For the record: Resident Evil never really has scared me.

For the record: Silent Hill 2 creeps me out like nothing before.

In 1999 Konami unleashed the original Silent Hill to the world, not to compete with Resident Evil, but to establish a whole different kind of horror game. Instead of scaring you with jumps and weird monsters, Silent Hill terrorized your mind with claustrophobic camera angles, poor visibility due to fog and darkness, and a simple premise of downright f*cking with your head. The formula was a success and Silent Hill was a major hit.

Along the way to the present, Resident Evil even tried to somewhat copy the formula of SH and combine it with its own; CODE: Veronica not only has the usual "things jumping at you" type scares that get old after a while, it also combined a bit of the disturbing premises of Silent Hill to increase the scare value of that game. It worked out well, as C:V is easily the best horror game out there still.

Here and now, however, Silent Hill 2 is finally available, and it turned out mighty fine. It's a bit more moody and tense than the first Silent, and obviously the graphics are increased, but on the whole Silent Hill 2 accomplishes what all horror games should intend: take the worst fears of people and use them against them.

The story centers on James Sunderland, a man who only 3 years before lost his wife due to a freak illness. However, he gets an interesting letter one day - from his supposedly dead wife, beckoning him to meet her in Silent Hill, their "special place." Unsure of what to do, James decides to embark to Silent Hill to see if he can really find his wife. Or is it all a sick game? Along the way James will encounter many interesting characters that all have a very un-nerving aura about them that is ripe for plot-twists a-many. Add in a RE: Nemesis-like character wandering around killing everything in sight and you get a game that is determined to keep you up all night, and not because you want to.

Silent Hill 2 offers a very customizable way to play - you can balance the difficulty of both the enemies and the vast amount of puzzles and riddles. If you want lots of action, but don't want to think too much, you can set the enemy difficulty on hard and puzzles on easy. If you want tough riddles and easy enemies, select hard riddles and beginner enemy level. Oddly, the claim is if you play on beginner there are no enemies at all, but while testing this out, that isn't the case: instead there's only a few enemies and they only take one shot to kill. The impression to me was the beginner level would make the game similar to Konami's other adventure game, Shadow of Destiny (an extremely underrated game, by the way), but that isn't the case.

By any means, Silent Hill 2 isn't really an action game like Resident Evil. The battles with the enemies are not really focused on, and truly if you wanted to you could avoid almost every enemy except the required boss battles. The name of the game in Silent Hill 2 is puzzles - and most, if not all, are as challenging as they are disturbing. From letters written by obvious psychopaths telling of secret codes, or clock puzzles revealing hidden walls, or the creeped out hangman puzzle (you don't wanna know), or even the passcode written in blood in a rubber room, and the game show puzzle, each one is not only difficult but somewhat messed up in the head (there is even one where you have to dig in a toilet, full of..uh..fecal matter to pull out a wallet to get a passcode). But considering this is Silent Hill, where nothing ever seems "right", they fit right in. And they aren't backtracking frustration sessions for the most part - since they all reside in the same area. Some are obscure, but eventually you'll be able to figure them out.

Adding to the disturbing puzzles is the disturbing atmosphere - you can almost never see in front very far, and the camera angles can (purposely) give out terrible positions. What's worse is the tension - because of the Silent Hill traditional radio emitting white noise when an enemy gets close, the angles can honestly make you freak out wondering just where in the hell the enemies are at! And when there's more than one...

But there is some action, and James is actually well armed, even if his shot is off the mark from a distance. James can find a wooden stick with a nail in it, or a steel pipe. And for heavier artillery, he can find a handgun, a shotgun, and a rifle for monster butt kicking. Of course you'll find ammo laying around in various places, even if it is rather rare and requires conservation. Unfortunately since James is not a hero, just a regular guy, his aim isn't too hot, so being up close is almost a requirement to get good shots in.

Also scattered around is various health items for use in tough fights. There are health drinks and first-aid kits for healing. What's cool is the use of the Dual Shock controller: when your health depletes, the controller vibrates with more and more force the worse condition you are. This is obviously useful, instead of having to click around to see your health in a menu screen. Perhaps Resident Evil should copy that sometime.

Still, Silent Hill is more of a puzzle game that intends to bring your worst fears out. For instance, most people are not fans of hospitals. So of course, Silent Hill 2 sticks you in one for a portion of the game. With bloodstained gurneys and undead nurse monsters screaming and attacking you with a stick, and creepy examination rooms, the game gets under your skin in a hurry. Worse yet, the game instills that "Oh man what's next?" fear every time you go into a new room. Chances are there is nothing, but SH2 works you up to much with creeps that it's almost built-in to worry about what is next. And when that radio starts making all kinds of noise, you know trouble is on the way.

Besides the hospital, SH2 takes you to other disturbing locales - a run-down bowling alley, a pitch-black set of apartment buildings, a hotel, and even a prison, where the chills really come out. As much as it is scary, it's also so addictive that you don't want to quit playing the game despite it. Mixing in 5 different endings based upon things you do in the game, both big and small, there is plenty of replay value.

The only problem is the occasional feeling of being lost and not knowing what to do. Maps are especially useful and pretty much required to see what to do next. James marks where he is at, has been, and where to go on the streets, and in the buildings he goes into he marks off the doors he can't get into, along with the ones he can. However when you are on the streets you may not know where to go, especially at the beginning of the game. Once you learn the map and the street signs it gets easier, but the feeling of not knowing what's next can get frustrating.

Silent Hill 2's controls are familiar, if not too familiar. They are patterned after the Resident Evil style, which is fine. However if you'd like a 3D or 2D style of control (both of which are different), that's available to you. The only main difference is the button used for raising your weapon: in RE it's R1, in SH2 it's R2. However it takes little time to adjust. The controls are not too stiff for the most part, but they do lack a 180-degree turnaround move like Resident Evil has. Besides that, if you are familiar with RE, getting into this is a snap.

Visually, Silent Hill 2 is quite interesting. Obviously the game uses incredible lighting effects due to the flashlight usage, lighting up particular areas only and moving away as you do just as fast. But besides that they are still nice. There of course is a LOT of fog, but it's purposely used in this case. In the first Silent Hill it was used to prevent draw-in, thus it remains the same with SH2 for authenticity. There's also a really cool grain effect during gameplay to make the game seem like an old horror flick. Some may not like it, but it adds to the atmosphere.

Most importantly are the backdrops though, and they convey the disturbing factor they aim for. The walls are bloody, the run-down buildings have boarded up doors, dead (and bloody) bodies all over the place, broken windows, and dirty kitchens as well. Some of the images are indeed a little bit too much for some, but for most this will add to the suspense.

Oddly, the enemies aren't really detailed well - which is really okay since there isn't much to them anyway. They don't even compare to the animations and detail of the main human characters, James especially. His best and most useful animation is how his head swivels around when he notices an item, helping you find required things, since they blend in so well with the fully 3D world.

However the strongest in wow factor is the CG cutscenes - simply put they are the most realistic I've seen. From a quick glance they almost seem totally real. The rest of the graphics are great, but the cutscenes take the cake for pure quality.

For the sound effects, they decided on "less is more." There isn't a lot of music really, besides a repetitive techno-type theme that plays when you're wandering the streets. This game is all about creepy sounds and the noise from the radio. It gets louder and louder depending on how close the monsters are, and how many there are. I've also noticed the later in the game you get, some enemies give off even more noise through the radio.

The voice acting is average: not terrible, but not incredible either. Sometimes it seems really good, other times it seems tacky. But it's not as bad as stuff like the first RE or anything like that.

Silent Hill 2 is a great game: just not one for everyone. There is a lot of truly creepy and disturbing things in the game that might creep a few people out - this is not Resident Evil-like scares, this more of a psychological mind-game (as well as psychotic). However if you love a story with tons of loose ends that can create many theories on how it really goes down, or love mind games, or just like a good game, Silent Hill 2 is your bag. It's not as fresh as the first, but the scares still aren't any less.

Recommended: Yes