Silent Hill 3 playthrough interlude

I think I've figured out why Silent Hill 3's not clicking with me: Nothing's hidden. Silent Hill's at its best when it's exploring psychological issues manifested - how Maria and the creatures James encounters in 2 represent various aspects of his emotional reactions to his wife's illness and death, or what Walter Sullivan's ultimate objective in light of his life story really means to him, and how his quest parallels Henry's self-imposed sequestration from the world. 1 doesn't have as much psychological going on, but it's trying to tell its story in symbolic language in a dreamscape, through implications rather than a straightforward narrative; you have to put together the pieces of the tale yourself. (The problem, of course, is that 1 does not really execute this approach well - as I've mentioned it before, 2 handles it better - and much of 1's story is kind of stupid.)

In 3, everything's as it is on the surface: cult wants to use Heather, Heather doesn't wanna help. There's nothing psychological about the story. (The monsters represent teen-girl anxieties like sex and zits and whatnot, but that's as far as it goes.) The tale's competent (if badly-paced so far), but there's no puzzle to figure out, no depths to plumb, nothing plotwise to draw you in.

Or maybe this is just my habitual rough start with a Silent Hill game.
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