As most of us already know, in most versions of Silent Hill, the grey child monster was replaced by the mumbler. Even if it is just blatant censoring by people not wanting a game where you can kill children, it doesn't mean the monster is more interesting per-se. The grey child is literally just an apparently nude child without any eyes, holding a knife, While the Mumbler has rust-like skin, has shards for finger, and a suction cup like head. Both of these monster represent basically the same thing, the abuse of alessa from both her mother and her classmates. Maybe im the only one who see's the design of the latter monster as "scarier" or "more interesting" but, i dont really know.

In-game, the mumblers always reminded me of teddy bears with big claws. In photos, I kind of like the mumbler design better, but in-game the grey children were more creepy, along with their noises. I also think the grey children are better suited enemies for the school and am glad to have them there rather than the same mumbler enemies from the sewers.

I've never seen any resemblance between the children in-game and their CG artwork. If the latter had been in Midwich, I suppose I'd agree that they're weak enemies, but as they are... yeah, they're best the way they are.

(including as lo-res as they are)

I like the grey children way more as enemies than the clawfingers/mumblers.

They fit the game better (especially the school area) and the garbled indescribable sounds they make are infinitely creepier and more unique than the clawfinger's fairly nondescript grunting sounds...

I first played SH on an emulator in 2009 then got a physical (PAL) copy shortly after, so it was pretty weird playing it with those clawfinger enemies in place of the grey children. I was stoked when I got a PS3 a couple of years ago and made a US account and was able to download the NTSC version and play what I feel is the definitive version of Silent Hill on my TV through a console rather than through the emulator on my PC.

The clawfingers are okay when they just appear in the sewers (i.e. used very sparingly) but they're too indistinct to be used as a grey children/nurse/lying figure type of enemy.
THAT'S HOW I FEEL, ANYWAY.

I felt the same way! When I first played and saw the teddy bear like creatures, I was far less scared, (though it made the whole, looks like they're humping your leg attack animation so much easier to accept aha).

I think the whole idea and concept of children attacking you as deformed creatures is far scarier, movies get away with far worse than pixelly grey blobs when they're beating the ghostly child/creature child trope, so I always found it ridiculous that Sh1 had been censored in that particular area. The age old argument of whether it's ok to kill children in video games is a tender subject, but nobody can deny that the whole concept of the grey children is so much more scarier.

Being from the British Isles I've never experienced the game with the Grey Children in it, so I can't really say how different it is without them. It's still probably my favourite game in the series though and easily the scariest, so I will say that their omission didn't adversely affect my enjoyment of it. To be honest it's not really the monsters themselves that provide the scares for me, it's the atmosphere, environments and sounds, along with the knowledge that there is something there that intends to do you harm.

Seconded, some of the best Silent Hill scares happen when there is nothing there at all.