Scary....!!! (Silent Hill 2 (PS2))

Member Name: trussellp

Product:	Silent Hill 2 (PS2)
Date:	20/02/02 (36 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: good all rounder

Disadvantages: a bit scary for younger gamers

Silent Hill, eh? What can I say about Silent Hill? It’s like Albert Square with cheerier characters, or Erinsborough with better acting. It was also the setting for an acceptable, if hastily overrated, horror adventure game. The original had you watching lots of FMV sequences, stumbling through thick fog and arriving at an ending only slightly more satisfying than your TV blowing up five minutes before the end of The Sixth Sense.

And so here we have a PS2 sequel that not so much rectifies the inadequacies of the first game as it does keep them all in and add prettier graphics.

But – oh! – what graphics! What we have here, Ladies and Gentlemen, are some of the most solid, glitch-free 3D visuals I have ever come across. Truly, they are a joy to behold, and once your character gets his hands on a torch you can enjoy the finest shadow effects ever witnessed in a computer game.

The character charged with the task of wandering around these dazzling eye-candies is one Mr James Sunderland, who has arrived at Silent Hill after getting a letter from his dead wife saying she was hanging out at their “special place” (don’t ask). Getting into town, James is horrified to discover the whole place has been taken over by an evil army of marauding smoke machines, hell-bent on creating foggier surroundings than a Kate Bush video.

The control method mimics Resident Evil’s rotate-and-go system and while it’s perfectly acceptable for hunting through [seemingly endless] streets, corridors and rooms, it completely falls to pieces when faced with any of the number of monsters that are lurching about the town.

Part of the problem – a very big part, as it happens – is that James himself moves very slowly. The response time between pressing the attack button and James actually attacking is quite shocking. Also, certain monsters crawl around on the ground when felled and James’ sl
ow movement makes it exceptionally difficult and tedious trying to finish off a monster – by the time you’ve heaved yourself over to wherever the beast crawled, the damn thing has zipped off in a different direction.

The “camera” isn’t much help, either. Whenever you enter a new location, such as beyond a fence or into a different room, the view immediately switches to a reverse-front angle which completely disorientates you for a good few seconds. Often, the “look” function does little more than move James’ head up and down, as opposed to actually letting you see what he’s looking at.



The puzzles you have to solve are generally the find-item-use-item type we’re all oh-so-used to. Occasionally, you get to solve something a touch more taxing but, on the whole, there’s nothing that will stump you for more than a few minutes (except, perhaps, trying to figure out just what the best method for clearing a blocked garbage chute is – you’ll see what I mean).

Having said all that, there’s an undeniably creepy and unsettling ambience snaking through the game which makes the exploration aspect quite engaging. It’s quite possible to lose several hours immersed in this sanity-sparse world without even realising it. The characters you interact with are bizarre and interesting (voice acting is, as ever, terrible). The plot, at first sight, seems as weak and perfunctory as the original game but it can get quite compelling, especially when other characters, such as the mysterious and alluring Maria, join your hunt.

All the same, Silent Hill 2 is a bit of a let-down when you consider the power of the PS2 must surely allow for a free-roaming 3D adventure and what Konami have delivered is a completely rigid, follow-this-path-or-else environment (there’s even a scene where James notices a “strange” shadow and if you ignore it the
game actually takes control of James, stating “I really must investigate that shadow” and turns the character around to face the direction the designers want you to go – dearie-me).

Apologies for the negativity, Konami. It’s not that Silent Hill 2 is a bad game – it’s not that bad at all, really, and fans of the original are likely to lap it up like a thirsty dog – it’s just that, along with the more recent, high-profile PS2 releases, it seems like a missed opportunity.

A worthy sequel, or yet another cynical cash-in? Tell you what; you decide and let me know. I’ll wait right here…

… amongst all this fog and dead things.

Summary: