Silent Hill THE Game that started in all way back in 1999. Survival Horror had been around for a while but mainly of the Resident Evil type. Silent Hill asked the gamer to rely on his/her wits as running around just shooting the badguys for better weapons and health packs was not an option.

The tone and theme is very dark with the plot slow to build as it relies on the player to come up with the answers. Also included for a first were the multiple endings depending on what actions you took throughout the game!

Harry Mason's daughter Cheryl, has nagged her father to take her on vacation to Silent Hill-and as a dutiful father-he agrees.However,they hit car trouble and reach the outskirts of the town late at night. Cheryl is sleeping on the passenger seat as a motorcycle cop roars past their Jeep.

Moments later Harry spots the motorcycle discarded on the side of the road. There is no one to be seen. It paints an ominous picture, a shadow suddenly appears in front of the car. Harry turns the wheel in panic. The car slides off the edge of the road and into a gully.

Harry eventually regains consciousness. Cheryl is nowhere to be seen and it is unusually cold. Snow (?)is falling out of season. Where has Cheryl disappeared to? Harry walks slowly towards a town he sees in the distance....

Entering into Silent Hill was like entering into Harry's worse nightmare.....

Playing a Survival Horror game without any automatic weapon with loads of ammo lying around came as a surprise to most genre fans.However, this only enhanced the tension of the  gameplay as you really had to know when to fight and when to run! The dark, forboding,foggy atmosphere soon became to Silent Hill trademark we now all know and love.