very spooky). Happy Birthday? Who says this, and why is it said?"

--It's Leonard I think. He knows Alessa/Cheryl is trapped in Heather, so it could be her birthday... Having said that, you later find a birthday card from Alessa to her half-sister Claudia, saying happy 6th birthday. So this birthday gesture could be Leonard to his daughter. I think he might keep forgetting he's talking to Heather. Or on a more abstract level, he might be referencing the town itself. For example, near the end Vincent let's us in on the fact that Claudia has been the one shaping Silent Hill so darkly, thank's to manipulating Alessa's power. Therefore we could consider the town a part of Claudia's mind... And so Leonard may be saying Happy Birthday to everything around Heather, because it's all come from his daughter's design.

"What happens if you say "I forgive you" near the end?"

--This is baffling me too. It's the same women in the Confession box speaking to Vincent on the audio tape. Yet, it sounds a lot like Lisa (the nurse) from the first game... At first I thought it might be Alessa/Cheryl speaking to herself, but it's definately not. I said "I forgive you", but I'm not sure what bearing it had on the end.

"If you watch the trailer at the beginning, you'll see a small clip of Heather being dragged away while appearing dead - throughout the entire game I did not see this..."

--I got this. I died at one point in the Cult's church and got dragged away by a figure in a small cut scene before the Game Over screen. I'm not sure if this happens everywhere though. What you also have to remember too is that previous Silent Hill trailers have played about with reality, because they show some things which don't happen in the main game. Silent Hill 3 for example, shows a monster turning two wheels on a large wall, with two feet dangling down nearby. Now, this thing is present in a corridor of the Church, where you can see the lowerside of two dresses expanded with two little feet poking out of the bottom, while a child cries. I found this really disturbing.

[John Beaulieu]

there are quite a few different endings you know

nuff said on that matter

camps

ps concept - pointless petej hiding the spoilers in his post if you are going to then highlight them all and make them readable in the post afterwards

camps