Resident Evil vs. Silent Hill: Horror Series Showdown

In recognition of All Hallows' Eve, two of the most storied horror will battle to the death with one another in a last-man-standing Halloween slugfest.

In an attempt to determine the Greatest Horror franchise ever put to disc, Games.net, will pit various aspects of the Resident Evil against the Silent Hill series. And then, through various means known only by the darkest, most evil gaming journalists (Aaron Koehn), Games.net will record the results and surrender them to you, the malevolent gaming enthusiast, for your wicked amusement.

[Feihc Retsam]

These games are very much different game types.
Silent hill is paimarily puzzle based, and Resident Evil has a strong focus on the RPG elements as well as the combat.
Yeah, they both scare you, but they are certainly not head to head rivals.

[nanometric]

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[monkey602]

Resident Evil and Silent Hill always were and always will be compared its just like nearly every FPS made compared to Halo it just happens even though it shouldntand there isnt a damn thing you can do about it. Oh and I love both of these games but Resi is by far my favourite

[n4iru]

There's not much horror or much of a scare in any of the RE games.
Sure it's got the intense feeling when zombies attack you, and you gotta shoot their brains to neverland, but that's action, not horror.

Anyone that thinks RE is scary should just stop playing games.
It's a great action game and survival game, but scary/horror? No.

If that game would be real I could outwalk those zombies anyhow.
Urgh.

[monkey602]

Ah there are a couple of parts to Resi that made me jump back in the day. Zombies jumping out of wardrobes, Lickers falling through skylights or the dogs smashing through the windows in the first half our of the original resi game, I was a kid when I first played these and they gave me nightmares but I loved the game so much I played through anyway

[gololo]

my first RE that I played was the 2nd one and I was younger and I gotta say it was pretty scary as monkey602 said...also it introduced me to the horror/survival genre...and after that I played every silent hill and re...and came to the conclusion that they are very different games, but silent hill takes the top on being psychedelic and scary, RE has become more survival/action-like game

[monkey602]

There is one thing I can tell you about both games for sure.. and that is that I will be getting both of the new ones when they finally release next year.

[hahahabutt]

R.E was the originator for the PS1. I still remember when the dogs poped out from the windows in the hallway. Scared the heck out of me..lol But Silenthill always had the disturbing scary way. So i have to say Silent Hill.

[Skerj]

Um Silent Hill wins this by a long shot, it shouldn't even be contested. After the First RE/REmake the series took on a more action feel. Sure there were some things that gave you cheap jump thrills like Mr. X jumping through the wall or the way Nemesis followed you through areas if you didn't in fact take him out, or those invisible asshat bugs in RE4. None of that though compares to the Alternate versions of everything in all 4 Silent Hill games.

That freaking school from SH1, Pyramid Head chasing you in SH2, EVERYTHING in SH3, and those damned ghosts in SH4 you can't kill until you get the swords. The thing that makes Silent Hill so foreboding is that usually you're not allowed to see clearly more than a 15ft radius around you, and it's either pitch black or foggy. Those shapes in the distance might be a double head or it might just be your imagination. Now pit Silent Hill against something that was actually meant to be scary like Fatal Frame or Echo Night for a good debate.

[ceedubya9]

The RE series always seems to have you on edge, just waiting for something to pop out at you. It always seemed to be more for the shock factor than anything else. Silent Hill's scares weren't so jumpy, but the game is freaking creepy. It plays with your head. I agree with skerj, the Resident Evil series has taken on more of an action feel. But either way, both have their place in this genre and have defined it over the years. Can't wait for RE5 and SH5.

[KidMakeshift]

I think Resident Evil is the most enjoyable since it has better pacing than the other two. The Resident Evil 1 remake for the Gamecube is in my top 10 favorite games.

[DeckUKold]

Resident Evil is greatness if a game can make me turn on every lights in the house and run out my room like fatal frame then thats a great game silent hill was... a lil generic got that generic feeling

EDIT I loved the silent hill movie hated absolutely HATED RE movies