Silent Hill 2

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.