The series is filled with fantastic stories led by some of the richest characters in video game history, but some of the narratives get too caught up in the rules of Silent Hill, or they just simply get forgotten about. In Silent Hill: Downpour , a mailman appears and drops a lot of knowledge about Silent Hill, but then vanishes. However, the mailman also appeared in the canon graphic novel, Silent Hill: Past Life , which was set in the s, so there is no way he can possibly be alive and he must be a monster or a ghost, but there is no way of knowing.
Harry was ranked as the best playable character in the series in the original, but Shattered Memories reimagines the face of the Silent Hill universe for the worst. For every entry in the series, the main character up to this point has been a troubled adult male searching for answers in a world where his head is being messed with, but none of the characters have been as dumb as Harry in Shattered Memories, not even himself in the original.
Harry tries to run from characters that can help him, including Cybil and Dahlia. There is no method or logic behind this, and to make matters more confusing, she believes that her daughter, Alessa, is the mother of the new, more loving God. When it was announced that Metal Gear creator and industry genius Hideo Kojima had taken the reins in , fans dared to hope the series may finally get back on track. Unfortunately, Kojima's highly publicized fallout with Konami and the cancellation of the forthcoming ninth installment were the final nails in the coffin, and the franchise was put on ice.
Despite its patchy history, we still remember Silent Hill very fondly. When it was good, it was so good. Let's look back over the series, as we rank all the games from worst to best. The first bone of contention came with the inclusion of only the second and third games.
Okay, Silent Hill 4: The Room didn't get the warmest reception, and the first would've taken a lot of work to bring up to date, but nevertheless, the package felt incomplete. Those complaints paled into insignificance when the collection arrived, littered with an embarrassing number of glitches and poorly re-recorded voice work. Sadly, the HD Collection is often regarded as nothing more than a lazy cash-grab and a tragic waste of an opportunity.
This lack of fear pretty much permeates the entire game, from the predictable jump scares to the saw-that-coming-a-mile-away plot twist. The result of its efforts produced perhaps the most divisive title of the series. Some critics claim Silent Hill 4 is underappreciated and perhaps even the scariest game of the series.
Puzzles are largely replaced by fetch quests, big boss fights are swapped for unrelenting ghost enemies, and Silent Hill itself is mostly traded for an apartment the titular room. Instead of trying to make its own mark on the series, the game stayed safely within the established formula, resulting in a familiar, rather bland experience. SH: Origins is a prequel to the first Silent Hill game , and to be fair, prequels often suffer from predictability simply due to their nature.
The prequel to the first game marked the first time a game directly connected with another's events. Translating popular franchises to Sony's first handheld was difficult, considering the PSP's single analog stick, but Origins did its darnedest to make it work. Most reviewers were pleased with how it handled the property on a portable device, though some pointed out several faults in the combat.
The story, on the other hand, was praised as a treat for fans of the series due to its connections to the premier entry. Shattered Memories' main draws were the questions and tests taken in a doctor's office between chapters. The player's answers and performance in these sections would affect the following chapter. This was the most praised aspect of its design, along with its utilization of the Nintendo Wii's motion controls, something which many third party developers never quite got right.
The low sales number prompted a PS2 and PSP port, which ultimately removed the motion controls, though kept the rest of the experience intact. The Xbox was more powerful on paper than the PS2, yet certain games ran notably worse on Microsoft's debut console.
Silent Hill 2: Restless Dreams looks smoother, but some of the effects take a step down. As explained by John Linneman of Digital Foundry , the Xbox version suffers from worse fog effects, CG cinematics downgraded from 60 frames per second to 30, and lower audio quality. The light from James' flashlight is more impressive, however. Ultimately, one should stick with the PS2 version.
The PC release has similar issues, but at least fan patches remedy some of these. The third numbered entry in the franchise had some big shoes to fill. While it does not match Silent Hill 2 , Cheryl Mason's terrifying journey still manages to live up to the franchise's name. The graphics pushed the limits of what people thought was possible on the PS2 and the story was also compelling, even if it was not as psychological as its predecessor.
The only real complaint most had was its lack of gameplay innovation.
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