Silent Hill: The Arcade
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| Silent Hill: The Arcade | |
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| Developer(s) | Konami |
| Publisher(s) | Konami |
| Platform(s) | Arcade |
| Release date |  August 2007 2008 |
| Genre(s) | Rail shooter |
| Mode(s) | Single player, multiplayer |
| Display | Horizontal |
Silent Hill: The Arcade is an arcade game based on the survival horror series Silent Hill. The Arcade was first revealed at the 2007 Japan Arcade Operator's Union trade show by Konami.[1][2] The game was eventually released in Japan in August 2007.
A rail shooter, as of November 2007 The Arcade is the only game in the Silent Hill series to deviate away from its traditional survival horror gameplay aside from Silent Hill: Play Novel for the Game Boy Advance.
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[edit] Plot
Silent Hill: The Arcade deals with two characters, Eric and Tina, who have entered the town of Silent Hill and must battle enemies which include Nurses and Pyramid Head.[3]
Taken from the official Japanese website for Silent Hill: The Arcade and translated by an unofficial fan:
"In the center of Silent Hill, the town's chief tourist attraction is supposed to be Toluca Lake. At the bottom of this beautifully clear lake there is one face. The ship crossing over the lake while from the lake's surface a countless number of hands reach up. Possibly, they are seeking their friends.
The year is November, 1918
The ship is associated with a sick girl who was traveling with her mother. The girl was sightseeing but the mother had other thoughts. Immediately following when the mother called the child's name the boats captain witnessed a tragic conclusion. The ship, the little baroness, never again returned. The crew and passengers, numbering in 14, met a horrible fate. There were no survivors or dead bodies found.
75 years later
Eric, Tina, and the other members of the college occult club headed down to a quiet sightseeing area know for its many stories. Particularly about the great many of dead bodies sleeping under the lake. Having a strong interest in the rumors took the weekend holiday and went to silent hill. And then the next morning Eric had a horrible nightmare. and after waking up the town is full of monsters. To make matters worse, Bill is wounded and both Emilie and Jesse disappear. Now, Eric and Tina have to find their friends, discover what is wrong in Silent Hill, and uncover the connection between Eric and the Baroness."[4]
[edit] Gameplay
The gameplay in Silent Hill: The Arcade is similar to the House of the Dead series in which players use light guns to aim and shoot at enemies. Unlike previous Silent Hill installments, The Arcade has a multiplayer element, where each player can choose to be either Eric or Tina.
Different items can be used throughout the game:
- Handgun
- Shotgun
- Rifle
- Health drink
- Medical pack
In Asia (Hong Kong, Japan, Singapore and Taiwan), a special E-Amusement Pass can be used, which includes Internet Ranking and allows the player to skip stages on where they had previously played.
[edit] Characters
Eric Lake: The main protagonist of the story. A quiet, inquisitive 21- year old college student currently studying the occult, he is a resident from Portland. As a child, he used to live in Silent Hill but moved. His parents died before him and currently resides with his aunt and uncle. His grandfather, the captain of the Little Baroness, disappeared on Toluca Lake and has taken an interest on investigating the rumors circulating around the area.
Tina Townshend: Another main protagonist of the story. An outgoing, optimistic character, she is also a college student from Portland. She takes an interest on becoming a teacher, therefore enrolled in the education club. A friend of Emily, she accompanies the gang to Silent Hill to see her. Due to her last name, it might be implied that she is a relative of Henry Townshend from Silent Hill 4.
Bill: A friend of Eric and Tina. At the beginning of the game he is wounded by monsters.
Jesse: Another friend of Eric and Tina that travels with them to Silent Hill. After the attack on Bill, she disappeared but Eric and Tina found her in the hospital, after a fight with Pyramid Head in the Otherworld.
Emily: A 9- year old girl who commutes back and forth to Midwich Elementary and is the daughter of the Historical Societies' chief librarian. A friend of Tina's, she sends her e-mails during computer class. She is seen throughout the gameplay running and surviving from ferocious attackers.
Hanna: Born in 1918, she is a sickly girl who seems to be resented by her own mother. As a result, she tragically dies in the accident that held on the Little Baroness. She is the final boss in the game wherein she is physically transformed as a creature with only a head and tentacles. After she is defeated, she turns back to her original form and is saved by Eric before she departs along with the Little Baroness in the good ending.
Other people with Eric and Tina are members of the school's occult club that came to Silent Hill with them. The day after they arrived, they went missing.
[edit] Monsters
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Please help improve this section by expanding it. Further information might be found on the talk page or at requests for expansion. |
Par for the course, most of these monsters now move in herds.
Hummer (unofficial name): A cross between the Moth Bats from Silent Hill 4: The Room and the Air Screamer from the original Silent Hill. These tiny pterodactyl-like monsters seem to swarm up out of the gaping chasms that periodically litter the town. As should be expected, they can be taken out by a single hit, and pose little threat.
Sniffer Dogs (unofficial name): A dog wrapped in bandages that looks similar to both the Sniffer Dogs from Silent Hill 4 and the Double-Head dogs from Silent Hill 3.
Tremor (unofficial name): The leech-like enemy from Silent Hill 4, they have been shown to cling to both the floor and ceiling indiscriminately, and can rain down from above onto Eric and Tina. Like the Screamer, they are not a particularly threatening enemy, likely causing serious trouble only when accompanied by groups of other, more volatile monsters.
Rubber Face: A common, vaguely humanoid (or at least apelike) enemy that first debuted Silent Hill 4. The design has been simplified for use in The Arcade, now distinctly man-shaped with gray skin and a speckling of darker marks not unlike the spots on a cheetah. Among other revisions in their appearance, they seem to now fight barehanded (in Silent Hill 4, they often employed pipes and golf clubs) and no longer seem to be malformed (as the Silent Hill 4 Rubber Face) or falling apart (the "new-type" Rubber Face). The official Japanese site currently describes this monster as an original creature, sharing some characteristics of its previous incarnation.
Nurse: A staple of the series, making appearances of one sort or another in almost all of the Silent Hill titles. The obscured head (and especially face) that has been a part of this creature since Silent Hill 2 returns again in a slightly different form, as their faces are bandaged up completely but they now have well-groomed shoulder-length hair. They seem to carry either an iron pipe or a pistol, and they move in odd, bounding strides, as if in some parody of a thief sneaking silently through the night.
Scraper: A hard-hitting, late-game enemy from Silent Hill 3. Themselves a smaller, less devastating version of the Missionary boss monster encountered midway through Heather's quest, these monsters resemble a man completely shielded from head to toe, with thick rubber gloves and vicious blades the length of a forearm. They are probably the least changed in appearance of the "common" enemies ported to The Arcade, their design neither simplified nor noticeably altered. The first time Eric and Tina encounter one of these monsters, it seems to be kidnapping Tina's friend Emille.
Robbie the Rabbit: An interesting addition to the lineup of enemies is Robbie the Rabbit, previously known only as the creepy mascot from the Lakeside Amusement Park. First appearing in Silent Hill 3, this creature was represented only as a costume, although examining them repeatedly would provoke the occasional unsettled comment from Heather ("Did that thing just move?"). In The Arcade, Robbie has become a monster, and now wields a variety of weapons, including an axe, a chainsaw, and, a most rarely, shotgun.
Other Creatures include cockroaches, corpses, large worms, etc.
[edit] Levels
This level list is from a walkthrough of the game: -Motel
-Hospital from SH1
-Historical Society Building
-Toluca Prison
-Underground graveyard, from SH2 before James fights Eddie
-The mall, from the first stage of SH3
-Subway, from the second stage of from SH3
-Amusement Park, from the next to last stage of SH3
-Other hospital from SH2
-The hole, in Henry's apartment in SH4
[edit] Criticism
Since the idea behind The Arcade is an action-packed shooter, there is obviously a different tone and pace than employed in previous Silent Hill games, and far less emphasis on psychological horror. This, as well as diminished graphics, a relatively-simplistic plot, and unusually bad voice acting, has disappointed many fans. Whereas previous titles in the series have used highly relevant, individualized, symbolic monsters, The Arcade has opted to recycle creatures witnessed by other protagonists, which takes away some of the sense that the town of Silent Hill responds to its visitors -- although it could also be argued that the monsters retain their original symbolism, and are being witnessed by Eric and Tina the same way that James was able to see Angela's manifestation, or Harry's version of Silent Hill was entirely populated by monsters born of Alessa's emotions: it's not impossible that anyone else would ever see Pyramid Head.
Still, Harry's Silent Hill was otherwise empty because he lacked psychological issues of his own, and James saw numerous other monsters more representational of his personal darkness; Eric, with his connection to the Baroness, should almost certainly be seeing something more unique.
Because of these seeming disconnects with previous titles, it's been suggested that The Arcade could be considered more of a spin-off than a sequel in the Silent Hill series.
[edit] Connection and continuity
The Baroness was first mentioned in Silent Hill 2, in a newspaper found in Toluca Prison.
Pyramid Head apparently killed himself at the end of Silent Hill 2, and it seemed implied that, as a plot device, he was only a representation of James Sunderland's guilt. The fact that Pyramid Head appears in The Arcade is unexplained. Nothing has been explained about this reappearance or his connection with the plot. His visage is still that of an executioner. However, some may believe that the events of The Arcade is set within the same time frame as of Silent Hill 2, hence explains the reason why Pyramid Head was present. Also, it could be possible that since Pyramid Head is fixed as the symbol of punishment, he could be a representation of someone else's guilt, not the main characters'.
It is unknown if Tina Townshend is in anyway related to Henry Townshend of Silent Hill 4 though it may be meant as a link, similar to Henry's apartment superintendent Frank Sunderland who is believed to be James Sunderland's father.
[edit] News
Although unconfirmed, various unnamed individuals from Konami have stated that a port of this game to the Wii console in 2010 is in the works.
[edit] References
- ^ Kotaku Next Silent Hill Coming To... Arcades? February 16, 2007
- ^ Konami Expo 2007 February 16, 2007
- ^ Siliconera More on the Silent Hill Arcade game February 16, 2007
- ^ サイレントヒル・アーケード Official WebSite
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