Silent Hill 3

Playboy

Grainy video filters, swirling cameras and intense action put it severed head and shoulders above the rest of the horror-game competition - the best installment yet of a great series. [Aug 2003, p.32]

Into Liquid Sky

Adds a new level of terror to the Silent Hill franchise. It has the same great atmosphere and tension from the first two games all while adding tons more enemies and more tension because of it.

G4 TV

All hype and scare-the-girlfriend jokes aside, Silent Hill 3 is a truly disturbing, frightening, and bloody experience (more or less in that order). This is the current high-mark of scary games, period, with production values that put most contemporary horror-flicks to shame.

netjak

An audio experience that shouldn’t be passed up, especially if you are a fan of the series or survival horror in general. It is a shame the controls are difficult and the game is so short, or all would have been wonderful.

GameReviewer

The single, most atmospheric survival horror game around. It goes so far beyond the greatness achieved in the 2nd installment that one must wonder, where will it all go from here?

GameShark

It gives you lots of reasons to pick it up again and again, chief among them being the extremely well-realized story and the amazing atmosphere of dread. Silent Hill 3 is a tense, powerful game.

IGN

Silent Hill 3 still freaks me out, sucks me in and makes me awfully frightened to play this game in the dark by myself. And isn't that what's it's all about?

GameNow

It's an interactive nightmare, complete with off-kilter logic and unnerving imagery, both of which are bound to stay with you for weeks. [Sept 2003, p.52]

GamingWorld X

A definite improvement over Silent Hill 2 in almost every way (except length), SH3 is probably one of the best survival horror games available right now. While the length affects things other than the replay value, the unlockable extras do their part to extend the game’s longevity.

Gamezilla!

A solid addition to the series. The thrills are definitely here, and they're more disturbing than ever, but it sticks to the traditional survival horror mold — a likely turn-off for those looking for something new.

Official Playstation 2 Magazine UK

Wet-the-bed scary survival horror. We dare you to play it. [Jan 2007, p.106]

eToychest

This game also has quite a bit of replay ability to, with 3 different endings to see, and additional scenes to be seen on replay. My only qualm with this game is that it’s too short, at only 5 hours on your first play through and maybe half that each additional time.

Official U.S. Playstation Magazine

Have you ever walked out of a particularly good horror flick only to discover that your muslces ache because you've been tensing them up in anticipation of the next terrifying event? Silent Hill 3 is like that. [Aug 2003, p.95]

Eurogamer

While it arguably does little in term of innovation, it has some classic puzzles, far more satisfying combat elements than ever before, some truly horrifying sections, fantastic visuals, gruesome audio and a quality storyline that kicks most of the embarrassing competition out of sight.

Yahoo! Games

While it's not any kind of gameplay revolution, it's the best, most polished and creepiest of the series.

GamePro

For all its similarity to Silent Hill 2, the third installment still manages to set itself apart with more variety, slightly improved combat, more logical puzzles, a different enough story, and even better visuals in their own grainy nonconformist way.

Electronic Gaming Monthly

Scary, and I'm talkinng freaked-the-f***-out-at-3 a.m. scary. I mean it - afer an inexplicably horrific run-in with a blood-spewing bathtub at Brookhaven Hospital, sleep was out of the question for me. [Sept 2003, p.114]

Games Radar UK (Pre-2006)

Somewhere between the solid first few hours and the game's thrilling conclusion, Silent Hill 3 transforms from a humdrum sequel into a knuckle-searing digital nightmare. [PSM2]

Gaming Target

Laden with a few differences here and there, no horror fan...in fact, no GAMER can be without this third instalment in one of Konami's best franchises on the market.

GameSpy

Don't expect to find radical gameplay changes or innovative open-ended mechanics here. Instead, come armed with a belly full of courage and a clean change of underwear, because I can't even remember when a video game has shoved this much grotesque evil down my throat in one serving.

GameZone

Fun, but lacks the intensity of the first game. The intensity was lessened with the sequel, perhaps due to the fact that it was a sequel and I had already experienced that kind of horror once. Silent Hill 3 uses the same scare tactics as the first two games, so unless you're a newcomer, you probably won't be too horrified.

Game Over Online

If you're looking for a genuinely unsettling and terrifying survival horror experience on your PS2, than look no further, this is it.

GameSpot

There's no remarkable new gameplay to speak of, so the game is clearly intended for fans of the series, who've been impressed by Silent Hill's unusually dark and psychological style.

VGPub

Heather and all of her friends and foes look incredible. The detail on each character model is so convincing that someone might think SH3 is a CG movie at first glace.

Absolute Playstation

Worth a play… even if it’s just to experience the outrageously frightening “Haunted House” section towards the end of the game. Meanwhile, first timers to the town of Silent Hill will reap much reward and lots of scares in the process.

Game Informer

Silent Hill 3 embodies the true essence of horror and never once gives the player a moment to relax or breathe. [Aug 2003, p.88]

Play Magazine

The story is thin and forced, far too self-aware of needing to be supernaturally spooky, and the voice acting is crap as usual. No matter: Silent Hill 3 leaves an awfully intense mark. [Aug 2003, p.73]

GamingTrend

The least of the three games, but it still plays better and has a far more vivid imagination than its competitors (once again my eye drifts towards Resident Evil).

Game Revolution

If you're more familiar with the second game than the first, you’ll doubtless find the heavier occultic, religious tone a little distracting. It’s okay, though; you will deal, or you will die.

GMR Magazine

The game's biggest weakness is the lack of any levity or humor to counterpoint the story's overwhelmingly serious tone. [Sept 2003, p.68]

Total Video Games

Those who lost interest in this genre a long time ago won’t find the experience here to regenerate their faith. It’s a shame because the actual storytelling and directing is a work of genius that demands to be witnessed, whilst the visuals are quite possibly the best you’ll ever witness on a Playstation2.

Cheat Code Central

While the novelty of being scared witless by the hideous creatures in the Silent Hill series may have ebbed some in recent years, Silent Hill 3 is guaranteed to graft a slow chill to your spine.

Gamestyle

The third instalment offers a brilliant new focus in the series that not only heightens the goals of the games with regard to hitting the player in their psyche; it adds new dimensions of dread on top.

PSX Nation

It's still an atmospheric, disturbing, good-looking and scary-as-heck ride, but one too similar to what came before it to stand out from the trilogy.

Cincinnati Enquirer

Not only the best game in the series but may be the finest survival horror game to date.

TotalGames.net

It is a hell of a lot better than the previous incarnation of Silent Hill but if you’re planning on getting the third tale, you’re going to have to be a real survival horror fan.

Gamer.tv

Improvements to sound and visuals are excellent... [but] genuine shocks don't come often enough.

Edge Magazine

Allow the mood to feel its way into you and the sticky combat and occasional something's-missing-don't-know-what confusion become part of the experience. [June 2003, p.94]

PSM Magazine

Four hours the first time through? The second time took only two and a half hours! [Sept 2003, p.34]

GameCritics

Right from the beginning, Silent Hill 3 tells its story with the subtlety of a sledgehammer. The all-important sense of pacing that the first two games had is completely lost.

All Game Guide

Combat is more tedious than fun, though players can now wield more powerful weapons such as the katana blade. Most often players can get by simply running past many of the enemies -- not necessarily out of fear, but in a noble attempt to relieve boredom.