Damon re-reviews Silent Hill: The Escape by Konami, as his opinions of the game do not match those of Arron’s. The review will be shorter as a lot of the stuff is covered in the original review. Below the line you will find the original review.
We thought It’d be great to give you a second opinion. Unlike Arron, I have never played the original Silent Hill games on the console version, mainly because of what I heard about them from friends.
Not playing the console version seems to make the experience of playing Silent Hill: The Escape more enjoyable. I was expecting what I received, a dungeon crawler where you had to shoot the coming enemies, just like the recently released Dead Man’s Dungeon. What I wasn’t expecting from this game was how scary it is. There are some games I enjoy playing at midnight in abandoned hospitals, but Silent Hill just isn’t one of those games.
I was not expecting Silent Hill: The Escape to be so scary. Even after level 1 you are already turning corners and having faceless nurses right in front of you. Being impatient when gaming I usually charge around the corners and when I find a nurse or wheelchair in front of me, I was known to drop my iPod out of fright.
Gameplay
The objective of Silent Hill: The Escape is to escape through all 10 levels of the what appears to be haunted hospital. There are five different maps which are used for two levels each. For the second time it is used there is always a graphical change and some things are added, such as bars blocking some ways through. There are no boss levels in the game and once you finish the 10 levels you unlock a new character. There are two characters to unlock in total.
The aim of the game is to find the key and get to the exit without being killed. There are many corners in the levels and turning around them quickly can be deadly. To be killed the enemies just need to walk into you. You have a flashlight that needs to be constantly refueled by batteries to stay bright. If you go for long enough the game will become really dark and alot harder to know what is around you.
You get rated after each completed level on your accuracy, time, distance traveled and an overall mark. There is no need to get a certain mark to go to the next level, but it gives you something to aim for if you decide to go back and play the levels again. I found myself getting bad marks because of how frightened I was getting. Turning around corners is the worst feeling, not knowing if you will walk straight into a nurse or whether it will be safe.
Presentation
This is a good game graphically. Each level has a different theme about it, and it is good to see as I was expecting one layout for the whole game. Alot of detail has gone into the graphics, and it definitely shows. All the different enemies have been made to give a certain effect. All the ones I have seen are pretty much faceless and just plain creepy. I like the way they got past Apple’s gore restrictions with grey blood.
Playing Silent Hill: The Escape with sound is obviously one of the main ways to get scared. It sounds like there is a dodgy radio in the background that gets louder as enemies get closer. Only the music in Silent Hill and Hysteria Project have managed to be even slightly frightening, and good use of music has really made this game enjoyable to play, while maybe not at the time.
Controls
I like the way controls have been implemented to suit the iPhone. The only bad thing is the way to walk by dragging your finger around the screen. I would like an actual D-Pad on the screen. Shooting is fine with the accelerometer to aim and tap on the actual target icon on the screen to shoot. When you run out of bullets you have to recharge, which is done by tilting the device until all the shells match up with the actual gun. This is a great idea as you panic when enemies are coming at you and sometimes none of your bullets will fall into the gun. Apart from the controls to move it is implemented to the theme of the game very nicely.
Conclusion
I enjoyed the game, and I found it to satisfy what I expected from Silent Hill. Unlike Arron, not playing the console version hasn’t made me expect it to be to the same standards. If you haven’t played the consoles versions you are more likely to enjoy this. For those who have played the console versions, just be expected for a corridor crawler.
The US version of Silent Hill is $7.99 but compared to the rest of the world’s prices it should be only $5.99. I think Silent Hill would sell better at $4.99 or $5.99 but it is up to Konami. I found Silent Hill very challenging and a great game for those who like horror games. Just don’t expect to find your way to the cupboard to get a torch without panicking if the lights go out!
Current status: Worth a Look
Reviewed at: v1.0.0
Reviewed on Firmware: 2.2.1
Download size: 16.4MB
Released on: 20th Dec 2008
Retails for: £3.49 / $7.99
Compatible with: iPod touch Gen 1 & 2 / iPhone Classic / iPhone 3G
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With two reviews on the UK App Store averaging 4 stars, you may start to think yourself that Silent Hill is going to be a good investment. After all, you along with a whole league of other gamers were nearly falling over each other to get the console version, right? More importantly, most of you were scared half to death by it …
Developed and published by Konami comes a watered down version of Silent Hill. The title that allegedly scared gamers worldwide half to death has finally come to iPhone. Silent Hill:The Escape. First reaction? Great. On a closer look though, there is something apparent. Something which flaws the game from the get go.
Gameplay
Rated 12+ for the appropriate reasons, at the start of the game you’ll be thrown into a dinghy unfamiliar world in which you have to escape. Your a little hazy as to how you got there, and are desperate to escape, alive. Equipped with a torch and a gun you will navigate around a dully-lit maze-type environment. Along the way you’ll encounter zombie nurses (who have no face) and get attacked by possessed wooden wheelchairs. Each enemy you encounter will have a weakness, and it’s up to you to find out what it is before they reach, and kill you.
When your not figuring out how to kill your enemies, your trying to keep your torch on, and your gun barrel fully loading. Throughout the game you’ll be required to find power sources, or batteries. Each battery collected will extend the time your torch stays lit – and trust me, in an already dimly-lit maze full of nurses without faces, and demonic wheelchairs, the last thing you want to be is; left in the dark. The second part of the fun is keeping you gun fully loaded at all times. Your gun barrel (seen bottom right) holds 5 precious bullets. When you barrel is empty you have to reload. To do this (while under pressure) is a feat in itself. Tap the barrel and a target the shape and size of your barrel will appear on screen. To reload simply align the target on top of where your place the bullets. If you do this fairly accurately, you’ll end with a full barrel of 5 bullets. If you don’t, all or most of your bullets will completely miss the chamber, leaving you with half a round.
Now don’t get us wrong, the visuals of this title are pretty good. As is the music and surrounding atmosphere it creates. What ultimately lets this title down dramatically is it’s control system, it’s awful. To start off, to move your character backwards and forwards your required to physically move your finger up and down the screen, and then left and right to rotate your direction. Innovative? We’re not quite sure.
Why Konami opted for ‘swipe’ controls over the ‘virtual joystick’ seen in Gameloft’s recent title Hero of Sparta [App Store] we’ll never know. If they had, they could have allowed the user to keep full commanding control of the character while not interfering with (and in some situations covering) current game play, but there you go.
“Silent Hill – The Escape is a first person action game set in the mysterious surroundings of Silent Hill, the cursed town where your worst nightmares become reality. Ready your gun under the guidance of a dull, flickering flashlight. Encounter fearsome creatures only found in Silent Hill and fight your way through 10 threatening environments”
On top of the darn awful control system, you have the repetitive nature of the overall game play. If there’s a game in the App Store which repeats itself excessively, it’s this one. Throughout the game, the general running of things go like this:
Navigate round a dully-lit maze-like environment > Kill some nurses (not forgetting the demon wheelchairs) > Find power sources for your torch > Find the key > Find the Exit.
Overall
In it’s current state, with the controls how they are, we don’t recommend this title to anyone. It lacks depth to it’s game play, the controls are pretty much awful, and the graphics could be better. However, the visual surroundings coupled with the atmosphere created by the sparsely placed backing track, creates pretty eerie overall game play. We think, In order for Silent Hill: The Escape to progress and earn a better overall reputation on the App Store, Konami should come up with DLC. We’re talking about extra weapons, new levels, unlockables, in-game achievements. Substance.
If you are going to plunk down the £3.49 for this title, make sure you know what your getting in advance. Slient Hill: The Escape is currently NOT available to users of the US iTunes Store.
This is apparently because the franchise wasn’t that well received by users on launch, when it flew over the pond.
Current status: Not Recommended
Reviewed at: v1.0.0
Reviewed on Firmware: 2.2
Download size: 16.4MB
Released on: 20th Dec 2008
Retails for: £3.49 / $7.99AU
Compatible with: iPod touch Gen 1 & 2 / iPhone Classic / iPhone 3G
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