Hijinx Studios
March 20, 2012 (Europe)
March 29, 2012 (Japan)
Silent Hill HD Collection is a port of Silent Hill 2 and Silent Hill 3 to the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 with 720p resolution at 30FPS, published by Konami. It includes the Born from a Wish scenario from Silent Hill 2.
It features an alternate voice dub, as well as PlayStation Network Trophies and Xbox 360 Achievements. Players have the option to switch between the original voice acting and the alternate voice acting for Silent Hill 2. For Silent Hill 3, the re-dub is mandatory (forced).
It is often criticized and cited to be one of the worst HD collections created, not only due to technical problems, but also due to artistic changes from the original presentation (listed below).
Development
Silent Hill HD Collection was first announced in Konami's 2011 Pre-E3 show. It was revealed that both games would be given new voice-overs. The collection was originally supposed to be a PlayStation 3 exclusive, but an Xbox 360 release was eventually announced.
Due to the age of both games involved, the only code available to be given to Hijinx Studios by Konami was an unfinished build of the final version. [1] This resulted in both versions of the HD Collection being hampered by severe technical issues.
Mary Elizabeth McGlynn was approached by Konami to direct the re-dub. The reason for the re-dub was due to Guy Cihi requesting residuals for the multiple ports and re-releases of Silent Hill 2 as he claimed that he owned the rights to James's voice and motion capture. [2] McGlynn, Troy Baker and Thessaly Lerner refuted this, stating that Guy did not own James's voice and motion capture and that his performance was always owned by Konami; this was the reason Konami never paid Guy for residuals. [3][4] No written contract between Guy and Konami was available.
In a letter to Konami, Guy stated that it was not about the money but rather "the thoughtless way that those involved in the production have been treated" such as not notifying him of any re-releases and hiding his contributions in "The Making of Silent Hill 2" video. Guy also called for Konami to allow the original voices and give fans the option to choose between the original dub and the re-dub. [5] Guy's close connection with fans of the series played a strong part in his decisions regarding these issues. Monica Taylor Horgan supported giving fans an option as well. [6]
In late September, Guy Cihi (James Sunderland), David Schaufele (Eddie Dombrowski), Monica Taylor Horgan (Maria/Mary) and Donna Burke (Angela Orosco, Claudia Wolf) signed a waiver, allowing Konami to re-use their voices in the HD Collection.
Initially planned for January 24th, 2012, the release was delayed to March 6th. [7] The game was delayed again to March 20th.
Artistic changes
Silent Hill 2
- Characters tend to use new words when starting sentences. This occurs most often with Laura.
- The distances on the sign at the beginning have been altered.
- The textures on the first aid kits and the medical cross posters have been changed.
- The street and sidewalks textures have been changed to look much cleaner. [8]
- During Eddie's rant in the Labyrinth, when he says, "It doesn't matter if you're smart, dumb, ugly, pretty...", the subtitles say "your" instead of "you're".[9]
- The video tape is now bordered by a TV screen rather than showing up full-screen, and the cutscenes are stretched horizontally to appear as widescreen.
Silent Hill 3
- Saving the game at a Halo of the Sun is fade-to-white instead of fade-to-red.
- All music has been reworked or changed entirely. It is most noted in the Otherworld mall; the ambient music has been changed to a punk rock type of beat.
- In the intro, a 3-second clip of Valtiel bending over to drag Heather Mason's corpse is changed to a 3-second clip of Heather turning on her flashlight.
- There are some script changes. Jeremy Blaustein approved of these changes. Despite these changes, the subtitles still read from the original script.
- Claudia says, "They've come to witness the Beginning. The rebirth of Paradise, unspoiled by mankind." She previously said "despoiled".
- The sewer fairy says, "I have finally found a truly honest person" rather than, "I have finally found a truly honest man."
- After Heather finds her father murdered, she finds Claudia and says, "I'll kill you, you bitch!'" rather than "I'll get you for this!".
- The scene in which Heather returns to her apartment to find her father dead has been changed so that Harry Mason's face is seen.
- This is likely unintentional and simply a result of both games lacking proper cutscene letterboxing, as some of the cutscenes of Silent Hill 2 show letterboxing appearing, disappearing and reappearing in some scenes whenever the camera angle changes. Most notable of this is the introduction of the Lying Figure monster. [10]
- Because of the lack of letterboxing, there is a quick one-second shot up Heather's skirt, where her vest is seen through.[11]
- In the original game, Cheryl Mason, Harry Mason and Lisa Garland's voices were extracted from the first game. They have been re-dubbed for the HD Collection.
- During the Leonard Wolf boss fight, both Heather and Leonard are able to sprint full speed in the water as if the water doesn't exist. [12]
- When Heather returns to Douglas Cartland after the final boss, his coat is noticeably much bloodier than in the original for unknown reasons.
- 14 of Heather's unlockable costumes that were present in the PS2 version were removed. [15]
Technical issues
Many problems of the technical issues reported included:
- Crashing and freezing.
- Severe frame rate drops.
- Lag upon receiving Trophies/Achievements.
- Graphical glitches.
- Sound loops.
- Audio glitches, even to the extent of dialog missing.[16]
- Reduced transparencies of fog, glass, shadows, etc.
- Fog appearing where there should be no fog.[17]
- Missing shadows, especially on characters.[18]
- The game being too dark, even with the in-game brightness maxed.
- Glitchy depth of field.[19]
- Blurry scenes where there should be no blur.[20]
- Non-blurry scenes where there should be blur.[21]
- The Lyne house not loading.[22]
- Extremely pixelated shadows.[23]
Some issues specific to the PlayStation 3 version upon launch were:
- Erratic walking speed, at worst rendering the game virtually unplayable.
- Game running before loading screens cleared (potentially allowing players to take unavoidable damage or miss the first bits of many cutscenes).
A day one patch was soon released for the PlayStation 3 version. Many players claimed that the patch made no difference.
Another patch was announced by Konami on April 25th, 2012. It was released for the PlayStation 3 on July 11th, 2012. It fixed a number of problems such as the frame rate and voice sync which were greatly improved. Missing sounds and music had also been fixed along with the fog density issues. Other minor visual/audio problems were also improved.
The Xbox 360 patch was canceled on August 8th, 2012, due to "technical issues and resources" which made any attempts at resolving the problems ineffective.
Reception
Both the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 versions of the game have received mixed reviews on Metacritic. The Xbox 360 version holds a 69 on Metacritic[24], and the PlayStation 3 version holds a 70. [25] IGN rated the collection 9/10.[26] However, both were met with negative reactions by fans, the PlayStation 3 version more so due to slightly more severe tech flaws.
Many fans questioned Konami's handling of the game to Hijinx Studios, whose only console games were Frogger Returns and Vandal Hearts: Flames of Judgment, and felt that the port was rushed and should not have been released in the state that it was.
The day one patch indicated that Konami and Hijinx Studios knew about the problems before release, thus causing an even larger fan backlash in various Silent Hill communities. Many fans felt it was unacceptable for games about a decade old.
Konami offered compensation for owners of the Xbox 360 version by offering many other games including the same game for the PlayStation 3 if they sent their copy and receipt for proof of purchase to Konami. [27] This offer, however, is only valid for purchases made in North and South America.
Cast
Character | ||
---|---|---|
Original | Alternate | |
James Sunderland | Guy Cihi | Troy Baker |
Maria / Mary | Monica Taylor Horgan | Mary Elizabeth McGlynn |
Angela Orosco | Donna Burke | Laura Bailey |
Eddie Dombrowski | David Schaufele | Liam O'Brien |
Laura | Jacquelyn Breckenridge | ? |
Ernest Baldwin | Ward E. Sexton | Travis Willingham |
Amy Baldwin | Florence Minowa | ? |
Doctor | Dennis Falt | Kirk Thornton |
Game Show Host | Dominic Allen | Kirk Thornton |
Character | ||
---|---|---|
Original | Alternate | |
Heather Mason | Heather Morris | Amanda Winn-Lee |
Douglas Cartland | Richard Grosse | Kirk Thornton |
Vincent Smith | Clifford Rippel | Yuri Lowenthal |
Claudia Wolf | Donna Burke | Laura Bailey |
Leonard Wolf | Matt Lagan | ? |
Confessor | Lenne Herdt | Mary Elizabeth McGlynn |
Lisa Garland | Thessaly Lerner | ? |
Harry Mason | Michael G | ? |
Cheryl Mason | Sandra Wane | ? |
Borley Mansion Guide | Mike Matheson | ? |
Trivia
- Many of the voice actors are from the Shin Megami Tensei: Persona series. These include:
- James — Kanji Tatsumi / Eikichi Mishina
- Mary / Maria — Noriko Kashiwagi / Naoto Shirogane (anime)
- Eddie — Akihiko Sanada
- Heather — Yukiko Amagi / Ulala Serizawa
- Douglas — Kinshiro Morooka
- Vincent — Yosuke Hanamura / Protagonist (P3) / Ryoji Mochizuki
- Angela / Claudia — Rise Kujikawa / Female Protagonist (P3P)
- Kirk Thornton, Laura Bailey and Yuri Lowenthal previously voiced Harry Mason, Dahlia Mason and John from Silent Hill: Shattered Memories.
- Despite all original voices being replaced in Silent Hill 3, when Heather is hit by the rollercoaster, her original scream can be heard, probably due to developer oversight.
External links
Gallery
Videos
Silent Hill games v · e · d | |
---|---|
Main series | Silent Hill · 2 · 3 · 4: The Room · Origins · Homecoming · Shattered Memories · Downpour · 2 (Bloober Team) · ƒ |
Ports / Adaptations | Play Novel · Mobile · HD Collection · Slot machine · Escape · Return |
Spin-offs | The Arcade · Orphan · Mobile 2 · Mobile 3 · The Escape · Book of Memories · Ascension · The Short Message · Townfall |
Crossovers | Dead by Daylight: Chapter XVI - Silent Hill · Dark Deception: Monsters & Mortals - Silent Hill |
Cancelled | Silent Hills (P.T.) · Cancelled projects |
Production | Konami · Team Silent · Climax Studios · Double Helix · Vatra Games · WayForward Technologies · TAKASAGO · Bloober Team · Annapurna Interactive · HexaDrive |
Extras | Inspirations · Features · Fonts · Horror Adventure |