Silent Hill 2 Preview
Konami's moody survival-horror game is coming to the PC. Read our preview to find out all there is to know about Silent Hill 2.
The original Silent Hill followed in the footsteps of John Carpenter's The Fog and Stephen King's The Mist, drawing inspiration from the idea that a small town beset by a thick fog is a pretty scary place to be. The game followed the basic Resident Evil formula, with one major difference. While the Resident Evil games rely on the age-old tradition of startles and jumps, Silent Hill managed to be creepy and atmospheric--you never knew what was lurking out in the haze. Unfortunately, the original was never released for the PC. But the sequel is coming soon, and the PC port will include some great aesthetic improvements on its console counterparts.
The sequel is once again set in Silent Hill, but it features an all-new cast of characters. You play James Sunderland, a seemingly average guy who has recently received a letter from his wife, Mary. She has requested that he meet her in the town, where they vacationed many years before. The fact that his wife died three years earlier causes him some understandable concern. As James, you'll try to unravel the mystery of your wife's posthumous post and explore the strange (and always getting stranger) town. Along the way you'll meet some strange characters, all with their own mysterious reasons for being in town.
Though the PlayStation 2 version of Silent Hill 2 was generally regarded as inferior to the original, it earned critical praise for its atmosphere, distinguishing itself from other so-called "survival horror" games with its distinct creeps and creatures. While Resident Evil and its sequels took their inspiration from the zombie films of George Romero, Silent Hill 2 instead looks to Jacob's Ladder, Clive Barker's Hellraiser, and Nine Inch Nails videos. The monsters aren't zombies. In fact, it's hard to tell what they are. One common creature is pretty clearly a nurse, albeit a very disturbed nurse dragging an axe. Another is a terrifying assemblage of mannequin parts (primarily legs), while another looks like someone tried who's had an ugly painting broken over his back. One of the more intimidating creatures has a bloody apron and a large metal basin on its head, and it looks like some hellish hybrid of Leatherface from The Texas Chainsaw Massacre and Gypsy from Mystery Science Theater 3000.
The sound adds to the general sense of foreboding. There's very little music, but when it becomes noticeable it's pretty effective. One recurring theme is reminiscent of someone banging trash can lids together, and it's an alarming cue that something unpleasant is nearby. Strange sounds abound, and James' transistor radio emits loud bursts of static whenever a creature is in the vicinity, adding an ambient sonic counterpart to the general industrial design of the music in the game.
Other than the differences in atmosphere, Silent Hill 2 closely follows the Resident Evil formula. The controls are similar, and the mix of action and puzzle solving is just about the same. Even killing monsters is similar, requiring you to stamp out monsters like a discarded cigarette once they've been taken down with firepower. You will be able to choose between three difficulty settings for both the action and the puzzles, allowing you to make either area easier or more challenging, depending on your preferences. The difficulty options make some significant changes to the game, and almost anybody will be able to finish it with both areas set to easy, while hard is recommended only for those who want a significant challenge.
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- GameSpot Score6.2fair
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Silent Hill 2 Patch 2
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- Konami
- Creature Labs
- Horror Action Adventure
- Release: Dec 2, 2002
- ESRB: Mature
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