Silent Hill HD Collection

These two games are classics, nothing can compete with these nowadays, especially silent hill 2, both games are very memorable and had decent graphics in both even when it was on the Playstation 2. You can tell silent hill 3 had the most improvement for the graphics... obviously because it came out after, Anyways what annoyed me most of all with the high definition collection, is that how on earth have they made so many problems to these classics.

1. Framerate now for me playing the games hasn't really affected me that bad compared to silent hill downpour!! And thats a 2012 game? Now thats a different review to tell. Good story, flawed game, Enough said.
2. Even though silent hill 4 the room wasn't for everyone, still would of been an extra bonus to give to us, ever game counts.
3. I do have to admit about the fog, it made the streets a bit to clean on silent hill 2 also another problem is when you run in silent hill, you can slide when trying to stop, now thats annoying but funny.
4. Now I must admit the new voices will not be for everyone but I did like the new voices but i felt it was a bit to dramatised and for some odd reason the original voices had more emotion to them a way that drag you in to the madness of silent hill and made such a hit
5. Yep theres lots of problems to theses game, and I know i've left some out, like for example the voices wasn't matching when speaking on both games, and in silent hill 3, slow motion when enemies are nearby and so on but its still an enjoyable collection to have just wished they didn't rush with it to be honest. Silent hill deserves a lot better. It just feels to rushed into, I think people will agree?

Now why I'm rating this top marks, because even though there is so many problems to this, i can't give it poor marks because of the flaws, I'm giving these top marks because the story and its in high definition and these games, you just don't get any of these types of games anymore, good scares and a very, very good story from start to finish now if you can get by the annoying things they have done to these games and focus on playing both storys, you'll be in for a good ride and you will know why these are made classics.

Also graphics are not everything, I know it certainly does help, but I think nowadays, a lot of games focus on just the graphics and less on the story thats why silent hill are classic because of how indepth theses storylines are, perferbly silent hill 2.

All I can say is, turn off the lights, put on the surround sound, get stuck in to the game, preferably on your own and be ready for some great scares that you just can't manage to get in games nowadays, enjoy

These two games are classics, nothing can compete with these nowadays, especially silent hill 2, both games are very memorable and had decent graphics in both even when it was on the Playstation 2. You can tell silent hill 3 had the most improvement for the graphics... obviously because it came out after, Anyways what annoyed me most of all with the high definition collection, is that how on earth have they made so many problems to these classics.

1. Framerate now for me playing the games hasn't really affected me that bad compared to silent hill downpour!! And thats a 2012 game? Now thats a different review to tell. Good story, flawed game, Enough said.
2. Even though silent hill 4 the room wasn't for everyone, still would of been an extra bonus to give to us, ever game counts.
3. I do have to admit about the fog, it made the streets a bit to clean on silent hill 2 also another problem is when you run in silent hill, you can slide when trying to stop, now thats annoying but funny.
4. Now I must admit the new voices will not be for everyone but I did like the new voices but i felt it was a bit to dramatised and for some odd reason the original voices had more emotion to them a way that drag you in to the madness of silent hill and made such a hit
5. Yep theres lots of problems to theses game, and I know i've left some out, like for example the voices wasn't matching when speaking on both games, and in silent hill 3, slow motion when enemies are nearby and so on but its still an enjoyable collection to have just wished they didn't rush with it to be honest. Silent hill deserves a lot better. It just feels to rushed into, I think people will agree?

Now why I'm rating this top marks, because even though there is so many problems to this, i can't give it poor marks because of the flaws, I'm giving these top marks because the story and its in high definition and these games, you just don't get any of these types of games anymore, good scares and a very, very good story from start to finish now if you can get by the annoying things they have done to these games and focus on playing both storys, you'll be in for a good ride and you will know why these are made classics.

Also graphics are not everything, I know it certainly does help, but I think nowadays, a lot of games focus on just the graphics and less on the story thats why silent hill are classic because of how indepth theses storylines are, perferbly silent hill 2.

All I can say is, turn off the lights, put on the surround sound, get stuck in to the game, preferably on your own and be ready for some great scares that you just can't manage to get in games nowadays, enjoy

First of all, why on earth did Konami give the go ahead to Hijinx Studios to work on these ports?. They have a terrible track record and seem like an incompetent, unqualified bunch of monkeys. Silent Hill 2 is a fantastic horror game and was very well deserving of a HD upgrade however this title certainly is not an "upgrade". There are so many issues and problems such as unfathomable frame rates, most of the time it looks as if you are taking long strides instead of running, there is a 2 second delay before you attack, a loading time every time you enter a door and it occasionally freezes for a second or two. The next problem is the cutscenes, they are stretched so much that they look dim, pixelated and "unnatural". Basically they are terrible to look at and laughable in a bad way, you just want them to end as quickly as possible. After around 2 hours of playing through Silent Hill 2 the game crashed and frozen on me, of course it was unexpected and I hadn't saved. Silent Hill 3 suffers from the same problems and its too painful to go through them again. The only good thing are the new voices, they are pretty good and better than the original. Also two games is not really a "collection" they could have added Silent Hill 4 too. So why a three instead of a one? well these are timeless classics and must play horror games. If you own any of these games on previous consoles DO NOT buy this! it is not worth the effort or trouble. If you haven't played these, then try it but be warned of all the above problems. This collection should never had been released like this, it feels unfinished, sloppy and unjustified. Very disappointing indeed, I cannot believe how much Hijinx messed it up, when the negatives vastly outnumber the positives, that's an indication that something just is not right.

Having read numerous reviews of this game collection online I will give my two cents worth...
Firstly I have had the game a few days and have completed both titles.The first thing that springs to mind is the obvious probelm with the word"collection".A collection in game terms usually means a number of games or even trilogies like Prince of Persia or Jak and Daxter for example.Here we have merely Silent Hill 2 and three so I think this is false advertising from the get go.Next is the word HD.These game for the most part don't look any better than they did on ps2 and this left me sorely disapponted.After seeing what could be done with the Metal Gear Solid HD collection I was dumbfounded how bad Hijinx made this restoration.
Now on to the specifics of the games.
Sound.Both games have been given new voice work with the option to listen to the orignal voices in the 2nd game which is a nice touch however the lack of this option in the 3rd is a mystery to me.Sound effects are a mixed bag as gun blasts tend to loop and monter sounds can pop and crackle in places including character voices in cutscenes.I also noticed new sounds I don't remember hearing in the original games.This could have been Hijinx wanting to put their own stamp on the games which is fine with me had they done it to a satisfactory level.
Gameplay.Running in these games is a nightmare especially in number three as the frame rate and slow downs are horrendous.Number 2 is okay in this respect but suffers from bad aim on the guns.Often I found myself shooting at the walls instead of the actaul monsters.Maybe I'm a lousy shot but I don't remember being this bad when I was younger playing these game for the first time.I would recommend setting the walk run option to reverse on the options menu as its less tedious than holding a button and moving the arrow and analog stick simultaneously.
Graphics.The graphics are actually worse in Silent Hill 2 in this bundle than the original ps2 release if you can believe that.This is because the fog effects have been all but removed by Hijinx studios.I have no idea why they chose to do this.I can only guess they thought it was cleaning the game up and making it HD worthy...Boy were they wrong if this was their logic.The mysteriousness and fear has all but been destroyed by how much of the town and background you can actually see now and this is why I recommend playing the oringals of these games if you can get your hand on them.Silent Hill 3 isn't so bad as your indoors a lot more but 2 is awful for seeing the road load up in front of you and things in the background that are tacked onto thin air.Cough cough look behind James and Maria during their first meeting and see a floating rope that is being held by nothing.Also the boat sequence to the hotel is a nightmare graphics wise.
My point is the fog shouldn't have been removed as it was a fundamental part of the game from both a graphical and an atmosphere perspective.
So is there any saving graces for this bundle you ask.
Well...the trophies are a nice distraction and will make players complete the games multiple times if your a trophy buff.
The addition of original voiceovers in SH2 is a nice bonus as I'm quite attached to those voices.And Silent Hill 3 actually looks more polished here than it did on the ps2.Besides all this is the standard extras you can get when finishing the games such as constumes,weapons,etc.
Basically this product should have been called Silent Hill bundle as that just what it is a bundle of everything good and bad.My biggest disappointment was the quality of the product.The sound,graphics and performance are mediocre to say the least.Konami failed in their choice of studio to remaster these titles.

There is very little reason to dwell on the content of these two games as it has been done far more eloquently elsewhere. Instead I'll concentrate on the differences between the versions and the main concern many fans had; the glitches that plagued the US version. I'm delighted to say these have been eradicated all without the need of a patch; there is no frame-rate lag or sound drops/sync issues. There is a fixed option to hard install the game and this may have been the fix although not having tried the US version cannot verify this. The game includes the SH2 bonus 'Born of a Wish' sub-plot which wasn't included on the initial release of the PS2 original. This, updated graphics and trophy support are the main selling points other than the new voice work. Personally I find the new acting far better than the hammy original which at times took you out of the horror of it all. Whereas the music is still intact so all in all no real complaints. However I've knocked one star off as despite the quality of the games they could have easily included SH4: The Room...