3/5 ★ – Empyrean's review of Silent Hill 3.

Silent Hill 3 is a lot of people’s favorite, and I’m not really sure why (outside of nostalgic reasons). It isn’t bad in any particular department, but the issue is that it’s following two games it’s vastly inferior to and in a clumsy manner. As far as technical fidelity and general gameplay go, SH3 is the clear winner of the trilogy. Whilst the art and level design are lacking, it’s insane how good everything looks and could easily pass for a PS3 game. It’s so good that they’ve completely done away with pre-rendered cutscenes but the in-engine does the job almost just as well. Sadly I think that’s where my praise mostly ends. For the most part it really feels like Team Silent just want to be done with the franchise, and you can even read Heather’s sassy and “tired of this bullshit” attitude as a reflection of their feelings. Over half the game isn’t even spent in Silent Hill, and when you do it’s in a portion of 2’s map rather than where Harry was which would make more sense thematically (and is my preferred version anyway). You spend more time making your way home from the mall than you do exploring new environments in the town (you could argue there’s no new environments at all, as the amusement park and church all share landmarks from 1). The story also just feels like a missed opportunity. Having Harry actually interact with Heather and explore his complex feelings towards her would’ve been much more engaging than a revenge and Kill God plot. There’s a lot more to talk about with Silent Hill 3 that would take hours, but ultimately I feel like this is where the rot in the franchise begins.