Developer: Team Silent Publisher: Konami Release: 08/05/03 Genre: Horror
Silent Hill 2 is one of the most revered horror games of all time to this day. From its presentation to its story the game was a masterpiece. Konami were keen to capitalize on its success and put a sequel into production immediately. So how do you follow up such a classic? By taking what worked, improving it, and trimming the fat. Silent Hill 3 improves on its predecessor in several areas and some would argue is just as good if not better. There is a reason it resides on so many best of PlayStation 2 lists.
Silent Hill 3 stars Heather, a teen out on a shopping trip just trying to get home. However along the way she meets a private detective named Douglas who claims to have information about her birth. Not wanting anything to do with him Heather instead escapes through the bathroom window of the mall. But fate has other plans and when she meets a mysterious woman named Claudia her past begins to unravel.
The plot is less psychological than in Silent Hill 2. Heather is a sarcastic teenager in over her head as her world is turned upside down. But rather than let it beat her down mentally she takes it in stride and is both resourceful and independent. The dour pessimist beaten down by the world falls on Douglas, her lone confidant throughout the game. Their bond as the game’s events unfold forms the heart of the game. Even though the story is not as relentlessly bleak don’t let that fool you; it can be just as cerebral as its predecessor and is probably more terrifying.
Mechanically little has changed. Your inventory is divided into three categories for easier access. There are more weapons this time around even though the action component is about the same as the prior titles. Some of these are extremely great like the Katana and sub-machine gun. The fantastic map system that catalogs locked doors and rooms of import returns unchanged. If I have one complaint it is the camera. You can hold R2 to reorient it behind Heather but in narrow passages it is slow and will fight you. You learn to live with it but it is less than ideal.
What has changed is the game’s general direction. This is a more focused adventure as it shuffles you from one location to the next with little downtime. Heather spends the first half of the game outside of Silent Hill before events force her to return there. It only allows you to explore a small subsection of Silent Hill and only toward the end and even that is not necessary as there are no items to find. Although you are revisiting the city now you get to explore previously unseen areas like the Amusement Park and Church that were only hinted at. The obtuse puzzles that almost required a guide are mostly absent and at least make more sense this time. That’s not to say that this is an action title but the pace is notably faster.
It should come as no surprise then that Silent Hill 3 is the shortest in the series. There are less locations to visit overall and they are not as large. There is an annoying degree of back tracking that gets old but never to the point of frustration. Together with the varying difficulty I would say most will clock in at six or seven hours. That time will be incredibly memorable however, especially if you have played the first game. Konami went to town with the alternate endings and unlockable content to make up for it. Most of these unlock by beating the game multiple times which is why it is short. Some of this stuff is cool and makes subsequent runs faster like the beam saber and unlimited sub-machine gun. If you do not care about this stuff the campaign is still satisfying despite its shorter length.
Silent Hill 3 is a more difficult game than its predecessors. The list of enemies is more diverse and they pose a bigger threat. Insane Cancers with their bulbous bodies usually block tight passages and require a lot of resources to kill. Closers attack in groups and come in big and small varieties. The most annoying are pendulums who are so tough you are better off running away. Depending on the difficulty level and your performance the game will award more or less supplies when necessary. There is also a notable spike in the last area that is unfair. Supplies are almost non-existent and the strongest enemies gather here in larger numbers. The freaky background effects make visual navigation harder and it almost feels like a cheap way to exhaust your resources. But if you have made it this far chances are you are more than prepared.
On every level Silent Hill 3 is a technical showcase for the PlayStation 2 and one of the best looking titles from that generation. The outstanding lighting and shadowing effects from the second game are even better if you can believe it. The textures feature a level of dirt and grime that defies the hardware. Alternate Silent Hill has never looked so terrifying as the rust, blood, and dirty environments make you feel icky just looking at them. The game pushes the envelope even further with elements that are there just to disturb such as lurking monsters just out of reach and walls made out of skin. The developers cite Jacob’s Ladder as an influence and it shows. And it does this all at a solid 30 fps that hardly ever dips.
But the most impressive aspect of the game is its character models and facial animation. The facial models and their animation looked a generation above everything else at the time and are still impressive today. The subtle eye and jaw movements really sell the vocal performances. The cutscene direction is far better and they are more frequent. Speaking of voice acting the actors deliver a much better performance than the at times awkward line delivery of the past. Honestly I could keep going on and on about the game’s production values but you get the point.
In Closing
Silent Hill 3 is almost everything you could want in a sequel. Konami did not rock the boat too much and deliver a game almost as good as its legendary predecessor. This is one of my favorite PS2 games of all time and I only wish it were more accessible. Track this one down by all means, it is worth it.
A few notes:
At the beginning, you say, “Silent Hill 3 improves on its predecessor in almost every way and you could argue is just as good if not better.” At the end, you say, a game almost as good as its legendary predecessor.” You’re contradicting yourself by saying it improves upon 2 in almost every way and that it’s just as good if not better, and then saying it’s almost as good as 2.
The fact that the game is a direct sequel to the first game is a major spoiler for the game’s story that I would recommend removing if you want people who haven’t played the game to have a better experience with it based on your review’s recommendation. Knowing what it’s a direct sequel to takes all the mystery out of Heather’s identity, which is why all of the game’s marketing kept the story as vague as possible and made no mention of the original game.
You say, “As in the past titles the difficulty is median overall,” implying the game is no harder than the first two games and is only averagely difficult. You then contradict yourself by saying that the enemies here pose a bigger threat and that the last area of the game is unfair in its difficulty. 3 is by far the hardest game in the trilogy, as the majority of your text makes clear. I would recommend changing the line about the game being median in difficulty just like its predecessors; it’s much harder.
Thanks for the feedback and I agree, I should have been more consistent in my points. I have edited it to be clearer.