The Good
HD visuals reveal extra detail
New, well-done voice acting for Silent Hill 2
Both games are as freaky as ever.
The Bad
Performance dips in crowded environments.
Both games look great. The high-definition visuals let you pick up on small details, such as shop signs and the deformities of a monster’s face, that were easy to miss in the original games. Fog remains prevalent but has been pushed back to reveal more of the scenery. The lighting effects have also been improved. Previously, darkness was darkness: black, oppressive, and nearly impossible to see through without the intense beam of your flashlight. Now the darkness isn’t as thick, and the light sources have been softened to make everything easier on the eyes.
Silent Hill 3 doesn’t include any audio annoyances, but what it does have is frame-rate lag. This typically occurs in large, open areas with lots of enemies. Everything eases into slow motion until you either kill the monsters or duck into a new area. This problem isn’t exclusive to Silent Hill 3, but since Silent Hill 2 has more claustrophobic environments with fewer enemies, it doesn’t occur as often in James’ neck of the woods. By no measure do these performance dips render either game unplayable, but they are noticeable.
I’m worried about Silent Hill 3′s frame rate lag mentioned in the review…also regarding the comparison video uh… WHAT THE HELL HAPPENED TO THE FOG AND THE FILTER LIGHTING IN SILENT HILL 3?!
Seriously…I don’t remember it looking that different back in September. Sure Cj and I ran through earlier builds but man, neither game looked that washed out! Yikes! What happen between now and then Konami?!
Well I’m getting the game regardless, I holding on to hope that the strange missing fog and lighting won’t be so bad when I play it in person on the 20th.
They also have a video of Douglas and Heather’s meeting at the mall:
I think the voices are fine but from the comments it looks like a lot of fans aren’t happy. What do you guys think?
Posted By: Whitney September 19th, 2011 | 10:36 am
I got a new video camera and I decided that I would make some videos for the site! In this video I just wanted to thank all the fans of my site and speak on what I have planned for the future :3
Some game play footage from Japan has surfaced today with Murphy battling some Weeping Bats in the mines and according to game associate producer, Tomm Hulett, these guys were playing on easy! Yikes!
First, holy shit are those Weeping bats huge! Also I would like to know why the guy playing decided a broken bottle would be a more effective weapon over a pick axe…
What’s cool about this new footage is we get to see Murphy in civilian clothes and how he takes damage. After a run in with the Weeping Bat he noticably starts limping and his back gets pretty bloody.
Additionally, we get to see Murphy use a lighter as a light source and even how memos are saved (anyone else notice the graphic for the memo he picked up was actually in Japanese? I think that’s pretty cool and makes me wonder if all the regions will have similar language changes on the graphics.)
Overall this stage felt more like it was more important to survive and I liked that even though we encounters a few Weeping bats along the way we didn’t actually get into a confrontation with one until the end. I think it really helped put the player on edge! I can’t wait to play this myself!
Sorry for the delay on this news you guys I was super busy at work all day yesterday and I am just now getting all caught up on all the new Silent Hill stuff!
Silent Hill Book of Memories Gameplay Footage
Okay it was nice to see some of those screens in action, a closer look at the character concept art and to hear more about the game’s premise. I think the story is actually pretty interesting so far: You recieve a book that contains you entire life story within the pages – your memories (hey I think I know where they got the title lol…), future maybe? Anyway the book is all about you and if you alter the text you can change reality and your own history and you will have to deal with the ramifications. Sounds pretty interesting to me! We also learned that there will be creatures from Silent Hill’s past titles, along with limited resources, creepy atmosphere and scare rooms.
From watching the footage it seems like there’s some RPG elements there as the guy in the orange cap seemed to perform some sort of magical attack. I’ll be honest here I raised an eyebrow I didn’t expect to see something like that in a Silent Hill game. Now I’m wondering how it will tie in with the rest of the normal melee and fire arsonal (shotgun, knife, cleaver, fists, pipes, etc). Will everyone have this sort of power or only certain character types?
Overall I can’t say I’m that excited for this title as it seems a big departure in terms of game play from the rest of the series. That’s not to say it doesn’t look like it could be fun, I would still love to try it but I see it so far as being in the same category as the Silent Hill Playnovel, those Silent Hill Cellphone games and the arcade game. What do you guys think?
Silent Hill Downpour Sneak Peek
This game seems to get better and better every time I see new footage which has me super hyped for it’s release later this year. The music in the brief little sneak peek was nice and I have to say I have a lot more questions about Murphy’s character…seems like he’s not popular with the guards or the other inmates. I wonder what he did…
Also what’s with all the rape faces given to Murphy lol?
I noticed a lot of cool things watching the HD version I didn’t before
The neat!
1) The monsters are pretty creepy. It looks like Murphy DIDN’T shoot the other inmate. From what I can see it looks like the female monster mauled and bit him. He was way too bloody from a single gunshot.
2) When the little girl jumps into frame there’s also a little boy in the doorway. The man she pushes is wearing jeans and a green button down shirt and not a prison coverall so it could be a flashback. Maybe the boy and girl are related to Murphy in some way. His kids…his siblings…random ghosts from that apartment? Their clothing did look dated next to the man in jeans.
3) The man on the TV seems to be black
4) Murphy is in a prison cell when the world shifts to the other world. I really like how the other world becomes like a vortex/blackhole and sucks all the stuff away.
5) Overall the world had a lot more color. Everything looked pretty gray and washed out before but I can a much more detailed Silent Hill now. If anything it really reminds me of the Blue Creek Apartments area of Silent Hill 2. The brief glimpses of fog look really good in my opinion. This could be the most “realistic” version of the town yet. Nice rain effects as well!
6) Great voice acting from the little we hear. I also like the music!
Not So great
1) Murphy looks pretty blah and plasticy…especially his hair. I’m really hoping he gets more detail on his character model.
2) Some animation does look stiff but I’m sure it will improve!
Overall I’m pretty DAMN excited What about you guys?
Man it took me a bit to get the blue shirt, sports bar hard of hearing one…and when I did it was a fluke I don’t know how my latest attempt was more successful. My only guess is that I didn’t plow through the begining I took my time to take screens and record phone things.
Wow I was able to get the PS2 for only $20 thanks to cash I had left over on an amazon gift certificate (thanks Alexis and Justin!) and oh boy am I glad I got the wii version! This version is definitely lacking a lot of graphical details I was shocked.
First the controls:
The wii version is definitely more immersive since I could move the flashlight freely but I think the actions of the PS2 Harry were still worked well. You can still zoom in and look at things and I got to say it was nice not having to twist my wrist every which was to try and get a can to turn over properly .
The only big difference I’ve seen is the inability to shake and nod your head or turn things over, all of which have button prompts instead of movements. It wasn’t a bad thing to tell you the truth since the doc was quicker to get my yes and no responses.
Completing puzzles by grabbing things wasn’t that hard either, sure it was a little slower because my movement was restricted to the analog stick and I couldn’t just flick a wrist every which way but it still worked.
Oh and something weird happened when I left Theresa’s I’m sure you can see it on my video Harry hit an invisible wall at one point and I couldn’t walk through a large opening..not sure what that was about.
My coloring was also a whole lot nicer on my happy family picture since it was impossible to go outside the lines!
Sound/Music
Didn’t really notice that big of a difference
Graphics
Okay now we get to the not so great part. The graphics I’m sad to say weren’t anything special. If people thought the wii version looked “bad” they aren’t going to like the PS2 one. Here are things that really jumped out at me:
-The lack of shadow effects. When I was in Theresa’s I was surprised not to see a shadow appear behind the dress mannequin (you should be able to see in my quick playthrough video below). I thought I was standing at a bad angle at first but nope it never showed up.
- Characters have less detail in their textures. Harry and Cybil had less blemishes and marks.
- Echo photos should be a whole lot easier to spot since you have several white staticey lines that appear through echo subjects…even through Harry.
- Background details removed. For example in the first nightmare when you jump into the pool there’s a large frozen puddle to one side in the wii version…this wasn’t so in the PS2.
- In the nightmare level there seemed to be less ice but it could be that I’m tired but a lot of it wasn’t translucent like in the wii version. This was especially apparent at the part where Harry runs from a monster in the alley. It was pretty funny since you can’t actually SEE a monster behind the ice and you can barely see one above Harry so it looks like he’s running from nothing.
-While inside Cybil’s car it didn’t snow outside (it did in the wii version right?) and I could see things clearly out the window.
I also have the PSP version now thanks to my brother who pre ordered it for my birthday, I haven’t played that yet but I will tomorrow and write my thoughts.
Gameplay Video
(if anyone is curious I just answered yes to anything asked)
Edit: Vixx from Silent Hill Heaven says Tomm Hulett has confirmed with her that this is the movie that runs if you sit on the main menu screen too long.
