Best in Series
Silent Hill originated on the Playstation in 1999 and quickly rose to be both one of the scariest games created to date, and a new claim to fame for Konami as it rose to the ranks of the supposedly untouchable Resident Evil of the time. Silent Hill 2 for the PS2 is, surprisingly enough, the second installment in the series, and it lives up to provide just what one could hope for, while still not fully smoothing out the flaws of the genre.
In Silent Hill 2 you play as James Sunderland in the town of, well, Silent Hill. A mysterious letter was sent to you by your supposedly dead wife, telling you to meet her in your “special place”. Not fully sure of what that place is, James heads into the town to find out who sent this letter, and whether or not his wife really is still alive. You’ll meet a number of interesting people, of whom include a dim witted man named Eddie and the ever mysterious Maria, who’s appearance is nearly identical to that of your “dead” wife. As the main purpose of this game is to scare you, it’s obviously going to be dark. Not to fear, as in the previous game you find both a flashlight and a mysterious radio that emits static when an enemy is nearby. These tools quickly become the most important tools on your venture through the town.
While a few flaws remain, Silent Hill does a good job with a control scheme. Basically, while the basic buttons are obvious, triangle for map, X to check immediate surroundings, the main gripe that many may have is the movement. This is where Silent Hill goes the extra mile. You can leave the standard 2D set up famous from the Resident Evil games, or you can switch to a more basic set up with the 3D format. This makes both novices and veterans of the genre feel right at home. One problem however, is the attacking. Often the controls feel as though they are reacting a brief second after you input your command. This makes for a few frustrating points when in combat, but as there isn’t too much combat, and very little that can’t be handled from long range with a gun, this really doesn’t effect you in the overall scheme of things. Also, grow used to switching what directions bring James where, as the camera angles often switching, leaving you confused for a brief second. This can be a real pain in combat, but only happens once in a blue moon. Still, in all Silent Hill does their best at controls.
The sound in this game is near flawless. There is little music, as it would often kill the creepy atmosphere that the many spectacular sound effects create. The sound effects however, do a spectacular job of setting the scene, and while the voice acting isn’t exactly note worthy, it gets by alright. Very few things have come to scare me more than running down a dim hallway and hearing the fuzz of my radio becoming increasingly loud as I rush towards what could be quite the enemy. Very, very good sound effects.
Now, this is where Silent Hill falls behind, in the replay value. They did throw in a few extras. For what it’s worth the Greatest Hits version does include a brief sub story following the beginnings of Maria, but this doesn’t really warrant you purchasing a second copy, if you already own it. This game does include several separate endings depending on your actions through the game, and some difficulty settings and puzzle settings, but for most that just won’t be enough to drive you to play the game more than one time.
The graphics of this game are top notch, and the character models are very well presented. All of the textures provide for an experience that is, for lack of a better term, “bone chilling”. The fog that surrounds Silent Hill is done quite well, and usually adds just that extra creepy effect to keep that knot in your gut for a few more minutes. While some of the enemies may appear a bit “shiny” for some, this could very well be construed as part of the games original intent. Very rarely will you run into a repeated texture, and if you do it’s probably within, say, 2 rooms in the same hospital, so it really is hard to notice. One would expect a survival horror to provide clean, scary graphics, and Silent Hill doesn’t fail to impress.
The real heart and soul comes when you are playing this game at night in a totally dark room, perhaps with the volume turned way up. That is guaranteed to scare you at least a little bit, and if not, I bow to you for you are a god among men. It is much more scare oriented, and does have considerably less combat than Resident Evil. While arguably not for everyone, this game is worthy of at least a rental at most, and a definite must buy for fans of the series or genre.
