Game Review: Silent Hill 3 HD (Xbox 360)

Silent Hill 3 is a direct sequel to the original game & puts players in control of Heather, a 17 year old girl who has a very dark secret. Remember Harry Mason? Remember what he did at the end of Silent Hill? No…Well let me remind you.

In the search for his missing daughter he clashed with Silent Hill’s resident cult & defeated a god. Harry ended up leaving Silent Hill with a baby girl who he named Heather & set about hiding her past from her.

Heather’s true past is coming back to haunt her as the Silent Hill cult wants her to birth a new God & usher in their version of Paradise.

The game opens with Heather waking up in a shopping mall. As she is leaving she runs into Douglas Cartland, a PI who claims to know about her birth. Heather runs from him but finds the mall now filled with monsters. Travelling through the mall Heather runs into Claudia Wolf who knows even more about Heather.

After battling through an otherworld version of the mall & finding out that Douglas Cartland was hired by Claudia to find her, Heather eventually makes it home to find her father, Harry has been murdered & Claudia has left a note telling Heather to come to Silent Hill to find her.

Resolving to get her revenge & kill Claudia, Heather heads off to Silent Hill.

This is the point in the game that it all really starts to feel familiar as you move through areas explored in Silent Hill 2 & even a few small sections that reflect the first game. These areas are limited & don’t overstay their welcome.

Even visiting well-thread areas such as the hospital fell fresh as they are adapted & changed to reflect Heather & what she has to deal with. This is by far my favourite version of the hospital as it has some of creepiest sections in any Silent Hill to date.

A lot of the scare factor is helped by Heather, the lead who is slowly discovering who she really as the game plays out. It’s not a big revelation to the player but you can’t help but sympathise with her especially with the loss of Harry Mason. Opposite Heather is Claudia Wolf, one of the best Silent Hill baddies to date. Her delusion is what makes her such an interesting character & the details surrounding her father, Leonard (you’ll meet him in the Hospital) & the mysterious Vincent all add weight & strength to a great story.

It’s not as gripping as Silent Hill 2’s story but it feels so much more complete.

Silent Hill 3 isn’t light on gore & effective ‘shock’ moments, it can be genuinely uncomfortable with some of the nastier sections come to light & you rarely know what is around the corner. The monsters of Silent Hill 3 include some of the best of the series as well as old favourites (as always…nurses).

A wide choice of weapons mixing ranged & melee will help to deal with the variety of enemies that come your way. There is nothing too out of the ordinary here & you’ll probably see yourself sticking with the Katana once you have it. Ammo conservation is important as the bosses can take some work (especially one near the end).

The game takes a serious step-forward in widening & explaining the Silent Hill story/history but in gameplay it doesn’t really improve. By now you should know what to expect…the controls are stiff & combat can be frustrating. The camera is one of the least responsive I’ve seen & slamming into walls is a given.

Silent Hill 3 also has some extremely frustrating & difficult to navigate areas. The subway section is one that always comes to mind, it’s confusing & un-necessarily long.

Unlike previous Silent Hill games, the 3rd only has 3 endings…a normal ending, a Possessed ending & the obligatory UFO ending (this is my favourite of the UFO endings).The game can be finished anywhere between 2 & 6 hours. It’s not as open as previous Silent Hill games but there is still plenty to see.

A great Silent Hill game & one that offers closure to the original with a strong & interesting story. It doesn’t change much in the way of gameplay but it’s something that will sit comfortably with series veterans. Not the best Silent Hill game (Silent Hill 2) but a close run thing.