Silent Hill 1

Developer: Konami
Publisher: Konami
Released (UK): Aug '99
Released (US): Jan '99

May contain spoilers.Resident Evil was the start of the Survival Horror genre and was the only game worth any attention, until 1999 at least.
Silent Hill came catching up almost immediately and the first in the series is classed as the best Survival Horror game of all time.

It follows Harry Mason who has come to the town of Silent Hill with his daughter Cheryl.
The opening scene of the game contains clips that show what has happened prior to the games events as well as scenes from the game. See for yourself:

Cheryl has been having nightmares about a town called Silent Hill and her father takes her there to see if it will make her better. Unfortunately though, on their way to the town, they are involved in an accident after an unknown girl throws herself in front of the car.

When Harry comes to, he finds Cheryl has gone missing but where has she gone? He decides to take a walk into town where he eventually finds her. However, Cheryl doesn't hang around and runs away and when Harry chases after her, the town goes dark.
Walking along with nothing but a lit match as his only source of light, Harry comes across a dead, half decayed, body of a man on one of the chain link fences before being attacked by a group of monsters.
After this nightmare he wakes up in a local cafe where he meets Cybil Bennett, a Police Officer from a neighbouring town named Brahms. She has come to Silent Hill due to a lack of communication between the two towns. Harry tells her his situation and she agrees to out to help look for Cheryl, handing him a gun before she goes.

Harry is left to his own devices and walks around the town searching for clues as to where Cheryl may be. The areas that Harry need to search include:
Midwich Elementary School, the Sewers, Alchemilla Hospital and the town itself.
You will find the Sewers to be quite tedious due to it's maze like feature where you get attacked by several of the most irritating Monster of the game - the Hanged Scratcher. The Hospital is my favourite area of the game because it does have a very creepy atmosphere and is full of puzzles to figure out.
The "Nowhere" part of the game is the most interesting as Harry gets close to finding out what happened in this town.

Harry comes across several characters throughout his search for his little girl, the first of which is a woman who shows up at the school after Harry kills the Split-head lizard. We don't know who she is because she doesn't talk to Harry at all, but disappears without a trace.
A little later on, Harry meets a lady named Dahlia Gillespie in the Balkan church. She shows him the Flauros telling him to go to the Hospital to see if Cheryl is there. Dahlia gets involved quite a bit, telling Harry where to look next but why is she so helpful?
In the Hospital, we meet two more characters - Michael Kaufmann and fan favourite Lisa Garland. Harry's conversation with Kaufmann is a short one, Lisa (above, right) however is very friendly towards Harry and constantly asks Harry to stay with her.

Lisa is amongst the Silent Hill characters that have kept their popularity with Silent Hill fans, despite the fact that her character was used poorly in Origins. She also appears in the film by Christophe Gans but only for a brief period, and she isn't referred to by name. You will only come across Lisa in the "Dark" side of the hospital and that's because (as we later find out) she is a Demon just like all the monsters you come across.

Depending on which ending you're aiming for you may not come across Dr Kaufmann much at all. If you want the Good+ or the Good ending, you'll meet him in a bar being attacked by a group of Mumbler's then again at the Motel where Harry finds out about Kaufmann's involvement with the Drugs.
Kaufmann isn't a good guy but he had no problems with Harry so doesn't pose any threat.

This game has a large variety of Monsters some of which are quite irritating (Air Screamer, Hanged Scratcher) and some that have become a staple within the Silent Hill games (The Dog, Groaner, and the Nurse).
The Grey Child Monster was censored out of the European version due to their resemblance to real children (though I disagree that they look alike) and were replaced by the Mumbler, a bear like creature that is also in the US version.

There were some awkward moments in this game. The phone call you receive at the school from Cheryl where she screams for you to help her and at the Mall where the TV screens all show Cheryl bound to a chair.
The music really did add to the atmosphere of the game proving that Akira Yamaoka's composing skills have been strong since the beginning of the series.

The voice acting was pretty poor however, Cybil (left) amongst one of the worst. Pauses in dialogue can be strewn out which makes the acting sound wooden.

The graphics were another negative point which makes me hate the fact that I wasn't into gaming and Silent Hill in 1999. At the time these graphics were considered brilliant and it was revolutionary within the gaming industry as far as the horror is concerned. I found it hard to get creeped out by things that didn't look real. On several occasions you find dead carcases hung on the walls but they didn't scare me because they weren't detailed enough.
I realise it's unfair to judge the game on it's graphics alone, especially since this is the best developers could do at the time but because I played this game after 2,3,4 and Origins, it didn't feel the same to me.

I find it hard to review this game because the graphics really did put me off and I know loads would disagree with me but I give it...

7.5/10


I welcome Feedback regarding the score I've given it.
I've also found this game to be the hardest to grasp so if anything mentioned is wrong, please tell me.

Ones I'm Not Bothered About

Resident Evil 5

This is the game that seems to be getting the Survival Horror fans really excited. I am not excited at all about this game at all and I'm more excited about Silent Hill Homecoming.
This game is due for release in the UK and the US on 13th March '09, just two weeks after the European release of Silent Hill Homecoming. This means that the game has overshadowed the release of Homecoming in within the European market.

The game is set ten years after the first Resident Evil game and follows Chris Redfield who was the protagonist of the first game. It's set in a fictional country of Kijuju, Africa where Chris has been sent there to investigate an accident that happened as part of his service in the Bio-terrorism Security Assessment Alliance (BSAA).
A trailer shown at the E3 game's convention 2007 sparked an accusation of racism from Newsweek reporter, N'Gai Croal.
The trailer showed the White protagonist laying bullets into a group of Zombies, all of who were black, which I would expect seeing that it's in an African setting.
The following year a second trailer was made showing both black and white Zombies and an additional Female character of African descent. However, according to the games developers, these changes weren't made due to the controversy of the first trailer.

You can see an article about this here

I have also included the newest trailer which I found on youtube which shows more about the storyline and game play:

Resident Evil 4 didn't impress me at all despite all the raving reviews it received and it has put me off all Resident Evil games period. Apparently Resident Evil 5 plays exactly like Resident Evil 4 which really puts me off. However, the graphics in Resident Evil 5 are much better which is understandable seeing it's a next-gen game. The Zombies in particular look very scary compared to the Zombies that were in Resident Evil 4 but that isn't enough to persuade me to get it at release.

I may buy this in the very distant future when the price has gone down. I am not going to make the same mistake I made with Resident Evil 4.

For more details you can check out the Official Website which can be found HERE


Dead Space

This game was released in the US and the UK on Oct 14th '08 and I still haven't had any interest in buying it. It's another First Person Shooter set on the USG Ishimura "Planet Cracker" ship, whilst mining the planet of Aegis VII.
You play as Isaac Clarke, an engineer who is stranded after his ship becomes infested by the Corruption, a hostile, virus-like, alien DNA with the ability to infest the bodies of the dead, turning them into grotesque Monsters called Necromorphs.

It's not that I'm not intrigued by this game, I do want to try it because people say it's brilliant and scary. I just don't want to pay the full price tag for it. Now however, the price has gone down to around £28 but I'm still not going to run to the shops to get it. I don't like first person shooters very much and that is what this game is, this means that it's mostly an action game which intimidates me. I didn't like Resident Evil 4 for this reason and it's also one of the reasons I'm not interested in Resident Evil 5 (above).

Below is a trailer I found on the Official website:

If you go to the Survival Horror forum on the US Playstation website you'll see that almost every thread is on Dead Space. It's proven to be very popular and it's got me interested in it - only slightly though. I have downloaded and attempted to play the demo but it doesn't emphasise much on the story so you can't get an idea on whether the game would interest you or not. It forces you into battle straight away and that's not what I look for when buying a Survival Horror game.

More videos and images can be found on the Official Website which can be found HERE


Anybody else not interested in these games?

Should Dead Space be considered a Survival Horror instead of a straight forward FPS like Resistance?

Will Resident Evil 5 be better than Resident Evil 4?

Ones I'm Waiting For

Alan Wake

Remedy Entertainment have been very secretive about this game and have hardly released anything about it. Alan Wake was even announced before the PS3 and Xbox 360 came out but it's only now that eager fans are getting what they want.
Alan Wake was to be released on both consoles until Microsoft bought the rights for it, therefore making it a PC and Xbox game only.
Screenshots were released in 2006 when the game was first announced but two years have passed so the game probably looks much different now.

The game is based around Alan Wake, a famous mystery writer. Suffering from a major case of writers block, his wife has brought him to Bright Falls to help him get his creative flow back.
Things go wrong when his wife disappears and the events of his last book, which he doesn't remember writing, start to occur to make things worse.

What we know:

- The storyline is all we know really. Remedy doesn't like to give things away it seems.

- The trailer shows a guy in a red coat, a Jon Lovitz type, who Alan calls Harry. We don't know why he's there and who he is but I'm sure I heard somewhere that he said he was Alan's manager, I could be wrong.

- In the trailer Harry mentions a Dr Hartman. "Dr Hartman was right. You are crazy". This leads you to believe that he must be a shrink.

Unfortunately, we don't yet know anything about the game play. Will there be monsters like in Silent Hill? What kind of weapons will there be?
The video section of the website shows a further two videos are going to be revealed - hopefully these will be game play videos, let's hope.

Remedy are saying that a release date won't be given until the game is finished so we don't have one yet. It seems they don't want to make the same mistake as other developers who give a release date before knowing when the game will be completed.

The official website can be found HERE

Official Trailer

Silent Hill Homecoming

This game has already been released in The USA and Japan but the UK has to wait until February '09 to get this game. Konami never gave us an official reason but it could be a matter of reasons.

1) Censorship - Germany in particular have expressed concern over the violence contained in the game. News of the German release delay came out before the news that the UK would also have to wait...Are the whole of Europe having to wait until Germany are satisfied? Will we have to make do with the censored version as well? News of the German delay can be found on this LINK

2) Translation - Europe speaks a lot of languages, that's a given so the game has to be translated to over 20 different languages. It seems the UK, who speaks English and in fact came up with the language have to wait with the rest of them. Sure, we could import since the PS3 and XBOX 360 are region free, but why should we have to pay for the delivery charges?

3) Sods Law - We had to wait for Origins and now we have to wait longer for Homecoming. Maybe Konami just doesn't think much into pleasing it's European Market. It's not all bad I suppose. The game has been banned entirely from Australia apparently due to a specific scene within the game.

Homecoming is going to be the fifth instalment of the game (Origins not counting as it's a prequel). It's based around Alex Shepherd who has gone back home, after leaving the Army, to Shepherds Glen after news came about of his younger brothers disappearance. When he returns home he finds the whole town in a mess and his Mother in a catatonic state. She went crazy after Joshua, her younger son's disappearance so Alex goes about finding him. His investigation around Shepherds Glen leads him to a nearby town called Silent Hill where he intends to find out what has been happening.

Konami were quite generous in the information they gave out regarding this game. Trailers and screenshots were released, giving us a chance to look what the game is going to look like.

What we know:

- We know that the cast of Monsters includes new as well as old - Siam (Right) is one of the most impressive, and the monster that got my attention. The Nurses return (it wouldn't be Silent Hill without them would it?) and they've been busy advertising the game, modelling on the popular Play Magazine front cover.

- Pyramid Head is going to be in this game. He was spotted walking around the town in one of the trailers released but how does he fit into this game when he was a manifestation of James Sunderland’s character in Silent Hill 2?

- We know that a female character is in the game, Elle, an old friend of Alex's who can be found on the official website. The official trailer (below) shows a truck driver, Travis Grady from Origins and screenshots so some kind of police officer, who remains nameless to us lot that haven't played it.

- The games has also taken on the appearance of the movie. In the previous games, we never actually saw the real world turn into the nightmare world but in this game, we will. The two realms will merge in real time, wall paper melting off of the walls and such.

Since this game has been released in the US, we know that the game has proven successful with Silent Hill fans but the critic’s reviews have been mixed. Metacritic gives the scores received from various magazines and websites, then giving a critics average. The worst score given was 60% from GamePro and the most promising score was 90% from the Official Playstation Magazine (US). The average however was 7.2/10, the sites users giving it 8.1/10 proving the game has been quite well received generally.

The official website can bee seen HERE

Official Trailer (YouTube)

Fatal Frame IV: The Mask of the Lunar Eclipse

Fatal Frame IV was announced, to the UK at least, earlier this year (2008). The game has been developed by Japanese developer, Grasshopper Manufacture. The news was both good and bad for fans because even though a new game is coming, it's coming on the Nintendo Wii. Previous games have been released on the Xbox and the Playstation 2, PS2 being the only console to have all of the first three games.
The game was released earlier in July over in Japan but for a while there was no news on a release over in the west. However, news came out earlier in December of a European release due early 2009. America is still to find out whether they will get the game or not.

Ten years ago, five young girls were kidnapped and held hostage in a mysterious mansion in Japan. They were all saved by a detective on the hunt for the criminal who had taken them. Several years later, two of the girls died under mysterious circumstances but the remaining three, now 17 years old have returned in order to find out more about what happened all those years ago.

What we know:

- There are four main characters in this game: Ruka Minazuki(F), Misaki Asō(F), Madoka Tsukimori(F) and Chōshiro Kirishima(M).

- The Wii remote and nunchuck will be used to aim the Camera Obscura and the torch that the character holds. How the camera will work however, remains to be seen.

- Ghosts include what looks like a female nurse and little boy, who is especially creepy - reminds me of the boy in the film, The Grudge.

We know nothing else regarding this game but news on game play and characters should be released soon if a European release is going to be the rumoured February '09. The official website and the official trailer are in Japanese but they shed some light into what the game will look like.
The game actually looks really good for the Wii and the ghost especially look really realistic, even more so than the ones in The Tormented.
Hopefully an English version of the website will be released real soon.

The official website, in Japanese, can be found HERE.

Trailer (Subtitled)

I'm really looking forward to all of these games. Silent Hill and Fatal Frame are two of my favourite Survival Horror games and both look like a good edition to each series.
Alan Wake is the one I'm looking forward to the most. However, it's a new addition to the genre and could be a huge sucess based on how it looks. People are getting restless waiting for it but good things come to those who wait.
I'm a geek, and I know this Why? I bought my Wii and Xbox 360 especially for Fatal Frame IV and Alan Wake so they better be really, really good.