Silent Hill 3: The Movie (2012)

Really Surprised!

Intense, gripping, stylish and poignant

A story that's too fascinating to pass by...

The story, direction, characters, and writing/dialogue is akin to taking a tranquilizer shot to the neck, but everything else was so well done.

((States that is may 'contain spoilers' for safety reasons.)) Recently, I have just gotten into the Silent Hill games, I was determined to play it for years now, but, I never got around to it, just because, I truly never understood what it was about, and even though I have a love for all things horror, I didn't want to get myself into something I didn't enjoy. So eventually, I purchased the original Silent Hill off of Playstation Network, and devoured it in two days, I laughed, I cried, I screamed, I jumped, it was an amazing game. Three months later, Easter was coming, and I asked for Silent Hill 2 and 3, upon realizing the HD collection was cheaper, my grandmother purchased that instead. Though, I wasn't pleased, I didn't fuss over it, because it was still Silent Hill, regardless of new voice overs. After completing Silent Hill 3 to six stars, I have to say, I like this game more than the first, and the second. The story was as immersive and appealing as I hoped it was, and I was pleased to find out that it was a direct(not so direct?), sequel to the first game. Like the second and first, I too, devoured this game in almost one sitting. It features everything I loved from the first game, as well as little easter eggs to the second. Heather, to me, is one of the most appealing Silent Hill protagonists so far, just because she has one of the most appealing back stories, I won't spoil it for anyone who hasn't played, but trust me, if you enjoyed the others, you'll enjoy this one. Buy this game, play it, and love it, just like I did, treat it with kindness and respect, and it will do the same to you.

No, I mean it, I am in a state of utter awe of this ability to continue producing grade-A results. This is a review of the PC version. All that appears to mean is that you can save at any time(with a few delectable exceptions), and are not limited to the well-placed(if arguably plentiful) checkpoints. In ways, this is less hard than the others(on the other hand, it is challenging, yes, also on the easiest setting, of the three for puzzles and four for action... yep, adjustable difficulty, so anyone can play this). It's about as long as the first one(in general, it takes a bit of inspiration from it... including in a way that I'd have preferred it didn't, but I understand that others did want that; you should definitely try to play the original one before this, you will appreciate it on another level), but the well-done puzzles seem simpler(that, or I'm getting better... and I tend to think it's the former, not the latter; meanwhile, this has the greatest riddle-solving system yet), if there may be about the same amount of them. On the other hand, this one may have about twice as many types of creatures. They are grotesque and nightmarish again, and this time, a few are downright bizarre in appearance, resembling nothing that we can recognize. All of the design is impeccably done. This again uses our own imagination in conjunction with the unnerving sights and audio to build up the psychological terror. The atmosphere is chilling, carefully established and maintained throughout, by the grisly sights and the incredibly well-done and meticulously crafted sound-side that is either shocking or hinting, never noisy or dull. This has amazing music, if there may be more lyrics than earlier in the series; then again, they are fantastic, and like the second, this does, as it needs to, distinguish itself(without deviating so much that we get alienated), they can't all be carbon-copies, they have to do something new. This hits the nail on the head in that regard. The plot is marvelous, if not as deep as that of SH2. I refuse to give it away. The story-telling is well-done(I swear to you, I was literally touched a handful of times during this, not only scared) with you finding details as you go along, and then the scripted, in-engine cut-scenes(there are no CGI ones in this one, and they are not missed), with a free cinematography(with that said, were there an excess of shots from below the protagonist, or was that just me?), a wide range of animations and rather articulated faces and the like(I do not personally find the introductory movie as compelling as the other two, perhaps that is only me... it might be the pop song, if I will grant that it's sufficiently sad in tone). This has astonishing graphics, and the lighting, shadows and weather effects(love the "grain") are brilliantly done. You now play as Heather, a teenage girl not afraid to speak her mind. I wasn't bothered by the gender in the least, and her personality isn't irritating(I've yet to come across a single obnoxious person in this franchise up to this point); however, her vocabulary, well, fits her age, and it does take away from the mood when something is called/described using words like "boring", "gross" or "yuck". Well, it didn't bother me enough to take me out of it, even briefly. All of the characters are credible, diverse and well-developed, and there are so few of them that you remember everyone and they all matter, none of them can be left out with no impact. Vincent is one of my favorites of all three games. The acting tends to be magnificent. This is instantly engaging and quite exciting. It takes a while before you realize what exactly is going on, without this losing any of its gripping tension. It is a cinematic experience with its strange, interesting and effective angles, and the dynamic camera that you can exert limited control over. The button for this can get you third person view, and that is invaluable in this. It won't work everywhere, still, it will when you have to, as the video-game won't always automatically do so. One thing I suppose one could say is that the enemies can be frustrating, to an extent not seen before this entry. And there are a lot of weapons, if not any that are superfluous. I've heard complaints about the Uzi... well, can *you* use it constantly? Besides, these are not about the combat. The lead now turns her head at nearly everything you can interact with, which at best takes getting used to, at worst is an annoyance. They split up Enter and Use into separate functions... not sure why. There are several endings and other things to unlock. This revisits areas from the previous incarnation, though they do new things with them. Several of your surroundings are creepy places to begin with, like a subway station and train. You now see the elevator as its moving, another of the countless eerie situations in these. It's all so abandoned, so close to quaint, and yet absolutely not. The interface remains unchanged as it should be, and once you are used to the directional keys(shouldn't take long), the way you move in this is rather intuitive, and you can get into this almost immediately. This does tinker with game-play mechanics a tad, all improvements. You can run a nice and fitting distance before tiring, for example. There are immense loads of brutal, bloody, strong violence and disturbing content, as well as a little sexuality in this - you should be able to figure out pretty quickly if you can handle it or not. I recommend this warmly to any fan of the other ones, and of other smart survival horror VG's. An acquired taste that ages like a fine wine, and that I wouldn't dream of doing without. Return to Silent Hill... if you dare. 10/10

This is a little fact for you here. "Silent Hill 3" is the scariest game in history. I am not joking it seriously is. If you ever play this game. it will make you want to scream and shout while your playing because it is so scary. The girl who you play as will get your juices going. The character and monster design is incredible and amazingly realistic. Some of the monsters which you meet throughout the game will haunt your dreams forever. Definitely not for the weak hearted and if your a fan of the series well then i suggest you get a copy of this fast because it was very hard to get mine believe me. and all those sound effects will make you want to kill yourself if you hear them in real life. The music i really great especially in the opening. so if you wanna to scare the crap out of yourself get this game but if silent hill 2 scared you. don't let the thought of playing it cross your mind.

There are games you long to play and games you both long for and fear at the same time. Silent Hill 3 is one of the later. Survival horror genre was invented so many years ago with the great Alone in the Dark. Resident Evil rewoked what seemed to be dead. A great game but in comparison to Silent Hill, its a game for great old grandma. Silent Hill 3 is the latest in the serie and the best imo. You take control of 17 years old Heather, a girl that looks like a ordanary girl with sleep disabilitys, maybe even drug use.She´s agressive, maybe a little neurotic and totally unware of what hell could look like. We who have played the earlier Silent Hill games know to well. The game consists as earlier of two worlds. One dark and gloomy real world, or is it real? When you walk around you may found stuff that doesnt fit in. Like doors in a corridor, maybe to small or to big. Giving a feel of surealism. Nothing you can pinpoint all the time but its there. Its often pitch black where you walk. And the only light you have is from a lousy chestpocket flashlight. Luckily the batterys never run empty. This world is far more scary then what you see in the Resident evil games, mostly because of the darkness.The other world, makes the first world look like a paradise with little cute rabbits jumping around, peacefully eating flowers and stuff. The other world, is some alternative world. Full of dirty metalgrates. rusty walls with blood patterns. Sometimes the walls itself is made of flesh and blood. Ofcourse just as dark as the first one. In the other world, you could never trust that what you see really exist. Maybe just some mad hallucinations. However the creatures living there exists.Its been 2 days since i played it last time. And in a few minutes i will continue. I really recomend this game but for your own mental health, you should be around 18 or more and not of weak heart. If Silent Hill 2 had a Sado-machocistic theme with grotesque monsters like the pyramid head the 3´rd have a more blasphemous theme from a religous view. Monsters are well done and the graphics supreme everything seen in Silent Hill 2. You can also turn of the disturbing grain noice effect and even sharpening the texture. The result are a better view. You can also add more blood to the game, witc i did!Graphics: 10 (Cant really be better on a Ps2) Sound: 9 (Would have given 10 if it wasnt for the pathetic walk sounds) Gameplay: 9 Value: 8 (Rather short but you can replay it with extras)I´ll give it a 10! If you have the guts you should get this one! A true classic and the best Silent Hill yet!