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Silent Hill (video game)

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Silent Hill
File:SH1 boxart.png
Developer(s)Konami
Team Silent
Publisher(s)Konami
SeriesSilent Hill
Platform(s)PlayStation
ReleaseNA January 31, 1999
JPN March 4, 1999
EUR August 1, 1999
Genre(s)Survival Horror/Psychological Horror
Mode(s)Single player

Silent Hill is a video game, the first in the survival horror series with the same name. The game was released in North America on January 31, 1999, Japan on March 4, 1999, and in Europe on August 1, 1999. It was released exclusively on the Sony PlayStation. A movie adaptation based on this game has been made and was released theatrically on April 21, 2006.

Gameplay

The objective of the game is to safely guide the player character, Harry, through the dilapidated town of Silent Hill. A major threat to Harry's survival are the hostile demons wandering along the streets and inside buildings. Another problem is poor visibility; Harry will almost always be surrounded by thick fog or total blackness. He locates a pocket-size flashlight early in the game, but the light beam only illuminates for a few feet.[1] For this reason, sound plays a large role in Silent Hill's gameplay, as the player will often be alerted to the noises demons make, rather than the actual sight of them.[1] Harry keeps a radio on him at all times (a staple of the series) which alerts him to the presence of creatures by emitting loud static, allowing him to detect hostiles before they can ambush him. The third obstacle to Harry's success is his own fragility; being an ordinary man, he cannot sustain many blows from enemies, and will gasp for breath when he has sprinted for a large distance.[1]

A rifle-wielding Harry faces off against an unseen monster.
File:Map SH1.jpg
A map of "Old Silent Hill", the first area visited in the game.

Silent Hill is typically shown from a third-person perspective. In pre-scripted areas, the camera occasionally switches to other angles for dramatic effect. Because Silent Hill does not feature a heads-up display, the player's current status is determined by a portrait of Harry in the pause screen. If Harry's picture is framed in green, his health is at maximum. If the image is red, then Harry is wounded and will die if he suffers further damage.

In order to navigate through a given area, Harry needs to locate a map, which is collected like any other item. Once found, the player can switch to the map screen at any time. The map interface is stylistically similar to a tourist map. Whenever Harry encounters a point of interest, he will automatically highlight it on the map with a red pen. Maps can only be read if Harry is in the vicinity of light, such as in the Misty World. Otherwise, he will be unable to cue up the map in any place without the flashlight turned "On." (as is the case within the Otherworld).

Navigating through Silent Hill frequently requires finding keys or solving riddles to progess. Unlike future Silent Hill installments, which feature fewer boss fights and less emphasis on combat, the player regularly faces bosses in each area. Harry defends himself with a number of melee weapons and firearms, including a steel pipe, an axe, a Glock pistol, a sawn-off shotgun, and a hunting rifle.

Synopsis

File:SH1 Harry.jpg
Harry wanders through a snowy street.

Seven years ago, Harry Mason and his wife found a baby by the road. The couple adopted her as their own, naming her Cheryl. Following his wife's illness and death, Harry has continued to look after Cheryl. At the start of the game, Harry is driving Cheryl to the resort town Silent Hill for a vacation. A cop on a motorbike drives past his jeep. Moments later, Harry spots the same motorbike lying unattended by the side of the road. Not long after that, the jeep crashes when Harry swerves to avoid hitting the ghostly apparition of a little girl. When he regains consciousness, Harry discovers that Cheryl is missing and the streets are engulfed in fog. There is also snow falling from the sky, which is strange considering the time of year.

Harry catches sight of a child's silhouette amidst the snow. He follows the girl into a alley, where the environment suddenly becomes pitch-black and covered in gore. At the end of the alley, he finds himself fenced-off and is ambushed by demons; without a weapon to defend himself, he is quickly stabbed to death.

Harry reawakens inside a cafe, where he meet Cybil Bennett, the police officer from earlier. Cybil entrusts Harry with a spare pistol. They decide to part ways, with Cybil leaving to go find help. Harry is left to brave the foggy streets by himself to look for Cheryl. During his search, he periodically slips into another dimension similar to the blood-soaked world from before.

Endings

Silent Hill has five separate endings. Achieving the best ending will require extensive exploration. Unlike future Silent Hill games, the player's overall performance will not determine which ending is earned. The "Bad" endings will result in a different final boss to fight at the end of the game.

The "UFO" ending, achievable only after completing the game at least twice, is an easter egg and is not meant to be taken seriously. In it, Harry is kidnapped by aliens and taken away in their UFO. This ending was so popular with fans that Team Silent included alternate UFO endings for Silent Hill 2, Silent Hill 3 and Silent Hill: Origins.

Silent Hill play novel

In 2001, a radically altered version of Silent Hill was released for the Game Boy Advance. Entitled Silent Hill Play Novel, this version was a choose your own adventure styled digital graphic novel. The game contained a retelling of the original game's story through text based gameplay, with the player occasionally being confronted with questions concerning what direction to take their character as well as the puzzles which were a major part of the original game's gameplay. The player also has the option of playing as Cybil in a second scenario, with a third made available for download.[2]

When the game was exhibited, western critics were unimpressed by the game, and criticized the lack of any soundtrack as severely detracting to the "horror" factor of the game.[2][3] It has yet to be released outside Japan.[4]

Reception

Review scores
Publication Score
IGN 8.9 of 10[5]
GameSpot 8.2 of 10[1]
MobyGames 8.4 out of 10[6]
1UP.com 8.6 of 10[7]
Game Rankings 84%[8]
Metacritic 96 out of 100[9]

Silent Hill received a strong critical reception. Reviewers for Gamespot and IGN were impressed by the game's suspenseful, atmospheric approach to horror in contrast to the established action-based "making you jump" approach credited to the Resident Evil games, rating the game at 8.2 and 9 out of 10 respectively.[1] [10] Edge Magazine had a similarly favorable reception for the game at 8 out of 10.[11]

Ratings accumulated by Game Rankings and GameStats averaged to 84% and 8.8 of 10 favorable respectively.[12][13]

Sales of the game were apparently strong enough to gain Silent Hill a place in the American PlayStation Greatest Hits budget releases.[14] The sales threshold for inclusion in this label was originally 150,000 units sold, but by 2002 this had been increased to 250,000.[15][16]

A 2005 article by GameSpy listing the best PlayStation games listed Silent Hill as the 15th best game produced for the console.[17] A similar list by IGN in 2000 listed it as the 14th best PlayStation game.[18]

Influences and design

The 1990 horror film Jacob's Ladder has been acknowledged as an influence on the Silent Hill series.[19]

The "Grey Child" monster went through four design changes before it was finally approved by censors.[1] Originally a faceless, humanoid monster which resembled a nude child, it was deemed too graphic for audiences (particularly in a game which forces the player to kill them). In the PAL release of Silent Hill, the Grey Children do not appear at all, instead being replaced by Mumblers.

Cast

Music

The original soundtrack for Silent Hill, composed by Akira Yamaoka, was released in Japan on March 5, 1999 and its catalogue number is KICA-7950.

References

  1. ^ a b c d e Fielder, Joe. "Silent Hill for Playstation Review". gamespot.com. Retrieved 23 February. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |accessdate= (help); Unknown parameter |accessyear= ignored (|access-date= suggested) (help)
  2. ^ a b Silent Hill Play Novel. IGN.com, 2001-01-19. Retrieved on 2007-07-03.
  3. ^ Lake, Max. GBA Preview: Silent Hill Play Novel. Nintendo World Report, 2001-01-10. Retrieved on 2007-07-03.
  4. ^ Silent Hill Play Novel. Silent Hill - The Alluring Nightmare. Retrieved on 2007-07-03.
  5. ^ IGN: Silent Hill
  6. ^ Mobygames - Silent Hill for Playstation. Retrieved on 2007-11-25.
  7. ^ 1up.com - Silent Hill Playstation. Retrieved on 2007-11-25.
  8. ^ GameRankings.com - Silent Hill Reviews. Retrieved on 2007-11-25.
  9. ^ Metacritic - Slent Hill (psx: 1999) Reviews. Retrieved on 2007-11-25.
  10. ^ Reyes, Francesca. Silent Hill Review. IGN.com, 1999-02-24. Retrieved on 2007-04-229.
  11. ^ Silent Hill reviews. Edge-online.co.uk. Retrieved on 2007-04-29.
  12. ^ Silent Hill - PS. Game Rankings. Retrieved on 2007-04-29.
  13. ^ Silent Hill. GameStats.com. Retrieved on 2007-04-29.
  14. ^ Silent Hill (Greatest Hits). Konami.com. Retrieved on 2007-07-11.
  15. ^ Fox, Jeffrey. "PlayStation Leads Videogame Industry with Aggressive New Price Structure". Business Wire, 1997-03-03.
  16. ^ PlayStation Greatest Hits: Complete List. IGN, 2002-01-09. Retrieved on 2007-07-11.
  17. ^ Top 25 PSone Games of All-Time. GameSpy, 2005-09-07. Retrieved on 2007-07-08.
  18. ^ Top 25 Games of All Time: #11-15. IGN, 2000-06-07. Retrieved on 2007-07-08.
  19. ^ Interview with Christophe Gans