What kind of person or company puts together a game like this? That's the question I asked myself when I finished this game. By turns it appears sick and twisted, revelling in its own nasty glorification of dark or rotten things, and then it's exciting, puzzling, intriguing, scary and genuinely enjoyable. The original Silent Hill was a knockout on psone (my pick for the best game that ever came out on that console), and this review takes a look at the PAL version of its nightmarish successor on Playstation 2.
It's a third person action-adventure, like the first game. Your viewpoint is over the shoulder of James Sunderland, an ordinary man who is drawn to the town of Silent Hill after receiving a mysterious letter from there that purports to be from his dead wife, Mary. The initial impressions you'll get are during the game's stunning opening, where you descend with James into a dark forest and a sea of fog. The visuals and effects are definitely the strong point of the game, with greatly improved 3-D modelling of characters and realistically-rendered objects as big as trucks. (However, one let-down in this regard, which seems strange when compared to the perfectionism of much of the other game elements, is the unrealistic movements of some of the characters; they appear to be marionettes at times and lack naturalism). There is an artist's use of light and shade, especially in the indoor sections. The limited range of James's vision ties in with this, as he can only see clearly a short way through fog or deep darkness, creating a claustrophopic atmosphere. He can almost always hear an enemy long before it is visible, creating suspense while waiting for a monster to emerge. There is a huge improvement in resolution over the first game, and an aesthetic that mimics the impression of viewing a particularly grainy film stock. It's no wonder the eyes of game players were popping out all over when this game was released.
Throughout the game we are also bombarded with noises: deep bass mutterings, monstrous cries and gurgles, and static from the radio that alerts you to the presence of enemies. It is probably this, more than anything else, that contributes to the sense of lasting unease a player will get. The sound, music and effects are all top-notch: disproportionately loud doors and gates open with finality, there is a thunderous hammering when confronted by the knife-wielding nurses, and satisfyingly nauseous splatters when swinging melee weapons at enemies. The music is predominantly creepy during indoor hallway sections; it becomes more ambient and rich as the game nears its conclusion. Somebody spent a long time with microphones getting things amazingly realistic. When combined with such stylish visual effects as water dripping, or the water rippling inside a flooded basement, this game really comes into its own at establishing a sense of atmosphere.
The story is surreal as you move the character through locations that include a haunted town, abandoned hotel, mental hospital, prison and an elaborate maze. The game keeps you guessing; it doesn't make sense, for example with the unclear resolutions in the multiple endings that are possible. The structure of the game also parallels the inner conflict going on inside James himself. An example of this is when, near the end, James is able to enter a room in one wing of a hotel and emerge in a totally different area: this is a metaphor that reflects his confused state of mind. Some experiences I'll never forget from this game will be walking inside a cage (a long, enclosed metal ramp) high above the ground, running as if in a slow-motion dream-state through an underground labyrinth, and James falling into a hole he can't see a way out of (seemingly, he has fallen into a bottomless pit, a prison of his own mind).
Some other characters we meet include Eddie, a psychotic young man who eventually turns on James. Angela is another person he meets early on, and she probably emerges as the most interesting character in the story apart from James himself. We find the reason she is lost and suicidal is that she is an incestuous rape victim, and James is drawn into a battle with her literally monstrous father (who appears as a hideous mass connected to a bed, attacking by raping and damaging his victims). Near the end, there is an eerily tranquil farewell to Angela as she paradoxically ascends into a burning hell of hallucinatory flames (is she rising above her torment, an angel transcending her sufferings? It's fun to make interpretations). Maria is one more character inserted into the story to inject a bit of raciness with her dress and saucy manners, a hidden addiction, her similarity to the missing Mary, and her eventual obsession with James. She comes across as a confusing twin or Jezebel, meant to tempt James. When she becomes ill and goes missing, she brings back the experience of Mary's suffering to him, and this is compounded when Maria is made to die repeatedly before his eyes.
Pyramid Head, the ominous arch-villain of the game, is a mysterious character hidden behind a strange occult mask. He is short, weedy and withered, a degenerate, twisted human being wearing what looks like soiled sack-cloth. This gives us the impression of a butcher, especially since he carries a fearsome Great Knife, and also an executioner, since his helmet made of cold, inhuman steel resembles an hangman's hood. Eventually we find that Pyramid Head lives in the centre of the underground labyrinth of Silent Hill, ruling there as a kind of demon king of Hell, surrounded by monsters. Add to this the fact that he is virtually invulnerable until near the end and you have a formiddable enemy. The puzzling fact that James is able to take a Great Knife from Pyramid Head's lair is in fact a crucial part of the story, linking James in our mind as stepping into the shoes of Pyramid Head himself (a pitiless killer).
Some of the negative aspects of the game include that the puzzles (at least in Normal mode, the only mode I played) are too hard. Unless you're very clever or have a lot of time, you will have to resort to a hints guide. There is also an issue with long loading times between entering different rooms in the PS2 version. There are several stages in the game that are rather protracted too, mainly the first hotel and apartment buildings, which could have been trimmed.
On the other hand, there is a delicious feeling (at least to horror fans) of being lost and helpless throughout much of the game. There are red herrings inserted into the plot of Pyramid Head possibly being a misunderstood mental patient (we are given a diary to read), and Maria also potentially being the real Mary. It is up to the player to "penetrate the fog" of such illusions and James's own befuddled and bedevilled mind.
One might ask why in a game with such obvious care to detail do the controls appear to be "out of whack": James sometimes misses his enemies, and performing the same action under similar circumstances does not always mean he strikes who he is aiming at like he did before. The reason, as most true Silent Hill fans are already aware, is that you are playing the role of an untrained civilian without weapons experience. This unpredictability when battling the enemies actually adds to the tension; will you hit the monster or not? It makes a player cringe when a monster (even a weak one) gets in a melee attack despite you having used the controls admirably. It contributes further to the sense of being helpless in the dark, with limited vision versus a monster with attacks you can't always stop.
In the end you're left with the afterimage of an organic, twisting game, full of emotional suffering, frights, dread and suspense. Its realistic graphics convey convincingly the story of a man trapped in his own dark fantasy hell.
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