Silent Hill HD Collection

There’s probably a percentage of long-time Silent Hill fans who will jump to the bottom of this review and be left confused at the score, given that this HD update contains Silent Hill 2, the most celebrated game in the series. Then again, most of those same readers will also be aware of the controversies surrounding the development of this port over the last year. The Silent Hill HD Collection, out now for the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3, contains “remastered” versions of Silent Hill 2 and 3, with the first game presumably missing through difficulties emulating PSX hardware on a 360, or exclusivity reasons. In addition to running both titles in crisp 720p, each game now features a modern voice-over cast and numerous other changes.

The re-dub is the first point of contention for Silent Hill 2 purists, though with the option to switch to the original cast, it’s not as much of an issue as it could have been. Portrayed by Troy Baker, better-known as the voice of Kanji Tatsumi in the Persona 4 English dub, the new James Sunderland comes across competently, injecting a fair amount of emotion into his role. That said, he and the rest of the HD cast feel like they’re recording for a different game altogether. They are, for lack of a better term, a little too lively for the setting. Love them or hate ’em, the original voice performances have a wonderful monotonous quality to them, almost as if the voice-actors were being oppressed by the town of Silent Hill itself. Ultimately, brand-new players will probably grow to accept the changes, which is fortunate, because they’ll have no choice with Silent Hill 3: unlike part 2, it does not feature the option to play with the original voice-overs. Bizarrely, SH3 also features several questionable sound-track changes, like the insertion of a punk-rock beat over what should have been creepy mall music.

However, any aural mis-steps take a back-seat when it comes to the core problem with the HD Collection: technically, it’s a mess. In my own time playing, I encountered screen-flickering, frame-rate issues (just try firing a rifle in Silent Hill 3!), missing/mis-alligned textures, stalling music and most glaringly, a lack of town fog and other atmospheric effects. Worse-still, I’ve read reports that the PlayStation 3 version is somehow even worse, with James frequently refusing to acknowledge player input and cases where the games will straight-up freeze. While I understand that developers Hijinx Studios are primarily known for their mobile titles, it boggles the mind that Konami was able to do such a superb job with the Metal Gear Solid HD Collection and not afford Silent Hill the same love and care.

As for the games themselves? Well, Silent Hill 2 is still one of the greatest psychological horror games ever created, while Silent Hill 3 is an occasionally under-rated follow-up with a greater emphasis on action. Although it moves at a snail’s pace, and newer players may take issue with its controls and camera (both of which have the tendency to turn you around at times), SH2 delivers a carefully woven tale of self-reflection under the guise of a claustrophobic puzzle-adventure. SH3, meanwhile, will earn some fans with its newer shooting-mechanics, copious amounts of disturbing gore and references to the original Silent Hill. It’s just a shame that this collection isn’t the ideal way to play either game.