Silent Hill 2

[Adam]

I've enjoyed Silent Hill 1 and 2 alot, played through them twice each. My brother refuses to play them because "They are boring. You just walk around solving puzzles" but in reality I know it's because he don't wanna be ****ting himself when he could be playing Animal Crossing instead

I think they are bloody brilliant, the use of atmosphere is one of the best I've seen in any game.

In comparison to RE I think they are pretty far apart, Silent Hill goes for atmosphere and all round ****ting your pants, where as RE is hardly scary, it just puts you in situations which your in-game character would find scary but not yourself. RE has alot more continuety though.

[JRMacumber]

In comparison to RE I think they are pretty far apart, Silent Hill goes for atmosphere and all round ****ting your pants, where as RE is hardly scary, it just puts you in situations which your in-game character would find scary but not yourself. RE has alot more continuety though.

I don't know, guy. There have been plenty of moments where something will lunge at me from the darkness or come busting through a door, and I'll start yelling, "Oh ****! Run, bitch, run!" at the TV set. My wife will then commence to laughing her ass off at me, even though she screamed too.

Now, I think Silent Hill is just creepier. RE goes for the "boo" scares, while "SH" goes for the creepy-gets-inside-ya scares.

[Tom Salter]

Yeah, the fear in SH2 is a lot more insiduous than the Resi games. In resi it was just a zombie bursting through a window, or a dog jumping down at you, and to be honest, this lost it's effect by RE3: Nemesis. There's only so many times you can be scared like that.

But here's a perfect example of when I realised that SH2 had totally scared the hell out of me. When I reached the hospital, the lower floor was empty, but deathly silent. However, upon reaching the second floor, and the two nurses came running it me with their limp heads and knives flailing, I lowered my shotgun and ran back the way I came! It took me about 30 minutes to go back up them stairs, instead I was trying to see if I had missed anything on the lower floor...

Now that's what gaming is all about. Immersing the player into the protagonists shoes. That's why (imo) the Resi series will never return to it's former greatness.

[JRMacumber]

But here's a perfect example of when I realised that SH2 had totally scared the hell out of me. When I reached the hospital, the lower floor was empty, but deathly silent. However, upon reaching the second floor, and the two nurses came running it me with their limp heads and knives flailing, I lowered my shotgun and ran back the way I came! It took me about 30 minutes to go back up them stairs, instead I was trying to see if I had missed anything on the lower floor...

LOL! Yeah, I hear ya. "Come on, I must have missed something... anything... Just let me stumble across a reason to not go back upstairs. Please..."

On a side note, if the universe were to suddenly turn on its ear, and you suddenly found yourself in a Silent Hill/Resident Evil world, how do you think you'd react? Me, I'd drop into a fetal position and hope I got eaten up quickly so that I wouldn't have to wallow in my pee-filled pants too long.

[Square]

so that I wouldn't have to wallow in my pee-filled pants too long.

Eeuuuww! There's an image I could have done without!

[PeteJ]

SH2 is an interesting one. Marcus kindly lent me the Xbox version to review a while back, but I simply couldn't put what I wanted to say into words and had to give up.

Like what has been said before, I thought the gameplay was quite ropey. The endless backtracking (pushing 'Up' for twenty minutes while you walk across the town...mmm) and the combat was dire. I understand that the combat improves atmosphere in a similar way to RE, but here it was taken too far. I tended to avoid the monsters wherever possible, but the bosses were incredibly annoying, especially the Door thing.

The story however was absolutely stunning. It took a while to get going, but towards the end it grew and evolved (and de-evolved) into something wonderfully dark and disturbing. I have never witnessed a videogame story with so much depth and thought behind an intially basic concept. The background of each character was so shocking (not just in the 'mature' way) that I felt compelled to continue despite not fully enjoying the core gameplay.

The best thing though, was that the story doesn't fully explain itself. It doesn't dumn down and is left wide open for discussion, something which I adore in storytelling.

I recently watched Muholland Drive, and all the way through I was thinking back to Silent Hill 2, for both have similar story telling methods and dark atmosphere. Mullholland Drive could have, and should have, easily cleaned up at the Oscars and for a videogame to match such great story telling is just such a delightful thing that I have great confidence in the future of the medium.

[Chadruharazzeb]

Silent Hill 1 unnerved me more than anything. Running along the road towards the lighthouse at the end, the road suddenly turns into the mad grating and the air-raid siren starts wailing.... I turned it off and made a brew.

Silent Hill 2 never even made me nervous, never mind creeped me out so much I had to switch the machine off. Boring guff, I hope SH3 is more like the original.

[wod]

same here silent hill 2 just never scared me and i got disinterested in it after 15 minutes of play.

silent hill 1 was indeed the best one, where the radio would start making noise then something would just come out of anywhere and start to attack you.

[Tom Salter]

Yes, technically the gameplay was quite ropey. Example - when you were running to the museum, and the monsters jumped/fell (delete as appropiate) out of the trees at you, you didn't have to fight them. Actually, I got through most of the Apartments without killing an enemy, it was simpler to just run past them. And running into the fog for twenty minutes definately wasn't fun....

But this isnt what the game was about . The game was all about scaring the crap out of you, and in this respect it has no peers.

[Tom Salter]

silent hill 1 was indeed the best one, where the radio would start making noise then something would just come out of anywhere and start to attack you.

Didnt that happen in SH2 as well?

[Garibaldi Biscuit]

I would agree with the opinion that Silent Hill 1&2 don't deserve to be compared to one another as they both create very different atmospheres and set goals, I enjoyed both immensely but in quite alternate ways. I thought the story for Silent Hill was ham-fisted and confusing, and the fact that there is a guide on the Internet explaining what the hell it was all about says enough for me, yet the game itself was raw, visceral and original.

Silent Hill 2 didn't go the same way; on the streets you were never in any real danger, unlike in SH where you were constantly assaulted by giant winged beasts and roving, rabid dogs, yet it was something that was very intentional IMO. Harry was full of blame and panic when he was searching for his daughter, a fistfull of emotions which the town took and transformed into a dystopian nightmare, he was his own worst enemy because he 'felt' so much.

James, on the other hand, exists in a state of emotional death, ever since his wife's demise he's been merely existing, not living, so the scattered, shambling abominations on the street seem well suited to his now painfully hollow world, it's as though they are all the town could find left in his psyche to turn against him. Pyramid Head was a sharper edge to this, but his scattered appearences and occasional murdering of the abominations would suggest that he was actually James's most optimistic element, twisted though that may seem, trying to make his existence alive again even in such a violent and disturbing fashion.

SH2 was a pot-boiler IMO, whereas the first game was pretty much unrelenting in its assaults, SH kept the pressure up until you felt as though things might snap whereas SH2 gradually increased mood and atmosphere, like a pan of water over a gas flame, until the final truth was realised for the player and their on-screen character.

I pondered and considered SH2 for at least a few weeks after completion, whereas I just saw SH1 as a very skilful, very accomplished 'Cronenbourg' production, frightening and chock full of weirdness but, arguably, requiring too much from the viewer to dot the i's and cross the t's. As PeteJ mentioned, the actual mechanics of the game play second fiddle to the sublime story, and as such are forgiveable as a result, puzzles and combat are almost an excuse for you to simply spend time in this eerie world with a 'purpose' for being there, a grounding of normality which keeps SH1 and 2 'just games'.

In case you hadn't guessed, after this lengthy diatribe, I love both games, but in very different ways, they aimed for alternate nerve centres and both hit their targets, to be of the opinion that they were both aiming for the same goal does neither us nor the Devs any favours, IMO.

[Sidez]

same here silent hill 2 just never scared me and i got disinterested in it after 15 minutes of play.

silent hill 1 was indeed the best one, where the radio would start making noise then something would just come out of anywhere and start to attack you.

I think you just proved that you've never actually played SH2.

[saif]

I played this for a bit but I have the problem of having to be in the right mood for "survival horro". So it sits, mostly unplayed.
But I was freaked out when, right at the beginning you have that path and you walk down it and there is a well (i just watched ring about 3 months before - still having an effect). was genuinely scared at that bit though that is a personal one methinks.

[marcus]

Im going to revisit the original Silent Hill, I only got so far as the school after I left the game, not due to disliking it but I guess other things took priority at the time. The opening sequence where he gets attacked by those babies is just superbly terrifying, its very bizarre and unsettling. Im wanting to see what happens when the game transforms, so please no spoilers for me about that.

Agreed Gari, the story is what made Silent Hill 2 what it is. I recall reviewing this for the site a long time ago, my only gripe was that I felt there could have been a greater diversity of enemy, what you see near the start is pretty much the same enemies you see through to completion, in all other areas I found the game pretty much set out to do what it was meant to.

My personal favourite scary part was the gallows. I was genuinly scared to venture out into the open because I could hear the sound of something circling me whenever I did, although I couldnt see what. Thats the thing with SH2, its not always what the game does show you, its also what it does'nt, you are often left to imagine what something could have been. Did anyone else hear the whispering noise when you went into one of the apartments? That freaked me out big time!

[Sdub]

Speaking of that long walk at the beginning, I thought this set things off really well.

Did anyone else notice that as you walked down that path that sometimes it would sound as if someone (or something) was following you?
If you stopped to turn around it would stop, and when you started walking again it wouldn't be there but might start again after a while.

That freaked me right out and the game had hardley begun!