Silent Hill Questionnaire - The Results.

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.

Silent Hill 4: The Room

Developer: Konami
Publisher: Konami
Released (UK): Sept '04
Released (US): Sept '04

May contain Spoilers. You're Henry Townsend, a regular Joe who lives by himself in an apartment located in a town called Ashfield. You moved there two years ago living in a carefree manner. Then the game starts by bringing you up to date - Five days ago Henry started having nightmares, which shows in the opening scene that was on the demo. At the same time Henry found himself locked in his apartment with no TV, Phone and no way out but hang on.... When Henry wakes up from his dream he receives a phone call, from a woman. "Help Me,” she asks but when the call cuts off, you find the cord has been cut - how did that happen? The door has been locked from the inside and some one named Walter has written a message "Don't go out".

The game really gets going when you hear a noise in the bathroom. A hole has been knocked right through the wall - who did that? You're the only one in the room, right? Within the first ten minutes of the game, you're already gripped, well I was, and I was spooked. How can you not be after seeing this video?

Curiosity gets the better of Henry and he forces the player to go check the hole out. On this occasion, the hole leads you to the start of the first part of the game - the Subway World. It's a little too quiet to be a subway station but you do see a woman up ahead. She introduces herself as Cynthia one of the eight other characters Henry will meet throughout the game in the various 'worlds'. You will meet a new character in every world you come across - Jasper Gein, Andrew De Salvo, Richard Braintree are among them.

These worlds all do their very best to add to the feel of terror throughout the game - some more so than others. I found both the Forest World and Water Tower World to be very intense because they make the best use of sound effects from wild animal calls to footsteps. Other environments include the Building World, Apartment World and Hospital World. The characters that you meet all have their part in the story but the character the game is based around is the life of the Antagonist of the game - Walter Sullivan (below).

At the time I didn't know it because this was the only game of the series I had played at that time but the name Walter Sullivan was mentioned in Silent Hill 2 several years earlier. Fans should have known what kind of guy he was as soon as his name came up but newbies like me were clueless. Either way, we were due to find out more about him.

What about the monsters? Games need bad guys right? The Doublehead was the only monster I had seen of this game before playing it but more were to come. The first monster you come across is the Sniffer Dog who in pairs wander around the Subway World among with the ghosts or Victims that haunt it. Other monsters include the ape like Gumhead, the quite tall and dangerous Patients, the utterly annoying Wall Men and the pointless Mothbats, Tremors and Mushrooms.

Game play starts off in quite a tedious way. I got stuck almost immediately. You lose Cynthia and meet a dead end when you find two closed off stairways and a locked subway entrance. It took me ages to realise that there was a hole in a restroom wall that I had to go through. I thought it was my own foolishness but a friend of mine got stuck in the same place also. This hole leads you back to your apartment and it's also the moment when you realise that these holes are the gateway to the 'real' world from the 'nightmare' world and vice versa. You have to keep checking back at you apartment for any new information or clues. This is also the only place you can save your progress. Henry travels light through out the game and can only hold ten items at a time. Any reject items that you don't need can be stored in a chest back in your apartment so check what you need before leaving home - this adds to the little bit of tediousness that you get at the beginning of the game. It's all quite easy until you get to the second half of the game where the dark part of the storyline really kicks off. The second half of the game sees Henry with a companion, Eileen Galvin - his next-door neighbour.

Around this time Henry sees his apartment is no longer the safe haven it was previously (before Eileen, just being in your apartment added health to your health gage) as it's now starting to become possessed by evil spirits. Silent Hill 4 as four endings which are determined by two things: 1) Eileen’s Survival. 2) % Of spirits exorcised. Eileen will become possessed herself if Henry allows her to get hurt too badly so if you want a good ending - don't let it happen. Spirits in your apartment can be easily exorcised with the use of the Holy Candle, many of which can be found throughout the nightmare worlds. The more you exorcise, the more chance of a better ending.

Then we get to the boss fight - Walter Sullivan is our target and we have to end him within a time frame, which is dependent on how well you've played. Eileen becomes possessed at this point but how badly possessed she is highly depends on if she was badly hurt. Walter has to be killed before Eileen walks into the machine Walter had invented - if she's badly possessed she walks faster so you have less time to kill Walter in but if you want the bad ending then don't worry about it. Overall the fight is quite hard - you need to make sure you bring enough health items with you and that you're equipped with a pistol, some bullets and a melee weapon in case your bullets run out. The fight should take around 10 minutes to complete it but it is very likely you will be on your 5th attempt when you do.

I loved this game. I thought it was atmospheric, intriguing and disturbing all at the same time. The hauntings in the apartment always had me scared to see what new spirit had occurred and the Doublehead didn't disappoint me - there's a point in the game where you see six of them waiting for you at the end of a large corridor, blocking the exit out of there. I was hesitant to move any closer.

I've since heard a lot of complaints about the game and Silent Hill fans have said that they hated it and I couldn't see why they should say that. I've since played the other games and even though I can see what they mean - It wasn't set in Silent Hill at all, there was no flashlight or radio, Henry could only carry ten items and no more - but you can't criticise the game too much. The Room originally wasn't going to be a Silent Hill game at all and you can tell but it wasn't a crap game. Would fans have been as critical if the game wasn't part of the franchise? I doubt it.

The game's good points were plentiful: Better graphics, good-looking monsters, excellent plot and the best thing? Walter Sullivan still is the best horror antagonist of all time (in my eyes anyway).

10/10

I wanted to find out for myself how these games could possibly be better than this one. So I did....

Did you like Walter Sullivan?
Was Silent Hill's greatest Monster in SH4?
How was Henry as a Protagonist?