Silent Hill 3 has an amazing story and some of the best characters, imagery, and symbolism in the series so far but to be honest I can't really talk about it without acknowledging how frustrated I was with the gameplay at times. The difficulty is much higher than the previous games, which is an improvement in itself since it feels a lot more like a survivor horror game where the other games didn't require so much resource management. I have to admit it got a little boring having to run past most enemies, and fighting with the limited camera controls in order to aim was frustrating. I also ran out of healing items for the final boss and after trying to beat it for the better part of two hours I caved and used beginner mode. I would definitely like to play it again and see if the game gets easier with more experience.

I hope that Silent Hill 3 gets an Enhanced Edition style mod someday because I experienced a lot of performance issues and certain areas ran essentially in slow motion. Even with all the stuttering this game is still great to look at; the graphics aged very well.

In terms of the story, I think Heather is a fantastic protagonist and I think the writers did a great job of writing a female character. The use of religious themes in the game was super interesting and better executed than the first game. My main issue with the story is pacing. The game doesn't have much story momentum until about the halfway point so I spent a good chunk of the game wondering when any of the major plot points would be introduced.

Overall I didn't enjoy this game as much as I'd hoped, but at the same time it did so many things so well that I can't justify a lower rating. It is a worthwhile addition to the series and a great followup to the first game.