| Silent Hill 2 Resident Evil chill factor- 2/5 Alone In the Dark chill factor- 3/5 Silent Hill Chill factor 4/5, yes it's the scariest game ever to appear on a videogame format, it all started on the old friend that we call the Psone now, so if you played the original you'll remember those dark corridors, those weird monsters and that head twisting plot, well as you may of already guessed, THAT hell town is back! James Sutherland's wife died from a disease, but why has she contacted him to come and meet up with her? It's a mysterious thing that dead people don't normally do, and something dead people can't probably do, so he comes to the town of Silent Hill, and what does the guy find? a woman who looks like the mirror double of his dead wife Mary, but why? What�s going on here? You'll have to play to find out, but it is one hell of a geniusly written plot driven horror come love story. The characters are crafted brilliantly, James is a tortured soul, and misses his wife dearly, the letter which he apparently received from her drives him on his quest to be reunited with her, but as you would expect doubts constantly cross his mind. While the female role of the story talks and looks exactly like Mary (apart from her hairstyle) she is strongly centred to the story�s fuel, keeping it running as James tries to find what is going on, some of the best scenes of the game involve her and James, there is a few more characters, but as I have mentioned the two main leads I'll let you meet the supporting cast of characters, just let me tell you that they all are somewhat strange, but the character scripting and the acting is great, although none are perfect as you'll find out! The game is much harder then the recent PS2 version of Resident Evil: Code Veronica, the puzzles on the latter are basically a walk through the park compared to Silent Hill 2's torturing puzzles, and there are so many rooms and corridors, unused items, places to use items around that it is hard to decide what to do next or where to go next, this is one of the games worst downers and does spoil the all round experience, although the plot and the visuals will be pleasing, the game on the whole is difficult but the saviours have been kind TONIGHT! As James is a normal living guy who lacks the expertise of a soldier (for example the cast of Resident Evil characters, even Claire knows how to use a gun, although she doesn't seem to have any past as any kind of soldier) he can't use a gun as well as he could if he was a soldier, which is very realistic, bullets will miss monsters, I found the game easiest (on the Easy mode anyways) using the plank of wood which James takes off a fence, the slower monsters seem to be very easy to kill with this lethal close range weapon( may I also mention, that it is fun and hilarious in a virtual kind of way to hit a monster over the head with a plank of wood, and then watch it flee or follow it and repeat the latter) So the direction of the game is most probably aimed at the more puzzle clever than the Resident Evil series. It's dark! I'm talking of the graphics of course, real dark I can confirm, hardly any light, and when there is light it's foggy. The visuals do sound boring on paper, but trust me these are some of the greatest graphics to ever grace a console, although the beginning of the game doesn't show off the graphics to there greatest, as it is set in the thick fog, it does give you an idea of what to expect later on, grainy, but not in a bad way at all, a ploy that is meant to scare you out of your wits I guess, you'll get the idea if you have played or are going to play it in the future. It's when you enter the first DARK building that you notice the brilliance in the graphical design, as it's dark James needs a torch of course, and that's exactly what he has, shining around corridors or small rooms, looks good, but it has been visually accomplished in other games and I mean Psone games such as the prequel to the game under the scope right now and Alone In The Dark: The New Nightmare (which has a more visually polished PS2 version) but it's when you see the shadows casting across the walls and floor, these shadows react to light beams as you would expect them to, they merge larger in to the wall from certain distances and of course smaller. James and the monsters are great looking models, with some of the best visions of deformed monsters ever seen in any kind of media entertainment, they look kind of rubbery, sparkling in the dark as if they are wet or have the same texture as a fish, although the brilliant sounds and music create atmosphere, the graphics create the real strength in the atmosphere, the power of the PS2 allows this all to happen, Brilliant! Backed up by a great making of DVD documentary (which covers everything) Silent Hill 2 is best described as a visual spectacular, but it has the gameplay (although hard) and an excellent story too.Chris Wigham 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 |