Video Game Review: Silent Hill: HD Collection

When you come across someone who mentions “Silent Hill”, what immediately comes to mind is that spooky and fictional little Midwestern town that’s cursed with all kinds of monstrosities born out of a victim’s own psyche. It’s been a long time since anyone’s visited Konami’s Survival Horror franchise, and much has changed over the years since Team Silent disbanded and the series’ musical score composer Akira Yamaoka left to pursue other projects. Recent installments have left the series just a shadow of its former self: even the latest game, Silent Hill: Downpour, hasn’t quite captured that same atmosphere of terror and excitement its predecessors have enjoyed over the years. 

 

Fortunately, Konami has blessed the video game community with another package that’s sure to please longtime fans of the series and welcome new entrants into the fold in a proper manner.  

Enter Silent Hill: HD Collection, a compilation of two of the best entries the series has to offer, spanning more than a decade’s worth of survival horror madness that will open old wounds and add fuel to the fire of happy campers eager to see where the origins of demonic worship bore fruit and multiplied. 

 

 

Unlike Resident Evil, Silent Hill relies heavily on psychological horror that’s highly inspired by trends set forth by Japanese horror films. Known for its twisted sense of storytelling and suspenseful gameplay, the game has become one of the staples of the Survival Horror genre no video game or horror buff should pass up. Composed of Silent Hill 2 and Silent Hill 3, the HD Collection serves up two tales of mystery and psychological horror, each bearing a compelling storyline with multiple conclusions that depend on their actions throughout the duration of the game. However, it is beneficial to play each Silent Hill installment in chronological order, especially since Silent Hill 3 is a direct sequel to the first game of the series to bear the name, which was originally released for the Playstation and is now accessible as a downloadable title in the Playstation Network.

 

Silent Hill 2 received critical acclaim when it was released for the PS2 back in 2001, warranting itself as a must have for collectors during that console generation and pushing the boundaries of the system at that time. The story centers on James Sunderland, a widower who is drawn to Silent Hill after receiving a letter from his dead wife Mary. He goes into the town seemingly with nothing to lose, but his visit will open more strange events and occurrences than he ever bargained for.

 

The game eventually received a rerelease in Japan entitled Silent Hill 2: Restless Dreams, which was ported over to the US as a “Director’s Cut” and later saw ports for the Xbox and PC. This is the version of the game that made its way to the Silent Hill HD Collection, and with it comes the bonus features and additional content, primarily the sub-scenario that details the origins of the deuteragonist of the game, Maria. Players are highly encouraged to play the main scenario “Letter from Silent Heaven” before dabbling into this to avoid spoilers of course.

 

As a follow-up to the original Silent Hill, Silent Hill 3 takes place seventeen years after the events of the original game. Focusing on a young teenager named Heather, her life quickly spirals into a world of confusion and terror as dark forces mysteriously appear, somehow connected to Silent Hill and her own shadowy past.   To say more would spoil the plot of this game, but rest assured that it follows up with the first game’s plot, and in some situations also alludes to some colorful moments that took place in Silent Hill 2 as well.

 

Navigating through the bizarre world of both Silent Hill games isn’t a walk in the park that someone can breeze through in a few short hours. Regardless of the difficulty, the game sets itself up to be one huge scarefest that will test a gamer’s courage and wits, with various monstrosities and puzzles to contend with at every step and turn. Controls function like any standard survival horror game of that generation, with “tank-like” movement that adds a layer of tension to a game that’s already filled with suspense. Fighting enemies rely heavily on a mix of melee weapons and firearms, and your guide and compass through the journey is the flashlight and radio. These two items are essential to getting out of Silent Hill’s bizarre “fog world” and “Otheworld”, where darkness and static rule and the only way out is by facing the dangers headway or avoiding them carefully. It’s these mechanisms, coupled with using the various items, tools, and maps scattered throughout the game that are essential to surviving the experience in one piece.

 

With regard to their High Definition treatment, the Silent Hill HD Collection does its best to restore and upgrade these two classic games into one stellar package. However, there are noticeable changes and alterations from the original content that fans of the series will notice right away. Chief among these is Konami incorporating new voice acting in both games. Silent Hill 2 still has the option of changing back to the original voices, but Silent Hill 3 does not. Textures and sound have been improved to a point, but there are some technical concerns that cause this package to suffer, particularly with the Playstation 3 version. Certain points of the game experience audio and sound glitches, and the CG cutscenes also show their age with pixilation being very evident whenever they are played. It’s understandable at this point, since these are games coming from an older gaming generation. Those willing to bear playing them despite the technical difficulties are truly diehard fans willing to stick with the franchise through thick and thin.

 

In the end, if you have yet to experience survival horror gaming at its finest, then Silent Hill HD Collection may be right up your alley. It’s filled with all the suspense, mystery, and adventure one could possibly enjoy from the genre, and it certainly offers incentive for fans to replay it with all of the achievements, trophies, and secrets to unlock. With Silent Hill Downpour underperforming in the market, the true way to visit that spooky little town is with this package. Pick this one up if you love to give yourselves a good scare… and to see if you come out of it unscathed. — TJD, GMA News