I agree 1000% Best way to play is without a light on in the room.

omg if you played others b4 thats why you SHULD play this game or maybe SH series aint for you

my buddy says all i have to do to get the possesed ending is have 4000+ points at the end of the game, is this true or is it more complex than that?

Aren't you talking about SH3?

......yes

......because this topic's about the original.

Hm, I was sort of in your boat. After owning SH1 for about 3 years and never playing it after beating 2+3, I finally decided to, and beat it a couple days ago. Probably due to watching the Silent Hill movie...I just wanted to see the "canon" story of SH1, despite my misgivings for the PS1 graphics. I guess I can give you a small review (?) of my experience.

-The graphics didn't bother me, but I still play Ninja Gaiden and Zelda on the old NES. Turn off the lights, and SH1 can be just as scary as 2+3. More so if you like that nostalgic scary look. I know I do
-The lack of control over the camera view. In SH2 and 3, you can press a button that lets you look around the area, up, down, diagonal up, whatever. It's not yet implemented in SH1, and it sucks knowing one of those gargoyles are around, but being unable to LOOK UP. It's probably due to PS1 limitations though...what can you do?
-Harry sidesteps slowly during his walk....step, stop, step, stop, etc. He doesn't do it during the running side-step, but in general Harry's controls have a slight lag. I just took it as him being slightly less in shape than James and Heather.
-Though some things were spoiled for me from visiting various SH sites, there were still some surprises in there. In fact, I found out lots of what is said about SH1's story is speculation...I never saw it play out in the story for my first run through. You just might be surprised!
-This is just taste, but Harry is my least favorite protagonist of the series. I'm hesitant to say one-dimensional, but he's a pretty straightforward and normal guy.
-Go to gamefaqs for the Zodiac sign puzzle. It's so stupid...I mostly solved the rest of the puzzles without help though.
-The only time I died was from the refrigerator puzzle.
-Lisa is now one of my fav SH characters

Overall, I'm glad I played it, I don't regret it. Guess I should've just said that instead! SH4 is next...

silent hill 1 is not only the best sh game but the best game ever made so play it babe

SH1 to me had more.............vicious graphics (Ya know, the barbed wire looked nasty).

the old graphics and hard controls only made the game more scary an atmospheric to me is sheer class

The game has to be played purely for the experience. A few years after playing the first game, I just completed the second and was looking for a game to play through to keep me occupied. I dug out the original Silent Hill and I admit, I was reluctant to play it again because of the graphics and knowing the plot already. However, the graphics are really not that bad when you play, I was surprised myself, and the plot is always worth replaying for.

Actually, it had very good graphics for its time.

I'd recomend playing it just so you could have the experience of playing all the games, even if you do know the end. Plus i realy appreciated the updated graphics of the other games after playing it, maybe you can too.

Meh, you don't have to play it. It was an okay game for its time and all...but I'm sure you'll survive if you don't play it.

I still play and beat the old one atleast once a year. Its always fun.. I have yet to get the damnned green hyper blaster laser by getting 100 stars. Its hard. Exspecially when you don't know using next fear only weapons lowers your score.

Just the weird feeling you get while playing this game that you don't quite get with the others, is reason enough to own it.

I play it to laugh at how Harry Mason runs and also to have fun shooting Mumblers in the School.

If you really do like the series, it's worth playing. Plus, it's not that great playing SH 3 without playing the first. You won't get everything from just playing the third.

Also there are fantastic riddles. <3

yeah, you really should get this one. i think it's the scariest, and the best. the music is great for this game. really scary and industrial. this is definately the best one i believe, you -have- to get it. it's much darker and more intense than the others in my opinion.

Hey, SH1 has better voice acting than Resident Evil 1 on playstation. Hope that encouraged u to play it a bit more.