Silent Hill 2

Bet no one saw this coming
It is the best horror game, EVA! End off.

Ok, I will actually talk about it in depth.
PLEASE NOTE: THERE WILL BE SPOILERS.

The Game
Developer: KCE Toyko (Team Silent)
Publisher: Konami
Console: PS2, Xbox + PC
Release Date: November 23, 2001

Overview
I have loved this game ever since I picked it up. It is in no way related, storyline that is, to the first Silent Hill; it is completely separate, much like a new game. I have lost count of how many times I have played this game, I know it nearly back to front and I won't every put it down. It is the game that I play when I am down or just want to play an actual good game, instead of some games that are being released that can't even stand up to Silent Hill 2.
I am going to try and make this review as un-bias as possible, if you have never played the game, then you can actually get a feel for it, instead of some fan boys orgasmic review, where he makes it better when one aspect might be a bit rubbish. The game is a very much psychological horror, by this, I don't mean things just out at you and try to scare you into weeping like a little girl, I mean a game that plays with your mind and goes a lot deeper than a quick jump.

Introduction
Silent Hill 2 takes place in an foggy and creepy town in the northeastern parts of America. However, that is just to put it on a locational map. It is more to be considered that the actual location is not on earth, but more in 'limbo' where the person is there to confront their deepest and darkest fears.

Storyline
The game starts with a man called James Sunderland, who is the main protagonist of the game. This strapping young fellow theregoesthenon-baiscomments has blond hair, wears a green jacked and I got the feel from the start, that he was just empty. Not the characterization, but the feeling the game gave me.
He receives a letter from his wife asking him to come to a place called Silent Hill. Not a problem right? We are all asked to do things we might not want to. However, the twist is, his wife has been dead for over 3 years. The letter reads:

"In my restless dreams, I see that town, Silent Hill. You promised you would take me there again someday, but you never did. Well, I'm alone there now, in our special place. Waiting for you."

Probably not the letter you expect to get, right? Due to James being depressed since she died 3 years ago, he emotionally drives to Silent Hill. Once you reach Silent Hill, you are blocked by a road block so you can not carry on any further, only way to access the town now is on foot, which James does.
First thing that came into my mind was, uhhh... why is the road blocked? This can't be good. I knew the games outline when I first played it, but Christ, I was still wondering every, little thing.

As you carry on, you start to see a fog thicken as you walk into a graveyard, where you meet a female character called Angela; sitting among the tombstone. The conversation makes, pretty much, no sense in the context of the story, it is like they aren't even speaking to each other. The reason she is in Silent Hill, is because she had a rather bad childhood; her father abusing her and such. However, he died in a house fire, but it seems like she had done it.
Moving on from the conversation, you finally enter the town and you are greeted by a VERY thick fog. Upon looking at the town, the decore seems very out of date, everything having a feeling of 70's, even though the game is set in the present day of its release; strange.
As you carry on, you encounter a very strange and disturbing monster. It has no arms, is covered in skin and vomits some black ooze that is almost like acid. You encounter a few of these throughout the game, but that isn't really storyline stuff.

As you progress through the game, you encounter a person called Eddie. He is a nice fellow who helps you on your travels. Oh wait, no he isn't. When we see him, he is vomiting into a toilet with a dead monster in the same room. When spoken to, he seems to be very evasive, denying he had anything to do with the dead creature. However, he doesn't say anything about the body; also strange.
Moving on through the story and puzzles, the next person you encounter is a little girl called Laura. You know this can't be a good thing, since little girls in horror games/movies are normally messed up. You find out that she was in the same hospital as Mary three years ago. But, why is she there? Also, wouldn't she be very young three years ago, since she looks about 6-7. I was more scratching my head than playing at this point.

Enough of the crazy, lost girl, you move through a park, to where you might find the dead wife AND YOU DO. Well, you don't, but you seem to find her identical twin, but she is called Maria. Her clothes are rather seductive and sexy, her personality matching this, where as Mary is portrayed as a calm, pleasant individual; hinting here, are you Team Silent?
After her being offended that he thought she was someone else, they team up to find his real wife. However, the team doesn't last very long, as she is brutally killed killed by Pyramid Head and he can do nothing about it. LOVELY!

Moving through the game and we encounter Eddie again, the lovable demented person, as he seem to be insane with a lot more dead bodies strewn around him. It seems that Eddie has been killing 'people' for the fun of it and tries to take James life, however, fails and gets shot my the lovely Mr. Sunderland. Once you enter the inn, if you look at the note from Mary that you get at the start of the game, you will see that it is blank. I had to play it again to even see that, but that does bring up questions as to what the hell is going on. Did the note even have anything on it in the first place?

James and Mary did visit Silent Hill before and they stayed in the inn that he is currently venturing. As he enters the room they stayed in, it turns out that the room is in perfect condition, unlike the rest of the inn. WHAT!?
In the room, there is a video and a VRC, naturally James picks it up and watches it.
The grainy video shows a sick Mary in bed. James comes in and appears to kiss her on the head, before taking a pillow and shoving it on her face until she is dead. DOUBLE WHAT!?!?
At the end of the video Laura, the crazy little girl, enters the room and asks if James has found her wife. TRIPLE WHAT!?!!?!?!?!?! HOW THE HELL DID SHE GET THERE?

Here is the conclusion. It turns out that Mary didn't die three years ago, she got sick three years ago and only died recently. The disease that Mary contracted turned her from a gental, kind human to a horrible, demanding and disfiguring person, who wasn't the Mary he fell in love with. It seems that he killed her to end both of their misery, but after this event, James blocks it out of his memory.
The reason he is in Silent Hill, is to confront his fears and demons over what he had done.

Depending on the players actions and decisions in the game, there are seven different endings, but there are only 3 which make a difference to the plot, so I will only talk about them. The first is James appears at his wife's bedside and confesses that he killed her due to not wanting her to suffer, but also due to selfishness, as he couldn't carry on anymore. He is forgiven by her and asks him to carry on his life, where we see him with Laura exiting Silent Hill.
The second is where James leaves with Maria. Yes, that is right, she is alive again. And he decides he doesn't want to be alone and to spend the rest of his days with her, however, as they are leaving, Maria coughs. This could signify her having his wife's disease and showing he will have to go through it all again.
Then there is the depressing ending, where, even though he sees Mary and she tells him to carry on with his life, he drives into a river and kills himself, saying before dying:

"Now we can be together..."

I hope I haven't disturbed or depressed you from that storyline, but it really is a stunning and emotionally twisting game to play when you actually pick it up.

Graphics
The graphics in this game are dark, twisted, but beautiful at the same time. I really liked the graphics and the thick fog always made me guess what was around the corner, even if I could maybe guess.
It really gave you a feeling of being alone, in a strange world and not knowing what to expect. You have dirty, rotting buildings in one part, then you enter a calm and desolate park, then you can find yourself in a perfect room, before being dumped in a rotting place once more. It truly is a aesthetical roller coaster ride. You have to remember that it was brought out over 10 years ago, the graphics are DAMN good for when it was released.

Gameplay
The gameplay is smooth and true. Although the cameras can be a pain in the behind at times, it strangly adds to the feel of the game, even if it is just due to it being annoying and glitchy. When fighting monsters, James Sunderland can seem sluggish and annoyingly hard to control. However, my conclusion on this is, he isn't a super hero. He is a greif stricken man, he isn't exactly going to be ninja like when killing these things.

Sound
The sound is one of the biggest things that draw you into the game for me. The small sounds of something moving and gut retching screeches won't be leaving you for a while. They make the game gain an extra level of being scared and confused.
The voice acting feels genuine and true. It doesn't feel forced and could almost be considered to be true feelings that these voice actors have.

Closing Comments
Silent Hill 2, if you haven't already guessed, is a survival horror in which you have no idea what the hell you are doing most of them time.
It will last you about 10-15 hours, depending on your dedication to the cause. I highly recommend this game to anyone who enjoys horror games, enjoys a bit of a puzzle or just wants to play something new and different.

Overall Ratings
Story: 9.0
Gameplay: 9.0
Graphics: 9.5
Sound: 10
Presentation: 9
Lasting appeal: 9.5

Overall Score: 9.4 our of 10 - Fabio's stamp of approval.
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