Working as Intended

Right, now that I've managed to get my hideous, sucking lips away from Silent Hill 2, let's see how the rest of the series fares, shall we? While I personally feel it's pretty much all downhill from this point on, the next two titles were incredibly solid in their own right and showed that Team Silent was still perfectly capable of scaring the ever-loving shit out of players.

So back to Silent Hill aga-.. Oh, wait, the next game doesn't start in Silent Hill.

Right. Off to Whereverthehellthiscityisville Towne.

Also, again, MASSIVE SPOILERS, ect, ect.






Silent Hill 3 was one of the very few games that was actually released in PAL regions before anywhere else in the world. A very nice gesture on the part of Konami, since so many gamers over here simply loved the second entry.

While Silent Hill 2 was all about rampant symbolism and the crushing dread of feeling truly alone in a world that hates you, Silent Hill 3 was all about truly screwing with your head. It twisted everything about itself at every opportunity just to make it very clear that you're not leaving this experience sane. Silent Hill 2 didn't pull of many mind-fuck moments, instead letting everything slowly boil. Silent Hill 3 took that aspect and cracked it over its knee, instead making an almost non-stop 12 hour long pants-shittingly disturbing game that nothing in the series has been able to top.

However, let's get the big negative about this game out of the way. Yes, it's about The Order. That stupid cult that really should've just stayed in the first game. Granted, SH3 does a damn good job making you actively want to pursue and hate the people who now follow it, but.. I don't know, I always liked the 'Unknowable Evil' that SH2 projected. That's more just personal preference then anything the game actively does wrong, but I just find any story with The Order in it to feel a bit cheesy and awkward.

The poor sap who gets sucked into the events of Silent Hill this time around is Heather Mason. I'm just going to very quickly leap through the background here since, as said, it's a bit awkward and silly. At the end of the original Silent Hill Alessa and Cheryl (Harry Mason's adopted daughter) formed together and gave Harry a baby girl which is a reincarnation of the merged Alessa/Cheryl soul.

As you do.

I'm not entirely sure by what means it happened (possibly because Alessa/Cheryl were meant to birth God at some point, so Heather now has that too) but.. yeah, Heather has a fetal form of The Order's God in her, which is the major focus for a lot of the symbolism in this game.

To be perfectly honest, the plot takes a bit of a back seat in this game to the scares. The game is absolutely terrifying, but the story, while makes sense, does seem very convoluted at times, which is shame coming from Silent Hill 2's very small, character driven story of excellence.

Also of note, before I move too far on and forget, is that SH3 is the first game in the series to have a song with vocals done by Mary Elizabeth McGlynn (Most well known for the voice of Major Kusanagi on Ghost in the Shell). It's become a tradition to have several songs by her in each new Silent Hill game, and pretty much all of the songs are rather spiffy. Silent Hill 4, personally, having my favorite of the bunch.

As I've mentioned a few times now, the reason Silent Hill 3 is still an especially good sequel is that it changes the most important formula for the series, yet keeps it incredibly effective. It's no longer about slow building dread, about the idea of being alone in the world. It's now about being in a world where everything is out to get you, and those that aren't are either just as screwed as you are, or will eventually turn hostile. The overall feeling I get from the game is one of, "Don't trust anything." Even inanimate objects on a few occasions manage to screw with your head and freak you out.

If Silent Hill and Silent Hill 2 were the slow, stalking, oppressive build-up then Silent Hill 3 is the explosive finale.

While Homecoming later tries this idea, it fails there for one very important reason. It didn't bother making you care about the characters. Silent Hill 3 throws you into the scares with an almost alarmingly speedy pace, but yet still gives you plenty of time to get to know Heather. She's a very snarky/sarcastic, somewhat-rebellious teenager who finds herself in a situation she has absolutely no control over due to events she was too young to have any knowledge about. The player quickly becomes as eager to escape the nightmare and figure this all out as poor Heather is.

The story, while still taking a bit of a backseat, is also helped by it doing something legitimately shocking, even after all the plot-twists and threads Silent Hill 2 managed to cover.

Throughout the first half of the game Heather is simply trying to get home to her father after all the creepy events start to occur. She can pull herself through the nightmare knowing that if she can just get home then everything will sort itself out. Her father's been through these events before. We should know, as we played the silly doof a couple of years ago.



The scene is especially tragic after you find out just how much the two cared about each other. Despite all the disturbing things that happened in Silent Hill and knowing that he'd never get Cheryl back, Harry happily took Heather and treated her like he would his own daughter. Going to extreme lengths just to try and keep her safe from The Order, who's been tracking her down for years (due to the whole God-birthing thing). Heather always knew the sacrifices Harry took for her, and while she was a bit rebellious (making implications that she once smoked/drank at a few points) she always deeply loved her adoptive father and tried to support him in everything he did for the two.

You can really see why Heather would be so hell-bent on revenge. The Order took away the only things she believed in living for. With the world distorting around her and the cult making it abundantly clear that they'll do damn well anything they can to have their dream of 'Paradise' come true, Heather really felt like she had nothing else at this point.

And only then, half way through the game, do you actually travel to Silent Hill.



To quickly go over the symbology of Silent Hill 3, the theme this time around is of sexuality/motherhood and the general anxiety of growing up through the teenage years. While in Silent Hill 2 the monsters took the form of female creatures, a lot of the creatures in SH3 are male, or are generally phallic in design. Like the very obvious Split Worm shown in the first video above.

Most of them are pretty easy to guess the symbolism about, but there was always an interesting bit of foreshadowing with the Numb Bodies. These creatures first appear to be really tiny, and grow progressively larger as you make your way through the first half of the game. Once Heather realized the whole 'God Birthing' thing and is in Silent Hill, the creatures never show up again, possibly symbolizing the fetus growing inside of her and are a subconcious hint to her about the event. The design of the monster heavily supports that idea.

The Otherworld itself taking on a very vien-filled/flesh tone, to symbolize motherhood and birth.




There's also the case of Valtiel, a strange monster that often appears in cutscenes/in the background throughout your journey through Silent Hill 3. He even appears to occasionally drag Heather's corpse away should you get a Game Over. The reasons for his appearance often depend on the view of the player, but the most common and logical one is that Valtiel is a protector. Not so much of Heather, but more of the God growing inside of her.

Almost every time the game shifts into the Otherworld Valtiel can be seen turning a valve, which symbolizes rebirth and possibly points towards Valtiel having some sort of control over the shift between worlds. At least for Heather.




Aside from those, there's nothing particularly astounding in the symbolism this time around. The game's much more focused about scaring the crap out of you to worry about such things like that. There are some really fantastic set-pieces, like the mannequin room, which is just full of creepy looking figures looking at you until you turn around the corner, one of the mannequins lets out a scream and when you rush over to where you heard it the mannequin has been decapitated and there's blood leaking all over it.

Why? Because it's frigging creepy!



Or when you make your way through Brookhaven Hospital (the same one from SH2) and Heather finds progressively creepy and forward love letters written to her from a man named Stanley Coleman. The game implies he's very much dead, but the letters show that he's been following Heather's activities throughout the Hosptial.

"This day has finally come.
That's right -- the day when you and I will meet.

I was always thinking of you, here in this gloomy cell.
I never even knew your name or face until today.

But now I know.
I know you're the one I've been waiting for.

And haven't you been waiting for me, too?
That's why you came to rescue me.

Oh, how I love you, Heather.

I want to give you my prized doll I made to commemorate our meeting, the start of this everlasting love.
Ah, I can already see your smiling face."

They need to break my will, to make me forget about all that.

But I'll stay sane even if they throw me in here with lunatics.

How about if I stick this to the wall?
That would be worthless.
You can peel it off, can't you, with that junk those nasty wenches won't stop using?

If a thing has no meaning, there's no reason for it to exist at all.
Just as you exist for me.

But why haven't you taken my doll with you?
Ah, my gift must've embarrassed you.
How cute you are, Heather!"

"Flowing freely, your ebony hair
Like the night sky,
scattering fragrance

My heart, clamoring in my chest
Like a storm, you trifle with it

Your pristine glance
Like a feast, when you smile

My thoughts disturbed, my breath
Like opium, it drives me mad

...Eric, a great poet who conveys
my feelings so well.
I shouldn't have let this place get to me, should never have gone crazy.
But it's superbly enjoyable to drown in my love for you.

But why won't you accept
proof of my love?
Don't stand on ceremony, now.

After all, you and I exist as one.
What I give to you is the same as what I give to me."

Fucking. Creepy.

So, yes, Silent Hill 3's story does tend to dive into the campy-Cult area of awkwardness more then I'd like it to, but its characters are extremely strong, the scares even stronger and.. well, it just contains some absolutely brilliant mind-fuck moments. Like the one below I'll leave you with before moving onto the next game!



It serves no purpose to the plot, and the room is actually entirely skippable. So why does it exist?

Because it's fucking creepy!











Silent Hill 4 originally wasn't meant to be even be a Silent Hill title. It was going to be an entirely new survival horror project until Konami insisted it be put into the series. Thankfully that was early enough in the project to make the story related to the series, but the gameplay is nothing like the old (for better and worse). It's also the last Silent Hill game Team Silent (as a whole, individual members came and went) made before they seperated and went onto seperate projects.

Silent Hill 4 almost completely changed every aspect of the series. The melee system was given an overhaul, there were First-Person sections, the game didn't even go to Silent Hill at any point, and the game did what Devil May Cry 4 would annoyingly copy and had the second half of the game be essentially a backtrack through the first half.

The First-Person sections were great, but everything else about the game, from a gameplay point, was quite weak. Fans of the series often proclaim Silent Hill 4 to be the point where the series completely lost any sense of itself (jumping the shark, essentially). I disagree almost entirely. The gameplay was the crowning achievement of underwhelming, sure, but I felt the story made up for it. To me, it rivals Silent Hill 2 in that department.

Like SH2, The Room focuses very much on its characters. While the story does feature The Order again, it's much less about the group itself and more about the effect such an organization can have on its members. It focuses around Walter Sullivan, who fans remembered as the person in the Silent Hill 2 newspaper article screaming about the "Red Pyramid Thing!" after killing two children.

When Walter was a baby, he was left abandoned in Room 302 of the South Ashfield Heights apartments. Once discovered he was handed over to the nearby hospital and was then adopted by the Wish House orphanage, which was run by The Order. Throughout his childhood, he would constantly try to return to Room 302, as he believed his parents (specifically his mother) were still in there. When the tenants of the apartment grew annoyed by his constant visits as the years passed by, he started to see them as nothing more than obstacles getting between him and his mother.

As he grew up within The Order, their horrific teachings and abusive methods of raising children twisted Walter beyond belief. When Dahlia taught him of a ritual called the 21 Sacraments, and how it could "awaken" his mother in Room 302, Walter started preparing for it.

Unfortunately, the ritual required 21 sacrifices.

Long story less long, through his shattered mind and knowledge of The Order, Walter soon became sucked into the nightmare of Silent Hill, taking everyone who was either connected to him or Room 302 along with. Including poor Henry Townshend, the protagonist of the game and current resident of ol' 302.

What makes Silent Hill 4's story so good is that, like 2 before it, the game focuses entirely on the characters and puts a heavy amount of symbolism into it. The antagonist is just as important (if not more) then any other character in the story, and each world reflects upon either Walter himself, or the history of Silent Hill. The Order is rarely seen, and instead you just see the after effects of their ways. It's a much more effective way of making them seem creepy then what other games have, and, ugh will try.




Almost all the monsters, and especially the Ghosts that float around the areas are representations both of the horrible murders Walter has commited (the above picture being the two children he murdered as part of the 21 Sacraments) as well as being manifestations of Walter's fears and views of life as a child.

Like the Rubber Face enemies, who look incredibly disfigured and act rather dim-witted were how Walter views most of society, and especially anyone who gets between him and Room 302. In his mind they're nothing but idiotic monsters that deserve to be put down.

The best part about Silent Hill 4's story is its slow, foreboding build up. You don't learn about the 21 Sacraments until its way too late. As the story continues (Henry being trapped in Room 302, save for mysterious 'Holes' that appear in the walls that take him to manifestations of Walter's past) everyone around poor Henry starts to get killed off in rather disturbing ways.

Just before the half-way point of the game, Henry's neighbour Eileen (the only person he's really been able to see, due to a hole in one of the walls) suddenly goes missing. While it doesn't take much to deduce what's up, the incredibly creepy message that's pasted on the wall opposite the Room 302 peephole ("BETTER CHECK ON YOUR NEIGHBOUR SOON!") puts you in just the right mood to be seriously weirded out by it. At that point I know many friends of mine actually started panicking when they saw the position of a certain doll in Eileen's apartment.

The entire apartment is empty, save for one of Eileen's dolls on the bed, which is currently pointing straight at you with wide-open eyes.

You're next.

Henry is trapped in a very cramped apartment while the world outside of it starts to undergo the usual Silent Hill treatment (aka: be pants-ruiningly terrifying), he can't escape and the one person who's responcible for all of this is coming for him next, and he has no idea when, or even what he looks like. To be fair, Henry takes it surprisingly well (Henry having the emotional range of a starched potato) but many, many people I know who were playing were panicking like nothing else then.

By themselves, the writing and the doll aren't much, but it's the multi-hour build up of mystery and dread that completely sells it. It also helps that while you're in Room 302 you're looking through Henry's eyes, so, you know, if something is going to sneak up on you there's not a damn thing you can do about it.



In the second half of the game Room 302, your one sanctuary against the constant nightmare, is constantly under attack by otherworldly forces. It honestly gets to the point where a lot of players feel safer in the Otherworld then they do in Room 302.

Outside of the room, the game was pretty standard, with no real mind-fuck moments, ala Silent Hill 3. The best bits were definitely in Room 302, but the story was completely solid throughout. Especially the multiple endings, where it was entirely possible to lose the final fight and have Walter complete the 21 Sacraments. It gave the fight a level of tension you rarely see in other games.

Oh, and while that Twin monster in the picture above seriously weirds many people out, that's nothing to seeing them instantly snap around when they spot you down the hall, point at you with wide eyes and whisper "Reciever... Reciever..." before absolutely charging at you with a high-pitched shriek.

Or the Ghosts. Who can't be killed. If you see one crawling or floating ominously around the area, you drop everything you're doing and run.




Well, that ends the Team Silent part of my entirely pointless look back on the Silent Hill games. Take a loooong look before I write up my next post, as the quality of the series is entirely frigging downhill from here. And by downhill I mean its practically a sheer cliff-drop.

But, hey, if you like seeing me act incredibly pretentious and bitter you're in for some crazy good times as I explain my thoughts on the Silent Hill movie, Origins and Homecoming.