Silent Hill 2: The Last Survival Horror Game (In-Depth)

[PoemOfTheLastMoment]

An awesome article that everyone should read////


http://www.1up.com/features/silent-hill ... val-horror

[alone in the town]

An awesome paragraph from what really was an awesome article.

Given the immense amount of freedom Yamaoka says he had with Silent Hill 2, it's not surprising to discover that he views his work on this game as the most satisfying of his career. Since the series wasn't a known quantity early in its history, Yamaoka had the chance to innovate without worrying about any existing "rules;" in fact, the team's willingness to avoid continuing the story of their original, successful game shows that, if anything, Silent Hill 2's development acted mostly as a sandbox for creative people. Mixed reviews would eventually rein the series back to the expected path of direct sequels, prequels, and homages to some of the series' most iconic moments, yet -- even in Yamaoka's opinion -- no entry to date has topped Silent Hill 2.

Those of you who insist that a game 'feel' like Silent Hill to be considered a 'real' Silent Hill game should be forced to write this paragraph on a blackboard 500 times.

[PoemOfTheLastMoment]

I am genuinely surprised at how much the plot of SH2 matches with that of David Lynch's 'Lost Highway',....

[Skele]

While i definitely enjoy Sh2's story a bit more than 3's, i still like SH3 slightly more. i just got SH2 & 3 on the PC, and playing them in 1080p makes me realize why people wanted more from Homecoming. i still think Homecoming is a nice looking game, and i actually really enjoyed Homecoming.. but i will admit, it could've been MUCH better. I'm even starting to feel the same way about Downpour, and it's not even out yet.

anyway, that was a nice read, and you make a good point Poem. fans shouldn't want new developers to mimic the feel of SH2. they should instead wish for innovation and creativity. I really hope Downpour (after this delay) is a title that gets the fans here excited again.

[clips]

There's no denying SH2 was an amazing game, and they did a really good job of masking the mature and sensistive themes...death,rape, murder and suicide was disguised well under subtle symbolic scenarios. As great as SH2 storyline was, i still feel prt4 rivals it at some points, just because of how bizarre the whole concept was.

For me the whole argument of what a SH game should be mainly for me comes from the disturbing and terrifying atmosphere, and i guess i'm kinda spoiled by the cultural difference in the way the original teams crafted the games. I loved the art-direction in all the games 1-4.

And that particular theme or style hasn't been replicated on the same level within the newer games....and i don't want the dev's to try to mimic the same style from the older games, but i would like their own art design and atmosphere to be on the same quality level as the older games and so far that hasn't been the case with SM, Homecoming or Origins...not saying that they're bad games, but they aren't as good as the older games...

Is it the last survival horror game?...not by a long shot but it is one of the greats...the last great horror game i've played thus far this gen was Siren Bloodcurse and while some might disagree i also loved the 1st DeadSpace.

I keep hearing great things about Amnesia i think it is as well, but i've never played those games...

[Xev]

I am genuinely surprised at how much the plot of SH2 matches with that of David Lynch's 'Lost Highway',....

Can you elaborate on this? Maybe I missed something.

[PoemOfTheLastMoment]

I am genuinely surprised at how much the plot of SH2 matches with that of David Lynch's 'Lost Highway',....

Can you elaborate on this? Maybe I missed something.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lost_Highway_(film)

The film tells the story of a saxophonist who murders his unfaithful wife. While on death row, he escapes into his own bizarre and surreal recollections, revealing a deteriorated mental state.

[Edea]

I didn't like this article tbh. I really don't see 2 as been that "survivalish" in the horror department and I think the article praises 2 way too much. I don't know, maybe I get too bored talking about two all the time. I actually tend to find 1 and 3 more entertaining because in those games the more you know the better it is, vs 2 has more of a "gimmick" quality with it's twist and loses scare factor when you know more. Plus, the monsters are almost harmless.

[KiramidHead]

I really liked this article. it reminded of just how damn good SH2 is, and why I played it so damn much when I discovered it three and a half long years ago. Sniff. I'm getting nostalgic.

[PoemOfTheLastMoment]

http://www.fmvmagazine.com/?p=6233




ARTICLE: OPINION-SILENT HILL 2 IS STILL THE DADDY
With Silent Hill 2 about to make a revamped return as part of the forthcoming Silent Hill HD Collection, Mark Butler looks back at the seminal survival-horror title – and explains why it set the standard for psychological terror in gaming.



Konami’s Silent Hill may have sent shockwaves through the rising survival-horror genre back in 1999, but it was the fledgling franchise’s second installment two years later that proved to be the genuine classic.

Arriving on a tidal-wave of anticipation and somehow surpassing the hype, Silent Hill 2 was an even more accomplished and terrifying vision than its groundbreaking predecessor, now deservedly viewed by critics and fans as perhaps the greatest horror games of all time. More than just another consummate exercise in interactive terror, it featured perhaps some of the most complex, evocative and fascinating subtext ever conceived in a gaming experience; dripping with Freudian undertones that both heightened and gave depth to the torturous predicament of the lead character, while significantly casting the infamous town in a new and shocking light.

In the first game, the titular town appeared to be a haunted, twisted construct which protagonist Harry Mason had simply been unfortunate enough to stumble across. Silent Hill 2, by contrast, established the town as a kind of personal hell, individually tailored to each of its victims, and – perhaps more significantly – a sentient and malevolent entity in its own right, overflowing with malicious intent and hungry for new visitors.

The new everyman of the piece was James Sunderland, drawn to Silent Hill after receiving a letter from his long-dead wife which was, in and of itself, perhaps one of the simplest yet intensely creepy plot set-ups imaginable. Trapped in the clutches of the town’s unholy horrors, the player set out to guide Sunderland in search of his wife, Mary, while dealing with a whole new range of grotesque abominations and outlandish threats.

As with the first game, this sequel’s greatest asset was its constant, oppressive mood of dread and an unparalleled sense of isolation and uncertainty. Shifty, unreliable supporting characters returned as an additional freak-out device; as did Akira Yamaoaka’s spine-tingling sound effects and unhinged music, not to mention those sparse, almost impossibly dark environments, this time populated by twisted mannequins and deformed nurses, which were almost like life-size patchwork dolls, animated by a sinister, unseen puppeteer.

The game’s most famous set-piece was probably the introduction of Pyramid Head: a hulking, muscular behemoth whose only definable trait appeared to be furious, mindless brutality. The moment when Sunderland, and you the player, first caught sight of this horrifying creation, lived long in the memory. You barely glimpsed a large, near-naked figure through a haze of shadow, standing stock-still and mute on the other side of a gate. Staring directly at Sunderland from behind its huge, metallic, triangular mask, it was the lack of movement that so unnerved, as if the giant was waiting patiently, biding its time to come out and play, or else slumbering until brought into life by the town’s mysterious dark forces.

Minutes later the creature made its dramatic entrance, viciously attacking (and perhaps even sexually assaulting) a pair of writhing mannequins, while you hastily cowered in a nearby wardrobe. Then, quite awfully and nightmarishly, it sensed your presence in the room and came searching, only relenting from its attempts to smash through the wardrobe doors when peppered with a serious of point-blank gunshots. Worryingly, said bullets appeared merely to ‘sting’ the wounded beast, which then marched ponderously away, slinking back into the dark corridors where you knew it would be lying in wait.

Such intense drama made an understandable impact, but it was Silent Hill 2’s carefully crafted descent into Sunderland’s subconscious that proved most disturbing. Dr Freud would have greatly approved.

The game’s use of imagery was startling and ambitious. Pyramid Head, complete with colossal phallic blade, formed a representation of the lead character’s dormant, violent masculinity, and also served as a faceless, merciless tormentor, born out of Sunderland’s own twisted desire to be persecuted and punished for his past sins. The town’s humanoid monsters, significantly and overtly female, were clearly a projection of Sunderland’s repressed sexual desires; as was ‘Maria’, a sexually-provocative and suggestively-attired doppelganger of his late wife. These themes strongly suggested that the gameworld was a manifestation of Sunderland’s own tortured mind, as did the protagonist’s literal descent into repressed memories and emotions through sinister trapdoors and underground lairs.

However, Silent Hill 2 was intelligent enough to imply without confirming; well aware that the uncertainly principle still needed to hold firm in the face of these suggestions. As such, the notion of Silent Hill as a hell for lost souls was also given credence by the characters of Eddie, implied to be suffering as a punishment for past violence, and Angela, a teenager who had murdered her sexually abusive father and was now menaced by a monster she referred to, quite stomach-churningly, as ‘daddy’.

While the original game had demonstrated the power of grim, oppressive atmosphere, flawed everyman protagonists and warped, otherworldly environments, its sequel built-upon these principles to create something even more groundbreaking and surprising; an experience that resonated painfully on a very human level, and expanded the ‘trapped in a nightmare’ theme by introducing the kind of guilt-ridden, deep-rooted anxieties that plague all of us from time to time.

In truth, Silent Hill 2 established such an impressive standard that subsequent games in the series – and other survival-horror titles in general – have been forever destined to live in its shadow. Indeed, it is a testament to its continued power and reputation that the first thing horror afecionados will ask when delving into the forthcoming Silent Hill: Downpour, is whether that new title’s atmosphere, ambience and scares hold a candle to a game that first shuffled onto the PlayStation 2 more than ten years ago.

[Yuki]

I keep reading such good things about Silent Hill 2, but to be honest, when I played it it didn't scare me much at all.

[silenthell88]

I keep reading such good things about Silent Hill 2, but to be honest, when I played it it didn't scare me much at all.

I think it's more to do with the deep story and characters. I was pretty disappointed with SH2 after playing a lot of SH1. It seemed really weak in comparison. It's grown on me as time goes on. I see why so many claim it's their favorite. It's not as dark and gritty or even scary but it has other qualities that make up for it.

[Doctor Eggnog]

SH2 actually scared me the most. My first impressions weren't all that scary, 2 is the only one that actually got MORE scary the more I played it, and the fear lasted the longest. I dunno, it got under my skin, and in the Labyrith P-Head freaked me out. SH1 is the 2nd scariest for me. 3 was very terrifying the first time I played it, but after a playthrough or two I stopped being scared.

Funny enough though, even I was initially disappointed with SH2 in comparison to 1, and now it's my favorite game of all time.

[mikefile]

Well, I think that's how it goes for most cases. SH2's plot twist is basically unpredictable, unlike SHH's one that is clear as the morning dawn. The time when you can really start analyzing the plot is after passing the game at least once. Until then, the story development has no sense. The same goes for SM: the game has no freaking sense at all (in my opinion even less than SH2) until the final scene. There are very subtle clues, however, these are still insufficient for a first playthrough (and in the subsequent ones these are everything). Although many things didn't make much sense the first time, I still got caught up by SH2's particular atmosphere. That is the reason why people truly embrace SH2: because it requires time and effort to be loved, but once you uncover its charm, it instantly becomes your favourite.

[Oddish]

Silent Hill isn't just epic because of its scares (in terms of sheer freakiness, I think SH3 had it beat anyway), it's epic because of the abominable nature of its monsters, things that are just so foul and unnatural that you want to exterminate them on a deep, biological level. And it's epic because you feel for the characters, at least I do. Mary's long years suffering, James's journey through hope to terror to horror, the evil and injustice visited on Angela, the years of cruelty that drove Eddie to snap, and Laura's desperate loneliness, they all resonate. And finally, the frustrating ambiguity of the ending, which Team Silent has wisely refused to elaborate on.

[PoemOfTheLastMoment]

http://www.g4tv.com/top-100/411/silent-hill-2/

Silent Hill 2 made it on G4tv's list of the 100 'Greatest Games Of All Time!'.....


http://www.g4tv.com/videos/59179/top-10 ... nt-hill-2/

[CandyLander]

Well, I think that's how it goes for most cases. SH2's plot twist is basically unpredictable, unlike SHH's one that is clear as the morning dawn.

*spoilers for SH1 and two*

PRIME_BBCODE_SPOILER_SHOW PRIME_BBCODE_SPOILER:

have you played silent hill one and two? on silent hill two, you are hinted that James killed his wife for a long time before he actually admits it (like when Angela acuses him). Now, on SH1, nobody actually tells you the plot. The only cutscenes that telll you something, in the end of the game tell you that Alessa's soul was split in half and cheryl was the other part. And now, the god will be birthed by alessa. Now, the game doesn't tell you in any cutscene stuff about the fire, or about Alessa being bullied at school, or about the reason why the otherworld is appearing or about who's Lisa and Kauffman. You have to examine stuff. If you don't look at all the memos from the game, you won't know what is actually happening. It took me two playtroughs to understand the plot.

Long story short - SH1 is not like homecoming where a character is going to tell you the entire plot in the end of the game. Nobody tells you anything. You have to act like a detective, somehow >_<

[alone in the town]

Long story short - SH1 is not like homecoming where a character is going to tell you the entire plot in the end of the game.

Yes. Yes, it is. That is exactly what happens in the first Silent Hill.

[mikefile]

PRIME_BBCODE_SPOILER_SHOW PRIME_BBCODE_SPOILER:

on silent hill two, you are hinted that James killed his wife for a long time before he actually admits it (like when Angela acuses him).

That actually doesn't mean anything. It is generally known that SHH lacks in covering the main plot due to a weak censoring and general lack of originality that leads to the extrapolation of the progressive pattern that the devs acquisted during the preordained mapping of SH2.

PRIME_BBCODE_SPOILER_SHOW PRIME_BBCODE_SPOILER:

Now, on SH1, nobody actually tells you the plot

You're heading off course here. You started a comment by quoting my statement about the comparison of SH2 and SHH. What does SH1 have to do with this issue?

[alone in the town]

It is generally known that SHH lacks in covering the main plot due to a weak censoring and general lack of originality that leads to the extrapolation of the progressive pattern that the devs acquisted during the preordained mapping of SH2.

I am very tempted to make a new poll:

"Did you know that SHH lacks in covering the main plot due to a weak censoring and general lack of originality that leads to the extrapolation of the progressive pattern that the devs acquisted during the preordained mapping of SH2?"

â–¡ Yes
â–¡ No
■ (ﾉ◕ヮ◕)ﾉ*:･ﾟ✧