People have often asked me, "Tom, what is the greatest game series of all time?" Tough question given all of the successful ones. One of the longest running is "The Legend of Zelda" series whose greatness cannot be measured without the use of the metric system (note. it's greatness is seventeen meters). There's the shorter running, but quirky enough to gain a large audience, "Katamari Damacy." "Final Fantasy" has always been a force to be reckon with. Of course, we cannot over-look the first major icon, "Super Mario," spawning infinite (not actually true) spin-off games, sports games, and multiple television shows. A simple observation of the great game series could illustrate that Nintendo seems to dominate the market for long running characters, giving them a significant edge on console sales.
All this aside, how can we judge the greatness of a series? Should we measure it with its fan base? Can it be measured at all? (short answer; yes). More importantly, does the success of a game series determine its greatness? What about quality of game play, re-playability, and overall metric measurement? If we were to judge a game based upon its re-playability, "Final Fantasy" is in trouble, but it remains one of the most successful franchises in gaming history. Judging on game play, Mario and Link take the cake (but who would win in a fist fight?). I say none of these factors carry any water when judging a great game series, because I know the greatest game series of all time is "Silent Hill."
"Silent Hill," weighing in at thirty meters and seventy-five tons, crushes the competition, beating out Mario in the third round. "Silent Hill" brings a new element to the table no other series has even touched: pure art. To fans of the game series, the creators of "Silent Hill" (aka: Team Silent) are called the Alchemists of Emotion.
"Silent Hill," released in 1999 was a pure experiment in the idea of fear itself. The developers were determined to create a new sense of fear never felt before in video games. They were beyond successful. Introducing a simple plot of a man named Harry Mason searching for his lost daughter, the player was immersed into the foggy realm of "Silent Hill;" lost, helpless, and terrified.
So what made "Silent Hill" so terrifying? How did the developers tap into the depth of the human emotion so wonderfully? Simple; by showing something the players have never seen before. Before "Silent Hill," gamers were only exposed to the shock horror of Resident Evil, Alone in the Dark, and other worthy attempts; however, those games only managed to make gamers jump in their seats. Once the game was over, so was the fear.
"Silent Hill" exposed gamers to a world that changed before the gamer's very eyes. By altering the reality of the ghost town, the writers had complete freedom without the petty confinement of reality. Players entered a dark fog never to return. At least, not until.....
Welcome back home to the new Playstation 2 version of "Silent Hill." With the new console power, came a new vision of fear. "Silent Hill 2" was not simply an update on graphics and size, but a complete new look at the question that started the series, "What is fear?" The fear is not the same because the protagonist is not the same. Welcome James Sunderland who received a letter from his dead wife to meet her in their "special place." The new Silent Hill is Sunderland's personal vision of the town, and everyone is called to Silent Hill for a reason.
Gone was the demons from the first game, leaving way to the twisted monsters, knife wielding nurses, and a guy with a pyramid shaped helmet, affectionally known as "Pyramid Head." The player was invited back to Silent Hill for a far more emotional trip, leaving the gamer shaken. The new fear presented in "Silent Hill 2" is paranoia and fear of the self, leaving way to a story that would have made Poe envious.
The final game of the "true" Silent Hill story is "Silent Hill 3." Finally continuing the story of the first game, we meet Team Silent's first female lead, Heather Morris. Heather is a character the audience can relate to. Young, confused, and sometimes a little witty. She is a youth thrown into the hell of Silent Hill for a very specific reason, creating a real mystery behind the player's actions.
Just like the previous two games, "Silent Hill 3" plays with a new fear; the fear of abandonment. It also welcomes an uncomfortable edge to the game. Several moments in the game are not exactly scary, but just downright uncomfortable. Looking at these events through the eyes of a female lead suggests a very distinct female fear behind Heather's reactions.
"Silent Hill 3" also welcomes a new fun element not found nearly as prominent in the other Silent Hill games. For example, Heather has a frequency toward the beginning of the game to make fun of the actions of the leads of the other Silent Hill games. Finishing the game in certain ways will grant the player lightsabers, "The Silent Hill Song," and Heather's "Sexy-Beam."
There is no reason to play this game. It is a putrid load of crap thrown together to profit off the success of "Silent Hill 3." It wasn't even supposed to be a Silent Hill game! They just slapped the "Silent Hill" name onto a horror game in order to ensure people would buy it. WHY WOULD YOU DO THAT! The game would have actually been okay to play without the Silent Hill sticker. Seriously, who would do that!
I hate "Silent Hill 4."
I didn't mean to get that in-depth into my argument into why Silent Hill is the greatest game series of all time, I just couldn't stop myself. Hell, I'm not even going to spell check this before I post it, and you're just going to have to deal with that. This is pure. This is what a great argument is all about. None of that fancy pants spell checks, grammar checks, and proof reading.
I have regular pants and they're getting tighter by the minute.
11 comments:
I dont know...I must say I never got into the silent hills games too much. I was always a fan of resident evil...I think it is a pretty close tie between the silent hills games and the resident evil games. Not some much about the scary factor but the story line of resident evil in so in depth...i love it!
""Silent Hill" brings a new element to the table no other series has even touched: pure art. To fans of the game series, the creators of "Silent Hill" (aka: Team Silent) are called the Alchemists of Emotion."
Hell yes!
Thumbs up for you and your verbal disenteria in the silent hill matter. I agree with every comma! And do note that I am a final fantasy junkie.
I was lucky enough to play the third just when it got out, so I knew nothing of its story. when I noticed what was happening, that it was continuing the story of the beloved first, aww man, it really sucked me in.
Brilliant.
i think i love you.
Resident Evil? In-depth story? RE 1. There was an accident. A virus broke loose. RE 2. There was an accident. A different virus broke loose. Re 3 -- oh wait that's just one day before RE 2 and the same virus that broke loose. RE0 -- same as RE 1. RE: CV. Claire goes on an adventure and pulls off some matrix-style stunts that she can't possibly do in the game, then gets captured and... a virus breaks loose. RE 4? OMG, the first hint of something other than a virus? And what's this -- oh, it turns out this was partially the origin of the virus. ...Boy can this get old. RE's better for action, not story. And sadly the actual action's been lost in even the fourth installment.
Silent Hill's stories leaves more questions than answers, open room for hypothesising, and overall an experience that'll stay with you for a long time. Also. SH 4 was indeed meant to be an SH. Just, sadly, the main character had virtually no personality. They had plans for it from SH 2. Walter Sullivan.
Having played the original Silent Hill and Silent Hill 2 I will say that both games were absolutely amazing, they bring something into gaming that no game ever has for me ... well for a horror game I mean. But thats as far as the agreement goes, I personally think Final Fantasy takes the cake here. If you can just ignore the 2 bad releases of X and XII I will say they have made nothing but pure gold. The replay value isn't there in every game, but the great stories, amazing characters and all around greatness is. My vote goes out to Final Fantasy.
Ever since I played SH2, I've been waiting for a game like it .... sadly I've been waiting for too long.
The pure emotion displayed by the characters were just captivating. I played it through and through. Never a dull moment. The story was constructed so you would draw your own conclusion, not like so many games out there claiming to be original or inspiring. The raw feeling that you get playing .... no .... living in silent hill is unmatched.
I agree with you. Silent Hill for me ended at SH3.
the best were SH2,SH1 then SH3 in order.
SH4 was simply, Crap!, compared to the first 3 titles ofcours... it would've been a decent game if it was on its own and not tied with SH world.
anywho
I really wanna hear your thoughts on the new SH5 ?
I'm getting my copy next week...
I've never seen this website before, I just stumbled on it searching Silent Hill stuff. I would like to agree that Silent Hill is high among the greatest of all games. However, I'll disagree with your opinion of 4. It's been looked upon poorly because it makes some changes from the old game, but that doesn't make it bad. It's a tangent, with very little to do with the other games but, having personally played it before any of the other games, I personally think the psychological horror and disturbing plot make it a great game regardless. Not as good as the first two maybe, but nothing to scoff at. You said yourself that it would have been good if it hadn't been called Silent Hill, then call it good. Changing your opinion of something because of its name is narrow minded and petty.
Also, in response to Turk's comment, Silent Hill 5 is, also, an enjoyable game if you take it out of context. However it can't hold a candle to the old games. It takes too much from the movie, it's plot is dumbed down and disagrees with the old games on a couple points, and the dialogue (despite being the only American made game) is terrible. It's a fun game no doubt, but not up to the Silent Hill standard.
I couldn't agree more. There are no such games like those in the Silent Hill series. Resident Evil (which is a great game) just scares you with cheap tricks, like zombie-dogs jumping through the window when you’re just around the corner. Silent Hill is different, it’s psychological stuff. It just scares you with the atmosphere, the story, the sound and the visuals, even if nothing is actually happening.
I loved to play Silent Hill when my parents where on vacation. Midnight, all lights out, amplifier @ 110 and just play. Especially the second Silent Hill is great. The most people don’t even know the real story behind it. [SPOILER] It’s all in James head, because he feels guilty of the euthanasia of his wife [/SPOILER]. Two third of the game isn’t told in the conversations itself. That’s one thing that this game makes so great.
The same with Metal Gear Solid, there’s just no game like it. Japanese are weird people that totally get sucked into the games they make. And that’s what makes them so good. In America en Europe it’s just too ‘commercial.’ (Final Fantasy, Gran Turismo, you name it, it’s all Japanese)
And yes, the fourth ‘Silent Hill’ just sucks big time. It’s nothing like it, the whole core principle is gone. You can easily see it wasn’t supposed to be a Silent hill game in the first place.
Regards,
Léon.
I must say that Silent Hill 4 was in my personal view a work of goddamn art. The fact that your confined to a room, silence surrounding you, random sounds and hauntings, really changed it up from the series. While I agree with you that it wasn't the best in the Silent Hill 2 is my favorite out of the series. And Silent Hill has a certain aura about it that clings to you. Its a fear I both hate and love at the same time.
I would like to hear what you think about silent hill 5. I only played it for the first few minutes. The beginning was just silly to me and cliche so it didn't pull me in like the others. I might continue playing it to just see how akira yamaoka weaved his hopeless music in.
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