Silent Hill & Resident Evil

[Syed Fawad]

Last night, I watched trailers of SH3, SH4 and RE4 and thought that I should start a thread on this topic.

My question is, which of the tho series (on current gen consoles) is simply better?

IMO,

Plot: It is a no brainer to tell which of the two game series has a deeper plotline and story, but AFA as my personal taste is concerned, I pick Scientific over Demonic conspiracies.


Sound: Silent Hill hands down. Nothing can get more scary than the SH sound and the tunes, musics and songs related to it are also uber fantastic (in a sick way) for a Survival Horror.


Graphics: I think they are on par with each other. Yes I have seen RE4 and I still hold my opinion.

Gameplay: SH2 had simplistic gameplay. SH3 provided some more challenges and SH4 is shaping up well. But infinite inventory? not good. RE is better in this department. You don't get an invisible organic compresser in RE

Puzzles: Actually, I think this should be a seperate category when it comes down to Survival horrors. The riddle system in Silent Hill series is IMO much better than that of RE. Plus different difficulties in puzzles is a very nice add on.


Overall : Wow, they are really even when you talk about my taste. Lets see what you all have to say.

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[Takmadeus]

I kind of prefer Silent hill.... it accomplishes his task, which is to be a survival horror game...... survival horror, remember it..... because in the end, none of the RE games has scared me at all..... unlike SH... which got really creepy at 2:00 am with the lights turned off

as for the gameplay, only the container thing is the good thing in RE... in SJH we are talking about a guy (or girl) with no combat experience.... and has to bear all those tasks alone.... rtelying on his or her lack of skill.... I think you get my point

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[netghost2.0]

Silent Hill definitely. But I found Resident Evil to be more fun and entertaining in a visceral way. However, in terms of a horror game, I appreciate Silent Hill a lot more.

In terms of storyline, Silent Hill is more subtle but very well constructed. I guess it's a matter of preference.

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[galson]

Yes, RE is less scary, but it contains a very good storyline. There is a huge difference between those two: Silent Hill holds the scary climate throughout the game while RE's climate bases on unexpected moments, which are for example enters of zombies through windows or Tyrant's breaking through the wall.

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[jareg]

Resident Evil All The Way
There are so many made and there all good Well almost all
(Just love killing those zombies )

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[Takmadeus]

bah..... it just takes you for surprise, it is not like it scares you......

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[Titus03]

Hard to vote, I haven't played SH yet.

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[Rhombus]

While they're both branded as survival horror game they're really very different games. Silent Hill focuses alot more on the puzzle aspect of things and is more an adventure game with some action thrown in. Resident Evil focuses alot more on the action aspect with a few puzzles thrown in. The only real similarity between them is the horror atmosphere, but even that has its subtle differences, as SH goes for more psychological and creepy scares whereas RE goes for the adrenaline rush scares with guys popping out of nowhere into your face. I really don't think the 2 games should be compared at all - I really think it's like comparing an adventure game (SH) to an arcade/action game (RE). Regardless, I pick SH cause it's always just appealed to me alot more than RE (maybe cause I'm a huge fan of adventure gaming). Of course, I say that Eternal Darkness is my absolute favorite of the genre

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[grahf]

I don't know how much more Capcom can milk that "Resident Evil" of theirs. In the beginning it was supposed to be just a 'small mid-western town' somewhere obscure. But so far we've seen a university, power plants, water treatment plants, oil rigs, factories, etc...etc... And most surprising of all....the Docks (RE:Outbreak)! I never envisioned Raccoon city to be a COASTAL town. Entire sub-waterways underneath the hospital? What next, zombie crisis at the world trade centre? Fight the tyrant (again) at the Superbowl stadium? Giant maggot infestation at the high-security state penitentiary prison? How bout TWO cities, connected by a bridge (a la Grand Theft Auto) when Capcom realizes that 'they need a bigger city'?

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[Carmofin]

normally id say silent Hill all the way, but as things currently are, the situation is a little different...
the last RE game i played was REmake and this game had so much atmosphere that it easily beats SH3 in almost every aspect.
if i think of SH3 all i remember is walking down corridors with nothing ever happening, even though it had a certain SOMETHING that makes me like it still, it was a very bad addition to the series. maybe SH4 can change my opinion again...

[cloudvii]

Resident evil rocks .
now i'll discuss why . First , all RE games (numeric ones) r good while Silent hill 1 was ugh except for it's sound track .
Second ,in resident evil u can wait for second to think that this all thing can be true (the plot is very realistic and deep) while silent hill ... (i don't think i'll ever see a winged creature in the street)
Third , Designs od characters and enemies /monsters r majoring in RE , come on remember Leon , MR.X , Nemisis and Wesker . On the other hand Silent hill have a little amount of different monsters designs which is totally the opposite in RE (many monsters varieying from weak , strong , fast , slow , big and small )

For soundtrack they both have pretty good ones , while i admit it SH had some music that makes me wanna escape and leave my house before i get eaten

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[Noob'Slayer]

well, i wount compare the graphics couz both are good (although SH is slightly better).

SH series are better by far.

RE1 was good, RE2 was very good.. but then the development stopped. actually there is no good story in RE games at all. racoon city, and umbrella over, over, over and over again. actually i cant even tell RE games are horror genre, more like an action based thriller for occassional gamers. also its no fun for me always to play high trained military peps.. the best action-horror is "clive barker's Undying" btw..

silent hill, on the other hand, is muuch scarier and had always very good stories. its harder, its more fun and challenge for long-term gamers. the sounds and the music are unbeatable. atmosphere is unreachable. it has more replay value and endings and different riddles and puzzles for each difficulty level. SH is mysterious and unpredictable.. i really don't see a single point where RE tops SH. in few points both games are equally good but in most of the SH is just much much better. and dont forget the cool SH bonuses like the "UFO" ending in each game

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Last edited by Noob'Slayer; April 20th, 2004 at 16:10..

[netghost2.0]

Hmmm... strange that nobody mentioned Fatal Frame. Hands down, the creepiest game ever.

This is how I rank my survival horror games:

Graphics = Resident Evil
Entertainment/Fun = Resident Evil
Horror/Scare Factor = Fatal Frame
Storyline/Plot = Silent Hill (maybe not SH3 but SH1 and SH2 certainly)
Disgusting/Grossness Factor = Silent Hill (Pyramid Head raping a monster... enough said)

Originally Posted by cloud_vii

Second ,in resident evil u can wait for second to think that this all thing can be true (the plot is very realistic and deep) while silent hill ... (i don't think i'll ever see a winged creature in the street)

This may sound harsh since this is one of my long-standing pet peeves (ie. RE has a better story than SH):

That's a pretty irrelevent criticism of Silent Hill's storyline. Both games are pretty unrealistic and far-fetched. That particular criticism is about as useful as saying that Goku would kick Spike's ass in real life. I can accept and appreciate Syed's viewpoint since he stated that he personally prefered more scientific storylines over plots with occultic elements to it.

When analyzing the quality of the plot or story, you have to look at several elements: the originality of the story, its organization and construction, and how well integrated it is into the game.

I think it's pretty much indisputable that SH has a much better plot than RE. Having an extensive background story or history to the game does not automatically equate to having a "good" storyline or plot. Showing in excrutiating detail how Wesker did this or that ad verbatim does not constitute a good story in my opinion.

I hate to flame but people who state that RE's story is superior to SH probably don't understand basic literary concepts such as themes, allegories, analogies, etc. I don't see Resident Evil utilizing thematic elements such as guilt, punishment, repressed sexual desires, or euthanasia (as utilized extensively in SH2). The constant killing of Maria to punish and remind James Sunderland of his "mercy killing" of his wife is a brilliant plot device. Silent Hill 1 extensively draws on real religious figures or deities such as Metatron or Samael (Hebrew angel). The Silent Hill series is also influenced by H.P. Lovecraft, Stephen King, Session 9, and Jacob's Ladder in terms of storyline and atmosphere. Can Resident Evil say the same?

Read President Evil's plot guide to Silent Hill 2 or his plotline on Silent Hill 1 (although some of his points are not valid due to Silent Hill 3) on http://www.gamefaqs.com . After reading it, if you still believe that Resident Evil has a "deeper" or "better" plot than Silent Hill, then there is no hope for you.

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[Metalmurphy]

Don't think RE is suposed to be scary :/ Any way since SH didnt scare me as well i'll put both games on the "action" category and best one for me is RE! And RE 4 looks stunning!

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[Phoenix]

Fawad the two games as I stated before aren't comparable, thus I didn't voted in the poll.

Now the hated comparisons:

RE vs. SH graphics are different, mean to make the proper atmosphere that their storyline demands. RE graphics are better for me, SH ones manages better light/shadows.

RE vs. SH sounds, almost the same thing except in SH which thanks to its great fear atmosphere they're a lot more enhanced.

Plot?, well it depends on your tastes and here lies the very meaning of each one, while SH handles more personal emotions as netghost2.0 said RE is a more "turning" plot, which has a very important character which is A. Wesker, of course I believe that after RE4 the ultimate and final RE HAS to be released in order to close the saeries as it deserves. Being RE my personal favorite I don't discard SH's plot both are great storylines which makes the games to be categorized appart.

[mhaqsb1]

I wouldn't compare SH to RE. They are both completely different games apart from the fact that they share the genre (somehow).

I played Silent Hill 1 and Resident Evil 3 : Nemesis at the same time and I never compared them with each other. Silent Hill is one good series that has nice sound track, gameplay and storyline plus the puzzles.

Resident Evil on the other hand is a nice game packed with action and straight mov ements. It does have a nice sound track, gorgeous graphics and I agree with Fawad that they are in par with Silent Hill. Just take a look at SH4.

But Capcom has not done justice with the RE series, and Konami kinda failed the SH series with SH2. SH3 is great and the RE series on the GC is great.

So I won't vote.

[Raiden1803]

Silent hill More Definatly, it has a better story line. After the 3rd Resident evil It all looked pointless and nearly the same to me

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[Carmofin]

that IS a point, however, what can you say after playing SH3?

[Raiden1803]

I havent yet I have to wait till i get a good enough pc too play it on

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[Lobo]

Well out of these two definitley Silent Hill series. The games are downright disturbing. It's like a Hitch**** movie, Resident Evil series is like Evil Dead...a joke, a spoof on horror; a B movie, but fun to watch (play in this case).

When you talk about gameplay, your main gripe is inventory space? That definitley shows you as an RE fan . If you don't think about the camera angle's, fear factor, enemy intelligence (or lack there of), etc... when you talk about gameplay it must be because you're just runnin from damn near everything .

Playing SH as a survival horror it takes it's genre seriously. You feel like you're surviving and running for your life, and not because of the lack of weapons you can have at once or the amount of ammo you have. But more because you're scared to open the next door, you don't want to take on whatever thing you hear - when I beat down something in SH with my 2x4 because I don't have ammo or don't want to use ammo (I rarely shoot anything) I am beating it down as if my life depends on it and out of disgust. In RE I want to kill everything in my way, and am only limited to doing so by the limited ammo. I never fear any of the monsters, I look at them as obstacles in my way (and can avoid most of them easily).

As I read the replies I was wondering why nobody mentioned Fatal Frame, those games are even scarier than Silent Hill. It's the same jump RE to SH makes in disturbing, thats how freakin' disturbing & scary Fatal Frame is. At certain points in SH I'll feel like shutting it off. Never happens in RE. In FF I will shut it off, because I'm so spooked out by something I just saw.

But anyway, as I said earlier, RE is like a teen horror movie, it's not necessairly funny but it isn't scary either. It's predictable. SH is a more mature horror movie, a psychological-thriller as well, and the game truly disturbs with revelations found outand some of the things you see. Fatal Frame is just sick and twisted disturbing, I liken it to underground video's of brutal satanic murders that you don't want to see. Things eluded to in the film 8mm but without the sex...smut films without the sex if you will.

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