Silent Hill is a game that is not well known. It gets mediocre reviews according to Gamespot standards (usually AA and under). If people could look beyond a rating, they'd be getting themselves into a terrifying nightmare (the good scary kind) and never regret looking back. I am writing this blog to convince you to play them, so here it goes.

You're in a town called Silent Hill, a town shrouded in mystery. Each game has a different protagonist, and each time Silent Hill appears differently. Why is it different? Why are there cars around but not a soul to be found? It all depends on the character. Something called them to Silent Hill, and depending on that persons history and past wrong-doings is how Silent Hill will be depicted. This is one reason why Silent Hill is deep. You can come across a person who might see the town differently, because that person might be acting completely normal or be oblivious to his dirty, creepy surroundings. If you come interested in the theories behind it, check out the Silent Hill Wikia or one of the many fansites.

There are quite a few games out in this series on multiple platforms. The first one was released on the Playstation 1 and it sold well enough to become a greatest hit. You can now purchase this on the PSN (Playstation Network) for only $5.99. The next one and possibly greatest is Silent Hill 2 for the Playstation 2. Silent Hill 3 was also for the PS2, and was possibly the last great Silent Hill game of the franchise. Next was Silent Hill 4: The Room. I heard that it wasn't even originally a Silent Hill game to begin with, and it disapointed a lot of people. Silent Hill Origins was released for the PS2 and PSP, but I haven't gotten around to play it yet. Recently two mroe came out; Silent Hill: Homecoming and Silent Hill: Shattered Memories. It's obvious that another company had made Homecoming, as it's a lot more action oriented and seems to be less story driven. Music and certain scenes seem very similar to the movie. Shattered Memories holds true to the original series. It's an re-imagination of the first Silent Hill, and quite possibly one of the best games I've played this gen.

Silent Hill is very story driven and not action packed. Most of the time you can avoid monsters, and expect some pretty weird but interesting boss fights. Again, the bosses should depend on the protagonist, but that always does not happen (Red pyramid head in the movie and homecoming) when he was originally in part two. Look forward to some puzzles, and in some games you can choose the difficulty of the puzzles and the monsters. It also has an amazing soundtrack, the songs are weird, but they fit so well!

Resident Evil and Silent Hill were two big comptetitors back in the day, with RE taking the crown on popularity. The only thing I don't like is the fact that RE is now an action oriented shooter, and not even a survival horror at all. There is no sense of a claustrophobia, and the stories are usually out there. Silent Hill, on the other hand is quite the opposite. While not exactly claustrophobic, you get the sense of not belonging. Some things are totally bizarre and throw you off guard, and it can shock you.

But which one is scarier? RE gives you the answers on how it came to be. The T-Virus. Along the way through the games you get to read diaries and notes in labs explaining experiments and such, and I really dig that. In the early games they had zombies, and now crazy tentacle thingies that pop out of bodies. SH slowly unveils the truth about the characters history, but not really on the origins as how the town became a freaky ass place. There are many unexplained things, and that itself is scary. I didn't mean to make a RE vs SH blog, so I'll end it there.

A movie was released of Silent Hill, and it was pretty decent. The only thing that really bothered me was that Pyramid Head was in it. While being a complete badass, he did not belong in that movie whatsoever. I enjoyed it enough to purchase it, but I can be a fanboy at times. :P

I hope after reading this, you give it a try. I recommend starting at Silent Hill 2 or 3, but try whatever you can get your hands on. I will write more details on each game whenever I replay them, so please track my blog and comment!