technophile
Silent Hill 2 offers thrills and haunting visuals.
By
Emily A. Diehl
Technophile
Platform: PS2, PC
Genre: Adventure
ESRB Rating: Mature
I first saw previews for Silent Hill 2 when I was employed at Electronics Boutique last year, and I instantly fell in love with the haunting graphics and storyline. Needless to say, I instantly pre-ordered the game as soon as it appeared in our registers and eagerly awaited its arrival.
As I giddily unwrapped the game earlier this month, even I was not prepared for the thrill that I would experience during the 10 terrifying hours it would take me to conquer the mystery of Silent Hill 2....
Before you play...
Game Settings
When you start your game, you have the option of starting an easy, medium, or hard setting for both the regular game and the puzzle mode. Keep in mind that your solutions may vary from walkthrough guides in all settings due to the fact that the settings each have puzzles that have changing solutions. I played through the game on medium difficulty for both puzzle and play my fist time through, and it was sufficiently challenging. I would NOT recommend hard mode your first time through, however, due to the fact that the puzzles are so randomized that you may not be able to find help if you do become stuck.
The Story Begins....
As you start the game, you open with a brief cut-scene that will give you a vague insight into why you are in this foggy, seemingly abandoned town. You will find that you are playing as the main protagonist, James Sunderland. I will say no more, as you will need to play the game to find out the actual story line.
Control
When you gain control of your character, you may have a bit of trouble controlling him. I discovered that the handling of James is very similar to the 3D control of Resident Evil. Being that I never cared for this type of control, I immediately got annoyed. After running backwards instead of forwards and spinning around instead of turning, I flipped to my options menu and discovered that you can change the control to a 2D setting. This pacified me, and I was able to continue my game without anymore ado.
The Gameplay
As I mentioned before, I was not prepared for the intensity of the suspense involved in this game. From the very first few steps and tasks, I felt the hair on my arms begin to raise. You play in a constant atmosphere of fog, which severely limits your view as you run. Rather than this being annoying, it adds to the suspense as you run. You have no idea where you are going and what is in front of you until you are so close to it that you can REALLY see it. This fact makes for a VERY scary experience later in the game when the streets are populated by the grotesque and staggering straightjacket demons and the terrifying nurse demons.
In addition to the thick and rolling fog, there is a constant sound effect barrage that is extremely unnerving. While there is no annoying music blasting from your television, low, ambient music seeps around you from all sides. In addition to this, your footsteps, monster's limping and scraping, and the static of your "monster detector" combine to form a thick and engrossing audio-visual experience.
Puzzles...
Although you are not able to access every building in the game, many are accessed at various points in the game by solving various puzzles. The fascinating aspect of Silent Hill 2 is not only the fact that many buildings in this town are familiar to those who have played Silent Hill, but also that you are 100% unaware of where you will end up in the course of the game. Yes, you will eventually deduce that you will go to the hotel across the lake, but you will be amazed at exactly how much you need to do before you are permitted to enter the hotel. Therefore, the game is in no way a robbery of your time and efforts.
Graphics...
Being a huge critic of graphics, I had absolutely nothing to complain about from Silent Hill 2. From the start the graphics were stunning, with their slightly grainy textures adding to the horror atmosphere of the storyline. The environments and areas in this game are incredible in the aspect that they are large and expansive, yet gory and filthy enough to invoke a sense of terrifying claustrophobia upon players. In addition to the in-game graphics, the cut scenes are of an absolutely incredible quality. Even though one may argue that the facial features of several characters are over-exaggerated, I do not personally agree with their argument. The characters are beautifully rendered both in the cut scenes and in the game. Unlike many games, the characters as you view them during the game look almost identical to the characters in the cut scenes. I was especially impressed with this aspect, as many games have cut scenes that are the peak of the graphical content of the play.
Back to Gameplay...
The game play itself is incredibly smooth and fluid. It is very rare when you are absolutely lost in the game. Not to say that there are no difficult parts in the game, but during these times you usually know or have an idea of what you need to do to advance. You simply do not know HOW to do it. If you do not like the more puzzle-type games and would rather run around with a chainsaw like Ash, chopping and hacking through walls and walls of zombies, this may not be the ideal game for you. In this case, go try Resident Evil Code Veronica X. If you do, however, enjoy being scared and stimulated at you run around trying to figure out riddles and puzzles, you should not be disappointed.
Another aspect of Silent Hill that makes it player-friendly is the fact that there is an abundance of supplies lying on the ground around the map (Unlike Alone in the Dark 4). In addition to this benefit, James will actually turn his head in the direction of objects and other thing noteworthy in the game, so if you cannot see the objects in the fog you can simply pay attention to him and he will show you where they are. Another thing that makes this game fun is the fact that while conserving ammunition is a good idea, you CAN use your weapons fairly often, as there is a large amount of it on the ground. However, you are also given non-ammo consuming weapons to use, so you can get your killing jollies from those as well.
Endings...
While the end boss was rather unusual, the final fight is quite enjoyable. In addition to the final fights, there are 5 endings that you can end up with depending on how the game is played. At this point I know all of the endings, but am still trying to unlock all of the weapons and endings, as well as boost my rank as a player.
The Final Verdict
In summary, if you are willing to engulf yourself in this terrifying realm and are willing to view the game with an open mind, I can guarantee you will not be disappointed. Even though the storyline is at times a bit confusing, the game play will more than make up for it.
ADDED THRILL TRY to play this game at night with all of the lights out. That is how I played most of the time, and TRUST me when I say that I did not sleep those nights. It will definitely add all the more to the psychology of the game.
(01-1114)
related links:
Silent Hill 2 - official site
