SILENT HILL 2 AND SILENT HILL 3 THE MOST POPULAR BY FAR WITH FANS...This year marks ten years since the first Silent Hill game was released back in 1999. Five games have followed but has the series kept its charm? What are the highlights of the series? Who are the best characters? I wanted to find out.
So, around a month ago I created a Silent Hill questionnaire and asked members of the Gamespot and Playstation forums as well as readers of this blog to fill it out for me.
I asked who fans thought were the best and the worst of the series as well as asking them which game best fulfilled the key horror characteristics. Sixty people responded and these are the results. Let's start with what fans thought were the worst...
The Worst:
Least Favorite Support Character:Runner Up: Eileen Galvin 17%
LOSER: Elle Holloway 33%
Others in this category: Angela Orosco (12%), Maria (12%), Cybil Bennett (10%) , Douglas (9%), Lisa Garland (3%), Other (3%).
NOTE: The other characters which were chosen under the 'Other' option are Dr Kaufmann from Silent Hill and Laura from Silent Hill 2 with 1 vote each.
Least Favourite Antagonist:Runner Up: Claudia Wolf (27%)
LOSER: The Butcher (37%)
Others in this category: Dahlia Gillespie (17%), Walter Sullivan (14%), Pyramid Head (5%).
Least Favourite Protagonist:Runner Up: Henry Townshend (29%)
LOSER: Travis Grady (31%)
Others in this Category: Heather Mason (17%), Alex Shepherd (14%), Harry Mason (5%), James Sunderland (5%).
Least Favourite Overall Silent Hill Game:Runner Up: Silent Hill: Origins (26%)
LOSER: Silent Hill 4: The Room (32%)
Others in this Category: Homecoming (19%), Silent Hill 3 (14%), Silent Hill (7%), Silent Hill 2 (2%).
The Winners:
Best Monster:Runner Up: The Doublehead (14%)
WINNER: The Nurses (29%)
Others in this Category: Grey Child/Mumbler (10%), Lying Figure/Patient Demon (10%), Mannequin (9%), Other (7%), Siam (7%), Numb Body (5%), Victims (3%), Carrion (2%), Insane Cancer (2%), Schism (2%), Air Screamer (0%), The Dogs (0%).
NOTE: The other Monsters which were chosen under the 'Other' option are the Rompers from Silent Hill with one vote and the Closers from Silent Hill 3 got three votes making them tied with the Numb Bodies.
Favourite Supporting Character:Runner Up: Maria (21%)
WINNER: Douglas Cartland (22%)
Others in this Category: Cybil Bennett (12%), Eileen Galvin (12%), Other (10%), Lisa Garland (9%), Elle Holloway (2%).
NOTE: The other characters which were chosen under the 'Other' option are Laura from Silent Hill 2, Jasper from Silent Hill 4, Deputy Wheeler with 1 vote each and Eddie from Silent Hill 2 with 2 votes. Douglas Cartland received an extra vote under this category because somebody gave an explanation to their choice.
Favourite Antagonist:Runner Up: Walter Sullivan (20%)
WINNER: Pyramid Head (63%)
Others in this Category: Claudia Wolf (12%), Dahlia Gillespie (5%), The Butcher (0%).
Favourite Protagonist:Runner Up: Heather Mason (27%)
WINNER: James Sunderland (37%)
Others in this Category: Harry Mason (17%), Alex Shepherd (7%), Travis Grady (7%), Henry Townshend (5%).
Favourite Overall Silent Hill Game:Runner Up: Silent Hill 3 (17%)
WINNER: Silent Hill 2 (53%)
Others in this Category: Silent Hill (15%), Silent Hill 4 (5%), Origins (5%), Homecoming (5%).
Which Silent Hill Game?:
Which Silent Hill game is best for...Atmosphere:Runner Up: Silent Hill 3 (25%)
WINNER: Silent Hill 2 (41%)
Others in this Category: Silent Hill (20%), Silent Hill 4 (8%), Homecoming (3%), Origins (2%).
Which Silent Hill game is best for...Monsters:Runner Up: Silent Hill 2 (24%)
WINNER: Silent Hill 3 (39%)
Others in this Category: Homecoming (15%), Silent Hill (14%), Origins (5%), Silent Hill 4 (3%).
Which Silent Hill game is best for...Plot:Runner Up: Silent Hill 3 (9%)
WINNER: Silent Hill 2 (76%)
Others in this Category: Silent Hill 4 (7%), Silent Hill (5%), Homecoming (3%), Origins (0%).
Which Silent Hill game is best for...Tension:Runner Up: Silent Hill 3 (25%)
WINNER: Silent Hill (29%)
Others in this Category: Silent Hill 2 (24%), Silent Hill 4 (12%), Homecoming (7%), Origins (3%).
With Shattered Memories due for release later this year, I also asked who would be buying this game at release:
73% said they will be buying the game,
3% said they definitely won't be buying the game and
24% were unsure.
Summary:
Surprise Surprise, Silent Hill 2 is the most popular game in the series winning more categories than the other games. James Sunderland was the fans favourite Protagonist by far and Pyramid head thrashed the competition in the Best Antagonist category.
On the other end of the scale, it was also no surprise to see the unpopularity of Silent Hill 4 and Origins who sweeped the Worst categories. Luckily for Silent Hill 4, Walter Sullivan's and the Doublehead's popularity saved it from being at the bottom of the list, even though it was voted the worst game of the bunch.
Homecoming also proved unpopular despite the fact that Alex had a small amount of backing - Even though he was joint second from bottom with Travis in the Best Protagonist poll, Heather Mason proved to be more hated in the Worst Protagonist poll which did surprise me.
The surprises for me were how unpopular Dahlia Gillespie was. She didn't get the large amount of votes I thought she would and Lisa Garland didn't get much approval either which I found surprising as I always thought she was a fan favourite.Probably the biggest surprise of all is Douglas Cartland winning the Best Supporting Character category. He only just beat Maria from Silent Hill 2 but I didn't expect him to get more votes than her or Lisa from Silent Hill.
The game that fans seemed to be undecided about was Silent Hill 3. It was runner up in the Best Game category but it recieved more votes in the Worst Game category so maybe Silent Hill 3's results would have been much different if 100 replies were recieved.
Results I was dissapointed by:
I really did think that Walter Sullivan would give Pyramid Head a run for his money but even though Walter came second in the Best Antagonist category he was 25 votes behind. On top of that he was only 2 votes behind Dahlia in the Worst Antagonist category. Shame on you - Seriously though, I did get some feedback on the Gamespot and Playstation forums where people said they had a hard time choosing between the two.I was also dissapointed by Silent Hill 4 getting more votes than Origins in the Wost Game category. Is it really THAT bad because Origins was only just tolerable to me.
Silent Hill's poor showing wasn't a surprise to me because it's been the general feeling of fans since it's release in 2004 but the things I felt put it ahead of the rest hasn't been proven here. I thought it had one of the best Plots for a game but Silent Hill 3 beat it, I also thought it had better Monsters than Silent Hill 3 and Origins but it got the least votes in this category.
So, what do you guys think? Are you dissapointed by any of these results? Any surprises? To see the graphs of these results click HERE.
If you took part in my survey, any feedback regarding the questions or the choices I made available would be appreciated.
.jpg)
7 comments:
Here's just my two cents:
Many of the votes I made reflected that I hadn't played either Origins nor Homecoming. I personally voted The Room as the Worst Game, but it didn't mean I thought it was bad, just compared to the ones I played it was the weakest.
On the Walter vs. PH, I found Walter more annoying than scary. I also didn't find him anywhere near as disturbing as pyramid head. This might be due to Walter being too humanoid (I know he was supposed to be, but it just really lost out on the scare factor IMO)
I also personally voted Heather as my least favourite protagonist. I personally felt sorry for Henry in the room, and thought both Harry and James were excellent characters. However, I never really empathised with Heather, and personally found her to grate on my nerves throughout the game.
Still, it was interesting to see the results :D
Silent Hill 3 is my favorite by far. And in fact, I hated Silent Hill 2. HATED it! I'm really disappointed that SH2 seems to be the overwhelming favorite. I found it slow moving, didn't like the level design at all, didn't like the atmosphere as much as 1, 3, Origins and even Homecoming, and did not like the plot or characters one bit.
On the other hand, I loved everything about SH3. Heather is a great protagonist IMO, as I can relate to her "everyday teen" persona more than the other characters in the series. I like the little attitude she gives other chracters at times, and I love the comments she gives on things you examine, when reading her internal monologue about things. Really shows a lot of personality when she has opinions on paintings in an art gallery, or a movie poster in her bedroom, and the memories it brings back.
I'm glad to see SH3 voted second-best in several categories, but annoyed that it's also voted second-worst in others. I don't get how so many people could love James, who I feel has no personality (much like Henry from SH4, but at least people agree with me on him), but dislike Heather, who actually has personality, and a lot of it.
surprised to see best supporting character go to douglas. douglas struck me as a creepy, drunk old man (half the time). i was expecting him to flash me at any second. cybil got my vote.
favorite protagonist is heather. to me, her attitude/personality is perfect in 3. i remember her the most.
since i was there day one, SH1 takes it hands down. best atmospheric portrayal in the series. i'm biased, what can i say?
i'm surprised SH1 isn't talked about more. yeah, it's the foundation of the series... not entirely perfect, but there was nothing else like it at the time. SH1 cemented the whole 'survival horror' genre, in my eyes.
Silent Hill 3 is my favorite by far. And in fact, I hated Silent Hill 2. HATED it!
Stopped reading there. Your opinion is officially invalid.
H.P. Hovercraft, my opinion is not invalid because it's unpopular. You can read my reasons and disagree with them, but I have my opinion, you have yours, and yours is apparently in the majority. I like what I like, you like what you like, and we each have our reasons. Grow up if you can't handle strong disagreement with a majority opinion.
Hmm odd, I did like SH4 though. But nice stats!
but anyways I like SH 2, 3, 4 and homecoming.
Or actually I like every SH games!
Meh, I personally feel 2 was the peak of the series. Don't get me wrong, I loved 3 and 4, but to me, 2 hit the atmosphere/music/monster design right on the head. 1 was brilliant, then 2 went one step further with the the entire punishment twist and the brilliant character development.
However, it isn't everyone's cup of tea. I personally found Heather completely unlikeable, yet I related to the altruistic and ordinary Henry in 4. I don't even understand why I don't like Heather, she just annoys me and doesn't relate to me. Some people found the fairly unemotional Henry dull and unrealistic, but I think he was quite relateable to me, it is how I would react.
It's what makes silent hill so great, the sheer amount of characters which people can relate to. Some games relate to people better than others.
Post a Comment