Video Game Review: Silent Hill 3 - by Ericca M.

Happy New Year Friction readers! ‘Tis the season for making and dedicating yourselves to those New Years Resolutions and one of my personal resolutions is to get back into gaming like I used to be. Gaming has always relaxed me because it helped me escape the stresses of the outside world and provided me with an inner peace that can’t even be described.

I can recall being about 16 years old when my older sister purchased a copy of Silent Hill 3 for the Playstation 2 we shared along with our younger sisters. We were all excited about playing because we’d played both of the previous games so we already knew what to expect from the new installment. Needless to say, Silent Hill 3 exceeded our expectations and all four of us experienced terrifying nightmares until finally, the last battle at carnival took place and the game ended shortly after. Now that’s what I call a heavy gaming experience.

A little background on the game, it was released in August of 2003, but I didn’t get my hands on it until September of the same year. Silent Hill 3 is a direct sequel to the first of the series, so it is recommended that the player completes the first game before attempting to play part 3.

The story takes place 17 years after the events of the first game. We discover that the baby whom the Incubator gave to Harry Mason at the end of the first game is our main character, Heather. Harry ended up taking Heather into his care and raising her as his own daughter.

Heather’s nightmare begins as she’s running an errand for Harry at the Central Square Shopping Center. She ends up falling asleep inside a fast food restaurant and has a dream about Silent Hill. You’re placed into a scene where your character wanders through a nightmarish amusement park, which is flat out terrifying (and also comes back to haunt you later). After fighting her way past several monsters, the character walks along the roller coaster’s tracks until she is struck down by the roller coaster. And here’s where the fun begins.

So throughout the game you encounter all sorts of creepy shit like those crippled nurses whose limbs are all twisted up and these fuckers actually come at you with knives and stab the shit out of you as soon as you put your guard down. I remember a particular moment in the game where I encountered one of these nurses in the hallway of what looked to be a mental hospital. Anyway, this motherfucker was moving slow the entire time, limbs crunching, making her way towards me and then all of sudden, she speeds up, stands up, and stabs me with two knives at the same time and I’m like, “Holy shit!” Needless to say, I died and had to start over from the last checkpoint.

Another favorite scene of mine was the final scene where your character is literally fighting her reflection near and on the carousel ride inside of the carnival. (In a previous scene, she was in one of the bathrooms investigating when she looked into the mirror and notice that her reflection was bloody and did not move when she did). It was difficult but I managed to beat her to death with a rusty pipe and then we move on to the church.

The church scene was creepy. At some point, the little girl Claudia gives birth to a monstrous god and Heather ends up swallowing a capsule, then throwing up the fetus of the god...it’s a complete mindfuck. Shortly after, the game ended and thankfully so did our nightmares.

If you like horror games with a sick and twisted twist, then I definitely recommend that you check out Silent Hill 3. It doesn’t matter that you’re late to the game, all that matters is that you experience this awesome, frightening, rewarding video game. Trust me, you won’t regret it.

Developer: Team Silent
Publisher: Konami
Release Date: August 6, 2003 
(North America)
Platforms: PlayStation 2, PC