 |
| The ugly cover is only the beginning... |
I finally got around to really
giving my time to SH: HDC. Why’d it take so long? At first, I waited for the
patch. Then the patch wasn’t coming for the Xbox 360. I did Downpour and
Homecoming, and then this one. When I started I was in the middle of my third move
the 2012 year. I had to leave people I have become attached to, and it was
particularly hard. My comfort is not found in chocolate or ice cream or chick
flicks. It’s in my favourite video games. One of my all time favourites is
Silent Hill 3. To stop thinking of my shitty life, I dedicated a week to
getting all the achievements. Since you can easily play SH3 in about 2 hours
and 30 minutes, getting all the achievements was not as hard as I was
expecting. If you’re an achievement whore, this game is easy, but you also have
to get all of SH2’s achievements to get them all. As of posting, I still haven’t
gotten the achievements for SH2 on Hard Mode. And yes, I know that this post is
long overdue, and it was difficult to organize between the two games, new and
original, and the console differences.
Disclaimer: I love SH3. I love SH
the universe. If I could only play one series for the rest of my life, this
would be it. I still have my PS2 copies, and I will always love these games.
I’m not opposed to change, but it better be change for the better.
Graphics
HD remakes
of PS2 games are not the kind of things that I get very excited for, especially
if there is not going to be new content. That being said, the HD graphics are...alright.
Necessary? No.
Yay! Now we get to see the PH rape scene in HD! And the scene where
James puts his arm into the disgusting toilet without even rolling up his
sleeve!
Well, now I can die happy!
</sarcasm>
That being
said, the graphics still leave something to be desired. The fog has been
redone. Previously, the fog was used to hide the environments loading on the
streets of Silent Hill. Additionally, it added to the creepy atmosphere-you can
never quite see far enough ahead to feel safe. Now, the fog seems to be further
away, giving you a larger area that you can see. But I don’t think they changed
how the game loads. Outside, it is easy to run too fast for the game, causing
lag and moments where you can see the environment building itself before it can
be hidden by the fog. My Xbox froze 3 times outside on the streets. I have a
new model Xbox, less than a year old, and as far as I recall, it has never
frozen on me before this. Why does lag (like what happened in SH: Downpour)
happen in games? While it wasn’t as bad as SH:D, it shouldn’t happen.
Post PS3 Patch
The patch did fix some graphical issues (but the patch was
only released for the PS3). If you want a comparison, go to Youtube and do a
search. The patch gives noticeable results, but not enough for me to care.
However, there are still a myriad of graphical issues on the PS3, even with the
patch. So in the end, an Xbox 360 patch wouldn’t have done much good anyway,
because Konami gave us a Band-Aid when we needed duct tape. And Konami
blatantly ignored one whole console.
What’s funny is that the current
god of the SH franchise is Tom Hewlett, who basically blames the glitches on
the data they were given to port. He claims that they were given incomplete
archive data, so you know…totally not their fault for delivering a broken game.
However, everyone is citing the fact that Blue Point Games (who did the HD ports
for the Metal Gear HD Collection, which is multiple orgasms on a disk) takes
retail versions of the games and uses that data, so they always get the final
version. Oh hey…that makes way more sense than using incomplete archive data!
So...why didn’t anyone tell Tom Hewlett how to do this? *Face palm.
Gamespot PS2 versions of SH2 and SH3 VS SH: HD (prepatch)
Voice Acting
This is
probably what everyone is talking about. And I’m going to talk about it because
while I am a rabbit, I wear sheep’s clothing.
How do I feel about
the new voices?
The voices
are...meh. I don’t know WHY this game needed new voices. Oh, wait, yes I do. It’s
because Konami figured recording new voices would be cheaper and they probably
didn’t expect Guy Cihi (original voice actor of James) to raise a fuss. And Mary
Elizabeth McGlynn and a few others wanted to carve their names into the fame
that is SH2 and SH3. And quite frankly, I used to be a fan of McGlynn. Her
vocal tracks for the Silent Hill games are phenomenal and they will be songs
that will probably stick with me forever. I love her songs, but I cannot
respect the woman. The arrogance of this woman that oozes from her statements
about the original and new SH voice actors is astounding. And she mistakenly calls
Mary/Maria Marie. At least try to pretend that actually care like you say you
do. You can watch a clip of her talk on Youtube, two sources being here and here. At the very least, I think they should have included the option to have
the original or new voices on both games, not just SH2. I have to wonder, what
was keeping them back on having the original voices on SH3? Heather’s original
VA was, in fact, easy to get a hold of, contrary to the rumour that was
circulating that they just couldn’t find her.
For the
next part of the review, I will be focusing on SH3 of the HD Collection. I will
post the SH2 portion at a later date.
Silent Hill 3 (HD
Collection)
SH3 Graphics
 |
| Hi, I consumed Ester's high school experience. |
At times the graphics appear to be washed out when compared to the original. In the PS2 version of the amusement park dream, there is a sepia-colour fog rolling about. It is not in the HD version, reducing the atmosphere quality. Overall the lighting is better, removing the black splotches that the shadows made. It makes the setting more naturalistic, though I liked the surreal quality of the lighting. You’re trapped in/infected by the Otherworld, a whole different reality. Making the lighting naturalistic blurs the lines between the safe reality and the uncertain and dangerous predicament that Heather is dropped into. Overall the whole thing is just meh and unnecessary.
SH3 Voice Acting
 |
| "Is every person here a mental case?" |
What I liked about Heather’s
character was that she is a very normal character. She’s quick to anger, loves
her father, and is determined to get revenge, even though at one point it would
be totally easy to drive away and not go to Silent Hill. Heather’s new voice, played by Amanda Winn-Lee, sounds so nasally. You know what it sounds like? A grown ass woman trying to
sound like an anime character. The old Heather, Heather Morris, sounded much more natural, and
the new Heather lacks the enthusiasm in key moments (i.e. “Don’t talk about my
dad like that!”-of course, the noise of her hand hitting the door is absent,
killing the intensity of the moment). She was alright during the climax at the
apartment, though I dislike that they altered Heather’s speech to Claudia. OMG,
they added a swear, now Heather means business. Like no one took her seriously
before. Don't try to fix what isn't broken.
 |
| "You know that only God can save us." |
The new Claudia, voiced by Laura Bailey, is bland. I feel
like she lacks the conviction of old Claudia, played by Donna Burke. She does try to sound like the
old Claudia to no avail. Claudia is a religious fanatic. She knows, without a
doubt, that she can bring God. God will come and purify the world with fire and
usher in a new paradise. She will create a new world that is free from all
suffering. Her convictions are unwavering. When she set out to do her task, even
though she knows that her sins are too great for redemption, in her heart she
knew she is right to do it. And I feel like Bailey just doesn’t
convince me of these deep aspects of her character. Most of the time she sounds
bored. This character is integral to the plot. She is the antagonist and has an
emotional connection to Heather. She orders an atrocious act that shatters
Heather, causing her to switch from her “let’s escape from all this crazy BS”
to “let’s vivisect Claudia” mindset. With her new voice, she is basically as
threatening as a cardboard cut out. Story complexity just went down the toilet.
 |
| "Monsters? They look like monsters to you? Don't worry. It's just a joke!" |
Vincent. Oh, god, poor Vincent.
His old voice revealed just how messed up he was. It was unsettling. The new VA, Yuri Lowenthal...isn’t creepy. His voice lacks that certain nuance that makes you unsure
about him. He holds all the answers, but he is clearly lying and quite possibly
mentally unstable. With him, you’re never quite sure if you should trust him.
Everything would be so much easier if Vincent would explain everything to
Heather. But...as she says, “There’s something wrong with you too.” I feel like
the new Vincent tries to play down what made Vincent’s character so awesome.
It’s like putting eyebrows on Claudia-it’s part of the character, don’t mess
with it. I know that they thought the original acting was weird. And it was, in
a very good way. This new voice actor sucks phallic imagery. And you'll know him as the VA who does Sasuke Uchiha's voice from Naruto.
 |
| "That's fine. Nobody's gonna cry over my grave anyway." |
The original VA of Douglas, Richard Grosse (who sadly passed away before the game was released), was fantastic. The new VA, Kirk Thornton, sounds more gravelly, like the VA was pushing the “detective” stereotype. The old Douglas sounded natural. The new VA is trying to emulate the hardboiled noir guy. He tries too hard and it shows. If I had never heard the original VA, overall I would say that the performance was fine. Nothing to be excited about voice acting wise, but alright.
Judgement |
| Sorry, Heather, the good points aren't up here,either. |
Don’t buy the game for the
graphics or the new voice acting. Don’t even buy the game new. Borrow it. Rent
it. Buy it used. Don’t support a team of arrogant jerks. In the end, I don’t
know why they bothered other than to have a piece of SH pie with their names on
it. SH3 is watered down and subpar. Good for achievements.
*Note: Most of the pictures came from the Silent Hill Wikia.
No comments:
Post a Comment