Which PS1 survival horror game?

[mluitjens1031]

I want to get one of the PS1 survival horror games, but don't know which one to get. The 3 I'm looking into are Resident Evil, Silent Hill, and Tomb Raider. Which one is the best? I'm looking for one with more of a "scary" element.

[noiseredux]

since Tomb Raider is in no way a Survival Horror game, I'd say go with RE or SH.

[Opa Opa]

Resident Evil uses jump-scares which only work once yet are still effective enough to scare you. It is action-packed with plenty of zombies and other creatures to kill. You have a nice array of weapons that allow you to take out those loathsome zombies once and for all...just don't run out of ammo. Also, it has terrible voice acting but that is just part of its charm.

Silent Hill uses more psychological horror to disturb you. SH is filled with a lot of symbolism and is more deep than RE. All of the monsters symbolize something (trying not to give away spoilers here). Unlike Resident Evil, you have a variety of melee weapons to use against the monsters which conserves ammo. This is important because ammo is scarce; especially for the more powerful firearms. And the voice acting is very, very good for the time. Seriously.

Preferably you'd play both but since you are looking for the more "scary" title I'd say go for Silent Hill.

[brunoafh]

Silent Hill is the best one and the one I'd suggest.

Resident Evil 1 or 2 are the most prolific.

You're more or less obligated to experience both RE1 and Silent Hill if you want to truly get a taste of PS1 survival horror.

[Xeogred]

I kind of just made a topic about this myself here recently, check it out:
http://www.racketboy.com/forum/viewtopi ... 26&t=28662

Haven't played Silent Hill myself, but it often comes highly recommended. No idea what made you think of Tomb Raider here though! I'd highly recommend the RE games, even though I agree with Opa Opa that the "jump-scares" don't do much for some people like myself, but they've still got a great atmosphere to them and fun gameplay. If you like it, the Dino Crisis games are good too, along with Parasite Eve and Fear Effect.

[eskil]

Silent Hill, man!

[Czernobog]

SILENT HILL

[littlecallen]

We can rule Tomb Raider out right now, seeing as it is in no way a survival horror game and the control scheme is just frustrating (this is why we were given Anniversary). Silent Hill is a very good game but is structured more around putting 2 and 2 together to make fish, whereas Resident Evil goes out of it's way to throw the random occurances at you just to scare the hell out of you. They both are very good games but if I had to take my pick it would have to be Resident Evil, simply for the pure "OH MY GAD WHERE DID THAT COME FROM AND I JUST SHATNERED MYSELF" element.

[Opa Opa]

Here are some game trailers. Sorry, no Tomb Raider.

Resident Evil Director's Cut Trailer-The best trailer I could find.
Silent Hill E3 Trailer 1998

[CFFJR]

I know you've been told otherwise now, so that's fine, but I'm wondering where on earth you got the idea that Tomb Raider was survival horror? Is it the name?

Anyway, Opa Opa's description is spot on, and as others have said, I agree that you should probably play both. All told, they actually are pretty different games.

I'm trying to rectify this now and give the games another chance, but just for the sake of example, I never liked Resident Evil, but I love Silent Hill, and the original is one of my favorite games.

RE will scare the hell out of you with surprises meant to stop you from feeling safe. SH is scalp crawlingly, spine tinglingly creepy, to the point of being downright disturbing at times. What kind of fright sounds the most fun to you?