There are some things so frightening that you wouldn’t want to wish them on your worst enemy. Moments like getting all the way home from the pub to discover that your wallet has fallen out of your pocket, or logging onto your work PC to discover a fatal error message when you know full well you haven’t backed up your files for at least a month. Now, imagine freezing yourself at the moment of peak fear, bottling that feeling and coding it into a video game. Chances are that the end result would look something similar to Silent Hill 3.

Yup, it’s time again for Konami to scare us half to death with their psychological terror series, and as the second game was much more frightening that the first, so the third episode expands on the themes and imagery of its predecessor to create an utterly horrifying set of locations which you will have no option but to put yourself through. It’s yet another fantastic test for the senses, with some areas looking and sounding so dreadful that you’ll hope deep down that you can run through and out the other side as quickly as possible.

Whilst out shopping at the local shopping centre (I still can’t quite bring myself to use the word ‘mall’ yet), 17-year-old Heather dozes off in a café and has a horrific dream where she is forced to battle a number of twisted apparitions at a nightmarish theme park. Upon awakening, she finds what was a bustling precinct empty, rusted and bloodstained. From here the player controls Heather as she sets out to discover what’s happening to her, and who’s doing it.

Control of Heather is pretty much identical to the framework that Silent Hill 2 laid down, with the player guiding her through the game world and using a variety of weapons to see off monsters that come her way. These monsters are as twisted and depraved as ever; horrific dogs which have their heads split in two, hugely overweight ‘humans’ who deflate upon defeat and some freakishly tall things on stilts with huge inflated arms will all lurch towards Heather at some point, and a whole cast of other enemies are waiting to stop her in her path.

Thankfully, the game presents you with a number of effective weapons that you can use to give you the advantage. Ranging from the simple pistol to a fully automatic submachine gun or even a rather brutal katana, there’s plenty to use against the monsters. This time there seems to be a bit more ammo scattered about than the previous game offered, but nonetheless you can’t go in all guns blazing and expect to make it through the whole game with a full clip of ammo ready to hand.

That’s not to say that Konami haven’t tried to introduce a few new ideas to combat, though. The first of these is a stun gun which will briefly incapacitate your enemies if used correctly, making it easy to pop a few rounds of lead into them or hack at them with your blade. The other technique which Heather can use is to ambush certain types of enemy by laying down trails of beef jerky and then lashing out at them when they get within reach, or are distracted. Whilst the former of these tactics does actually help you progress after a bit of practice, the latter isn’t really ever necessary and you’ll end up with a large stash of surplus jerky hanging around your pockets, something which for me brought back haunting memories of a misguided attempt to take 6 Pepperamis into school one day.

Moving swiftly away from that, the most pleasing thing about Silent Hill 3 is that it manages to balance the puzzle and action elements well, keeping the player thinking but making sure that they are always on their toes and ready for a scrap. The puzzles themselves include arranging books in certain order based upon a Shakespearian riddle and checking various stretchers in a Crematorium do get a door code, with each being more or less complex depending upon which level of difficulty the player chooses at the start.

The story itself is as complex and far-fetched as anything the series has done to date, and whilst I would love to explain some of the fantastic twists and turns which happen, I would hate to spoil it for you folks so I’ll keep schtum. There’ll be times when you are literally wincing at your screen as the plot unfolds, and the selection of strange characters that you come across all benefit greatly from some superb voice acting.

Alongside this is a fantastic soundtrack, with some creepily atmospheric tunes accompanying your exploration. As with the previous game the developers have chosen to use silence as a powerful tool to instil fear in the player, with some awkward periods of hush leaving you wondering what the next turn of a corner has in store for you.

Visually, the game throws the graining filter back on proceedings, giving Heather’s surroundings a dulled, dirty appearance. Blood and rust literally crawls up the walls and along the floor, and the monsters all show off a repulsive slimy sheen when walking under lights. It’s safe to say that Silent Hill 3 shows a level of decay not reached by anything previously, and it all acts to keep you unnerved and wary of your surroundings.

All added together, the game is as frightening, as compelling as ever. You might not want to know what’s around the next corner, but you’re darn sure going to find out anyway whatever the consequences. Whilst not offering anything revolutionary to the genre or series, Konami have built upon the success of Silent Hill 2 and tightened the tension up ten-fold, leaving some haunting imagery and genuinely frightening moments of play. Horror has never been this good.