"In my restless dreams, i see that town. Silent hill....."


This line opens up one of the most engaging, thought provoking, and emotionally gripping stories I have seen on a console. Silent hill 2 simply is one of the best of the best. What makes it so though?

The game opens up with our protagonist, James Sunderland, waking up in a run down public restroom on the out skirts of silent hill. Silent hill is the place where he and his wife stayed during their honey moon, their "special place". James then monologues about this and tells how his wife, Mary, died 3 years ago from a disease........and that he just recently a letter from her telling him to meet her at silent hill, in their special place.

Instead of taking this well worn cliche of a hero looking for his lost loved one like most other horror games/movies, silent hill 2 does something that few ever can manage; it makes you care, or at least contemplate the well fare, of the main characters. It also shows the mind of these characters if you pay attention to the subtle things such as their way of speaking, how they word stuff, and their actions.

Aside from James and Mary, we have 3 other characters who are wandering around silent hill in search of someone or running away from their problems. We have Angela, a mentally disturbed young woman who seems to freak out around James. Eddie, a chubby young man who claims he has done something that no one will forgive him for. And Laura, she's.........well she's a young girl. To say more about her would be spoiling some of the story ;D

Oh right.....there is one more person. Maria. Maria is a woman in about her mid to late 20's. She's promiscuous, outgoing, and sort of rude.....and she happens to look exactly like Mary. Maria's role in the story is huge, so to say more would, again, be spoiling the story.

Silent hill 2 also happens to have one of the best atmospheres i've seen in a horror game. Instead of freaking you out through jump scares, it utilizes a quiet but disturbing atmosphere. It uses your own imagination against you, scaring you with what could be there, but never showing it. (for the most part)

The music in silent hill 2 is phenomenal. Promise, Laura's Theme, Angela's Thanatos, Promise Reprise, Love Psalm, True, Magdalene, Overdose Delusion.....the list goes on and on. In short, this is THE perfect horror sound track. There are a few ambient pieces i didn't list, but they work exceptionally well at setting the mood. What's funny is that, with all these songs, most of the time silent hill is well.......silent.

Gameplay is standard fare, not bad, but not that good either. You're going for atmosphere and especially story with this title. I picked up this game fully expecting it to be a resident evil rip off when it first came out(it was my first silent hill game). What i got instead was one of the most rewarding gaming experiences in my entire 15 years of playing games. The ending(s) are perfection. Depending on your actions throughout the game, you will get one of four or five different endings. I recommend going for the leave ending first time through.

In short, as far as horror goes, they rarely get better than this. I hated most horror games i played before this one.....but silent hill 2 changed my mind about the entire genre. Its that good. Go play it. Now.

Not bad! I shall have to go play it.

I've beaten this game...just epic on every level. Also this is what made the Pyramid Head a celebrity among horror monsters.

With the new trend forming of companies updating ps1-ps2 games for the ps3 I really do hope for a silent hill collection (ala the god of war collection, sly cooper, and the rumored ico collection(which I haven't played ico or shadows of the colossus whch are the rumored games but both are supposed to be phenomial) I played one silent hill maybe part 3 with the girl main character and was quite fun. I love horror games in general. For a similar use of sound and the unknown to create the atmosphere check out F.E.A.R. Series and condemned series. Fear just freaked me out I hadto stop playing it due to te ambient sounds. Condemned I think was voted the scariest game a few years back. That again is noises and a knack for getting attacked out of no were oh and only having whatever you can find on the groud as a weapon. I have only played the original of both series but if you like the method of atmosphere you might enjoy them.

That being said, very good review. Makes me want to try silent hill out now, but I will had to pray for an update as I won't buy former generation games anymore cAuse I never play them haha.

I would kill for a silent hill 1-4 hd remake/collection.

silent hill 2 is, imo, the best. at least when it comes to story and characters, it blows all the other silent hills out of the water.

silent hill 3 is the scariest though, with the first towing JUST behind it.

And koosh........silent hill 2 should be that one exception as far as not playing older gen games

If you have a backwards compatable ps3 or an xbox 360(there is an xbox version of silent hill 2), get it. WELL worth the money and effort of finding a copy.

I didn't like 4's gameplay much,but it freaked the hell out of me when i played it when I was younger.

2's story IS DEEP, I won't spoil though.

I only played a little bit of 3.

All i have to say is "hospital" when talking about silent hill 3. VERY creepy, chock full of genuinely disturbing moments. the rest of the game is like that, but the hospital was like the silent hill version......of silent hill. its pretty intense.

And yes, silent hill 2's deep story (and ending........oh man the ending) really won me over to the horror genre. not many games have had anywhere near this effect on me, but i became a lot more open to playing them after this little gem.

so that's your silent hill flashback lol. I remember a lady hanging on a hook I think with some ghost baby holding her hand...thats just trippy lol.

Also the first one is pretty decent, just way too much running, just like in 2, but you do less of it in that one.

I'm not sure if many horror games have a deep story.So usually we have a lone person who survives so type of catastrophe...then finds a few other survivors to escape a menacing threat of monsters. It sounds like Resident evil lol..but I heart resident evil though.