Silent Hill 2 PC

Details: Category: Computer; By lutikri55; 01.Jun; Hits: 9892

System Requirements Windows 98/ME/2000/XP CPU: 700mhz or faster RAM: 64MB Video Card: 32MB compliant DirectX 8.1 card Disk Space: 1.8 GB CD-ROM: 4X

Silent Hill is probably one of the most atmospheric games in its genre. This a horror game unlike any other. In this review, we will examine strong points and the weak points of this title as well as give a little insight into the content of the game.

Graphics

The graphics of this title are simply superb. The detail in the characters of the game is incredible. The faces are wonderfully detailed with smooth curves and appropriate shadowing. The environments are just as breathtaking. The beautifully detailed town and the rolling fog really create one of the creepiest experiences I have had with a computer title. The texturing of characters and environments is very well done. The textures are very high-resolution and extremely detailed. I can\'t find a single fault with the graphics in this game as they are just awesome. Oh the cutscenes also deserve mention. Jawdropping. That is all there is to explain. These CGI cinematics look so real one can hardly tell them from live action FMV\'s. Excepting Warcraft III, I have never seem another game with cutscenes this amazing. In terms of graphics cards, one should have a somewhat decent one as my card, a GeForce3, sometimes got a little choppy in bigger sections of the town.

Gameplay

Ah, onto the gameplay. In this title, you play as James Sunderland, a man whose wife passed away 3 years ago. He has recieved a letter from his his dead wife telling him to come to the town of Silent Hill to their \'special place\'. So basically, you, the gamer, must navigate through the horrors of Silent Hill playing at James. This is the one area where this game takes a hit. The character control is not very well designed. Bluntly put, the auto-shifting camera is horrid and annoying. When running places it tends to shift in front of the character facing him, making seeing in front of you impossible. I was 1/2 way through the game before I figured out there was a key so that you could adjust the camera position back to the rear of the character. That may be stupidity on my part but still deserve mention so other gamers don\'t make the same mistake. The fighting is not much better. James is as slow as molasses when it comes to reloading his various weapons. If you have more than 2 enemies attacking games at once, it gets horribly frustrating because he reloads his weapons extremely slow. Thankfully, however, battles are not the highlight of this game. This horror game is based more on adventuring than action such as Resident Evil. Most of the game you spend going through abandoned apartment buildings, hotels, and other assorted buildings and searching for clues and items which you can use to solve the games many puzzles. Most of these aren\'t extremely hard. Also, there are 4 different endings to this title. Overall the gameplay is average.

Sounds

Sounds are very well integrated and the music quite simply some of the most moving music I have ever heard in a computer game. Thumbs up on the music and sound effects. However, the voice actings seems kind of stale and wooden. This was the same thing that plagued Silent Hill 1 with Harry. So not much has changed in that department. The voice acting is not extremely bad, just not up to the level that it should be with a game of this quality.

Story

The story is basically as I said above. You play as James Sunderland and quest through Silent Hill trying to find your dead wife whom you got the letter from. You meet various people throughout the game who have their own little subplots and meanings. One of the more interesting things about Silent Hill 2 is that most of the characters represent various ideas, some of which are very serious. The story is a little convoluted and is very heavily influenced by the occult, which I will get to next.

Offensive content

This game should not be played by anyone under 17 in my opinion, thus the M rating. The game is very scary,quite violent, and has a large amount of gruesome imagery. There is a large amount of blood when you kill monsters and the subject matter of this game is particularly dark. Silent Hill is the way it is because of a cult that once existed there which is possibly not dead? Thus, the occult is pretty much the cause of the town being as it is, dark, evil lurking everywhere, and the occultic places that exist in the game. I cannot possibly recommend this game to most people. The matter of the game is dark , violent, and occultic. But if you feel you can handle it, go for it, but just remember I warned you. As for me, I am selling my copy soon.

Conclusion

Awesome graphics and sound create a truly scary horror game, but this is marred by the occult, violent, and extremely dark subject matter of this title. I just cannot recommend this game to any Christian unless you really feel you absolutely must play it. Think carefully before you purchase a game like this.