Get Terrified in Silent Hill 2 AKA How Kenshin Guy Got His Groove Back

"Fear.

Fear attracts the fearful.

The Strong, the Weak." - Darth Maul

Some of you may be wondering why I am quoting Darth Maul for an otherwise meaningless review of a video game. Well, to be honest, this quote directly affects the game with its truth. This game is scary, it attracts the fear we all want to experience otherwise we'd not play it. The strong play it because all the tough guys want to be scared and then there's the weak. The weak is what corresponds to the game.

It's quite the rage today that the people in Video Games are either mentally weak, or physically weak. Look for instance at Ico; you're in control of a little horned boy with a stick. Sound like he's a powerhouse? I think not. Then of course you can look at Twisted Metal: Black and see many mentally weak characters as they bash the crap outta each other. It would be the next best thing to have both, mentally and physically weak character be at your control next yes? Well, yeah.

You take control of James Sunderland, a man who is looking for answers about his late wife in the city of Silent Hill. Why's he in this particular city now? He's either a complete 'foolio' and wants to die, or he got a letter from his dead wife telling him to look for her there. I could say it's both of the reasons but really, it's only the last one. It seems Silent Hill was the place where James and his wife got all romantic and all and now it's being inhabited by Demons and monsters of the sort. Why? Doesn't matter, it's just creepy and that's all we care about. Along the way James finds more people that were "drawn" to the city for one reason or another and he eventually gets in over his head searching for his dead wife.

It should be said that this is one of the only games I've ever played where I think the M rating for mature gamers is rightly deserved. First off, the game is just nasty in its ways of content towards being a straight-out creepy kind of game. The monsters/demons/whatever-they-are-but-they-freak-me-out-Oh-My-God-One's-Coming-At-Me-NOW are truly some of the weirdest, most terrifying things that would haunt even Charles Manson’s nightmares. First off, there's these weird stop-motion "things" that look like people that wander on endlessly looking for fresh blood. (READ: You) They're just creepy enough to make you play with the lights on. Secondly, there's this supposed boss character called "Pyramid Head" which I am still trying to get out of my mind. This guy carries what looks like a 5 foot long meat cleaver and will stop at nothing to slice you into lil' itty bitty bite size James Sunderland snake cakes.

That's not where the creepiness ends; it's really where it begins, with the ideas for the monsters. What brings the realistic look of them to life is the amazing graphical design done to them. There's no doubt in my mind that if the graphics in the game were bad, then the game would flat out suck. I mean, just looking at some of these demons makes me want to run away screaming! It's not just the extremely bloody detailed effects done to the enemies either. Remember the fog from the first Silent Hill? Well, it's been implemented back here and it's better than ever. The town is a suburban wasteland of epic proportions. Every building, every lamp post, every mailbox has its own unique and distinguished look to itself. Walking through the dank, dark remains of the game's first real level, the Apartments sent chills down my spine. The detail that was put into designing these places is incredible. Every low lit long hallway makes me second guess a decision to go forward, every dark and empty room filled with a mere lone couch makes me believe there's something more to it.

The sound, which is arguably the biggest part of every Survival Horror game, is superb. For the lack of a better word, it's perfect. Every scream, every stab, every groan from you or your enemies is just a delight to hear. It's most useful to praise the sound from your demon detector as I call it. Whenever a baddies gets close to you, a signal is directed to your radio telling you its close with a static noise. The lengths to which this creeped me out is beyond me. Whenever I walked into a room to the sound of the radio beating rapidly around me I froze, it was that well done. No Kidding.

If you have ever played a Resident Evil game, you're accustomed to its horrible control it presents with its mediocre storylines. Well, say that you took away the bad controls and it’s all better, then you'd have Silent Hill 2 thankfully. SH2 offers a free-moving environment for you to move around in and the bad camera angles are a thing of the past. In a sense, the only bad thing about SH2 is how you have to turn the rather slow James around corner and turn him to strike enemies. The controls are very responsive and obey you no matter what unlike some others games *cough* THE BOUNCER *cough*.

in closing
I have been banned from Epinions for a little over 2 months and it's good to be back. In short, this game rocks, go get it. If not, then you're dumb! :)

~Aaron

Copyright 2001 Kenshin Guy Productions