...::: Silent Hill Heaven v2.1~php :::...

..::Sept 20th 2002

Silent Hill 3 (PS2)

TGS 2002: Silent Hill 3
Comments on the new trailer and playable demo.

September 20, 2002 - As is common with Konami TYO's hit horror series, the display for Silent Hill 3 at this year's Tokyo Game Show was built around two contrasting parts. On the one hand, the new trailer is lengthy and intriguing, featuring new locales, new characters, and an abundant helping of new unspeakable horrors. On the other hand, the playable demo nearby is somewhat disappointing in comparison. The trailer shows new protagonist Heather wandering around many different areas, including the Lakeside Amusement Park where the playable demo takes place. The trailer begins, in fact, with a long shot of a merry-go-round, intercut with skips in the video and brief bursts of noise. Later, Heather walks through an empty part of the park, holding a knife as if she expects to have to use it soon.

Later, the scene shifts to an empty street, where Heather talks to someone on a telephone. It sounds like she's speaking to her parents, but it's not clear if anyone is answering back. At the close of the scene, a nameless man walks up to her and shakes his head as if to indicate the negative, although no mention is made of what he's denying. He looks like the same character who gives Heather a ride through the rain later in the trailer, although mistaken identity can always be a problem with this sort of thing.

That issue comes up later in the trailer, when a middle-aged woman with white hair appears, the same as showed up in the first E3 trailer. Her intentions don't seem entirely benign, as she stands in the nave of a cathedral with an expression of expectation on her face. As always, she reminds us of a similar character who appeared in the original Silent Hill, although any potential connection remains effectively hidden.

The few gameplay sequences mixed into the trailer show familiar elements: the iron pipe, the flashlight, and the new submachinegun that appeared at E3. Heather isn't always so effectively armed, though -- one cinema sequence shows her running out of ammunition at the worst possible time, as a huge, deformed mass of flesh closes in. That's one of several scary moments -- my favorite, however, was a little more subtle, a brief shot employing the animating textures we saw at E3 to give the impression of walls pulsing with blood.

After checking out the trailer and its myriad horrors (see the media section for movies of almost the entire thing), the game demo was a little short in comparison. It consists of one small, unpopulated area in the amusement park, where Heather wanders around exploring a few elements of macabre scenery. One wouldn't necessarily think of it on one's own, but a blood-stained stuffed rabbit is actually quite a scary bit of background detail in the appropriate context. Distortion filters, fog, and sparse lighting added their usual touches to the atmosphere, and the quality of the background architecture appears somewhat improved in comparison to Silent Hill 2. Another area of improvement is the character animation -- Heather has some very realistic motions for tripping over obstacles, losing her balance near edges, and simply slumping over with fatigue when idling.

The demo's's camera direction could stand to lose a few bugs, though. Movement is subjective, a la Metal Gear or Devil May Cry, so the direction equated on screen with a particular analog stick movement can change when the camera jumps to a new position. If the level designers choose their camera angles properly, however, the controls should be quite friendly in comparison to more traditional survival horror games.

This is probably the last we'll see of Silent Hill 3 for a time -- it was a short visit, but as always, a worthwhile trip. Check the media section to get caught up on movies and a couple of new screens.

-- David Smith -- IGN --