Horhay's Full Review: Silent Hill 2 for PlayStation 2
Story:
SH2 isn’t a sequel to the original. The only thing that has stayed the same is the location. In SH2 you control James Sunderland. James received a letter from his wife, who died three years ago, telling him to meet her in the town of Silent Hill. He doesn’t believe that the letter is real, but he still goes to Silent Hill out of curiosity. His journey turns sour when he meets with a couple of people and investigates the city.
Gameplay:
SH2 is just like a suspense movie. It starts out a little slow, but as you progress the game gets intense. It’s not like Resident Evil where you spend most of your time killing zombies and backtracking. SH2 is perfect blend of exploring, puzzle solving, and violence. SH2 gives you the option of selecting various difficulty settings and riddle settings. This feature gives the player a nice feel for the game. Setting the game on Hard mode gives you tougher enemies and more action. Putting the game’s riddle selection on easy gives you simplified puzzles. You can pretty much mix them around to what you desire.
You begin the game weaponless, and find yourself roaming around isolated roads near Silent Hill. You enter a cemetery and have a little conversation with a woman named Angela. She tells you that the town is a dangerous place, and warns you not to go. However, that does not change James’ mind, and you enter the streets of Silent Hill. Streets show no signs of life and are filled with creepy monsters. Things get more complicated when you discover that some streets are blocked off. Most of the game focuses on you trying to get through these obstacles. So in order to get by blocked streets you must go into an apartment building, and use that as a detour. These sites bring out what Silent Hill is all about. You must explore each location carefully, gather clues, solve puzzles, and fight monsters.
A great feature about SH2 is that the areas are huge. Although it’s a bit limited on where you can go, it’s still nice to have lots of room. Each main area of the game offers something new and challenging. Puzzles are scattered nicely throughout your journey and don’t really slow down the game. The puzzles are more logical then the ones found in part one, and they aren’t that time consuming. Action wise, the game gives you a nice dosage of weird monsters to blow away. The selection of weapons found is decent, but it’s lacking in terms of hand-to-hand weapons.
SH2 has a good amount of exploring, or in other words finding keys, items, and documents. For some reason, I didn’t find this to be a problem. The backtracking was kept simple, so it didn’t waste that much time. You go into a room, grab a key, unlock a door, and move on. One key unlocks one room, unlike Resident where one key can unlock like 6 doors. As a result, the game moves along at a steady pace. Sure you might find yourself stuck from time to time, but it’s nothing real big.
The control has been touched up a bit. The four face buttons have remained unchanged, and there have been a couple tweaks with the control. The addition of sidestepping and making a 180-degree turn are helpful. Walking around is easy if you’re veteran at survival horror games. The game’s default Resident Evil player movements, where pressing up on the d-pad moves you forward, was a surprise. If you don’t like that you can switch to the original’s 2D control style. The camera positioning is okay for the most part, and you even have the freedom to move the camera around.
I really don’t have any major grudges with the game. Many complain that the game is way too short. It will probably take people around 10 hours to beat. Frankly, I think that’s pretty good. And let’s not forget that there are five different endings. SH2 was the first survival horror game that I beat, and actually played it again the next day. There was never a moment in the game where I felt bored, even during the times when I was stuck. As for the minor things, there are some goofy camera angles. They can get annoying when you’re inside small areas, like hallways. I was a little disappointed with the lack of interaction in the environments. There’s so much detail in the locations that you want to check out everything and see if something happens. I would go up to doors or items, press the X button to investigate, and nothing would happen.
Graphics:
Okay, you’re probably wondering where’s all the scary stuff at? Most of the game’s scary moments come from the graphics and sound. Let me start with the graphics first. Silent Hill is played in a third person perspective, so your view is from a camera “floating” behind your character. Throughout you quest there are dynamic camera angles in certain areas, and they provide a cinematic feel. Aside from the camera work, there are lots of special effects used in Silent Hill.
The game’s first 10 minutes showcase some great fog effects. The fog flies toward the screen and really gives a dizzying effect and limits the view of the terrain. Shadow and lighting effects are beautifully used to provide a chilling atmosphere. Most of the game is dark and has a grainy look to it. The environments have lots of great detail. Buildings have a grungy look and seem very isolated. There are rooms where messages are written in blood, glass is shattered on the floor, and various types of furniture are tore up. Silent Hill also contains a shifting phase, where the whole town is transformed into an even darker and dirty world.
I was expecting a little more when it came to monster types. They’re pretty deranged though, and I haven’t seen anything like them in a game. Character animations and models are good. There’s a lots of detail put into clothing, facial features, and movements. The in game cut-scenes, as well as the CG movies demonstrate the Playstation 2’s graphical powers well. The cut-scenes were pretty reminiscent of Metal Gear Solid, in terms of detail and camera work.
Sound:
Sound plays a vital role in providing a creepy atmosphere, and it’s one of the game’s strongest areas. Musically the game is lacking, although there are a couple piano and violin tunes that fit well after certain events. Konami really wanted to bring the game alive using unbelievable sound effects. Disturbing moans, distorted radio signals, human whispers, and unnatural squeaks, presents the gamer with an intense experience. The best effects come in the form of loud echoes that seem to be made from banging metallic instruments (like pipes). This game is definitely meant to be played with a surround sound system, since tons of work was put into making every little sound audible.
The voice acting, in my opinion, is probably the best I’ve heard in a survival horror game. It’s much more fluid and realistic than the first. Every non-player character sounds pretty good and they show emotion in their speech. The dialog is pretty good and there is a little profanity thrown in near the end of the game. Overall the voices, sound effects, and music fit perfect with the Silent Hill’s setting.
Overall:
Silent Hill 2 is a bizarre game. It has its fair share of twists and turns that will make you come back for more. SH2 doesn’t really add anything new to the genre, but it has taken the series up a notch with its sound, graphics, and characters. If you like the original, then you’ll love what SH2 has to offer. Like I said before, SH2 is a great mix of exploring, puzzle solving, and killing. This game is a must for horror fans, adventure fans, or anyone looking for a game they will never forget.
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