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.