Not quite as gut-wrenching as the original, but the storytelling and production is second-to-none.
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Pros:
+ Story / Storytelling / Characters: I've played games with great stories and characters before, but this one is told in such a subtle, immersive way - it allows you to work things out for yourself, and doesn't push the answers on you. The key here is that it tells a lot of its story in-game, rather than through cut-scenes (although there are a decent amount of these, all well executed) - this is hopefully the future of storytelling in games, and Silent Hill 2 will forever be one of the most important pioneers of this approach. Special mention must go to the characters, too - they felt like real humans (though perhaps Eddie was a little over-the-top), more so than any other cast I can think of in a game.
+ Atmosphere / Production: Through a combination of excellent use of lighting and fantastic sound design, the game is utterly soaked in atmosphere, and it sucked me in like few other games have done - in fact, at one point near the beginning, I ended up so shaken that I had to stop playing! (Don't tell anyone, though...)
+ Replayability / Longveity: Like the original, this is a pretty short game in terms of hours spent playing it, but it's so incredibly draining that I couldn't really have taken much more. It's also got multiple endings and hidden things to unlock on subsequent playthroughs, but the endings are much improved on the originals, genuinely providing a fitting, satisfying conclusion - but more impressively, the ending you get is based on how you actually play the game, which besides being very clever is also surprisingly accurate in terms of providing the end you would think be most fitting to the story.
Cons:
- Less Scary: As I mentioned above, it's still one of the scarier games I've played, with truly nail-biting atmosphere - but it just isn't as scary as the original Silent Hill. Maybe it's because you've already learnt to be ready for anything, but it's more because the original was completely focused on creating the most nightmarish, terrifying world it possibly could - Silent Hill 2 is more interested in psychological and story elements, which results in something deeper, but less outright scary (particularly regarding the monsters: they're certainly grotesque and reflect elements of the story, but they're also too slow and lumbering to be a constant threat).
- Disappointing Boss Fights: This is perhaps a little harsh since the game doesn't really focus on boss fights and other traditional game elements, but it does still have them - and apart from one very memorable semi-battle that catches you by surprise, they're a bit underwhelming in the grand scheme of things.
- Minimal Exploration: Just like the original, the game has the appearance of being slightly open-world, but in reality you're mostly shepharded down one narrow path - this was understandable enough in the original becasue of the PS1's limitations, but Silent Hill 2 could have given you a bit more of a free reign to explore (if anything, there's less reason to look around in the sequel, with fewer non-essential locations to visit). The original Resident Evil gave a good blueprint in terms of how to do this: there was still only really one way to get through it, but it let you do a lot of it in the order you wanted, forcing you to explore and immerse yourself in its creepy world.
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While it's a shame it couldn't keep up the remarkable, unrelenting nightmare of tension and terror that the original concucted, this game is still a fantastic example of how storytelling, atmosphere and production can all combine to create something unforgettable. Yahtzee was right - this isn't to be missed!