Silent Hill HD Collection

by Konami

• Silent Hill 2 & Silent Hill 3 critical acclaim from the previous console generation.
• Full PlayStation Network Trophies support integration.
• Both titles re-mastered to HD at 720p for improved graphics on PlayStation 3.
• Experience the two classic Silent Hill titles previously released on PlayStation 2, Silent Hill 2 & Silent Hill 3, that defined the Survival Horror genre in its early inception.
• Completely updated in-game voiceover directed by series vocalist Mary Elizabeth McGlynn and soundtrack score enhancing the storytelling and ambient music within each re-mastered game

Product Details

• Shipping: This item is also available for shipping to select countries outside the U.S.
• ASIN: B0050SXAIG
• Product Dimensions: 6.7 x 5.3 x 0.6 inches ; 3.2 ounces
• Media: Video Game
• Release Date: March 20, 2012
• Average Customer Review: 2.9 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (96 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,345 in Video Games (See Top 100 in Video Games)
  • #61 in Video Games > PlayStation 3 > Games > Adventure

Product Description

Platform: PLAYSTATION 3

From the Manufacturer

Product Overview Silent Hill Re-Mastered Collection combines two classic spine-chilling Silent Hill titles from the past and brings them to the PlayStation 3. Introducing Silent Hill 2 and Silent Hill 3 with enhancements including true high-definition graphics, this offering gives new fans and old fans the opportunity to experience the early era of Silent Hill as a true genre-defining experience with the added value of two games. Silent Hill 2 follows the sad story of James Sunderland as he woefully enters the sleepy town by a mysterious letter from his deceased wife. Seeking the chance to see her again beckoned by guilt and remorse, he stumbles upon his fears manifested through unseen evil and ominous characters leading him to the asylum of another world. The fight against the truth that his wife has died, James must escape the lumbering demon Red Pyramid (a.k.a Pyramid Head) along with his mystified fears that have taken the form of living monsters within the haze that is Silent Hill. Serving as a sequel to the original Silent Hill game, Silent Hill 3 centers on the forces of the demonic cult that spreads the insanity of the otherworld through Claudia, a cult member attempting to bring Harry Mason’s daughter, Heather, into Silent Hill. With a subplot and themes involving the loss of innocence and childhood, a web of intrigue is spun by Claudia with intentions to birth a new god. Features Experience the two classic Silent Hill titles previously released on PlayStation 2, Silent Hill 2: Restless Dreams & Silent Hill 3, that defined the Survival Horror genre in its early inception Both titles re-mastered to HD at 720p for improved graphics on PlayStation 3 Completely updated in-game voiceover directed by series vocalist Mary Elizabeth McGlynn and soundtrack score enhancing the storytelling and ambient music within each re-mastered game Full PlayStation Network Trophies support integration Silent Hill 2: Restless Dreams & Silent Hill 3 critical acclaim from the previous console generation: Silent Hill 2: Restless Dreams = 89% for PlayStation 2 game average rating Silent Hill 2: Restless Dreams voted "#20 PlayStation2 Game of All Time" by IGN Silent Hill 3 = 85% for PlayStation 2 game average rating

Product Description

Experience the horrors of Silent Hill all over again with this collection of Silent Hill 2 and 3, rendered in high-definition for the first time ever. SILENT HILL 2: You are back to the town of Silent Hill as James, a man who lost his wife several years earlier. One day, he receives a letter from his dead wife telling him to come back to Silent Hill, but what he finds there when he returns is nothing short of horrifying. SILENT HILL 3: The series' trademark brand of psychological horror and terrifying gameplay continues. As a teenage girl named Heather, players must explore and unravel the mysterious connection between the god-forsaken town and her inner fears.

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

228 of 244 people found the following review helpful

4.0 out of 5 stars How do you screw that up? (POST PATCH UPDATE) March 22, 2012

By Ben

Platform for Display:PLAYSTATION 3

Fun: 5.0 out of 5 stars   

"Silent Hill 2" and "Silent Hill 3" are gems of the survival horror genre. These games showed us how smart, creepy, disturbing, and insightful games can be. I really cherish them.

Because of this it's too bad that "Silent Hill HD Collection" is a broken product.

First, there are numerous audio problems. Sound effects pop in and out during gameplay. Lip syncing and sound effects are also often very delayed during cutscenes.

Second is the frame rate issues. Both games are pretty bad, but SH3 is far worse than SH2. Expect the game to look like it's moving in slow motion in environments with more than one monster, that are larger than a closet, have running water, or fog... yes... fog! There was one boss fight in a sewer like place (I won't mention the name of the boss for spoiler reasons) that was moving so slowly that all challenge was removed.

Lastly, are the graphical problems. SH2 looks worse than it did on PS2. This is mostly due to that lack of translucent fog. In SH2 on PS2 the fog became more dense as its distance from you increased until you couldn't see anything past a certain point. Now there is just an almost solid wall of fog that looks horrible. The worst part about it is that you can now see unfinished areas of the game that the fog was meant to cover up. Nothing like seeing water that just disappears after a few feet or a telephone wire that isn't connected to anything. They have also screwed up the contrast of the game. When you set up the brightness you can now do it so the lighting looks good either outdoors or indoors, but not both like the original. This means you'll most likely be dealing with very dark and washed out exteriors.

The very worst example of how much uglier SH2 is now is in the boat section. The water texture is missing completely making it look like you're rowing across foil or something and the lack of the translucent fog mentioned earlier means that the guiding light now looks like a crayon drawing.

There are two pluses to the collection though. The first is that SH3 looks fantastic. SH2 may look terrible, but for the most part SH3 looks great. However, this doesn't matter because the game runs so slow that you'd rather just have the original SD copy. Second, is that most of the new voice actors of SH3 are better than the original. However, Heather's voice is far worse. She is no longer an authentic teenage girl like in the original. Even though the rest of the SH3 cast may sound better, the main character is far less believable and that's the one that really counts.

The new voices for SH2 are all terrible, but there is an option to use the original so that doesn't really matter.

To fix these problems Konami a released a 200+mb 1.1 patch (that's after the inexplicable 4gb install), but it didn't actually fix anything. Even if you reinstall everything after the patch it doesn't do any good.

There is simply NO EXCUSE for releasing PS2 games for the PS3 and have them be plagued with performance issues. Konami and anyone involved in the creation of the HD Collection should be ashamed of themselves.

Such a huge disappointment. If you have yet to experience these games pick them up for the PS2. They're well worth it.

POST PATCH UPDATE:

Months after the retail release of Silent Hill HD Collection there has finally been a patch released that actually addresses most of the issues. Both audio and visual problems as well as the frame rate issues have been corrected. The game now looks and sounds as good as it should have in the first place. There are still a few problems, but I would now highly recommend picking up a copy.

69 of 79 people found the following review helpful

1.0 out of 5 stars Insulted Hill March 24, 2012

By Charles Jo Harder

Platform for Display:PLAYSTATION 3|Amazon Verified Purchase

Fun: 1.0 out of 5 stars   

Silent Hill has garnered a massive fanbase from lovers of Survival Horror games, and with good reason.
The games are extremely dark and atmospheric, with lots of fog and very little light to get by with.
Strange creatures and bumps in the night can be heard constantly, no matter where you are. Every moment
is fraught with tension. The stories are character-driven, the music is sublime and emotional, yet appropriate,
and the graphics are clean, especially when they're dirty as a bloody mop in a rusted toilet stall.
The reviews are in, and they have been for the last 6-10 years. Silent Hill 2 and 3 are the core of the
Silent Hill experience.

What Konami has given us here is unacceptable. There are lag, framerate and audio loop issues that were
present in the original version of Silent Hill 2. The framerate on the PS3 is actually worse than it
ever was on the PC. My PC could handle it when it came out so there was no framerate issue,
(but there was still that audio loop). I have hardly played either of these two titles and I am already
disgusted at the level of disrespect Konami has for its own titles, as well as its fan base. Cut-scenes are
out of sync with audio by over five to six seconds to the point your mind thinks the game itself has crashed.
I am studying to be a game developer and designer and I am sickened by this business practice of milking a series without
putting in the hard (simple) work of properly coding a title to run on the console. If you can't be sure
you can make it run with old code, get into the code and fix the problem, or better yet, just don't make
any announcements. Come on.

There are three good things about this release. The cover art is very sensual and erotic. There is a beautiful
cover song during their "credits" on the front screen, and the new audio recordings are surprisingly good. The James
character feels very natural and as if he could have done the original voice. But unless these things are just absolute
"must-haves" for a collector, my advice is to just play the old games on the computer at a fraction of the cost
and render them at their highest settings.

Please don't support this product if you are a fan or thinking about becoming a fan. You don't deserve this,
Konami doesn't deserve your money, and Silent Hill itself sure as hell doesn't deserve this treatment.

EDIT: There has been a recent update for Silent Hill Collections and now I fully recommend playing both these amazing games through multiple times! Please enjoy! I take back 90% of what I said, but I still believe Konami owes it to their customers not to release broken products at the time of release.

14 of 14 people found the following review helpful

1.0 out of 5 stars Silent Hill: Slow Camera Edition. April 15, 2012

By MarkFreak

Platform for Display:PLAYSTATION 3|Amazon Verified Purchase

Fun: 1.0 out of 5 stars   

I'm a huge Silent Hill fan so it really hurts to give out one star to this long-awaited HD collection, it just makes me wonder: "What went wrong"? I already finished SH2 and I'm halfway through SH3, I'm actually trying to ignore the stuttering, sound glitches and ridiculously slow frame rate because I just love the early games of the series, but I feel like an idiot standing by this abomination when I can pop up my still working SH3 copy on my still working PS2 and blaze through the same areas where my PS3 is having such difficulties to render, why does it have to run so slow on a more powerful machine, why on Earth does it have to install 4GB's of data and what was that useless patch for? None of my other HD collections install data and they work fine, seriously Konami, you should consider bringing back Team Silent before you can even consider another franchise release, it's a punch in the nuts for all of us fans everytime you release a stinking pile of garbage like this with the Silent Hill brand on it.