Silent Hill 2

aka: Jijing Ling 2, SH2
Moby ID: 5870
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Included in Special Edition

Description

The player is cast in the role of James Sunderland, an at first sight normal person who got confused, as anyone else would, when he received a letter from his wife asking him to come to Silent Hill, their special place. The only problem is that his wife died three years ago, and has kept the secrets surrounding her death. James decides to honor the letter's request, wondering if this is a sick joke or if there is more to this. As James reaches the outskirts of the town, he finds that the road is blocked, and parks at an abandoned restroom. Little does he realize that this is the first step forward into the mystery of Silent Hill and his own past.

Silent Hill 2 is a survival horror game. The gameplay is similar to that of the first installment. The player navigates James around the town of Silent Hill and collects weapons, health-restoring items, and objects needed to solve puzzles in an unlimited inventory. A radio alerts James when enemies are near. Like the protagonist of the first game, James is not very skillful in combat; he can fight with basic melee weapons or firearms with scarce ammunition. Most of the puzzles are logic-based and are often shaped like riddles, though there are a few simple inventory-based tasks as well.

While the basic concept is the same as in the previous entry, the game is set in a part of town that was unexplored in it, and the weapons and enemies are mostly new as well. Also new is the ability to change the standard "survival horror" (character-dependent) controls into the more widespread, 3D (camera-dependent) navigation. The difficulty level can be adjusted separately for combat and puzzles.

Spellings

  • サイレントヒル2 - Japanese spelling
  • 寂静岭2 - Simplified Chinese spelling
  • 사일런트 힐 2 - Korean spelling

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Credits (PlayStation 2 version)

109 People (82 developers, 27 thanks) · View all

Reviews

Critics

Average score: 90% (based on 34 ratings)

Players

Average score: 4.3 out of 5 (based on 101 ratings with 6 reviews)

Survival Horror at its finest... at least, for now...

The Good
The good thing about this being my first Silent Hill game, I instantly come to terms with the controls, being a fan of the very similar Resident Evil series. With this, the weird-but-unique story kept things interesting, which constantly made you wonder what's going to happen next. This was complimented by its graphics (which, in some FMVs, seemed very realistic) and its great level design. There was little variety of weapons, but most give satisfying results - I myself just used the steel pipe and handgun, mostly because fighting a scary monster up close is better than picking him off at a distance.

The horror and suspense element, and the puzzle element too, was used in a way which was actually quite scary at some times. It was scary that much, I saved like every 10 minutes hoping not to die (I was on "Hard" action mode). The characters and enemy design are fine, the graphics are good, the story is great and the shock horror is just fantastic.

Another great feature I don't remember seeing in other games is the TWO difficulty options - in most games, you choose Easy, Normal or Hard (in some cases, Extreme) - but this game give you the option of choosing how hard the action will be, and how hard the puzzles will be. Thus, if your a genius, you could have "Hard puzzle" but with "Easy action". If you love killing monsters, you'll choose the opposite, but if you want a balance game of both, just put both on Normal. The game has little, but alas, still some, replay value. There are many endings (which I won't spoil), which include about 3 "nice" endings, 1 "bad" ending, and a quite funny "goofy" ending.

Plus, on top of all that - there are extra things to unlock once you have completed the game.

The Bad
What I didn't like the most was probably the voice acting. James', Marias' and Marys' voices were okay, but Eddies' and the other womans' voices could - and should of been - improved on. And apart from the low variety of weapons (mentioned above) made the game feel as if it lacked the right action. But then again, its survival-based, not action-based, but still; a cool magnum would be nice.

The Bottom Line
This game is probably one of the highlights of survival horror on the PlayStation 2 (and other consoles it were on), after the game Resident Evil 4 - but that's "horror-action", this is "horror-survival". I hear they brought out an improved version of this game, which includes an extra "goofy" ending. If you're a fan of the early Resident Evil titles (those released before Resident Evil 4), and love monsters, horror, or just puzzles this game is for you, especially if you like everything mentioned above. However, if you're going to buy this game, better off with the "special" platinum edition of this game (aka "Director's Cut"), or maybe even "The Silent Hill Collection" (which includes Silent Hill 2, 3 and 4).

PlayStation 2 · by Reborn_Demon (127) · 2006

Pyramid head

The Good
Even though the game wasn't exactly scary, as in you never actually saw anything that would give you nightmares or make you check under your bed. There was still an eerie atmosphere and you can call me a wimp, but every time I was playing that game with the light off I would be looking behind me and every creak of the house made me nearly jump out of my skin. The idea that if you could make James just do one little thing differently or maybe one big thing differently could change the outcome of the game was also a good idea, but I wont say anything about the endings just in case some of you have not finished the game yet. And even though the acting isn’t exactly Golden globe material it is still alot lot lot lot lot lot better than the pitiful, laughable acting that was thrown together for Resident evil 1. The arsenal of weapons that you got throughout the game was also quite extensive and imaginative as well, weapons such as the sword of Pyramid head: which took about five minutes to swing but packed one hell of a punch, was one of the more exotic weapons in the game. The graphics in the game were absolutely stunning, the shadows were perfect and even the mist that annoyed me throughout the game was still bearable because it was smooth and not blotchy like some other games. And then we come to the sound. The sound throughout the game was a nice adding to the atmosphere of the game. For example, walking down a near pitch black hallway, with the only light being the thin beam from your flashlight, and then hearing your radio buzzing warning you that there was a creature coming towards you and then franticly spinning around trying to look in every direction at once......etc

The Bad
As I said in the good review the game had a creepy atmosphere but it wasn’t exactly scary. It kept me looking over my shoulder but I never really got scared so it was like building up and then giving you nothing at the end. The game play is rather slow and even though you get to go to many different places the enemies are not very varied and it gets a bit repetitive after a while. The acting was quite disappointing even though it was not as bad as the acting is Resident evil 1 it was still not the best that they could have come up with. The enemies did not really do much to add to the semi-scary atmosphere since they just looked like some arms and legs that were crudely joined together (did I miss some of the story from Silent hill 1?) The puzzles in the game got tiresome after a while and even though puzzles can get frustrating after a while these were not fun at all and they just annoyed me. Such as the noose-pulling puzzle, when you pulled the right one the body in another room disappeared but they gave you no sign of that happening. So you had to pull the right on and then just decide to go to the other room and the puzzle would be over.

The Bottom Line
Even though I had some bad experiences with the game I think those were just because I failed to spot the obvious. So I think that the game wasn’t exactly the best game in the world but it still has its highlights and is worth buying even though it is getting old. If you played and you enjoyed the first Silent hill or even the resident evil games then I think that you will enjoy this game. A word of warning though, do not play this game just after having played a game such as Final fantasy X because after playing 50 or more hours of Final fantasy you will expect this game to go on for at least 20 hours. But it doesn’t so don’t hope for a game that will take you an age to beat because it will probably be complete in the first week or so of when you buy it.

PlayStation 2 · by Horny-Bullant (49) · 2003

Psychological thrill ride

The Good
I loved the atmosphere of this game, felt like an actual horror movie. I loved the characters, the storyline and the fact that it twisted your mind to no end. I also loved the puzzles in this game, much more details, and polished than that of the first Silent hill game. I loved the fact that at times, you had to bring out a pencil and paper just to solve some of the puzzles. I loved the graphic's in this game also, looked almost like a real cinematic horror movie. The blood seemed real, the facial expressions of some of the characters seemed real. I also liked the movie sequences that were through out this title. Kinda kinda wish that the graphic's lined up more with the movie sequences though, that kinda took away from the experience just a bit.

The Bad
I didn't like the fact that this game was a bit short in length, not terribly short, but still it could've been a touch longer. also the movie sequences didn't quite line up with the overall graphic's of this game. however there were moments through out this title... when I could've swore that the characters were real people running around in there. But at the end of the day, it still takes away from the experience a bit.

The Bottom Line
A Psychological thrill ride, with twists and turns around every corner. You just never know what's going to happen next, even when you've played the game as many times as I have. You still find something new and exciting, weather it's in story elements, or in new items that you didn't know you missed. This game just keeps you going from beginning to end.

PlayStation 2 · by David Bryan (21) · 2007

[ View all 6 player reviews ]

Trivia

1001 Video Games

Silent Hill 2 appears in the book 1001 Video Games You Must Play Before You Die by General Editor Tony Mott.

Demake

In September 2008 the game was "demade" for the TIGSource Bootleg Demakes competition as Soundless Mountain II.

Awards

  • GameSpy
    • 2001 – Best Movie Trailer of the Year

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Contributors to this Entry

Game added by MAT.

Additional contributors: Trixter, Unicorn Lynx, phlux, Sciere, Zeppin, DreinIX, Patrick Bregger, Rik Hideto, FatherJack.

Game added February 26, 2002. Last modified February 12, 2024.