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.
