During the halloween 2014 I took it upon myself to start some kind of halloween tradition for myself and I decided to combine that with my long lasting desire to try some critically acclaimed horror titles of old that I was too scared to play at the time. In other words I started to play horror games during halloween. Last year started with Resident Evil 1-3 and Silent Hill 1. Chilling.
I was looking forward to this year's halloween in particular as it meant that I could finally try the revered Silent Hill 2. Some of you might question my decision to not play these games earlier, I mean why wait for Halloween? I dunno it just gets me into this mood where I can overcome my innate fear for effective horror games. I played the original ps2 version, not the HD remaster as I had heard some critique on that.
So I'm playing as this guy, James Sunderland and I'm going to Silent Hill because I received a letter from my wife. Nice, except the said wife had already died because of a disease. I meet some clearly disturbed woman on a graveyard and at first I note that the voice acting isn't really good, but it also has this kind of detached feeling because of it that I think somehow fits the game's surreal mood. Then I arrive to the titular location itself. I'm really scared because I don't handle these games that well. Part of the charm really. I see a weird figure in the distance venturing into the thick fog and decide follow it and some blood marks on the ground. That can't be good right?
I gotta say that I really prefer the town in Silent Hill 2 to the one in Silent Hill 1. If I remember correctly, Silent Hill 1 was more intense in having some dogs or something in the streets chasing me or those flying monsters. In Silent Hill 2 I had more room to explore and occasionally coming into contact with some creepy mannequins or something. I just liked the more mysterious mood better.
Right off the bat SH2 had wrapped me in this mystery that seemed more personal to the player character himself than some organization/cult things. I felt like SH1 was a story about the town and it's history more than SH2. SH2 I felt was the story of this tortured soul I was playing as. It was more engaging to me. As the story unravels it also makes you connect some dots regarding the creatures etc. A lot of hidden meanings behind symbols.
I'm not gonna narrate any more of my playthrough here but suffice to say that I loved it. It features a storyline that I think is damn near a masterpiece in video games and a really cool and scary surreal atmosphere where many things aren't what they seem. I'm actually glad that I didn't play this as a kid but as an adult who can better (but not completely) understand and appreciate the many subtleties in the game.
I just have one question to those of you who have completed the game: What was the hole? Why was it there? Why is it gone now?
Bonus: I already started Silent Hill 3 and to my small disappointment I'm not enjoying it nearly as much as I did SH2. I'm still not in Silent Hill itself but in some sort of sewers. I really didn't like the whole mall and subway sections and the game is much more in-your-face with the monster encounters. They're everywhere and it's part of the reason I'm not finding it scary at all. I'm just assuming that each new room/location has enemies, sometimes in so many numbers that fighting them would be just futile. I'm hoping that the game gets better when I get to Silent Hill.
I was looking forward to this year's halloween in particular as it meant that I could finally try the revered Silent Hill 2. Some of you might question my decision to not play these games earlier, I mean why wait for Halloween? I dunno it just gets me into this mood where I can overcome my innate fear for effective horror games. I played the original ps2 version, not the HD remaster as I had heard some critique on that.
So I'm playing as this guy, James Sunderland and I'm going to Silent Hill because I received a letter from my wife. Nice, except the said wife had already died because of a disease. I meet some clearly disturbed woman on a graveyard and at first I note that the voice acting isn't really good, but it also has this kind of detached feeling because of it that I think somehow fits the game's surreal mood. Then I arrive to the titular location itself. I'm really scared because I don't handle these games that well. Part of the charm really. I see a weird figure in the distance venturing into the thick fog and decide follow it and some blood marks on the ground. That can't be good right?
I gotta say that I really prefer the town in Silent Hill 2 to the one in Silent Hill 1. If I remember correctly, Silent Hill 1 was more intense in having some dogs or something in the streets chasing me or those flying monsters. In Silent Hill 2 I had more room to explore and occasionally coming into contact with some creepy mannequins or something. I just liked the more mysterious mood better.
Right off the bat SH2 had wrapped me in this mystery that seemed more personal to the player character himself than some organization/cult things. I felt like SH1 was a story about the town and it's history more than SH2. SH2 I felt was the story of this tortured soul I was playing as. It was more engaging to me. As the story unravels it also makes you connect some dots regarding the creatures etc. A lot of hidden meanings behind symbols.
I'm not gonna narrate any more of my playthrough here but suffice to say that I loved it. It features a storyline that I think is damn near a masterpiece in video games and a really cool and scary surreal atmosphere where many things aren't what they seem. I'm actually glad that I didn't play this as a kid but as an adult who can better (but not completely) understand and appreciate the many subtleties in the game.
I just have one question to those of you who have completed the game: What was the hole? Why was it there? Why is it gone now?
Bonus: I already started Silent Hill 3 and to my small disappointment I'm not enjoying it nearly as much as I did SH2. I'm still not in Silent Hill itself but in some sort of sewers. I really didn't like the whole mall and subway sections and the game is much more in-your-face with the monster encounters. They're everywhere and it's part of the reason I'm not finding it scary at all. I'm just assuming that each new room/location has enemies, sometimes in so many numbers that fighting them would be just futile. I'm hoping that the game gets better when I get to Silent Hill.
