Welcome back...
Nietzsche.
Silent Hill 3 was the second Silent Hill I had played. Having tried Silent Hill 2 and never encouraged myself to go on, I was tempted by Silent Hill 3 (well, friends told me it was better). After finishing it once, I had both good and bad reactions towards it, but in a whole, Silent Hill 3 and the Silent Hill franchise is one of the best horror-psycho. games out there.
In Silent Hill 3, you play as Heather Mason, a young teenage girl who went shopping on a Sunday afternoon (says so in the manual). The game doesn't start off in this shopping center though, instead you are launched into a dark and foggy amusement park, Lakeside Amusement Park. Just the first couple of seconds give the player the ambiance of the game, no flowers, no rainbows, Silent Hill 3 is pure “creepyness” , a dark and deep world where no one has ever came out of. After this little “tutorial” shall we say, Heather wakes up in a fast food restaurant, Happy Burger, this is where the real horror begins.
Silent Hill 3 is much more action based than it's two predecessors, in this volume you will encounter many monsters, each of them more horrible than the last. But of course, the riddle and puzzle solving is still omnipresent, but the difficulty has been lowered, no real need of a walk guide in this Silent Hill !
Now for the story, as mentioned above the atmosphere is dark and heavy. But it does change from Silent Hill 1 and 2. First of all, you don't start at Silent Hill (well in the dream yes, but it doesn't count). You head towards it near the middle of the game. So this may be a surprise to some of the fans, I don't find it that bad really. Now on the plot, Silent Hill 3 follows the first installment, unlike Silent Hill 2 the game is less based on the psychology of man, though this aspect of the series hasn't completely disappeared (or it wouldn't be a Silent Hill anymore !). The game is much more based on the cult aspect of the town, the rebirth of God and salvation... The characters Heather will meet during the game are all people (besides her father and Douglas) have all lived in Silent Hill, Leonard, Claudia and Vincent. Their psychology is less pushed, which may deceive players, like me. But none of the less, they still stay as dark as before, Claudia with her cult, and Vincent with his lousy sarcasm, each character has still been thought out clearly. Now Silent Hill 3 does attach itself to the two last installments, not only by the town, but by the stories. For example, Douglas, as you are heading to Silent Hill, will explain to Heather that he once went to Silent Hill to investigate on a disappearance. The disappearance of course is the one of James in Silent Hill 2. And of course, Silent Hill 3 is the runner up of Silent Hill 1, I recommend to any new player that he or she revises the plot of Silent Hill 1. Last but not least, the changes between the dark and normal world are still present and create a perfect ambiance, also new challenges. Graphically, Silent Hill 3 is a masterpiece, the characters are very well designed, the monsters look deranged, and the environment is ever so perfect. The dark world in Silent Hill is really well made, with the new textures and movements, something new in gaming (or so I heard). The artists have really out done themselves.
Musically, Silent Hill 3 is wonderful, Akira Yamaoka is a very talented composer, I do believe that the music in Silent Hill 3 is very important, not just some add on. I own the OST myself and just listening to it allows me to see and feel just like if I was playing the game, in other words it's amazing.
Silent Hill 3 is for me, the best of the series as in game play and entertainment. I recommend this installment to those who are beginning in the series, as it's much easier to follow. Great graphics, music, ambiance, what else is there to want from a game ?
(The Nietzsche quotation was also used in jeuxvideo.com to describe the game, so if the guy who did the article on the site sees this, please don't kill me).