Silent Hill 3 follows in the footsteps of its two predecessors by being only loosely based on the previous game. We have a whole new hero, fighting similar beasts in a similar environment. What could go wrong?

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Silent Hill 3 takes place outside the town of for the first time, with only the end of the game returning to the eerie town. We are transported to the town of the new hero, Heather. The game begins with Heather being as confused as the rest of us about what's going on. She is enjoying herself in her local mall when loads of beasties come and start attacking her. If this wasn't bad enough the world around her starts warping into some strange parallel universe.

The gameplay in this outing is very similar to the other games; a mixture of shoot-em-up with some horrendously annoying puzzles thrown in. It is a largely repetitive process of shoot some baddies with a range of weapons - from a mace - to a machine gun, and then solve a puzzle and get an object then take the object and solve a puzzle using the object to get you into a new area. Simple. The only thing that stops this being utterly mundane is the ever-increasing number of weird and wacky monsters you have to kill. And you don't have enough ammo to take out every monster either, so the game involves a fair bit of running around. The monsters are none too bright but they are larger and nastier than in previous games so you have to be on your guard. Every so often you'll get a cutscene explaining an element of the game's plot which features around four different characters, all of them adequately voiced by the game's cast.

Special mention must go to the graphics engine used in Silent Hill 3, which apart from making the game look a little better than its predecessor is also used to generate the cutscenes in real-time. The facial animation of the characters is the best I've ever seen on any gaming platform. The and sound effects too are excellent, and attempt to unsettle you as you progress through the game.

All in all this may make you think that Silent Hill 3 is a good buy. There are some cautionary notes first of all. Firstly the plot is nowhere near as engaging as the first two, so you may be totally lost if you are new to the series. Also if you have played Silent Hill 1 it is a very similar premise, so it may not keep you too enthralled. Silent Hill 2's plot was far more involving and threw more surprises at you as you went along. Simply put, Silent Hill 3's storyline is just enough to keep the game moving but is none too interesting. Also, for all its bleeding walls and the occasional good set piece, Silent Hill 3 isn't as scary as it dearly wants to be. Scares come from the occasional spooky event, like the head falling off a mannequin, rather than the feeling of wrongness that was present in Silent Hill 1.

Disappointingly uninspired as it is, Silent Hill 3 is entertaining for a while, and you're likely to want to keep playing to see how the game is tied into the events of previous titles. But while that's enough to make the game worth renting, it doesn't have the necessary replayability or appeal to make it a must-buy outright. Maybe Silent Hill 4 will be a return to form, but sadly Silent Hill 3 is a game with limited shelf life and quite a mundane story.

68%

By Chris Monk