IGN :
 
January 15, 2003 - Silent Hill 3, like the other games in Konami's much-loved horror series, gives off a wonderful scent of mad genius upon one's first encounter with it. Genius, because its graphics, visual designs, and cinematic presentation are so polished and effective; mad, because a completely sane mind could probably not conceive of anything like this. This, perhaps, is a good thing to a degree. If an ordinary mind had images like these popping into it unbidden on a regular basis, most of us would probably lead much less settled lives.  
The opening scenes of Silent Hill 3, presented in a trial version Konami was kind enough to lend us recently, are as superbly disquieting as any other parts of the series. The parts, so far, are all there, especially the sense of sudden and inexplicable descent into a frightening new world. As per usual, it's a world populated by frightening things -- frightening because of their immediate threat to life, and frightening also because of their lasting image, which plays nicely upon various basic fears. The effect is familiar to a degree, since we know what to expect from Silent Hill at this point, but the sequel's new technical improvements help heighten it nonetheless.  
 
Silent Hill 3 begins with a sequence intentionally reminiscent of the earlier games in the series. Heather, its erstwhile heroine, is dropped into a dark and mist-shrouded amusement park, seen through the same noise and fog filters that clouded the view of Silent Hill 2. Light comes only from her small flashlight, and disturbing sights crowd the grounds, from dead corpses in bloodstained cartoon costumes to all-too-living monsters. Her path eventually leads her past fleshy golems and snapping mummified hounds -- which prefigure the beasts that will appear later on -- until she climbs to the top of a roller-coaster and starts running down the track. Suddenly, a car comes rolling towards her, and she falls off the edge...only to wake up. She was asleep on a restaurant table, and it was all a dream.  
 
After this sudden transition to the "real" world, the noise filters go off, revealing a world drawn in perfectly sharp realtime 3D. Some early screenshots of Silent Hill 3 were thought too good-looking to be true, but the game is in fact about as pretty as advertised, with a high texture resolution, detailed character models (especially around their well-animated faces) and a minimum of aliasing around the edges. Admiring the view can only last so long, though -- the game wastes little time introducing its mysteries.  
 
Heather calls home to her father, exchanging a few pleasantries about errands to run and the events of the day. As she walks home, she finds herself followed by an older man, a detective who introduces himself as Douglas Crevant. He asks for her attention insistently, saying he has something important to discuss about her birth, but Heather is having none of it -- she retreats into a bathroom and climbs out a window, hoping to go around him and make it home. And then, it begins...  
 
There's a nice, understated effect at this point as Heather walks down the alleyway outside the window. The alley, running straight as far as the eye can see, seems to elongate somewhat, as if viewed through a fisheye-lens effect, and the lighting grows just a little bit darker until Heather reachers another doorway back into the mall. Inside, the transition is complete. Something has gone very wrong -- the mall is empty, the floor and walls are stained and dilapidated, the storefronts are darkened and hidden behind locked doors, and ominous noises echo through the halls.  
 
If she is not officially in the town of Silent Hill, then, she is in the world of Silent Hill. The transition remains somewhat gradual, though -- the lights still don't go down for a little while, the music remains relatively low-key, and the threat of death by monster evisceration is minimal. In the first few areas, the monsters are mainly there to provide a little bit of background tension, enough to keep you on your toes through brief bits of puzzle-solving. The first puzzles are a blend of fetching and brain-teasing, starting with the need to retrieve a key from under a stack of pallets in a store room. This, naturally, requires application of the pair of bread tongs which can be found in the mall's bakery. The key so retrieved in turn unlocks a bookstore, where re-arranging a set of Shakespeare volumes spells out the combination to the store's back door. Yes, they're a little silly, as adventure-game puzzles invariably tend to be, but they seem well-balanced between challenge and hindrance, and there are variable difficulty options for both puzzles and combat so players can find a challenge level to their liking.  
 
After heading to the back and descending down a freight elevator, the real fun begins. A middle-aged woman, white-haired and with a strangely pale cast to her, appears before Heather, and the following conversation ensues:  
 
Heather: Hey, wait, what's going on? Where is everybody? Those weird monsters...  
 
Woman: They have come to witness the beginning. The rebirth of Paradise, despoiled by mankind.  
 
Heather: What are you talking about?  
 
Woman: Don't you know? Your power is needed.  
 
Heather: How should I know?  
 
Woman: I am Claudia...  
 
Heather: So what?!  
 
Claudia: Remember me, and your true self as well -- also, that which you must become. The one who will lead us to Paradise, with bloodstained hands.  
 
Heather: Claudia, right? Did you do all this?  
 
Claudia: It was the hand of God...  
 
Even this, potentially significant though it may be, is only prologue. Heather continues deeper into wherever it is, entering a darkened elevator. Around her are walls covered by what looks like stretched flesh, and formless things twitch just outside the range of vision. "Is this a dream?" she asks herself. "But when am I going to wake up?"  
Beyond the demo proper, in areas shown during Konami's gamers' day exhibition, Heather progresses further and further into classic Silent Hill territory. The relatively non-threatening atmosphere of the run-down mall is replaced by a descent into clammy, bloodstained sewers, where tentacles reach out of the water and the only illumination offered comes from her small flashlight. Dirt, blood, and rust cover the walls, and even more unpleasant denizens jump out of dark corners.  
 
One area features a boss monster, a giant purple worm. After walking down a narrow catwalk and climbing down a ladder, Heather finds herself in an enclosed space with high walls, where scaffolding rises over six entrances -- three on each opposing wall. The worm, a giant thing with twin mouths -- two lips open vertically, revealing a toothy maw inside that drips with saliva in realtime -- sticks its head out of the tunnels at random to grab Heather and drag her into the dark. Survival requires anticipating where the worm is going to come from next and shooting as it opens its jaws.  
 
Another sequence shows a graphical effect demonstrated in early form at E3. After wandering around hallways reminiscent of the school in Silent Hill, Heather finds herself in a run-down bathroom. When she looks more closely at the tub, blood suddenly starts to well out of the drain, and her consciousness fades briefly. She comes to in a nightmare version of the same room, where blood pulses through veins in the floor and walls. Outside, more bleeding walls are visible through rusty gratings, and mutilated corpses hang from hooks behind the grates. One creation is a particular eye-catcher -- several huge, pulsing arteries meet at a single point where a heart might be, but instead, a framed picture of a screaming mouth hangs over the junction.  
 
And that is it for now, as the nightmare begins in earnest, but there is naturally promise of plenty of scary things to come. In particular, the soundtrack is very effectively employed. Akira Yamaoka's music seems to have dropped to a slower tempo than in Silent Hill 2, and with a softer sound than the crashing industrial noise of Silent Hill, but it heightens the mood well nonetheless, especially in conjunction with effects like the chattering of the monsters and the static from the ever-present transistor radio. Effects like that serve as the accents on top of layered ambient sounds, changing in volume and tempo as potential threats draw near. Usually, the music is pretty low-key, just enough to keep you on edge, but when it wants to scare you, it certainly will.  
 
The game's 3D engine, meanwhile, is definitely a cut above what we've seen before from the series. Once the introductory dream sequence is over, it's clear that there's nothing the filtering needs to hide, and the larger environments are filled with detail. Silent Hill 3 isn't focused quite so much on claustrophobic spaces -- it includes a few areas with some elbow room to them, and still adds plenty of window-dressing. The small shops and other enclosed areas, meanwhile, have all kinds of odds and ends packed in the corners, like racks of pastries in a bakery or crowded shelves in a bookstore. The lighting is always subtle, but it adds to every scene, whether it's the effect of a flashlight illuminating a dark room or simply a shadow cast one way or the other. The illumination is soft, diffuse, and realistic, with no sharp edges to give it away.  
 
Silent Hill 3's controls, for the most part, are nothing especially new. There's a strafe control on the shoulder buttons to sidestep around, providing Heather isn't focused on a particular enemy, but evading monsters without it is still easy enough so far. Perhaps it will become useful later on, in more enclosed spaces and against more mobile opponents. There's still an option to choose between 3D and 2D controls -- Resident Evil and Metal Gear styles, in other words -- to match whatever taste you might have, and while the camera can sometimes find itself stuck in tight spots, there's a fast auto-center control to return it to a more friendly facing.  
 
The game's expanded arsenal of weaponry, unfortunately, remains out of reach, so impressions of the flamethrower, submachinegun, and other destructive implements will have to wait until later. Silent Hill 3 offers more tactical options than just superior firepower, though. One curious item is beef jerky, for example, which seems useless until the game mentions that it might be useful as a lure. Drop it on the ground and hungry monsters will pounce on the less mobile meal, allowing Heather to sneak up behind them and brain them with the trusty iron pipe.  
 
For now, consider Silent Hill 3 one of the most noteworthy games of the coming season. It looks great, it sounds great, and it has that lovely touch of madness that's characterized Silent Hill from the beginning. Get a taste of the atmosphere with the accompanying media (available below, although the movies may be a bit much for players who want to experience the story only in its complete form), and look forward to more news soon.  
 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 
 
ZOE 2 :
 
 
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http://ps2movies.ign.com/ps2/video/zoe2_0116_18.mov  
http://ps2movies.ign.com/ps2/video/zoe2_0116_17.mov  
http://ps2movies.ign.com/ps2/video/zoe2_0116_16.mov  
http://ps2movies.ign.com/ps2/video/zoe2_0116_15.mov  
http://ps2movies.ign.com/ps2/video/zoe2_0116_14.mov  
http://ps2movies.ign.com/ps2/video/zoe2_0116_13.mov  
http://ps2movies.ign.com/ps2/video/zoe2_0116_12.mov  
http://ps2movies.ign.com/ps2/video/zoe2_0116_11.mov  
http://ps2movies.ign.com/ps2/video/zoe2_0116_10.mov  
http://ps2movies.ign.com/ps2/video/zoe2_0116_9.mov  
http://ps2movies.ign.com/ps2/video/zoe2_0116_8.mov  
http://ps2movies.ign.com/ps2/video/zoe2_0116_7.mov  
http://ps2movies.ign.com/ps2/video/zoe2_0116_6.mov  
http://ps2movies.ign.com/ps2/video/zoe2_0116_5.mov  
http://ps2movies.ign.com/ps2/video/zoe2_0116_4.mov  
http://ps2movies.ign.com/ps2/video/zoe2_0116_3.mov  
http://ps2movies.ign.com/ps2/video/zoe2_0116_2.mov  
http://ps2movies.ign.com/ps2/video/zoe2_0116_1.mov  
 
--------> 5, 7, 8 à 14, 16 et 18 à voir absolument...

kewl

Superbe !

RAAAAHHHH !!!!        
putain, c'est clairement le jeux que j'attends le plus cette année....
 
Ca va etre bon

Bon sang les effets de particule dans la vidéo n°13  

Ô putin de con !

put1 que c bo !!!

depuis le temps que je dis que zoe 2 est le plus beau jeu du monde.

 
http://jpn01.konami.co.jp/movie/zoe2/zoe2_tgse.asf
 
http://jpn01.konami.co.jp/movie/zoe2/zoe2_e3_en.asf
 
 
Si ça marche encore (je l'ai prise y a deux-trois jours) une vidéo Hi-Rez de 86 Mo de pur bonheur :
 
http://ruliwebfile.intizen.com/mpeg3/zoe/zoe2_1.mpg

sinon :
 
Some early screenshots of Silent Hill 3 were thought too good-looking to be true, but the game is in fact about as pretty as advertised, with a high texture resolution, detailed character models (especially around their well-animated faces) and a minimum of aliasing around the edges.
 
 
au moins d'apres ign, les screens de Silent hill 3 sont pas retouchés...
 
 
 
 
et pour ZOE 2...   c'est bien un jeu qui prouve que même avec des textures toutes simplistes, il suffit de bien choisir le style, les couleurs et les effets, pour que ca dechire un maximum

 
t as du bander comme un mulet en voyant ces tofs non ?  

Silent Hill 3 retouché ? c'est vrai que des screenshots en 1024*768 pour une console je trouve ça bizarre, d'autant qu'ils sont trés nets, comme des screenshots PC (peut etre une version PC ou XBOX)
 
 
sinon je trouve pas ça vraiment plus beau que Silent Hill 2 qui etait deja assez réussi sur le plan technique

 
Ce sont des screens Hi rez évidemment mais ils ne sont vraisemblablement pas retouchés. Et je ne cesserais de répéter qu'un 640 PC n'équivaut pas à un 640 console donc mettre les screens en plous haut réso ce n'est pas forçément tromper le client ...
 
Et sinon c'est évidemment bien plus beau que SH2 ...

 
 
nan c'est vraiment pas mon trip...  les jeux j'y joue... je bande pas dessus...  
 
 
 

C'est vraiment beau, qu'il sont forts chez Konami !
C'est le seul développeur qui se donne les moyens d'exploiter le hardware de la PS2. EN tout cas chapeau bas.

Update :
 
Dorimaga has the first review of Konami's PlayStation 2 mech action game, Anubis: Zone of the Enders (to be called Zone of the Enders: The 2nd Runner in North America). It looks like KCE Japan made some huge steps forward with the second game in this series, as the magazine's reviewers gave it scores of 9, 10, 10, and 10 for an average of 9.75. Zone of the Enders: The 2nd Runner is very highly-anticipated, and is expected out in America sometime this March.
 
http://www.gamesarefun.com/cgi-bin [...] 692,57151,

'téressant

 
Je veux pas polémiquer, c'est pas le but du topic, mais c'est pas vraiment le cas. Des jeux Konami à chier, on en trouve, à commencer par les séries des ESPN...

 
un autre hit pour mars

c'est vraiment le jeu que j'attends le plus cette année ZOE 2,ça s'annonce fabuleux.

Et pour ce qui est de l'Europe, c'est pour quand ?  
 
(désolé si c'est marqué quelque part tout au-dessus, mais j'ai pas envie de me taper le pavé en anglais à une 1 heure du mat', merci)
 
 

9 avril en france zoe2

 
Ok merci. Donc bientôt  
 
Konami nous ferait un petit packaging de derrière les fagots à la Silent Hill 2 que ça serait bien. Mais bon, j'en doute fort...
 
Même si je doute moins du prix, qui risque d'être légèrement surtaxé, comme c'est devenu la fâcheuse habitude des éditeurs sur des jeux un tant soit peu attendus...

 
si seulement il pouvait sortir la version collector jap
 
http://www.playfrance.com/infos/vi [...] 15206,6474,
 
http://www.playfrance.com/infos/vi [...] 8123,73749,
 
 
(oui oui je sais ca fait mal )

Konami semble aimer l'Europe  
 
Plusieurs choses vont être ajoutés :  
Konami of Europe today announced that Zone of the Enders: The 2nd Runner will be reworked for the European market:  
 
- 3 nouveaux niveaux : "The Train Destruction Event", "The Mars Melee Event" et "The Carrying Up Ardjent Event"  
- 2 des vieux niveaux vont être modifiés  
- 7 nouvelles cut-scenes  
- nouvelle intro avec un remix de l'ancienne musique d'intro  
- "European Hard" et "European Extreme"  
- nouveaux modèles du Jehuty (changements esthétiques)

zoe 2, j ai pu y jouer pas mal ces derniers tps est tres tres tres TRES beau  
 
incroyable, le plus beau jeu ps2 pour moi et de loin (et un des plus beaux jeux tous supports confondus tout court)  
 
par contre, c pas mal bourrin (certains adoreront quand même) et la durée de vie a l air archi minable    
 
 
 
 
 
voilà, ct mon spoiler du soir
 
 

ZOE2 a l'air beau mais maintenant je me mefie, je me suis precipité a la sortie le 1er du nom qui etait a mon sens limite foutage de gueule, une pseudo histoire pour un jeu de baston de mecha somme toute basique, ce que j'ai trouve le plus merdique c ees la duree de vie, torché en une aprem sa degoutte, je pensais en plus n'etre qu'au debut du jeu quand j'ai ete surpris par le generique de fin. La "rejouabilité" etais proche de 0, bref j'ai ete bien deçu par ZOE1, j'espere que cette nouvelle mouture s'averera plus innovante et ira un peu plus loin que le 1er, surtout au niveau de la duree de vie. Par contre silent hill3, j'ai tellement apprecié le 1 et le 2 que je le prendrai les yeux ferme, les silent hill font partit des tout meilleurs jeux jamais sorti a mon sens, du grand art...
Il sort quand SH3 en France au fait?

impressive