different from anything before!!!
this game as nothing to do with the resi saga. this must be clear in your mind.
you are an ordinary man in a trip with his adopted something-like-ten-yo daughter, a little while after your wife passed away. while driving in the night, you see a police motorbike in the midst of the street. you have just the time to turn the wheel, loose control of the car, have an accident and pass out. when you wake up your daughter is gone, you've got a bad hedache, and strange things happens. you start foolo the shadow of a girl, but things ain't gonna be so easy...
this game is amazingly different from resi. when it came out its rightfull opponent was resi 2 (great game, to tell you the truth). but this game was able all the same to become real popolar. some even think it may be way better than resi 2. i don't think so, i believe they are both great.
resi is the kind of game with superpeople that can use any kind of weapon, any kind of veichle and stuff like that. in resi everything is exaplained so much and so many times that you won't have questions, not only for that chapter, but even for the previous and for the sequel. and the tons of weapon you get during the game allows you to waste a bit of everything. i don't know you, but even in the hardest difficulty, in any resi, i've never felt truly defenceless: i always had a strong weapon i could rely on. and, come on, every single time you meet a boss, it's not unexpected. it is not quite a surprise. you get scared for the appearence of something, cuz you knew something was gonna be there, but you'll never immagine what...
silent hill is completely opposite: starting with no weapon (after all he is a normal dad in a summer trip with is young daugther... stopped by a car accident in a lake town), your first enemy will be the dark of the night. you'll have some matches, and after a while you'll get a pocket light. monsters will be pretty much everywhere but the same cannot be said about bullets and health stuff. so you'll have to avoid all the fights you can. there will be fog all the way, and the world around you will change with the dark. and a monstruos thing for the atmosphere will be the radio: it will make all sort of noises when approccing a monster. you'll hear it before you see it. you'll know there's something there, but you'll know what it is and how dangerous it is, only when there won't be much time to act...
for example there's a scene in a locker room of an elementary school... noise,.... somewhere... then you'll reach a not-all-the-way-closed locker, and blood's everywhere around it,... you go to open it, cuz you know what is making this noise... you'll never guess what will came out of there, and i won't ruin your surprise...
the story is breath taking, there ae five finals, and you'll never know what will happen next. and even when you'll have it finished a couple of times, you won't be sure who is what, what made who and what, and how everything happened (play it and you'll understand what i mean)
graphics and suonds aen't the best, a little bit for the age of the game, and a little bit they weren't that great even back then... but they are stil pretty good, and they give an incredible atmosphere...
if you'd like to be scared, you definatly have to play this game: also the secret weapon will add a little bit to the final (who has never dreamed of a chainsaw, or of a pneumatic drill!)
try it out, if you're in need to be scared....!