Silent Hill may have been late to the survival horror party but it hit harder than just about any other franchise at the time aside from Resident Evil. Its combination of setting, themes, art direction, and psychological horror made for one of the finest horror games of all time. This also translated to exceptionally strong sales, once again proving to Konami that trouble employees could still be useful. This is usually the part of the story where Konami drops the team behind the first game and rapes the name into a franchise…..but that’s not what happened. Instead, they simply threw a bunch of money and resources at the team and said “Do it again.”
In a lot of ways, Silent Hill 2 is one of the few cases of a perfect storm in the gaming industry. The game had a good team that enjoyed the process, it was given the resources needed to make it good, it had the support of its fans and publisher and was created free of focus testing and corporate interference. All the while garnering strong sales and critical praise upon its release. Anyone who worked on or played Silent Hill 2 loves the title and to this day it is considered to be one of the best video games of all time and the finest horror game ever created. A statement I wholeheartedly agree with.
Story
Silent Hill 2 is a sequel in name only and thus does not follow the continuity of the previous game. Though there are some elements that carried over such as the setting of a town called Silent Hill and a few monsters and gameplay mechanics, the game does not reference any of the events that occured in the first game. You play as James Sunderland, an average joe making his way to the titular town in search of his wife Mary, whom he has received a letter from saying that she is waiting for him there at their “special place”. This is a little unnerving for James as him receiving the letter is impossible. Why? Well….because Mary is dead…..and has been for three years. The chances of her actually being in Silent Hill are below zero yet James makes his way there anyway under the delusional hope that she is somehow alive and waiting for him to come find her. As you would expect, James arrives to find that Silent Hill is the same wicked place that Harry Mason came across in the previous game. Not only that, but he finds that he’s not the only one there. He discovers that several other people are exploring the town with him, each having a different experience than himself. James doesn’t have time to worry about this, however, because for all he knows, his wife is in this town, surrounded by monsters and it’s up to him to find her and escape.
My biggest problem with Silent Hill’s plot was the final hours of the game. When the game started, it was really engaging. The combination of an empty yet familiar setting and inexplicable horrors wrapped its fingers around my neck and never let go…..that is until they explained why it was happening in the first place. I’ve always believed that what you don’t understand is a lot creepier than what you do understand because when you are dealing with the unknown, you feel a little more helpless whereas when you understand something, you know how to handle it and thus it’s not as scary. For example, zombies aren’t really that scary because everyone knows how to kill a zombie. A monster from one of H.P Lovecraft’s books…..no idea how to deal with that that terrifies me. Silent Hill 2, by ignoring the fact that it is a sequel is able to start from scratch, make up its own rules, and craft a truly terrifying experience. Part of the reason it is effective is the fact that a lot of what happens in the game is left up to interpretation. Though things such as the nature of some of the monsters are explained, most of it is intentionally vague. For example, one of the common theories about the game is that everything that is happening is in James’ head and if you think about it, a lot of what people have said in support of this makes sense. That’s also the conclusion I came to as I was listening to the final lines of dialogue though I can’t explain why without spoiling the plot. However, that’s only in regards to the stuff that relates to James. Everything outside of him simply can’t be explained. The biggest mystery of them all being why all this is happening in Silent Hill. It has been said that Silent Hill is an evil place that attracts people who are psychologically damaged and feeds off their misery by personifying their mental issues. For example, Pyramid Head, the most famous monster in the series, represents sexual frustration and a desire to be punished. The question is, why does this happen? How does this town draw in these people? What the hell is Silent Hill? The answer is never given and that makes the town infinitely more creepy than say the Spencer Mansion in Resident Evil. You don’t understand what is going on because the game doesn’t want you to.
Where the game really one ups the first game though is in its characters. Now that’s not to say the characters in the first game were bad but there wasn’t a great deal to them. In Silent Hill 2, all of the characters are suffering from some kind of mental issue. These range from suicidal thoughts, spurts of explosive anger, and sociopathic behavior. Whereas the characters in the previous game were just kind of there as a break for the player, these people lend credence to the fact that Silent Hill is a very bad place full of damaged people. And nowhere is that more apparent than our main character, James, who is in my opinion the greatest protagonist in any work of horror, period. Quote me on that.
Think back to all the great works of horror. How many of them have memorable protagonists? Not a whole lot, huh? Aside from Ash Williams from Evil Dead, Ripley from Alien and Martin Brody from Jaws, most horror movie protagonists are either victims of sheer terror or observers of paranormal events. James, on the other hand, is a character with an actual story arc and backstory, much of which plays out in game. Without spoiling too much, James is not a mentally well character and there is a lot more to the death of his wife than a simple disease. It all builds to one of the most shocking and horrific revelations in any work of horror that will change your perspective on everything that has happened up to that point. James is not a hero, he is a victim, and he is as much a tormentor of himself as the town is. He is the very definition of a poor unfortunate soul and whether or not he deserves to move on with his life is up to you to decide.
The story in Silent Hill 2 is simply fantastic. It’s smart, it’s creepy, it’s disturbing, it’s simply an amazing piece of storytelling.
10/10
Graphics & Sound
The graphics have seen a major upgrade from the PS1 game. The characters and environments are rendered in a more believable manner, the animations feel more natural and it all runs much better as well. It’s also very interesting from an artistic standpoint. Where as the first iteration of Silent Hill appeared to be in pristine condition (signs of a bloodbath aside), this version of Silent Hill appears dilapidated, as if it’s been rotting away for several years. Some have attributed this to James’ mental state in comparison to Harry. Harry was heading to Silent Hill for a vacation, so it makes sense that it would be a bit cleaner looking than how it looks in the eyes of James. Silent Hill was apparently a special place for James and his wife but now that his wife is gone, the place is probably very painful for James to revisit, hence why it looks the way it does. Even the fog appears to be hazardous. The way it moves as James makes his way through it is really unnatural, almost as if it’s alive. My favorite aspect of the game, though, is the monsters. You of course got returning favs like the Nurses along with original enemies like the Crawlers. The most memorable monster in the game, though, is Pyramid Head. Like I said earlier, Pyramid Head represents a desire to be punished as well as sexual frustration. This can be seen in its visual similarity to an executioner with the pointed hood and giant blade. However, this “hood” is metallic in nature and is visibly painful to wear, almost as if it overshadows anything else in it’s miserable existence. It also overshadows a certain something below the belt if you catch my drift. It’s just such an unsettling creature, coming in at number 3 on my list of scariest enemies in video games.
The sound design is excellent as well. The soundtrack features some upbeat songs but most of the game sports atmospheric pieces that do everything they can to freak you out. There will be times when you walk into a room only to have a strange musical cue go off, indicating that something dangerous is nearby when, really, you are alone. The sound effects on the monsters is wonderfully freaky as well. I think my favorite of them all is again, Pyramid Head, whose presence is highlighted by its painful moaning and the metallic screech of its giant blade as it drags across the floor. I just can’t get over how scary that thing is. The only real low point in the game is the voice acting which isn’t of a much higher caliber compared to the previous game. A lot of the delivery can come off as cheesy but it can be effective when it needs to be. And again, there aren’t any Jill Sandwiches.
The graphics and sound design in this game are some of the finest you will ever see on the PS2 though I do feel the need to dock it for the voice acting.
9/10
Gameplay
Though Silent Hill 2 may be operating on a different set of rules in regards to its narrative, it doesn’t deviate too far from the gameplay foundation of the previous game. It is still at its core a survival horror game in the vein of Resident Evil. The goal of the game is to simply survive the horrors around you while solving puzzles and managing your resources so that you can consistently fight off the monsters and keep yourself in good health. Many of the elements that set Silent Hill apart from its rival such as the thick fog, inky darkness, and monster detecting radio are still here and they work just as well. It is still very creepy to be wandering through the fog only to have static blare from your radio, indicating that something is heading your way and that you either need to head for the hills or prepare to fight.
Sadly, the game hasn’t really improved on the control. The game still uses those god forsaken tank controls and I have no idea why they still insist on using them. At the very least, they did tighten up the controls so James doesn’t feel as sluggish as Harry. The combat is still pretty bland, though. Either retreat to safe distance and fire your guns or wait for them to get close so you can brain them with whatever melee weapon you have. It still works fine, but it’s boring and can be frustrating at times. For example, melee weapons usually have two attacks: swing or smash. This should be easy to understand. Swing to knock an enemy down, smash to kill them once they are on the floor. I don’t know if I am doing something wrong but I could never get James to smash when he needed to. There was nothing more annoying than knocking an enemy to the floor only to have James keep swinging his weapon like a dumba** instead of bring it down on their skull. Many have defended the flawed combat as a necessary evil because James is an everyman and not a trained fighter…..which I have to call bulls*** on. Do you really need to have combat training to know how to hit freaky monsters with a lead pipe? Also, if he is so untrained, how is it that he knows how to load and operate the guns he finds? Hell, James actually proves to be a very accurate shot as well so clearly he knows what he’s doing! It’s not legitimate justification for what at the end of a day is a usable yet poorly put together form of combat.
Where Silent Hill 2 really shines is when you are free to explore the areas it forces you into. Making your way through the fog of Silent Hill is still as creepy as ever and the areas where you venture indoors are insanely unnerving. There are some great set piece moments that never fail to put me on edge. A good example of this is the first appearance of Pyramid Head, whom you first see in front of you behind a set of bars. One minute it’s there then the next minute, it’s not. Likely having left and is now searching for a way to get to where you are. The level that really shines, though, is the Silent Hill Historical Society. You walk into this place expecting it to be some kind of museum but instead you find yourself making your way through an underground prison that just keeps going deeper and deeper. There is never a point in this game where I felt safe which is a testament to how scary this game is despite the fact that there are no jumpscares and that you can defend yourself.
When it comes to horror and exploration, Silent Hill 2 is in a league of its own but it still struggles as a playable game. The combat just isn’t designed all that well and the tank controls still get on my nerves despite being better than they were in in the first game.
7/10
Difficulty
The critical flaw of the first Silent Hill was its difficulty. A lot of the puzzles were extremely difficult and because it was so dark, it was really hard to miss key items needed to get by. Silent Hill 2 manages to negate these issues by adding separate difficulty levels for combat and puzzles, allowing you to circumvent the crappy combat and make the puzzles easier to figure out. As for finding items in the darkness, they added a simple but effective gameplay mechanic. Whenever James enters a room with an important item, he will turn his head and look at it. This was very helpful and it was because of this that I was able to not only get all the items I needed to progress forward but also keep myself stocked with ammo and health items. It was inconsistent at times, though. Though James will always look at an important item, it has to be out in the open. For example, there is one part of the game where a key item is in an overturned fridge. In the dark, I kept mistaking this for a table and ignored it so I walked past it a few times before I realized that I could interact with the object. Would it have been so hard to have James look at it to let me know I could interact with it? Also, there aren’t any annoying parameters that need to be met in order to get a specific ending. Instead, the ending you get is based purely on how you play the game, taking into account where you went, how you managed your health, and how you interacted with certain characters.
9/10
Content
The game clocks in about 8 to 10 hours, about the same length as the previous game and like before, there are a lot of alternate endings that encourage multiple playthroughs. And yes, some of those endings are a complete joke……I love them so much.
