Re:Silent Hill 2 review

[The Witness]

Silent Hill 2 review

 

Irish Cowboy ||10-28-2001| |04:32 AM| |TheIrishCowboy@hotmail.com|

Upon completion of the game, I feel its fair to make a review now, and even tho me & Timbo are bout the only folks here with a chance at playin it, here i go anyway.

*Graphics:Highly detailed.  A tad grainy at first, but ealry in the game you'll realize that's part of the effect: its a haze found in certain scenes of "Seven" and such.  It can be turned off, after you beat the game, but while high-rez mode looks great, it's not as fitting.  

Cut-scenes are amazingly well animated, and the in-game graphics are not too far off.  The visuals make up a large part of the environment, along with..

*Sound: Cant remember the last time a game utilized sound this well.  While a bose system isnt necessary, a system of at least 2 front speakers is a bare minimum; playing this game in mono would be a crime.

Beasts can be heard moaning and approcahing from all angles; screams can be heard in the distance, and just like last time, the soundtrack along makes you want to piss your pants.  Many times, the sound will unnerve you more than the visuals, and that's sayin a lot.

One thing oughta be said for the sound during CG's & cut scenes: Again, well done.  The dubbing is excellent, voice acting is top-notch.  Combined with the quality of the CG's, characters move and sound exactly how they ought to in the game's many disturbing cinemas - just when you think running into a human will lighten things up, it makes you even more uncomfortable.  

*Gameplay - Again, Resident Evil type controls, which I'm great with, but can be a tad rough on a new player.  Very responsive nonetheless, and even on hard mode, both enemies and puzzles maintain difficulty, but never so much as to throw the game out the window or buy a strategy guide (but the online one helped).  The game is linear enough to leave the player temporarily stumped, but never lost.

*Overall: An unparalled experience.  I've never so much wanted to stop playing a game and yet keep playing at the same time, just to see what's going on.  Much like part 1, every time you think you know where the plot's going, you're tripped up.  Take Timbo's immortal advice on the series: "Play it alone and in the dark."  The game will constantly unnerve you, and not in a Wes Craven, Resident Evil pop-up kind of scare, but rather a constant unsettling, more akin to the opening day showing of "Blair Witch" (the first part, and back when folks thought it was real an all).  

The game will fuck with you, but the excellent storytelling and pace/progression, which does not even lose wind towards the end as most recent games have, will keep you going, if for no other reason to end it.  And with 5 endings (ive seen 3 so far) and hidden items/weapons/options openeing after each ending, there's replay value to boot.

**9.7, only due to the control system & a few other very minor complaints.  A must buy for PS2 and soon-to-be X-box (boo!).

 

Irish Cowboy ||10-28-2001| |03:22 PM| |TheIrishCowboy@hotmail.com|

PS could someone have Timbo read this? Im just about done with the game if he wants to borrow it.  He can definitely borrow Devil May Cry tho, i think he'd really go for it.