silent hill 2 game review
Video games are often seen as a bastard art inspired and often taking music or writing from their elders like cinema. It’s not nice to hit the little ones, but this point of view is justified… By taking the cinematics as an example, the video game transfers what has already been done in the cinema: plans, rhythms, music. This is not a bad point, it is a fact and there is absolutely nothing wrong with using these already well-tried processes.
However, disparaging it solely on its technical aspects, which often happens, serves the video game. Because like any other media or art it delivers a message. A message certainly which passes through a denigrated and infantilized pleasure, the game. The game is fun, escape, fun. So it's a thing for children, it's not adult or mature, it doesn't show a message….
And if it was possible ? Could it be that video games could be relevant and mature? That it makes us think and above all that it transmits a message? Through childish interaction but how important? One of the answers to this question is Silent Hill 2.
The Silent Hill series started in 1999 created by the Japanese company Konami to respond to Capcom's "horrific" title, Resident Evil. Konami therefore created a team that aimed to make a terrifying game inspired by American imagery and culture, especially Hollywood, to conquer the Western market. However, the artistic direction did not seem to be satisfactory certainly due to the limitations of the Playstation, the Hollywood side was abandoned. Konami finally gave carte blanche to the aptly named Team Silent, thinking that the project would not meet the expected success. What a great idea they had!
Indeed, freed from all creative constraints of their superiors, the members of Team Silent were able to highlight their creativity with the aim of achieving a truly scary and intelligent title at the same time.
They succeeded ... but half.
Indeed, I find that the game had big ideas but an unattractive execution. The gameplay, the sounds and the graphics were deeply terrifying but the story was so agreed and badly put forward that I wanted to laugh more than to hide under my cover, (I will certainly come back to this game in a future review ).
Despite these few problems, the game received a very good reception and faced with the success, Konami ordered the Team Silent to work on a sequel, the badly named Silent Hill 2, released in 2001 on the brand new Playstation 2. I say the misnamed because Silent Hill 2 is not a sequel. None of the characters in the first episode appear again and apart from the city and some small references concerning "the cult" of the first game, nothing connects the two works, which allowed Team Silent to start from a blank page …
History:
Silent Hill 2 tells the story of James Sunderland who just received a letter from his wife asking him to come to Silent Hill where they had spent some time in a hotel near a lake. However, James' wife Mary had died 3 years ago from an illness and as James aptly put it, "a dead man cannot write a letter." Intrigued, James will still go to Silent Hill and that's where our story begins.
He will meet during his journey several characters who will have a link with Silent Hill but not necessarily with him ... or maybe if ... It is true that the first time we play this game we can be confused by the 'rather simplistic intrigue, by the characters who have no apparent links between them and especially by the absence of antagonist. And that’s one of the great strengths of Silent Hill 2.
Since there is no force directly opposing the hero, (apart from the monsters and puzzles) we end up being confused and even more afraid of what can happen to us. This is rather surprising because the first Silent Hill explained somewhat the monstrous appearances with a definite antagonist, whereas here we are just a poor guy who crosses a deserted city without any explanation.
Regarding the characters we have Angela looking for her mother, Eddie a big blond guy who seems to be running away from something, Laura a little girl who, like James, is looking for Mary and finally, my favorite character, Maria who is the certified copy of Mary but who is distinguished by a seductive dress and by a rather open and… “friendly” behavior…
Besides, I think this character sums up very well the atmosphere and the general idea of this game: abstraction.
Indeed, everything seems clear and limpid in the story at first, but it is revealed to us with many gray areas: the very rare cutscenes are often enigmatic so not enough to understand everything that is going on. It is by observing the sets, the monsters, the attitudes of the characters, the sound, the game mechanics, the puzzles and the notes that the story is revealed. The meetings are also spaced out but they mark by their supernatural and creepy side and push to discover the ambiguity of the characters and in particular that of Maria who at the beginning rather sympathetic, ends up really confusing to the point of frightening.
And this general ambiguity which is permeated in all the categories that I mentioned, really opens up to the wildest interpretation and theories. This way of telling the story is mature, relevant and truly involves the player in the universe.
Gameplay: Speaking of player, how does it play?
Silent Hill 2 is divided into three game mechanics: exploration, battles and puzzles. These last two can be modified independently to personalize your adventure. Do you feel like Attila but have the intelligence of an atrophied leek? Or do you prefer to go beyond fighting to test your brainpower? This idea is of course welcome but I recommend doing a first game in normal to have a good experience without taking too much time.
Exploration is an integral part of the game and the atmosphere while linking the two other mechanics. Thus, you will often find yourself moving through environments without seeing any enemy and where objects are rare.
Boring you say? No!
The darkness or the fog and the sounds constantly put you under pressure and oblige you to stay on the lookout during your pretty walks in the city!
Fighting is quite interesting because unlike other action games, James is not very good at fighting. He moves slowly, takes time to prepare his weapons and above all is very fragile in the face of monster attacks. In addition, you cannot see your life and your remaining balls which are only shown in the menu. This fragility really makes you think if you want to take a risk that can prove fatal and make you lose all your progress. You will therefore often prefer to escape if that is possible of course ... Because despite this the monsters are rather fast and can surprise you in a dark narrow corridor or in the middle of the fog. To counter them you have two objects: the radio and the torch.
The radio emits a stressful sizzle that activates when approaching a monster: the louder the sound the more you are stressed but you will at least be ready to fight or flee.
The torch, meanwhile, obviously allows you to find your way in this dark hell but the monsters will detect you more easily. You can turn off your lamp and walk to avoid the monsters attacking you, but be careful or you go in the dark!
These two ideas are certainly rather simple but contribute to the discomfort of the player in an innovative way inside the combat mechanics. Regarding these, you can strike with melee weapons, shoot with firearms, parry certain attacks and dodge with side steps. During a confrontation you really feel the awkwardness of James, and despite a good graphic, sound and physical feedback with the vibration of the controller, the fights are not very satisfactory. They are often very static and repetitive, thus making the killings futile. And I think they were designed like that ...
Indeed, when you kill an enemy, you have certainly lost a little life, no object is given by the monster and in addition when you return to where you fought the monster has a chance to reappear!
"Killing is not funny". This is the idea that the creators of Silent Hill 2 certainly want us to understand. They take the opposite view of the basic vision that video games usually give to violence and thus make it possible to deliver a more human and frightening message: "kill or be kill ".
Finally, the puzzles are certainly the most interesting: often based on codes hidden in poems and texts or in the background, they are modified according to the level of difficulty selected. In addition, these texts often echo the mental state of our hero or the tortured history of the city. You can however sometimes find yourself blocked due to a missed detail or because of an arduous enigma but they are often well done, glaucous and poetic. The game experience may be slightly spoiled due to an element that cannot be selected in the decor or an archaic maneuverability for certain puzzles.
Overall, Silent Hill 2’s gameplay is based on good ideas that really involve the player, especially in thinking about his actions, but the redundancy of the fights and the problems of handling certain puzzles darken the picture.
Graphics:
Dark fog and abandoned places will punctuate your journey. Silent Hill 2 shines with the impact and variety of these settings. Apartments, hospital, park, museum ... here are some of the places you can visit, each one of them has a different atmosphere or gimmick pushing you to explore despite the claustrophobia that the places can inspire.
The central place is obviously the city itself where you will feel oppressed by the fog despite the relative freedom of movement that the place offers you. Some places will be crossed quickly but they are so well done, striking and full of details that you will remember it anyway, The flashlight also causes shadows which worry as much as the camera angles inspired. They inspire fear, of course, but they are so filled with desolation that some people become poetic in their horror. In addition, these places tell a real story that we can partially reconstruct by observing a room, broken objects on the floor or trying to open the doors with broken locks, which give a real dimension to the world and make it even more realistic.
The characters are immediately recognizable and above all animated making them credible and alive. They transmit an effective body language that can be either touching or creepy.
The monsters are also very well designed and are even more striking due to their imitation human appearance. A staggering monster trapped in his own skin, a mannequin with a pair of legs on each side of his body, a tall man with a threatening pyramid on his head ... The variety is there despite the limited number of specimens.
It looks like every monster and every character is so well done that you would think they were real. The attention to detail really makes us feel that nothing has been left to chance and that each element hides a meaning.
Sounds: This level of detail and perfection is further reinforced by the sound creations.
Akira Yamaoka, a genius composer, is the creator of background music and sounds. The former are magnificent and fall into two categories:
The first concerns the music that I will call "cinematic", used to support moments of intrigue. They are very inspired by dark rock from the 90s or very melodic synthesizer layers reminiscent of Twin Peaks.
The second is much more interesting and works as background music. Most of the time these are fairly abstract sounds which we cannot recognize the instruments and which, I must admit, are really scary! These sounds seem to come from the world itself and often merge with the sound effects which quickly becomes confusing. You remember that we had the impression that the decor tells us a story and well with the sound we have the impression that he is alive! Literally, some corridors breathe! We hear voices through the walls! The out of tune pianos seem to come from the depths of the forest and one has the impression that someone is walking through the walls with a blade rubbing the ground, impressive! These sounds can make you completely paranoid sustaining the suspense constantly without ever falling into easy fear or leaving you a minute of rest. I think the sound is all the fear that this game can inspire.
The rest of the sound effects are fairly classic but very realistic so that we can enter the universe (the number of different footsteps and doors are absolutely mind-blowing)!
Some techniques are also interesting: like for example the contrasts between noisy and suddenly calm environments which normally relieve you, because there are no monsters around. But that in fact immediately puts you under pressure in this silence of death and desolation. The other technique concerns sound effects which often do not match the size of the room. For example, in a scene happening in a prison the voices of the characters who normally would be reverberated are in fact completely flat and without effect which adds an odd side to the scene. We can also find the opposite with cramped pieces that make James' footsteps reason very strongly.
The sound is a pure masterpiece and I think that even if we played Silent Hill 2 with our eyes closed we would still be afraid !!!
In conclusion :
As you may have noticed I tried to go into the details of the game while keeping you a maximum of surprises. Silent Hill 2 is an adult, trying and rich work that I really like.
Very well paced and balanced between combat and enigma, fear and poetry, darkness and fog, racket and calm.
It’s better to play it yourself and then share with other players to solve all the puzzles in this world, come up with your own interpretation of the story and find the alternate endings. I also recommend that you play on the Playstation 2 version which I find is the best performed and above all avoid the HD collection versions, on Playstation 3 and Xbox 360, which really do not highlight its masterpieces that are Silent Hill 2 and 3.
The fights are certainly not very interesting and the puzzles can discourage more than one. But its faults are so insignificant compared to what this game can make us feel. A scary and depressive game, yes, but touching and poetic at the same time.
He returned me. Made me feel feelings and thoughts that I had never experienced before. Silent Hill 2 managed to reach a part of my dark and sad mind. And yet ... it's just a game ... right?
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