4.5/5 ★ – JCrab's review of Silent Hill 3.

The "Silent Hill" continues to deliver some of the best gaming has to offer with "Silent Hill 3," a near perfect game and a wonderful companion piece to the first game. It retains the terror and fascinating themes and overall story of the first two games while expanding on the world and characters in a very compelling way. It's essentially a story about puberty and losing one's innocence, and it's done in an insanely clever way. Heather is an interesting and relatable protagonist who isn't above making a joke, and she makes for a great character to control. Speaking of controls, the game controls possibly the smoothest of the first three, which makes the gameplay feel even more enjoyable and the exploration and combat are so much better for it. The puzzles are possibly the best in the series thus far and were also more enjoyable. A lot of the gameplay aspects are the best here of the three, and it makes for a very fun experience. My issues with that game that just barely keep me from giving it a perfect score are that the game actually does take a minute to really get into. It wasn't until I started to figure out what was going on around the halfway point of the game when I really fell in love with the game, which could make some of the first half of the game drag just a tad, although overall it's still remarkably fun and sets up the story very well. The voice acting is very good here, but a couple of the actors do have some very awkward line delivery, as is par for the course with these games. I also did find the last area of the game (The Church) to be a bit too long, and I would've liked just a tad more in the final cutscene, as it ends a little abruptly. But these are all pretty minor nitpicks in an overall amazing game. These original three "Silent Hill" games are some of the most impressive achievements in gaming, and while it took me a long time to play them, they will forever stick with me and be among my favorite games of all time. I really loved nearly everything about this third entry, and while the series may decline in quality later on, I'll look back on these games with very fond memories. GRADE: 9.6/10