Konami is bound and determined to own March with a slew of Silent Hill releases. The series has had a strong presence in media since the first game released on the original PlayStation. The success of the original game resulted in multiple sequels spanning many consoles and multiple video game generations, to other media such as a feature film, which is widely considered the best movie based on a video game to date.

In my long-winded editorial about how 2012 is going to be the year of Resident Evil, I realized that 2012 is also going to be a significant year for the other top survival-horror franchise, Silent Hill. However, Silent Hill’s presence in 2012 isn’t going to be spread out like Resident Evil, but rather focused into the single month of March. As a major fan of the genre, there was no way I could touch on one series and not the other. So, here we are! Beware the Ides of March…Silent Hill is coming.

March 6th – Silent Hill HD Collection (PlayStation 3/Xbox 360)

Every week in March is going to be marked by a release of a Silent Hill game. I’m pretty sure this is an unprecedented feat in gaming. Kicking off Silent Hill’s dominance of March is the HD Collection. For a discounted price, gamers will be able to play two of the best games in the series, Silent Hill 2 and Silent Hill 3, both from the sixth generation.

Silent Hill 2 is my favorite game in the series. While the first Silent Hill is pretty good, Silent Hill 2 blew it out of the water. It totally redefined survival-horror and remains one of the best horror games to this day. Silent Hill 2 is absolutely a must-play title, especially for fans of the genre. The game packs the psychological scares, the gorgeous visuals, and the genuinely entertaining gameplay mechanics that all work together to create an awesome of marriage and near gaming perfection. Better yet, Silent Hill 2 is coming with the obvious upgrade of visuals as well as achievements/trophy support!

Honestly, the inclusion of Silent Hill 2 makes this purchase worth it already. However, Silent Hill 3 is just going to make the deal even sweeter. Personally, I have never had the chance to play Silent Hill 3, and it’s one of the biggest gaming regrets I have. I’ve played virtually every other game in the series except for the third game. I hope to rectify this issue when Silent Hill 3 releases alongside the legendary Silent Hill 2 in this very promising HD Collection from Konami on March 6th.

Obviously, I’m very excited to get the chance to play Silent Hill 3 finally. I’ve done research on the game in anticipation of this release, and I have to say, it sounds absolutely amazing. It’s often heralded in reviews as being the scariest entry in the franchise, and there’s also a very unique feature that sounds incredibly intriguing. In Silent Hill 3, gamers can set the difficulty of the combat and the puzzles at different areas, meaning those that prefer the puzzle side of survival-horror games can be challenged with intense brain teasers, while those craving an action-packed experience can play the game without getting stumped. This gameplay convention really is brilliant, and I’m surprised Capcom hasn’t adopted something similar for its Resident Evil series. The newer Resident Evil games are polarizing fans for focusing on too much action, but returning to the series’ puzzle roots would alienate the newer, more action-oriented players. Being able to customize the difficult in the game like you can in Silent Hill 3 seems to be a truly brilliant solution.

But what do I know? Perhaps Silent Hill 3 didn’t pull it off, but I suppose I’ll be able to judge for myself when the HD Collection drops in a little over a month!

March 13th – Silent Hill: Downpour (PlayStation 3/Xbox 360)
Silent Hill: Downpour is the first main entry in the series since the lackluster Silent Hill: Homecoming. Downpour is hoping to inject the survival-horror genre with a much-needed dose of adrenaline, but whether or not it will be able to pull it off remains to be seen. From what I’ve seen of the game and what I’ve read about it, Silent Hill: Downpour definitely has the potential to get the series going in the right direction again.

Trading the action-oriented approach of Homecoming for a more classic approach to gameplay, Downpour will use fixed-camera angles. Fixed-camera angles were featured in all the old survival-horror games, but have slowly been done away with. Honestly, while fixed-camera angles may seem like an archaic step backward, they are a big reason of how survival-horror games were so scary back in the day. It’s a device used by filmmakers all the time to create tension–fear of the unknown. It’s terrifying to be playing a survival-horror game like Silent Hill and not being able to manipulate the camera in order to see around a corner. You have no idea if there is something waiting around the corner to attack and kill you, and that’s what’s scary. Just having monsters pop out is not enough to create fear. Sometimes walking through an empty, quiet hallway is scarier than being attacked by a disfigured monster.

Furthermore, Downpour is looking to freshen the series up as well. Instead of recycling overused environments that the games have routinely abused over the years such as the hospital and the school, Downpour is purposely avoiding those areas entirely. In fact, the game takes place in the southeastern region of Silent Hill, which has never been featured in any game before it. Players won’t be exploring a spooky school or a creepy hospital, but hopefully this will open the door for brand new environments that capture our imaginations and scare us silly.

A new protagonist, Murphy Pendleton, will be the hero in this game. An escaped prison convict, Murphy winds up in Silent Hill, and as the title suggests, when it rains, it pours. As Murphy explores the town and tries to figure out just what the hell is going on, a constant rainstorm plagues his adventure. Water is supposedly a central element in the game, which to me seems like Konami is continuing the series tradition of focusing on psychological horror stories.

March 27th – Silent Hill: Book of Memories (PlayStation Vita)
Ahh. Now it’s time to get to the stinker. In my Resident Evil editorial, I singled out Operation Raccoon City as the game that will most likely be disappointing. Nothing from Capcom or Slant Six has indicated to me that the game is truly going to be different than the other FPS games in the series, and that it will actually be good. Silent Hill: Book of Memories is to this editorial as Operation Raccoon City was to the Resident Evil editorial.

Book of Memories is far more likely to flop, though, than Operation Raccoon City, I believe. I talked about how Slant Six was an unproven developing team, but the team behind Book of Memories, WayForward Technologies, is even more unproven. They are mostly known for producing shovelware, with the occasional noteworthy game here and there, and nothing in their catalog of produced games shows that they have experience in the survival-horror genre. At least Slant Six has experience making squad-based shooters, albeit bad ones.

It’s going to be exclusive to the PlayStation Vita, which I suppose is a plus for Sony fanatics, but instead of capitalizing on the series pedigree with a true survival-horror outing, Book of Memories is an isometric action game, with co-op play. The game’s storyline isn’t canon, but features characters from the other games. To me, it sounds like the worst kind of spin-off. The dorky kind that pretty much spits on what makes the parent series popular, and might as well be a different game entirely. In fact, I’m almost certain that Book of Memories started development as another game, and then just had the Silent Hill licensed slapped on it at the last minute as a marketing ploy.

Honestly, it’s not even a survival-horror game, and doesn’t even attempt to be. The game is an action game, not a survival-horror game, and it doesn’t even look like it will retain elements of the genre. While classic RE fans like to hate on Resident Evil 4 and 5 for taking the more action-oriented route, at least Resident Evil 4 and 5 still retain survival-horror elements. Book of Memories has yet to be released, so while I can’t give it a final judgement, I’d have to say that even diehard Silent Hill fans will walk away from that one utterly dejected and disappointed.

TBA 2012 – Silent Hill: Revelation 3D (Feature Film)
No, it’s not coming out in March, but I think it’s still worth mentioning that Silent Hill’s presence in 2012 isn’t going to stop on March 27th. Just like Resident Evil, a new Silent Hill movie is set to release in 2012. It’s being shot in 3D, and if it’s anything like the last film, expect a rarity: a QUALITY video game movie!

Fans of the survival-horror genre have a lot of reasons to be excited this year. From the Resident Evil 6 reveal to the new Silent Hill entries, 2012 is the year for survival-horror enthusiasts.