Silent Hill: The Escape (iOS)

Possibly time for the brown trousers.

It's no secret that I love the Silent Hill series, except for maybe Homecoming and possibly Silent Hill 4: The room. So I was rather surprised when I hadn't heard of Silent Hill: The Escape which sits on iOS machines and retails in around £1.49 mark, so I was a little apprehensive on the grounds that the rest of the games I'd bought for about £20 and wondered how this was going to factor up to the plot intensive, atmospheric games that had only so much explained and the rest had to be deduced and worked out for oneself (Especially the first game, mmmm.... Silent Hill 1 on PSX...). Which left me with mixed feelings for this one.

Certainly not an advocate of the "Do No Harm" idea.

You are Captain NobbyNobody, a generic human who somehow wakes up in the worst place imaginable, a lift. (Elevator I suppose to some) Upon awakening you realise you have with you a 5 shot revolver, a lead pipe and a torch. You will now navigate ten different and increasingly more complex mazes on the quest to find the key and then find the exit while being stalked and hunted down by various denizens of the Silent Hill world. While trying to remember who you are. I always find that odd at times, "I don't know who I am, but I know how to load, aim and fire a gun at key critical points in monsters to kill them more effectively and the idea of wandering around a haunted place doesn't upset me in the slightest" is a weird stance to take for someone with no personal memory.

Here's the plot.

Ok, so the plot is out of the window on this one. That's the extent of it and if you beat the game you unlock other characters with which to run through the game in various fashions of comedy that make sense only if you a) Know Silent Hill and b) Got several of the UFO/Comedy endings for the game series. Those in the know, understand when I say "Mira" and those who don't should doggone look it up!

Reload time, steady hand now!

Game play uses the tilt within the iOS systems to be able to aim your targeting reticule while the movement and turning is done by placing your finger upon the screen and stroking in the appropriate direction, effectively making a directional pad appear under your finger when you press down upon it. Tapping the revolver icon in the corner will let you reload but you'll need a steady hand to be able to slam all 5 rounds in otherwise you'll end up with far fewer and less shots before needing to reload again, and a steady hand is far from your concern when ANY monster is bearing down upon you. For you are also, Captain One Hit Wonder! Master of dying at the brush of a feather from anything more dangerous than an ant.

Thankfully, this time I have the key.

Enemies are fairly varied within the game, from faceless nurses that meander about and take 1-2 shots depending if you hit the critical points. Wheelchairs that trundle along and can catch someone unawares as they're low down on the visual plane. Hanging flesh things (I forget the name, might as well be called Dave) that encourage the player to aim upwards and the more demanding enemies later on that have psychic shields and take 5+ shots before being downed. Not that there's an abundance of ammo lying around either, you've got 25 shots and that's it.

It could be around the next corner.

What this game does have, if you let it draw you in (and it will if you stick at it) is atmosphere. Ignoring the simple maps that lack stairs and walls bending at anything other than 90degree angles as if we stole the Wolfenstein 3D engine (it's not, I know, but might as well be), the graphics and ambient music build up to a rather claustrophobic fear, especially when considering that the game is entirely in first person so no more peeking around corners. What doesn't help is the "Danger" heart beat that pounds when something is close but not what it is nor where it is, just that it's close. This could be on the other side of a wall and no ACTUAL threat but you won't know that. Late levels also include grates across various walkways that don't show up as dead-ends so relying solely upon the compass and small localised map isn't always advised.

At least I'm accurate.

Another interesting touch to the game is that the torch will dim and eventually fade, meaning the game does have a time limit on how long you can spend wandering each maze though there are also batteries that refuel this torch and your sole means of observing whatever it is that's coming at you otherwise it's wandering in the dark time and that's going to get real deadly, real fast.

Batteries, pretty much a first for Silent Hill games.

It's certainly different and as a game, it's not really a Silent Hill game aside from having a few featured enemies and the name Silent Hill plastered across it, but it's certainly worth the asking price for what is an experimental twist upon the horror franchise that goes fairly well if you let it get to you. It's almost minimalist in its approach to the idea of horror that what you can't see is what's the most terrifying and seeing the danger icon blinking but not being able to see the enemy or know whether it's around the next corner or the one after is certainly of that ilk. Once you start backtracking and waiting while turning to the sides to see if something is sneaking up on you, then it's worked and you're caught by the atmosphere.

Sadly I mistimed the photo, but it's the key.

Though don't play it on a bus. Unless it's late at night, you're the last one on the bus and the lights suddenly go off and you realise the bus driver isn't there anymore. Though but that point you're already in Silent Hill, grab a torch.

Silent Hill 3

It's going down hill soon in Silent Hill. Like a vertical drop rollercoaster.

Now I know, some people will disagree with me and some people will agree with me on this, but that's never really been a concern, just something I know and felt like stating. Yes it's a stalling tactic because I'm still thinking up what to write about while typing this out. But Silent Hill 3 is worthwhile playing. Yes I know, I've not reviewed Silent Hill 2 but I need a while to revisit that one before I go all out in the next few reviews and such. This however is a more overlooked game because it's compared to the previous one in the series while the first game seems to be nodded to and referenced and recognised but never really accepted outside of Silent Hill 2's grand (supposed) presence.

Taken as a game by itself, Silent Hill is about one girl's struggle with the pressures of society personified by an evil fucking town with large monsters. She also may or may not be the reincarnation of God... or A God at least. That said, actually... That's all that really needs to be said.

Not the best of days to have a breakout of blood.

One thing you will notice with this game is that it's very empty of people. Which comes as an odd contrast to the introduction which has our protagonist happily chatting to her father in a burger bar (he's on a phone) until she goes to leave and is stopped by a fat man in a dirty Macintosh (the clothes, the other Macs are just as dirty) before bottling the encounter like a coward and hiding in a toilet. After escaping through the window it all goes downhill from there to Silent Hill.

Silent Hill, a lovely town with a gorgeous hotel overlooking a lake that will likely kill you before you can do any real sight-seeing amongst the fog. Or darkness. Or both.

Oddly enough, this guy isn't a direct threat to you.

What you're basically set up with for the first half of the game is getting your protagonist home while traversing through a mall, a train station, a building site for a condemned building (in more than one sense of the word) and then home before actually getting to the titular town itself where more angsty bombs are dropped and curses uttered.

The game makes sure it's as eerie as ever with changes in setting from going back and forth between an empty looking normal place, to looking like hell changed the fire and brimstone for barbed wired and chain link fencing. While you're navigating various locations you'll occasionally find yourself looking at what would be Dante's realisation of Hell if he was more into metal than fire and ironic tortures. All of which are used to give you the idea that something is not quite right.

It all serves a purpose. I'll be damned if I know what thoug.

But it's never explicitly stated, but certainly alluded to, that whether you're really going through these changes and seeing an alternative, possessed, location. Or if you're being forced to see it in a form of hallucination brought about through other means. Do you really see hell and the monsters? Or are you visualising these things. This also brings into bearing the point about the monsters themselves. Each monster is in some way a personification of a fear that typically plagues the demography of the protagonist. A theme that usually carries through the games (until a point at least...). In this particular game, the theme is around fears that teenage girls might have. Relating to cancer (huge fat things, with fat growing on their fat), split-headed dogs (ok some people fear dogs), walking penii (I can't think of a better way to explain them but the sexual allegory is made there) Lots of monsters based around phallic imagery really, or trying to stick things into our heroine in a sort of penetration/rape reference. Seriously though, one boss basically is a huge (think London Underground Tube Train sized) dick with teeth.

Oh and there's some fears around pregnancy in the game too.

Rhyming slang about being Brown Bread probably isn't appropriate here.

But while that's the hidden bonus for those that look deeply into the why and wherefores of a game, it's not the key focus. There's plenty of running around, finding maps and checking which doors are broken and can't be used and which ones lead you ever deeper down the rabbit-hole that is Silent Hill. Filled with references to multiple pop-cultural situations and occasionally poking fun at the world, in particular with theme park mascots. Robbie the Rabbit never looked so... soaked in ichor before.

Actually I do prefer my mascots, dead.

If you think this looks bad, be prepared for it get worse.

The problem with the game is that the puzzles are either too easy or ridiculously difficult, combat can be a cakewalk or in the higher settings, mandatory to avoid and boss fights can go on for far too long with little hope of victory. Playing in easy mode makes everything almost like paint-by-numbers for the puzzles while playing in hard mode will force you to recollect and understand the order of Shakespearian works, deciphering cryptic poems relating faces to keypads and a very dark and disturbing twist on the "Who Killed Cock (heh) Robin" Nursery Rhyme. A nice touch with some of the puzzles is that they change and aren't really the same on any two playthroughs. Such as key codes which have to be found using specified methods rather than just looking it up online. Mainly because you'll encounter a key plot point or item during the hunt for the answer.

There's very little in the way of subtlety in this game either. If something odd is going to happen, you're always going to be in a position where you HAVE to see it, usually through cut-scenes, but even when playing in the game normally, the camera will be positioned often in a way where you can't avoid the weirdness. Case in point, climbing the long ladder in the crossover from one hospital to another. You will basically have one of the creatures of Silent Hill shoved in your face for you to watch like it is some form of living-art exhibition. Almost like the game designers are slapping you in the face with the obvious and waiting for you to take the time to acknowledge it. A problem with a lot of big money games nowadays that force you to observe everything they've done because it cost them money.

[The blogger was chastised greatly for making a "tap that" reference]

What it does that is creepy, it does very well. The reflection in the mirror being one example, the entire Borely Haunted House and the usual descent into madness that is the crossover from normal world into the demonically possessed world (for the most part) while sometimes it's a more subtle approach than blaring an air-raid siren and other times it's smacking you in the face with cock than a 'bring your own rooster' convention. It does mark however the change in the nature of the Silent Hill games as it is, but I'm side-stepping here.

As far as plot and progression goes, you encounter a nutcase who preaches about God and basically follows you home. Sounds like my Sunday evenings back from the local pub. While they claim they're your nemesis, nothing is really done about it until the mid-point in which it goes from them following you to you hunting down them. Plot wise it's a little stop-start and that's mainly because it can take a LONG time to navigate around the game's "dungeons" and get to the key points that start to unravel the main plotline. Though there's plenty to do at the same time with small sub-plots but these are only encountered along the way as a sort of distraction between the main interests on what is a very long and otherwise dry tour from start to finish.

Big, mean and the first enemy you fight. It's also a normal enemy.

Grabbing a submachine gun never seemed to scream "survival horror" either. Though I rarely use the guns, I prefer the melee and with that end up becoming the monster and just going kill crazy happy on the baddies.

3 Different endings await but gameplay-wise there's little difference between one play and another. You could go for the Alien based ending, which is entirely nonsensical but funny all the same, and does require you playing the game dressed up and powered up like something out of Sailor Moon, but it's still amusing. While the other two canonical endings are just the "You did well" and "You killed a fucktonne of things" (by the metric load) which gives you the good and evil bastard endings. Quite the drop from the multitude of endings in the first few games and even the later ones too by that standard.

Come at me, Sis.

It's linear, it's not too complex and the subtle hidden details are laid bare for all to see. It's a real no-brainer of the series that requires little knowledge before the story and about the entire series if you want to play it but within it there's enough there to make you guess what's around the next corner and what's going to happen in the endgame. Fans will enjoy it, hardcore fans will be left feeling unfulfilled by it and to everyone else it's a horror game with some gross out factors and the paranormal stuff will leave others confused as to what the rules of the games reality really is.

PSX: Silent Hill

Killed your wife? Taking a drive down a long country out-back American road at night? Adopted someone a few years back? On the run with a father who won’t tell you why you’re running? Moved into an apartment stalked by a creepy kid? Come back from wars to a family with dubious history and a dead brother? Get yourself put in prison to avenge the death of your son?

If the answer to any of these questions is “yes” then you’re a prime candidate for my favourite holiday vacation spot. Silent Hill.

Yes I am unbalanced.  Yes I probably deserve to spend eternity there, yes I’ll enjoy it.

For every fan of Silent Hill, they will have their own favourite game, their one game they prefer over the others and likely will use it as beacon of might against the comments, praises and criticism of other games and their own. Using it to bat away reason and logic with the fan attitude of “it’s good so shut up you’re dumb” and we’re once again sat back in the playground fighting over which console will kick which other console’s ass, despite them being inanimate objects. But oh well.

Silent Hill, is my preferred game of the series. I’m already hearing some people saying “no... it’s (insert game here)” but then this is all about preference and while I do prefer this game I’m going to be fair to this game and harsh. However, given the number of times I’ve played it, the times I’ve seen each ending, the times I’ve looked in every nook and cranny, I could write a thesis on the plot of the game alone before I even touch upon the rest of the series.

Which is why this game is so good.

Silent Hill, follows a simple premise initially. You’re a father character, driving along the road at night in the outback of Someplace, USA, with your daughter asleep in the car. A cop over takes you while you’re driving along, a little while further you see the cop’s bike with no rider, then you see someone on the road and you crash your car avoiding them.  You awaken a short time later, step out of the car and see your kid running off through the fog and mist of the local town. Following her and shouting, she runs off and leads you down an alleyway, you start to see gurney’s, wheelchairs still spinning their wheels and then something attacks you, running back the route is blocked and you’re butchered by things with claws (and depending on your nationality, it may or may not have a head).

Waking up in a cafe with the cop that over took you earlier, you set out to be attacked by more monsters, find the series eponymous radio that shouts static whenever monsters are near (as if the grunting and footsteps didn’t give it away while signalling to monsters that walking food is near) and go looking for your daughter lost in the town.

Play it long enough and you’ll find a cult trying to bring about the birth of a God/Demon, references to various religious mythologies of angels and demons, a behind the scenes battle between a mother and daughter using otherworldly powers and trinkets, other inhabitants fighting the effects of the Silent Hill as it switches from various states of being from dark to light and back to normal, leaving the player to guess as to who is controlling what, why the town has separate states of being. Whose side is who really on and how best to for the main char to bumble their way through the game.  Eventually you can work out the metaphysical chess game going on between two of the main characters, the player character being a random (seemingly) element in all this for the moment.

You will be hand fed some snippets of the game through the scripted CGI scenes (admittedly from a time where CGI always looked better than the main game and people pondered “I wonder if games will look as good as these scenes”, incidentally, games look BETTER nowadays), you’ll find the underlying plot, vague references of why you should to co-ordinate (X, Y) and on the way hopefully grab the guns you need to blow away the baddies, solve the puzzles (and some are real mind benders) and save the day or condemn it. Yep, it’s multiple ending time and in this game, it depends all on what you actually do and with what. Finding an obscure item and using it on a boss will determine the + or – of either the good or bad ending, the finding of a character, saving them and solving THEIR mission will determine the overall good or bad ending.

Most people will get the bad ending on their first run through. I did, and that encouraged me into the next game to do better and see more.

What makes this game so enjoyable though, is not the acting of the characters, while are decidedly B-Movie in delivery but it does add to the atmosphere. It is not the awkward sidestep controls or the poor aiming (deliberate given that the main char is NOT an accurate sharpshooter, and most people in THIS kind of circumstance would be, admittedly, shit), it’s the overall atmosphere and discovery the player makes that is beyond the main character. Seeing and understanding are two different things, logically working out the tumblers behind the plot and rationalising it is a step beyond and the most rewarding for any player.

The game is not without faults however, while today’s games are above and beyond what Silent Hill can do graphically, it can be fired up a little with various emulators that boost the original graphics (and interestingly lets you seem them more clearly than the original game permitted), the layouts of various “dungeons” and “mazes” can be frustrating when you have to check EVERY door of a place, and every room to find the one item you might need to progress and you know that if you miss a door, you’re screwed and WILL have to go back. On top of that, failing to find the maps can be worthy of a restart, especially if you somehow miss the hospital map. Though town maps (the later and last area of the town especially) can be missed and yet you can still progress, barely. It does add a new sensation to actually be running blindly through a town with no clue where you’re headed.

Puzzles, like in a lot of games of this genre, can be frustrating when first encountered and though they’re not always use Item A on Thingy B to get Item C, some have cryptic clues with cryptic answers such as the silent piano puzzle with the clue about black and white birds, requiring a knowledge of birds and their predominant physical appearances (missing a chance to use the “common shag” and “great tit” while we’re at it). Solving the puzzles like this are highly rewarding but once it’s done, it’s over. Solving the puzzle of “get the 3 keys” is a fetch quest and no more a puzzle than finding jam, butter and bread and resulting in a sandwich. Tasty, but not rewarding, unless you’re hungry.

The game itself doesn’t go for the later editions use of jump scares (except that one with the cat... in the locker... in the dark world... have fun!) but uses audio and a distinct lack of what you can see to build suspense before delivery, usually hearing a monster LONG before you can see it and then the camera shifts slightly as it gets closer before gradually materialising out of the darkness/fog/snow/poor-render-distance and becoming the threat it always was to you. New fights and monsters are usually introduced with some very atmospheric ambient music akin to thrash music comprising of sound effects rather than actual instruments used in a conventional sense (see the track “die” for one of the more pulse inducing ones) though more sombre moments are brought with a slow accompaniment and actual instrumental scoring for the track “Not Tomorrow” used to bring a truly depressing moment into outright despair.

Admittedly, entering one large room that was difficult to see within, with a loud ambient music in the background, caused me to turn around and just go “nope”, forcing me to explore the map twice just in case I’d missed something before going back into that room to find there was NOTHING in there. No enemies, no monsters, no items. Just a room with a few set pieces of obstruction and another doorway leading out. I’d been played for an idiot and loved every second of it.

As I said though, it’s the subtle things that work best. Going into the hospital in the light version of the town, going to the lift and seeing the 3 buttons and checking each floor and the door leading out to find them all locked is nothing compared to getting back in and seeing a 4^th floor button somehow just “there”. No magic noise, no dinging in the background to signal to you “HEY WE DID SOMETHING!” it’s just there and looks like it always has been to the point that you wonder if you actually did miss seeing that there in the first place. THAT is the subtlety involved and once going to that 4^th floor and stepping out, realising you’re now outside the map, becomes a dreaded exploration before you realise you’re being drawn over into the dark version of the town and the fun is going to begin again.

In closing, I love this game as one of the few games that genuinely scared the shit out of me and left me thinking I was hearing voices in the darkness of my bedroom. I long for the days a game will do that again to me.