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The Hill is Back

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 17 / 17
Date: September 30, 2001
Author: Amazon User

Okay a review from a guy whose actually played the game, but first . . . I was prompted to write in when fellow reviewers rebutaled against some gent who gave this game a bad review when in fact he either didn't play it, played the demo, or played a japanese import version; which is sad. When Silent Hill one came out, I found a demo in some game magazine and gave it a whirl; and i hated it. There was a glitch in a puzzle, the controls were not very good, and the guy w/ the gun couldn't hit anything. Despite my thoughts, i noticed gamers and magazines raving how great it was, i checked into it asked questions and found the game was fixed from the demo, and they were right, i bought it and loved it. And that's all she wrote, so if you hate the game 'cause of a demo and/or import, go out and play the real deal, you'll thank yourself for it.

It might seem sad that one could get scared or freaked out by a game, but guarented this one, like its predecessor, will get to ya. The spooks and chills aren't the variety where you jump out and grab your sister from behind the staircase--startling. The horror and despair derives that from a deep story that gets into your mind and doesn't let go. The quality of Silent Hill is amazing; it isn't the same hash, it isn't evil corporations churning out zombies for profit (capcoms lol). The town of Silent Hill is corroded, dilapated; just like the first. The streets have been cut off from the rest of the world and freaky things r haunting the streets hidden in fog which now swirls and writhes about you like a living thing. Creatures abound and you can hear gnashing of teeth, growls, and a plethora of crumbling machines pistoning and squealing in the distance. This game will have you looking all about trying to locate these noises, making you wonder if theres something out there that will harm you.

Silent Hill is a sequel that stands on its own, you don't have to play the first to understand whats going on. The ps2 gives the game a whole new level of kick w/ its graphics. My one complaint w/ the first was the ugly and fairly bland enemies. Now we have a machine that truely brings out the terror of these monsters; by way of their looks and their flipped out movements. The story, you've probably heard, and the character is similar to harry mason from the first in that he isn't anyone special, no special forces rambo wanna bes here. I doubt the res evil crew could hack it in silent haha. Not appropriate for children; you may have to keep the lights on, friends nearby, and play it in increments, because people do get freaked out w/ this series (i know, i've had friends you couldn't sleep at night, and ran home in the after dark when they had to walk to their apartment from a friends-- and that guys was like 23). This is the first time i've played a game w/a dual shock and so the controls were a bit funky at first, but if you're like me, you'll take to it like a duck to water; the vibration only ads the game. Plus, if you don't mind zipping back to the graphics, its fun to see the main character swing his head back and forth w/ the analog. A cool feature w/ the game is that when you enter an area w/ an item, James will swing his head about to hone in on the object, making finding items and your foe alot easier. To be honest, I can't say enough about the good in this game, it may not be perfect, but hey, its a blast. Power up the game and watch the detailed (graphicly) intro, and I'll bet you'll be wondering why the hell would anyone go down the mountain road encased in fog . . . sorry no . . . james bud, if you're smart you would have turned back and run . . ask harry!! So come on in, relax, pick up that board, fire up the radio, welcome back to silent hill, the sanctuary of memories, welcome back to hell.

awesome sequel to the world's creepiest game

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 15 / 15
Date: December 09, 2001
Author: Amazon User

When simply viewing the game, the visuals are superbly done. A distinct atmosphere is created, and the character definition is excellent. At times, such features as fog and lack of lighting can overcast the graphics, however, this is meant to add to the environment, and it does just that. The CGs are beautiful as they should be, and are one of the reasons the game can be as spine-chilling as it is. The detail that is shown in these scenes is sick, and thatýs what is great about them. Silent Hill 2 is absolutely a gross depiction of your worst nightmares, and is just that much more fun to experience while you are awake. Be warned, though, SH2 may seep into your subconscious and be waiting for you when you close your eyes, thatýs how detailed a few cut scenes can get at times. When speaking solely of gameplay graphics, SH2 does a terrific job. The game doesnýt quite compete with titles such as Devil May Cry, ICO, or Gran Turismo 3, but then again, those types of games arenýt trying to create the atmosphere SH2 is hoping for. When attempting to create a setting that is eerie and mysterious, brilliant graphics are not what is desired. Konami has achieved a very paranormal affect, and the overall feeling of the game benefits because of it.

The story in Silent Hill 2, although taking place in the same town, is completely different then the first. If you recall, the original Silent Hill dealt with the character Harry, who was searching for his daughter, Cheryl, after a terrible car accident. SH2 tells the story of James, who has received a letter from his wife, Mary, saying she will be waiting for him in Silent Hill; the problem, however, is that Mary died three years ago of a severe illness. James knows his wife is dead, and although thinking the note may be a hoax, decides to journey on through the hellish conditions of Silent Hill. The gameplay is similar of the first, as it is your task to search the town encountering some of the most twisted and perverse images your mind can handle. Armed with only a wooden plank (stick) to begin with, you will soon be treated with a handgun to fight off creatures. I found, however, the 3-foot wooden stick to be very affective against the random creatures you encounter, especially since you need to save your handgun bullets for more ferocious enemies. Entangled in the game are clever puzzles for you to solve, which gives the gameplay an element of adventure that is nice to see. The difficulty of the puzzle is determined on the game setting you choose: Easy, Medium, or Hard, and the same is done with the Action level. What I like most about Silent Hillýs gameplay is the constant paranoia that you will feel. Given the constructed camera angles, at times things will literally jump out at you, immediately putting you on the offensive. The feeling of vulnerability and helplessness is played out perfectly, and truly gets your heart racing at points in the game. It is obvious that this aspect was looked into heavily by Konami, and in my eyes, they have succeeded.

The sound in Silent Hill 2 works perfectly with the surroundings, and makes for an intense encounter every time you turn around. When moving from room to room the musical score changes to accommodate your progression, and hints at unique happenings as they occur. Nothing gets your blood pumping faster than the gradual rise of supernatural music, with the added elements of small details creaking in the background. Without SH2ýs sound, the game would be in no way at the level it is. Every door opening, every corner turn is executed with great presence, and allows the gamer to get the full feel of what Silent Hill is about. The voice acting is one of the best qualities in the game, as it is pulled off nicely. Konami could have rushed past this element, but I am very happy with what they have done. The background music is a mix of eerie tunes and the in-game sound affects are just as well done; stellar sound all around, which adds beautifully to the disposition.
Many people may still get frustrated with the control, and thatýs understandable. However, with Konamiýs added features, I find the control to be above average, with very little responsive problems.

For all lasting appeal purposes, it all comes down to the preference of the player. Silent Hill 2 has multiple endings, and therefore if desired, can have a very good replay value. For those who enjoy playing the game through once and stopping, obviously the replay value isnýt significant. To put it simply, if you enjoy the journey of the Silent Hill, you may very well want to venture another go at things. With the game being about 10-15 hours long, players may find themselves wanting more, and maybe changing the levels from Easy to Hard. Konami has allowed fans of the game excellent replay value, and have added elements that make this option possible.

In conclusion, to me, Silent Hill 2 did everything it set out to accomplish. People who are not fans of this genre may miss out, but in the overall picture of things Silent Hill 2 is a success in almost every category. Obviously, if you were as big a fan of the first game as I was, this purchase is a no-brainer. People who dislike survival horror games may find themselves not enjoying some truly wonderful gameplay features. However, in the end, Konamiýs twisted look into the town of Silent Hill is quite well maneuvered, and possesses qualities that every fan of survival horror titles will appreciate.

9.2 / 10

The Special Connections That Never Die

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 17 / 20
Date: January 05, 2003
Author: Amazon User

From the time I began playing the Silent Hill 2 demo until the moment I finally conquered that last piece of the puzzle and unlocked a few of its alternate endings to hold as mental keepsakes, it visions managed to plague both my sleeping and waking dreams. Although it wasn't too terribly lengthy (expect in the replay aspect category, and then only to earn those extra fates that poor James suffers) and it did have moments of annoyance because of seemingly pointless boons a players has to fetch/tasks they are asked to do (rowing a boat across a lake, for one), an addiction to the bone-chilling atmosphere began almost as soon as I emerged from that pixelated PS2 womb and into that sadly perplexing, emotionally saturated tale. I'm not sure what aspect it was exactly that kept drawing me back to it, either; if the fabrics twined by a more and more engrossing storyline as it crossed through bleak recollections and haunted valleys held me in their grasp, if it was the crystalline clarity developed within both the atmospheric fogs and haunted corridors and in the monstrous abominations that were portrayed so well that even their skin wore a glossy, almost wet sheen, if it was the background thumps and the radio screams that developed into a maelstrom of chaotic sounds as enemies closed in from - somewhere - and that kept my heart pumping and my eyes leerily teetering from side to side, or if was simply because I, like Jame's wife, simply wanted to return to Silent Hill; my "special place."

When the story begins, the player finds themselves fully submerged in a dilemma of horrific proportions, one that isn't hinged on the last tale in any way. James Sutherland, manipulated by gamers across the globe, opens by recounting that he's received a letter from his wife, Mary, telling him to meet her in Silent Hill. The only problem is that this can't be. Mary died three years ago. Still, he's certain that its her handwriting that yearns for him to join her in their "special place," stirring up memories and ghosts of a more tangible nature that grow as James moves forward. From that beginning on things morphos with a complexity that is mesmerizing, adding in disturbing characters with disturbed lives that lead you through the haunted abodes of Silent Hill and into the embrace of, well, an ending that is just as tragically disturbing as the beginning.

Along the way some sightseeing is involved as well, introducing more of that mist-enveloped town that bleeds as Jame's heart bleeds, yearning for answers that he will only find in the darkest of expanses. This is something that the first game lacked, giving it depths that sometimes transcends even our true claustrophobic responses to the unknown. A word of caution before you play, though. If you do scare easily, this might not be the game for you. The sound effects alone seem to have a hair-raising effect on survival gamers, keeping them shifting in their seats and trying to see down darkened corridors that shouldn't be able to illicit effects like that on them. I know, because it played with me like this as well, tossing me like a ragdoll in my seat until it was through with its tale. If you are like me and you do want to be scared and rewarded for your time by something a little more meaningful than your casual fright-filled experience, though, then explore the tourist attraction that has haunted countless souls. You won't be disappointed.

TBS-MSL

Sick, Gorgeous, Loved It

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 11 / 14
Date: October 11, 2001
Author: Amazon User

I am a HUGE Horror Survival game player and I have to say this is one of the ABSOLUTE BEST the genre has ever seen. Never before have I actually turned on the lights while playing because I got so edgy. I could feel my heart racing before I opened a door, I gasped when confronted suddenly with the David Lynchian creatures populating the game.

I loved the first Silent Hill but the voice talent was god awful and distracting. All has been rectified! Konami seems to have amped everything in this game, graphics, talent, perversion.

Let's talk about perversion. I have only seen such bizarre fetishism in my worst nightmares...come to think of it, I have never been this twisted. If this is the new direction of horror survival I welcome it with open arms... and eyes.

There seems to be some talk of puzzles being too hard -- I disagree. That is one thing I have no patience with and usually cop out and consult the cheats to get through them. But I haven't had to do that even once in this game. They're just hard enough to give you that goose of a thrill when you solve it. Just right... as is everything in this game. Except one thing.

The only negative...

...it had to end. :(

The greatest scare since the film Event Horizon

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 9 / 13
Date: August 16, 2001
Author: Amazon User

Silent Hill is perfect for those gamers who are looking to find a great scare, but don't want to get caught up into the Resident Evil series, which are fun don't get me wrong, but i found Silent Hill to be much more enjoyable.

Silent Hill tests your nerves by thrusting you into a creepy town devoured by dense fog, and as you'll soon find out, total darkness with only a pocket flashlight lighting your way.

Silent Hill 2 looks to break the boundries set by the first game and take your nerves to the breaking point. With screen shots i've seen, grotesque monsters, realistic fog and a richer storyline makes me think this game should come out on Halloween, but i dont want to wait that long!

If you want to play this game, you might want to check out the first SH because some questions left unanswered in the first game will, hopefully be answered in Silent Hill 2.

Silent Hill Phenonemon!!

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 8 / 14
Date: August 22, 2001
Author: Amazon User

Silent Hill~Konami~ is a great and terribly scary game. Silent Hill is about Harry Mason and his daughter Cheryl who decides to go to their favorite vacationing spot-Silent Hill! Due to car trouble they leave late at night. But as they soon enter Silent Hill a ghostly image appears and forces Harry to crash and get knocked out. Harry wakes up and realizes that his daughter is missing. He gets out of the car and notices that is early in the morning and it's snowing in the summer! He ventures into Silent Hill to find his missing daughter. Yet! He does not know what will wait for him soon...

This time in Silent Hill 2~Konami still~ Totally different characters are introduced. James Sunderland, a young man who's wife died. But years later a letter is recieved and it is his dead wife who asks him to come to Silent Hill to greet her. James decides to do so and also ventures into Silent Hill. Before he enters he meets a young lady and she seems scared of Silent Hill talking about how bazaar it is. James just ignores her opinions and walks away. But he should've listened. He will be greeted by things more horrible than his dead wife. You will soon find out in this sequel of Silent Hill...

Silent Hill 2 will be mysterious and of course frightening. Can't wait till it comes out!

Scary, Intelligent.. not for the feeble minded

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 8 / 10
Date: February 28, 2002
Author: Amazon User

I finished Silent hill 2 during the odd hours of a saturday night, and i had been thinking about it for weeks. I simply cannot emphasize enough how well put together this game is. The story line, Voice acting, Action play, sound effects... Art work.. Fantastic Graphics, originallity and not to mention the fact that it will Scare the holy ... out of you factor. It's amazing.

Basically, our hero James starts out in a rest stop bathroom near a very Creepy town. Holding in his hand is a letter and a photo from his wife MARY, who died from an illness three years ago. The letter says along the lines of... I'm waiting for you in our special place. So, we spend the next few hours searching a haunted town filled with eerie sounds, and tortured souls.... finding ourselves in abandoned apartment buildings, a hospital, bowling alley, how about an isane asylum or a prison from the late 1800's???

The game is dark... REALLY dark, but that doesn't mean under detailed. You need your flashlight to see around, meanwhile you constanly hear screams, and footsteps around you. The characters you meet are all very strange. Most of them wrapped up with their own mysterios agendas. I have my theories as to who and why they are where they are.... but i don't want to spoil this game for anyone intersted.

The music is very good, when you actually hear music, and there are plenty of riddles to keep you from getting bored of smashing evil with your board and nail combo. The game has three difficulty levels, with seperate difficulty levels just for the riddles. Oh, and how about 4 endings to choose from, depending upon what you read, see, who you talk to... I've seen one, and It was pretty terrifying.

The worst part, is analyzing the themes and messages. The endings are all.. well. you'll see.

Don't play this game alone. No wait, Do!! at night.. no, 4 am with the lights off, and i will see you in therapy.

I am not a super horror fan, but i do love story driven video games. My favorite game is Final Fantasy VII, but you name em, i've played them. Resident evil games are good if you're interested in shooting slow mummies full of rocket propelled grenades, If you have a brain and a game to fill your time with, Pick up this title. Game took me a total of 8 hours of gameplay, spanned over about 3 weeks to solve, but that's only for one ending. Take it in small doses. The replay games will be different.

So anyway, Silent hill 2, Hands down.. The most well produced video game I have EVER played.

Silent Hill 2

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 7 / 7
Date: May 18, 2002
Author: Amazon User

Silent Hill 2 is a videogame that truly proves videogames can be a beautiful work of art. The environments are excellently done and the character designs are superb. The movement of characters in some cut/FMV scenes is awkward at times but the change in facial emotion and clothing textures and folds are stunning and life-like. Shadows of objects, enemies, and characters in the game are incredibly well done. The voice acting is also excellent; particularly James, Maria and Angela. As for the story, Silent Hill 2's is very deep and enigmatic. The player shouldn't expect to understand most of the story and characters without thinking thoroughly about the clues that are given about them.

I've read through some of the negative reviews here that some people dislike the searching and gameplay. It can be tiring at times, I understand, but these are two of the main factors, which make this game realistic. You shouldn't expect James (who is supposed to be an average Joe) to be a great shot and have perfect reflexes because not everyone in the world we live in does. Many think that the designs for the creatures aren't that scary but even if they aren't, they're certainly detailed and the significance of their appearances is interesting.

About searching for many things in order to understand the story... since one of the main focuses of this game is realism, one can't expect the other characters in the game to explain to James everything about their situations and feelings openly. By searching through old documents, journals, newspapers, magazines, and other evidence in the environments the player gets more information on the history of Silent Hill and the pasts of some of the characters in the game.

I know this has been said a lot but the environments of Silent Hill 2 create a sense of paranoia and claustrophobia in the player by the mystery of not knowing what's behind a door or behind and before of James in the mostly rusty, disturbing and cramped-up rooms in the game. I'm also very amazed with the work on the shadows. They seem so accurate and realistic it makes me wonder how the animators did this and how much time it takes to program all of this.

It isn't fair to compare Silent Hill 2 with games like Grand Theft Auto 3 and Max Payne as Silent Hill 2 is a very different kind of game. Sure GTA3 is quite fun and Max Payne has some cool camera angles and both games may have more fun gameplay than Silent Hill 2...but Silent Hill 2 is all about deep characters, realism, as well as the fragile, painful and disturbing beauty of psychological horror. Silent Hill 2 has a different objective/theme and it succeeds in expressing it. I highly suggest buying this game if you like the horror/survival horror genre and respect realistic-ness in games. My congratulations to Konami for their hard work and I can't wait until Silent Hill 3 comes out!

This is the best game ever!!!

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 5 / 5
Date: August 02, 2003
Author: Amazon User

I picked up a copy of the first Silent Hill by accident one day. I had never heard anything about it. I was totally amazed at how incredible it was. So of course I bought the second one and I wasn't disappointed. The graphics are fantastic, the storyline is captivating and the characters will take turns occupying your thoughts and then giving you shivers. I have played the first game 6 times, and the second 9. This game has major replayability because it has several different endings. As a bonus, the game allows you to choose the level of play difficulty, as well as the level of puzzle difficulty so you can tailor the game to increase your satisfaction. The decisions you make during the game affect the ending, which is also a great idea. The 3DX surround sound actually had me checking to see what was upstairs before I realised the sound was actually coming from the game. I have been a gamer all my life and I have played many games, this is by far the best I have ever played. I even have a copy of SH3 on reserve when it hits Canada so I can torture myself some more. Definitely not for children or people prone to nightmares. I would give it more stars, but 5 is all I'm allowed.

Hauntingly detailed, mentally unsettling, but just a bit too short...

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 5 / 5
Date: September 23, 2006
Author: Amazon User

My initial fears that this was just an overhyped Resident Evil clone were quickly put to rest - although the two games share a genre and pieces of a control scheme, their personalities couldn't be further apart. Where the first three Resident Evils focused on the cheesier, blood-n-guts style with a hint of puzzle solving in the name of variety, Silent Hill 2 concentrates much more on the unknown, the unexplained and the psychologically disturbing. Where Resident Evil 2 is horror in the vein of Dawn of the Dead, Silent Hill 2 is more along the lines of The Ring or The Shining.

It's that establishment of potential horror, not the actual moments of battle where the monster lies revealed, that are most successful in Silent Hill and, honestly, in most of the better films within the genre. To say that this game is lacking in real scary moments would be both unfair and untrue... I jumped more times than I'm comfortable to admit while playing through this one in the dark... but it properly uses such moments as an accent, rather than a crutch. It's been said that the most horrific monster in the world can never be captured on film, because it resides within the collective imaginations of the audience. Hollywood can never frighten you as badly as you can frighten yourself. It's this kind of mentality that I see reflected in Silent Hill 2 from the very get-go. Sure, they do eventually show you the monsters, and they're significantly horrific on their own, but they're all little more than pawns in this scheme, even the bosses. They're just around to nudge your mind in the right direction, so that the little shadows you'll catch darting around at the edge of your field of vision can be more effective and more relative to the story.

In terms of atmosphere, there's very little that this game does wrong. It's learned all the right lessons from the progression and evolution of cinematic horror and applied them to the incomparably personal experience of a quality video game. It's established a unique style, a great cluster of settings, and a wonderful premise (the lead character, James, receives a letter from his wife three years after her death, pleading with him to visit the town of Silent Hill) but the actual follow-through of the story and the accompanying character interactions are lacking. This reminds me of Eternal Darkness in a way, in that a lot of the strange occurrences and developments seem completely random and are never connected to the story itself. Almost universally, the cast is detached from reality, lacking in personality and in emotion, which works within the confines of the plot but results in the player never being fully drawn into the game's world.

I came away from this game feeling as though I'd read a short story that had been padded out and enlongated thanks to the inclusion of a dozen different unrelated asides. It's a fifty page story stretched over the course of a three hundred page novel. You'll meet five non-playable centric characters around the city, but only two of them have a real bearing on the plot, which is itself little more than a series of vague insinuations. It's a real shame, too, because all of the pieces have been set in the right place to accommodate for a much more striking, intriguing tale.

Controlling James as he explores the city is fairly easy, if not entirely ideal. Several elements of the Resident Evil control scheme have surfaced with Silent Hill 2's configuration, most notably the "boat steering" movement controls. If you didn't like standing in one place, pivoting and then running directly forward or backward in Capcom's zombie-fest, you aren't going to like it here. Personally, I've grown used to it and the steering doesn't seem to get in my way any more, but I can certainly see why some players would have developed a bitter hatred for it. One thing that differs from Resident Evil's traditional setup, however, is a fully polygonal environment and a free-roaming camera. What that means is less cheap scares and monsters hiding in plain sight, and a much more interactive experience.

I'll come right out and admit to savoring every last bit of the visual direction and graphical representations of Silent Hill 2. If there's one area that this game absolutely nails, it's this: everything from the character designs to the environments to the simple, yet undeniably successful, film grain texture that overlays every moment of gameplay... it's all an unbridled success. This is among the most thought-out, fully realized visual productions I've ever seen in a game, and even the hardware limitations of the original Xbox are addressed in a concise, effective manner that works within the confines of the big picture. The dreamlike state of your visit to the town explains away the boundaries around the playable area... you don't run into an invisible wall, there are just mysterious tarps or bottomless pits sealing off certain parts of town. You'll accept it at face value because, hey, you just fired three rounds into a set of animated mannequin legs.

Another noteworthy visual innovation is the complete lack of any kind of heads-up display or on-screen indicator. With the multitude of potential actions and inventory items that seem to have completely overtaken the industry, it's a nice change of pace to see a game with just a character and an environment on the screen at any given time. It not only keeps the playing field open for some of the more subtle effects, but also makes the experience even more akin to that of watching a movie.

The appearance of the monsters remains among the most successfully frightening I've ever seen. It's easy to throw sharp teeth, bumpy skin and red eyes onto something, call it an enemy and commence with the cheap scares. What's not so easy is introducing a baddie that's horrifying if just because you have no idea what in the living hell it really is. The bad guys of SH2 are, obviously, the latter. They don't always look so much like they're attacking you out of anger, so much as they're lashing out because they're constantly in pain and see anything that moves as a possible cause. I almost felt pity for these things, their existence is so pitiful, so filled with tragedy.

I can't rightfully discuss the visuals of this game without giving some love to the incredible lighting effects, either. I'd truthfully rank this game ahead of the original Splinter Cell in that category, and Sam Fisher's first romp was released almost specifically to show off everything the Xbox could do in that respect. In Silent Hill 2, you travel the entire city with just a flashlight, which (needless to say) is handled magnificently. Everywhere you go, that single light source is playing with your surroundings to cast all sorts of bizarre, frightening, downright malicious shadows throughout the room

I adored the majority of my experience with Silent Hill 2. The story, while thin at times, is generally workable and never really insultingly self-indulgent. The length of the game bothered me a bit, as the main game map is quite elaborate and seemed to have a lot of unrealized potential, but that goes back to the weakness of the basic plot and the lack of any major side stories of consequence. If you've got a weekend to kill and want to be emotionally shaken, this is exactly the game for you. It features one of the best all-around identities in the history of the industry, takes dozens of hints from the lessons learned by its predecessors in film, and is truly horrifying on several levels. If the story had been a little thicker and the cast had been fleshed out a little further, this would've been close to perfect.

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