I just got finished reading reviews of Silent Hill 1, 2, and 4 at some Christian site.

I don't even really recall how I found this site, but from the moment I started reading, I had to stiff back some laughter. If you've ever played Silent Hill and even gotten a lick of understanding of the gameplay, then you know the city has played host to a few occults and whatnot, probably making the city as screwed up as it is.

I read the review of Silent Hill first.

"Some of the most blatant Satanic references that I’ve seen include crayon drawings of the crucifixion hanging on the walls of an elementary school, a crucified man inside a fishing boat, upside down crosses, and occult symbols on the TV screens of the shopping center. There is a horrifying number of occult symbols used to solve puzzles in the game. Plus "the mark of Samael," an important plot point, is shown over 100 times throughout the course of "Silent Hill."

Okay, so yes, I've seen this things in the game. Didn't really upset me though. And do you know why? BECAUSE I AM NOT AN OVER THE TOP CHRISTIAN REVIEWING A GAME ABOUT CULTS AND DEVIL WORSHIPPING!!! Why, if you knew what the game was going to be about, would you play it and much less review it? The town is evil...it states this on the game case before you even get that annoying tape off the sides. How do you THINK it got evil? Bunnies? Marilyn Manson albums? You're the Christian...where does all evil spawn from?

The review continues (along with my laughter) and at some point, they try and turn around the whole concept and make it for good.

"I encourage strong Christians to play this game with a prayerful attitude, but ONLY if it is used as a witnessing tool, or as a learning tool. DO NOT under ANY circumstances play it as "just for fun". Use it for good."

Okay, witnessing tool? So the game you just said was the most evil thing on earth, I should play it again, pick out all the Christian factors, and then try to convince my friends that God is good and when you worship Satan your town will turn into a Silent Hill like hell?

And remember to not use play this game for fun...cause God knows video games are for converting people to Christians and NOT fun. What was Konami thinking?! Hey, and they need to stop with that Dance Dance Revolution too...that's just too overly fun! God will strike down on the person who dares to have fun!

And on to Silent Hill 2, which did a little better since James was a member of the church (well, so I've heard).

The review is normal, mentioning that all the occult refrences have been taken out and replaced with innocent children's fairy tales. And then, near the end, you read this:

"For those of us who have already made the mistake of playing it though, I would say this: this round gives a very good glimpse into the heart and soul of mankind. In this game it is very clear that James’ own sin brought about the horrible nightmare that he was sucked into. It shows us the horror that some people experience only in their own mind, and the futility of lying to yourself and bottling up your sins inside you. It shows us what is bad, but lacks a clear display of what is good. In a way the message is waiting to be completed by you. Christ is the one thing that was missing. In reality only He can release you from your nightmare. (John 8:34-36)"

He read WAYYY too deeply into something that was simply meant to be exciting and suspenseful (eh, to a certain degree anyway) follow up to the first one. Not something to be examined and most of all ridiculed by Christians who, in theory, are supposed to stay away from this kind of stuff anyway. And what makes it so bad, is that it the SAME GUY who reviewed the first one. The same one who was so horrified by the first SH, he had to come back and review the second one!

Thank you Mr. Sir for putting your Christian values on the back burner for 10 hours to bring us the horrors of this game so that we may not make the choice of exposing ourself to such insanly sinful things, as you have for us.

I searched and searched but did not find any reviews for Silent Hill 3 on this site. Most likey because of the whole thing of having to kill god at the end (notice...not God, but god)

So, that brings us to Silent Hill 4: The Room, this time reviewed by another person.

No talks of Christian values and ways of living being threatened here, and I really found nothing too interesting to quote from him. But, he did talk of the basic annoyances with this game like not being able to carry a whole lot on your trips to the alternate universe and the fact that you have to come back to room every so often and get things. And in my case, very important things like keys I had decided to store not realizing that two feet ahead I'd need it. Which means finding a hole, jumping back into it, going to the storage chest, sifting through all the items you have (some of which I found useless but didn't have the heart to get rid of, until, of course it broke). But, this dude did have the balls to insult the game's originality and graphics as if he were a REAL gamer or something.

Although I'll admit that SH3 was a little out there with the whole "killing god" thing, the franchise is one of the most well thought out and put together ones out there and you can't deny that. I don't think the game was designed to offend people or make people rethink who they should worship or any of the such. It's simply entertainment and should be looked at as nothing more, nothing less. And if you truly are one of those people who are strongly influenced by such things, then your probably not even getting video games or a TV in the happy house you are probably residing in.

I always said Christians and video games weren't a good mix. Just like Chirstians and wrestling, and I can't think of a better example to prove this than these reviews. While there are good games out there that Christains can certainly play and not feel guilty, as deeply as Silent Hill was read into, they could even find something wrong with something like Sly Cooper...which they actually did. To end this long ranting of my teenage mind, I'll say this: "Silent Hill is an aquired taste, and if you are a Christian, keep it out of your mouth all together"