Silent Hill 3

“Omnipresent gray and a taste of evil in the air; an amusement park associated with fun and joyful adventure, becoming a deserted citadel of darkness at full moon, turns out to be not the best place to spend autumn evenings. A synonym of childlike innocence and cleanliness, in a hare's disguise bloodied around the muzzle, cannot fill you with optimism. The rainy weather and the terrifying murmur of fear force us to step into the steps of the building, which is dimly in the fog. Here, however, from the rain of terror we find ourselves in the gutter of blood; The welcome ceremony of the dog, not fully alive, with its head halved at the base of its mouth, forces the use of a blunt knife hidden in a pocket. The complete possession of the psyche by fear deprives the existing reflexes and provides only the primal struggle for survival. The chaotic run forward, interrupted by seizures of fear and irresistible spasmodic groans of terror, is the only solution in a moment of doubt. Darkness, fog, ubiquitous clusters of live meat ... I run ..., stairs, stairs, stairs ... a metal gate, ... tracks leading into the darkness-consuming void, helpless running towards destiny ..., terrifying silence, the sound of an oncoming train ..., a queue (?!), curves of the rail with time defects, light in the tunnel of darkness ... rattle of the train, light ... Aaaaa !!! AAAA !!! aaa ... it's just a dream ?! Sleep, sleep, sleep ?! Are you sure ?! Java seems no less terrifying than the now abandoned zone of fear, which for some reason will probably return, and in the intensity of a thousand dead percherons "

Silent Kull

The first part of Silent Hill is a console horror game that owners of personal computers can experience on their own psyche only thanks to emulators. The second part has already officially appeared on PeCeta, which also saw the latest, third installment of the game about the town of horror on Lake Toluca. In the second part of SH, we led the character of James Sunderland, the heroine of Silent Hill 3 this time is an American 17-year-old named Heather. Fans of the series will surely see in the newest game from Tokyo Konami the borrowings, plots and solutions to doubts that could be encountered in the previous parts of this horror movie. New players, just entering the threshold of Silent Hill, the ignorance of the previous episodes of the series should not interfere with the fun, they only have to be prepared for the intriguing mystery and paranormalism of the threads known from previous stories. It is known for a long time that we are afraid of what we do not know and understand, and that is what it is all about here.

At the beginning of the game, we are faced with the choice of one of the three difficulty levels, separately for dexterity and logic elements (similar to SH2). Thanks to this, we have an impact on adjusting the type of game to our own skills (on easy - we get a lot of hints), needs and individual deviations ;-). In general, however, even at the highest levels, the game represents a well-balanced complexity of puzzles (mostly limited to finding a way to open the door), which make the next puzzles very easily absorbed by our fear-filled mind. Any mental effort is also a good excuse to put aside, for a while, the blood-dripping weapon. The opponents in the game are quite demanding creatures which, despite their innate dullness, seem to play their roles of brainless blood eaters in a way that is at least impeccable.

It turns out that difficult opponents and the constant fear of our character's death is not the key to achieving the perfect mood of horror. But we'll come back to that a bit later. At this stage of the review, it is worth mentioning the possibility of saving the game at any time (with maybe two small exceptions at the end of the game), which is not only the thing that distinguishes the PC version from the PSX version, but also a common part of them. Well, the places where you can save the game in the console version have not been removed from the PC version, which is an undeniable proof (if someone would not believe ;-)) that SH3 is a game transferred from the console to PieCe, not otherwise . For strength, you can still attach to the control method (which is still very convenient, both in the keyboard-mouse version and when using the pad) and the camera system. Fortunately, this is where the console touches end. The perspective from which we watch the events shown on the blood-dripping screen is often chaotic and you can expect literally everything from it. During the game, the camera can hover in a place predetermined by the authors of the program, which is not so much disturbing, but rather shows a given room from the point of view that seemed to be the best (read: the most terrifying) for the game developers. When walking and fighting the monsters you encounter, the camera often rotates rapidly and takes various positions. Of course, you can calm her down a bit with the appropriate button, but this fact nevertheless introduces additional chaos. There are so many "complaints" about the way the view is presented, but I cannot take this aspect of SH3 as a major disadvantage. The uncoordinated work of the camera, which we must carefully watch over, adds nervousness and apparent confusion to the game, which perfectly harmonizes with the atmosphere of the game. Difficulties in perceiving the world compensate for the possibility of taming it. We can (and most often we have to, because it is not always possible to avoid a monster by sprinting) to annihilate in various ways. Our heroine will defend herself with such equipment as a knife, katana, pipe, club, pistol, shotgun, stun gun; There will also be a bulletproof vest, first aid kits to improve Heather's health and an irreplaceable flashlight that diffuses the omnipresent darkness.

The game requires very strong hardware, with the greatest emphasis on the apparatus responsible for displaying graphics. If we do not have one of the latest graphics cards (NVIDIA GeForceFX, GeForce4Ti, GeForce3Ti, because the GeForce MX series will not help here, ATI Radeon 9800, 9700, 9600, 9500, 9200, 9100, 9000, 8500) we have no chance to play in SH3. Therefore, it is worth running a demo version of the game before buying it (only the DVD version is available). If we are one of the lucky ones, who are not afraid of system requirements, after starting SH3 we will fully appreciate the possibilities of such goodies as, for example, pixel shader. The phenomenal effect of shadows, fog, drizzle or "blur" of the image in the world of sleep, as well as the wonderful facial expressions and the detail of her features, is a rare sight on monitor screens.

The graphics are so good that cutscenes (which are quite a lot and are one of the most interesting elements of SH3) are made on the graphic engine of the game itself, which gives a great mood and the impression of participating in an interactive film. Most of the locations we visit are filled with darkness, while the elements of the environment (doors, walls, objects) are covered with rust, dirt, mold, blood (also moving, as if alive) and various other horrors. The play of lights and similar effects, apathetically illuminating gloomy rooms, is also important here. The visuals are dark and terrifyingly gorgeous, and even a rotten alternative reality won't change that.

Music in this type of game is one of the most important "frightening elements". The authors of SH3 showed off here with a great selection of repertoire, which is suitable for listening not only while playing. During the game, our hearing senses are constantly bombarded with terrifying screams, squeaks, groans, footsteps, just anything that can scare us acoustically. While playing, there are of course moments of ghastly silence or spontaneous but diabolical music that adapts to the action and situation presented on the screen. The great audiovisual setting of the game is a huge step towards the perfect horror movie. However, to achieve this ideal, you need two more components, which are certainly: the plot and the overall atmosphere of the game (in a sense, created by, among others, graphics and music).

The plot of the game is not worth revealing, because it is the game that intrigues, scares and tempts the player to spend the next hours in the world of Sillent Hill. The only thing I will allow myself to reveal is the fact that our heroine is not, as it might seem at first glance, an ordinary teenager, and her past, which merges with the future and the present, is an extremely interesting story in which they intertwine, not always understandable and not fully qualifying divided into good and evil, plots and characters. Of course, the very composition and design of the rooms and tasks that we have to face have a great influence on the mood in the game. At every step we encounter various interior "decorations" and it is they that are the most terrifying. As I mentioned at the beginning, we are afraid of what we do not know and what we cannot see or perceive. The authors of the game extracted for us and put into SH3 the most scary and unpleasantly associated elements of the world in which we live every day. In order not to spoil your fun and at the same time show you the spooky and sick genius of the game's creators, I will present a few scenes. An overturned wheelchair for the disabled with still spinning wheels, from which a string of blood is drawn, as if the owner of the wheelchair is crawling recently. Following the traces of the red liquid, we come to the ajar door of the elevator and the wall full of holes with rifle bullets, splashed with blood and smeared to the maximum.

It is also worth mentioning a dead mother hanging over the abyss, holding a baby by the hand, or scenes of tortured by monsters of "people" and suffering various torments, still living scars. We also often encounter a hospital atmosphere with bloody beds, characteristic tiles and a morgue, where we open the next door with increasing fear. Even the most terrible monsters (by the way, I expected more terrifying opponents) would not be able to cause such fear among players as the phenomena described above. The opponents in the game are not too scary (this also applies to bosses), and the unpleasant mood and the constant sense of danger are intensified by various, often distasteful and indecently bloody, graphic and decorative themes. This feeling is so intensified that while "playing" with SH3 I got a monstrous "hole", which is still difficult for me to get rid of. Someone may say that I am a wimp, but personally I felt very much into Heather (despite the gender difference :-P), and this allowed me to experience the nightmare presented in the game with her.

Completing the game does not mean the end of fun and adventures with the charming Heather. Depending on how many points we get in the game, we can get new weapons (including a flamethrower and a lightsaber known from Star Wars), and we can also see a different ending movie. Points are counted, among others for the number of killed monsters (separately with hand and firearms), the method of eliminating bosses (with hand or firearms), or the total of lost points. However, after the first playthrough, we get the opportunity to play again on different difficulty levels, this time in one of the clothes specially prepared for our heroine. The time needed to go through the whole story described in the game with Heather, the first time around, is around 6 hours, and for SH fans to finish the game again, it will surely be a nice return to the already lived nightmare. Subsequent approaches to the program allow you to look at some events from a broader perspective and notice things previously overlooked. There are a lot of themes-pearls in the game, such as the aforementioned interior decorations or the signs and posters you encounter, which are worth stopping at for a moment. The extra bonuses that we can use when we wander with Heather again are a good incentive not to rush the game on the shelf.

After the dose of fear that Silent Hill 3 gave me, I will not reach for this type of game soon. As the title described here proves, in today's violent times, you can still create something that will scare a relatively sensitive recipient. For those who like to be scared and for those who are not afraid of sleepless nights, SH3 is a perfect proposition (although SH2, according to many fans of the series, scared much more effectively). A balanced and player-adaptive system, with a huge dose of good horror and a positively confusing story, cannot get a rating low enough to have bloody nightmares afterwards. With the breath of a skinned monster on the back of my neck, I place my hand in a place where I used to have my heart, a 90% mark.

ATTENTION!

Before buying the game, make sure you have the appropriate graphics card (preferably start the demo). After that, check if you have a stress-resistant heart ;-P.

Daniel "KULL" Sodkiewicz