Game reception and rating: Silent hill

Silent Hill received mainly positive reviews, gaining an 86/100 and 84.03 per cent aggregate at ratings sites Metacritic and GameRankings, respectively.[64][65] The game sold over two million copies,[30] which gained Silent Hill a place in the American PlayStation Greatest Hits budget releases.[66]

Silent Hill has been compared to the Resident Evil series of survival horror video games. Bobba Fatt of GamePro labeled Silent Hill a "shameless but slick Resident Evil clone".[6] Others felt that Silent Hill was Konami's answer to the Resident Evil series[7] in that, while they noted a similarity, Silent Hill utilized a different form of horror to induce fear, attempting to form a disturbing atmosphere for the player, in contrast to the visceral scares and action-oriented approach of Resident Evil.[5] Adding to the atmosphere was the audio, which was well-received; Billy Matjiunis of TVG described the ambient music as "engrossing";[67] a reviewer for Game Revolution also praised the audio, commenting that the sound and music "will set you on edge".[5] Less well-received was the voice acting which, although some reviewers remarked it was better than that found in the Resident Evil series,[6] was found poor overall by reviewers, and accompanied by pauses between lines that served to spoil the atmosphere.[6][5]

Reviewers noted that Silent Hill used real-time 3D environments, in contrast to the pre-rendered environments found in Resident Evil. Fog and darkness were heavily used to disguise the limitations of the hardware.[4][6] Along with the grainy textures—also from hardware limitations[4][7]—most reviewers felt that these factors actually worked in the game's favor; Francesca Reyes of IGN described it as "adding to the atmosphere of dilapidation and decay".[7] In using 3D environments, however, controls became an issue, and in "tougher" areas, maneuverability became "an exercise in frustration".[7]

The game's popularity as the first in the series was further recognized long after its release; a list of the best PS games of all time by IGN in 2000 listed it as the 14th-best PS game,[68] while a 2005 article by GameSpy detailing the best PS games listed Silent Hill as the 15th-best game produced for the console.[40] In 2005 the game was credited for moving the survival horror genre away from B movie horror elements to the psychological style seen in art house or Japanese horror films,[69] due to the game's emphasis on a disturbing atmosphere rather than visceral horror.[5]