SILENT HILL® 3

The Silent Hill franchise manages to maintain its aura of suspense – without resorting to the purposely poorly translated cheesiness of other survival horror games – by constantly introducing new characters and plotlines to keep the story fresh. It’s psychological, Twilight Zone horror, rather than a zombie bloodfest, and adventure gamers who like just a smidgen of gore in their gaming have gravitated towards this series like a Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle to a pizza.

The newest entry features an all-new groundbreaking graphics engine, a brand new playable character, stunning new environments and a haunting soundtrack. Further enhancing the Silent Hill experience, the game will ship – in North America only – with the Official Silent Hill 3 Soundtrack.

The most important attraction for most gamers has always been that the player has the option to choose between using their wits or weapons and, well rather than take my word for it, let’s look at the press release:

An otherwise normal girl, Heather quickly finds herself trapped in the eerie alternate reality of Silent Hill where she must battle frighteningly gruesome monsters at every turn. Using only her wits and a handful of weapons, Heather is trying to stay alive long enough to escape and unravel the mystery that has tied her to this disturbing town. Gamers will meet eccentric individuals including an intriguing detective Douglas, who shadows Heather’s every move, and Claudia, a mysterious woman who speaks in riddles about her past and possible future destiny.

Using an extraordinary graphics engine that has been specially created by Konami Computer Entertainment Tokyo, Inc., the inhabitants of Silent Hill – human and otherwise – come to life with a stunning level of detail. Players will also be shocked to find that inanimate objects such as ceilings, walls and floors appear to be breathing, pulsating and sometimes bleeding. Through the use of proprietary environmental audio technology, the bone-chilling sound effects further heighten the unparalleled horror experience.

I couldn’t have said it better myself. Another feature that will be available only in the pc version of Silent Hill 3 will be the ability to save your progress at any point in the game. That’s right, Konami has heard and listened to the requests of pc gamers and freed us of the restrictive save-point function. We heap multitudes of decapitated heads at your feet.

Keep this game on your radar as it is one of the few must-have titles of the year. And be very, very careful, for the next time you’re out driving at night and find yourself lost on a foggy back-road; that gas station you stop at to ask for directions may just be in the shadowy town of Silent Hill (It is for this reason that I keep a flame-thrower in my glove compartment).