a mature, engaging and tasteful depiction of some very heavy themes most games, especially at the time, don't even come close to matching. even playing it for the first time today it's still every bit as effective
the scenes are incredibly well shot and directed, the stilted, sort of uncanny vocal performances work wonders, and it's so well paced and told to the point that i was on the edge of my seat for basically every single cutscene, with the final act especially being probably one of the best i've ever seen in a game
my only major problem with the game is, the gameplay
not due to the tank controls or camera or combat i think those are all great, it's mostly the level design and the way the map works
you go to a variety of different areas in the game and they're all great aesthetically and atmospherically, and are home to many great scenes, but there's a lot of time dedicated to what is more or less checking lots of locked doors and opening your map to see if you're going the right way and then finding one that you can go in and there's a thingy in there so you check your map to find the door you can open which leads to another door you can open etc. and it's just a little milquetoast to me, and very stop-and-start
i think a town as malleable as silent hill could offer some more interesting level design but i could be missing the point
the final area plays with some interesting ideas such as having to explore a floor without any of your items, or seemingly normal doors that warp you somewhere else, but i feel like they're only scratching the surface of what could be done
there are some puzzles as well, some of them were good, some felt a bit irritating and esoteric to me and i had to look stuff up on occasion, though i'm willing to admit that could be due to my own impatience or stupidity, at one point i got completely stumped because i missed a wholeass giant hole in a wall
you'd think from the sounds of this i might be quite mixed on the game, but honestly none of my issues really bothered me, as there was always something that captured my interest or imagination at every turn, it is still every bit the legendary game you've always heard about
the scenes are incredibly well shot and directed, the stilted, sort of uncanny vocal performances work wonders, and it's so well paced and told to the point that i was on the edge of my seat for basically every single cutscene, with the final act especially being probably one of the best i've ever seen in a game
my only major problem with the game is, the gameplay
not due to the tank controls or camera or combat i think those are all great, it's mostly the level design and the way the map works
you go to a variety of different areas in the game and they're all great aesthetically and atmospherically, and are home to many great scenes, but there's a lot of time dedicated to what is more or less checking lots of locked doors and opening your map to see if you're going the right way and then finding one that you can go in and there's a thingy in there so you check your map to find the door you can open which leads to another door you can open etc. and it's just a little milquetoast to me, and very stop-and-start
i think a town as malleable as silent hill could offer some more interesting level design but i could be missing the point
the final area plays with some interesting ideas such as having to explore a floor without any of your items, or seemingly normal doors that warp you somewhere else, but i feel like they're only scratching the surface of what could be done
there are some puzzles as well, some of them were good, some felt a bit irritating and esoteric to me and i had to look stuff up on occasion, though i'm willing to admit that could be due to my own impatience or stupidity, at one point i got completely stumped because i missed a wholeass giant hole in a wall
you'd think from the sounds of this i might be quite mixed on the game, but honestly none of my issues really bothered me, as there was always something that captured my interest or imagination at every turn, it is still every bit the legendary game you've always heard about