Countdown to Homecoming Part 6
On last stop on our journey home takes us to several landmarks in the town of Silent Hill. Beyond the main games, the series has spun off into the world of comics, film, and arcades. Some of these attempts have been successful, others left fans scratching their heads. With Silent Hill Homecoming being released this week, we've got a lot to cram in before returning back to town. So let's not waste any more time. The darkness is coming, and we need to get moving.
You'll be safe after the jump.
Silent Hill: Arcade
While playing Silent Hill do you ever find yourself shouting "just kill everything that moves!" Perhaps you should look into a trip to Japan to find Silent Hill in the arcades. Designed as a shoot first ask depressing existential questions later games, players could team up with a friend and take on the residents of Silent Hill using an assortment of firearms.
Eric Lake and Tina Townsend (a relation to Henry?) are in Silent Hill investigating the mystery of Toluca Lake, a mystery that involves the disappearance of a ship in the lake, there were no survivors or bodies found. You'd think Silent Hill would have lost the whole "Tourist Town" identity way before it actually did. After their friends disappear, these plucky college kids are on the case. Reusing monsters from previous entries, the story was more a way to get the characters from point A to B and players a chance to unload a few clips into Pyramid Head.
Perhaps we'll see this come to the Wii? It sure does bear a striking thematic resemblance to Resident Evil: Umbrella Chronicles.
Silent Hill Experience
Released as a bonus UMD to coincide with the release of the Silent Hill movie, the Silent Hill Experience is like a sampler platter of the series. The disc contains music from the first four games, which I've listed below.
01. From Silent Hill 1: Silent Hill
02. From Silent Hill 1: Tears of...
03. From Silent Hill 2: Theme of Laura
04. From Silent Hill 2: Null Moon
05. From Silent Hill 2: Love Psalm
06. From Silent Hill 2: True
07. From Silent Hill 2: Promise
08. From Silent Hill 2: Fermata in Mystic Air
09. From Silent Hill 2: Laura Plays the Piano
10. From Silent Hill 2: Overdose Delusion
11. From Silent Hill 3: You're Not Here
12. From Silent Hill 3: Letter - From Lost Days
13. From Silent Hill 3: Dance with Night Wind
14. From Silent Hill 3: Breeze -In Monochrome Night-
15. From Silent Hill 3: Maternal Heart
16. From Silent Hill 3: Never Forgive Me, Never Forget Me
17. From Silent Hill 4: Cradle of Forest
18. From Silent Hill 4: Wounded Warsong
19. From Silent Hill 4: Room of Angel
20. From Silent Hill 4: Nightmarish Waltz
In addition to music, fans were given six issues of the Silent Hill Comic Book, including one made specifically for the collection. Unfortunately these comics are not tied directly to the games and as such are not viewed as cannon. Then again neither was the movie. The only real taste of the games were in the forms of trailers for Silent Hill 1-4 as well as a trailer for the movie. Toss in some interviews, music videos, and a couple "out of this world" endings for good measure and you've got a nice collector's item that I can't seem to find in any stores. Thank you ebay for being invented.
Silent Hill: The Movie
Rose de Silva has a bit of a problem. Her daughter Sharon keeps having nightmares of a town called Silent Hill. What Sharon wants, Sharon gets, because Rose and the little girl take a road trip to what seems to be an abandoned town. Oh if only it were abandoned. After narrowly missing a young girl in the middle of the road, Rose is knocked unconscious and wakes to find Sharon gone. So begins her journey into Silent Hill.
The film is one of the most faithful adaptations of any video game and for that I give it a lot of credit. Rose is a gender swapped version of Harry Mason and the storyline follows the original Silent Hill almost to a fault. There are a few differences thrown in the mix, where Dahlia is more a victimized mother and the cult leader being replaced by religious fanatic Christabella. The movie deals with themes of motherhood and religion the end of the movie ditches the chills and replaces it with blood and barbed wire.
Stylistically the movie looks exactly like the games. The town has been accurately recreated down to the street signs and locations. The fog that permeates the town is actually explained to be ash and smoke, which makes the history of the town all the more tragic. As for the scene where the town changes while Rose is in the school, best scene in the film.
Keep a blood-soaked eye out for Nurse Lisa who has a cameo near the end of the movie.
Silent Hill: Play Novel
Only Japan was treated with a Game Boy Advance retelling of the first game. Rather than trying to port the PS1 classic onto what would be much weaker hardware, the developers instead turned the game into an interactive novel. Think of it as a Choose Your Own Adventure story, but with less searching for pirate treasure and more fighting for your life. American gamers will never see this release, but perhaps it isn't too much to ask for a port of the actual game onto the DS. Just thinking out loud.
Silent Hill: The Comics
There are untold tales of Silent Hill. Poor souls have found themselves at the mercy of the town and many will never know their ultimate fate. The Silent Hill comics have been published by IDW and have dealt with stories outside the main Silent Hill canon. The change in medium from interactive fiction to strict fiction turns the experience on its head. As a gamer we are able to control the characters and fight for a way out of the town. When we read the comics we're voyeurs who are merely watching a story unfold that we have no control over. This may be why I've never gotten into the comics as much as the games. There is something unsettling about watching people in Silent Hill whom I have no connection with. The following stories have been told:
Silent Hill: Dying Inside
Silent Hill: Among the Damned
Silent Hill: Paint It Black
Silent Hill: The Grinning Man
Silent Hill: Dead/Alive
Silent Hill: Hunger
Silent Hill: Sinner's Reward
My personal favorite is Paint It Black, the story of an artist who becomes trapped in the town. Please let me know if you have a personal favorite, or if anyone else out there actually collects the Silent Hill series.
This brings us to the end of our journey. Hopefully you're all as excited as I am to once again visit the town of Silent Hill in either one of the previous iterations, or you can pick up Silent Hill Homecoming for either the PS3 or 360. That's where I'll be vacationing this week. Would you like to join me?
TheDoctor
Posted to Video Games on 30 September 2008
· Comments (5)
Other stuff like this: arcade, comics, film, retrospective, silent hill, silent hill homecoming
well, aside from the japanese only games, i have pretty much everything on your list. I think i snagged the only copy of the Silent hill experience from my local ebgames. Just last week i got the latest comic (sinner's reward) and i have one coming in october called Ominbus. the only thing left to do is learn japanese and get those imports.
"The film is one of the most faithful adaptations of any video game"
No! No! No! Sorry for being a nitpicky fan but Dahlia was the evil mother/leader of a cult who wanted to reunite the two parts of Alessa's soul and for her daughter to be the mother of God. And the ending? It pissed me off, SH3 is a direct sequel of SH1, how will they make that if Rose and Sharon are stuck in the other world? I'll give it credit for incredible, but sometimes misplaced (Pyramid Head) monsters and awesome set design but the story is definitely different at its core. But as a standalone alternate universe or just movie, I agree its pretty good.
If they do adapt SH2, hopefully they'll stay true to the awesome tale it tells
It's a shame that sh:h is getting poor reviews. Should ship from gaemfly tomorrow.
This was a really nice retrospective you did on the SH universe! I pretty much have most of the things related to SH that became available in the US but I am always on the lookout for the play novel. Even though it's in Japanese used to be a site run by fans that were translating the play novel but I'm not sure if it's still around:(
I liked the comics but I thought the most recent series 'Sinners Reward' was the best. It's well drawn and had a good story. I have yet to read 'Paint it Black' but I'll be on the lookout for it.
Looking forward to reading your review for Silent Hill Homecoming! ^_^
Thanks, for the retrospective! :)
Well, where should I start? yes, I´ll show off my collection :): I own all the games(2 versions of SH2: one cardbox with an extra dvd and the greatest hits one with the extra chapter), all soundtracks, the japanese dvd Lost Memories, the book Lost Memories, the guide books,the comic books and the Silent Hill:Play Novel.I just started playing Homecoming and I know that it´ll be a love/hate game for the fans. I just scratched the surface but I like it... My fav comic book is "Sinners Reward" but I like the other ones a lot (but not The Grinning Man... terrible art and story), specially "Among the Damned", their version of the Lying Figure is very cool and reminds the famous painting "The Scream"... the movie, well, as you said, it´s Silent Hill in a real world, but the story is a bit of a let down: the story of the first game was so rich, dunno why they have to come with those fanatic-christians... But as I see the movie like I see the comic books, I can say that I loved that! :P