Your very first time (no, not THAT!) playing Resident Evil and Silent Hill

If you were like me, the first times I layed my eyes on these two games and play 'em, I was blown away.

RE1 was a great discovery to me. It was the first real horror survival game I saw, and it came back in 1996 when I was visiting my Sacramento friends. We had been a close group of friends, going way back to 1987. We grew up together playing NES, SNES, Genesis and arcade games. So when the 32-bit era hit, not only was there a transition in the industry but also in our relationship, as people in the group began going their seperate ways.

Anyhow -- it was about 10 at night when they showed me Resident Evil. I just went !

When I played it, I remember being awed and spooked like no game before. This truly was a revolution in my eyes. I couldn't believe games have progressed this quickly.

A year or so later, at the very same house, in the same room, they introduced me to Silent Hill. It wasn't quite as revolutionary as RE1 obviously, but I actually consider it much, much more creepy and plain out spooky. The foggy night, the weird looking garage allys... the school... the alternate worlds... damn. We were playing it at night with the lights turned out; it was definitely one of the most atmospheric gaming experiences of my life.

Those are my memories on the first time I played RE1 and Silent Hill. Would like to hear yours as well, positive or negative.

I remember when I got RE, it was the first day it came out.

I walked into Software Etc. and they had a video of it playing at the front desk. Second I saw that game, I knew where my money was going that day. The guy who sold it to me told me to make sure I shut off the lights, and play the game at night. I had no idea how creepy this game could be, its only a game, right?

The opening was cool as hell, and it really put you in that horror movie atmosphere. Same when you see the first zombie munching on that guys head, freaky stuff. But up until then nothing really made me jump, until the dogs bust through the windows down that long and silent hall. I'll admit, it caught me off guard, and I jumped in my seat a little.

First game I played that actually made me fear for the character I was playing as, when a Hunter was chasing me and I had no ammo, I ran like it was my own life at stake. Its a great game, one that I will always remember.

I agree completely. At the moment I'm playing through RE on NGC (which was released yesterday in Germany, UNCUT - Yeah Baby!). The athmosphere is just out of this world. I played it with a friend, and everytime there was an outside passage we were offering the controller to each other 'cause we were so fucking scared ('No dude, it's your turn' - 'Go away! I have a beer in my hands!'). And all this although I've played thru all previous parts (SH1, too).
I especially like the light and shadow effects in RE.
I wonder when they will have to write in the manual that persons with heart problems should not play this sucker... <img src="graemlins/envy.gif" border="0" alt="[Envy]" />

first re i played was re2. i hadn't played it before and figured, i'd be okay. well i wasn't. i was scared shitless. the licker that pops through the two way mirror, in the police station freaked me out. i could barely play through it without turining it off. but i beat it. and i moved onto re3 (best damn re ever) then code veronica and then survivor. i got the first one on gc only. never for the psx, and now that i played the psx version i'm glad i never got it.

Gotta love those load times of the door opening, very frustrating (even WORSE on the Saturn port).

I really enjoyed the first Biohazard when it it first came out, but I lost interest in it about two-thirds in. Silent Hill on the otherhand, struck me as a masterpiece. The finest in psycological disturbance and ambiance. It grabbed me by the balls and yanked hard, and to this day is on my top 10 greatest of all time (to date).

The only RE I've played was RE: Code Veronica and I was bored pretty fast with it. It's supposed to be a horror game but I felt pity for the zombies.

Silent Hill (PS1), however, got my attention and made me stand up all night to finish it when I first rent it. The atmosphere that Konami has created was great and you truly had the feeling of not being there (and I wasn't on something, believe me ).

I don't really like RE because, although it's a good game, doesn't lives up to terror (shooting zombies isn't terrifying to me, at least). But Silent Hill combines more element of surprises and is more a thinking game than you think at first glance.

I'm totally with Verbatum.
Silent Hill is just a Master Piece. I have no words to explain the feelings I experienced when I played the game for the first time. I had no other thing in my head apart from that disturbing world for more than a month.
Biohazard is a great game too and I have all of them, but I prefer Silent Hill without a doubt.

BTW, what do you think about the new "Tortured Souls 2" collection, Verbatum? This time Clive Barker and has gone totally mad!
Lots of Talisac influence in the new figures.

first time i played re i was like "dude wtf. why the hell do you control like micro machines? and why the hell arent you supposed to shoot/kill the zomibes?"

i only really liked re code veronia. the control still blows. but atleast you werent so damn short on ammo all the time

never played silent hill yet, but after reading this i want to

I thought Resident Evil was not very impressive when it first came out.

I didn't finish it and sold to Funcoland

Until I have GC remake version......I love it!

Silent Hill is an awesome game. The crippy music, foggy environment.....I was so scare when I play this game at night <img src="graemlins/eye.gif" border="0" alt="[Eye]" />

I thought Resident Evil kicked ass. I hadn't played anything like it before. I was blown away when it first came out. I just recently played Silent Hill for the first time. Thanks to Verbatum, I scored this game a couple weeks ago and am in love with it. I can't wait to finish it.. it's truly a disturbing game.

Kudos to Steve for making cool topics to discuss about. Nowadays it's stupid shit like "which system is better" or whatever dumbass shit happens to be floating about. Keep 'em coming

by the time i got a PSX, resident evil has been out for almost a year. I picked up the 'director's cut' edition. i had read a lot of stuff in magazines prior to playing it and i loved it. Being able to take off a zombie's head with a shotgun was the dam, coolest thing ever. like k9999, the game sucked you in so much, that you actually CARED if your character died.(mainly because you had to do some serious backtracking if you did...). facing a boss with a little to no ammo, no herbs/aid spray, on 'caution!' health, really did get the adrenaline going.

but RE2 was my favourite. bought it on the day it come out, and played it almost non-stop till i finished it. the opening CG movies were the best on the PSX to date, and the amount of fucked up things in this game is awesome, like when you fight that dude on the tram, and his head goes into his body, and another pops out, that was so goddamn cool. and the fucking' hands through windoes at the police station made me jump outta my skin.

...sadly though, i think RE has gone really downhill recently.

the AWFUL 'gun survivor' craptacular, the constant porting of 2,3, and Code Veronica, Code Veronica 'X', Code Veronica Complate, (can anyone say 'street fighter?') the AWFUL again 'gun survivor 2' (GOD HAVE MERCY!) , the film, the Remakes....

the only thing scary about Resident Evil franchise is what cash-in they will do next!

To be honest, I never really got into Resident Evil. I rented it when it first came out, and didn't like the stationary environments. IMO, it was a complete rip-off af 'Alone In The Dark', a PC game that came out many years before, and was fun for a while. Seriously, if you want to see where they got most of the ideas for Resedent Evil, go find someone with the original Alone In The Dark for PC.