Gaming Target - PlayStation 2: Silent Hill 2

Written by John Scalzo on June 08, 2001

First Impressions: You're not scared, are you?

There is a consensus among gamers that the original Silent Hill was one of the scariest games ever created (although it'll never be as scary as Friday the 13th for the NES, that game was just downright frightening). Anyway, with the release of the PS2 brings us that inevitable return to the little town of Silent Hill.

Silent Hill 2 begins with James receiving a letter from his loving wife. There's just one problem with what should be a sweet slice of Americana, James' wife is dead. So he goes to Silent Hill, where the letter came from and doesn't quite know what to make of what he's found. He meets Eddie, who may or may not be crazy. He meets a mysterious little girl that seems to know more than she should. And he meets Maria, a women that could be his dead wife's twin. And of course, he runs into the various monsters, demons, and walking corpses that populate any game in the survival horror genre.

Most of the footage released so far has been non-playable Full Motion Video from the game that is used to propel the story along. And I have to say if the FMV is any indication of what the game will look like, I can't wait. The FMV is crisp and clean and features some above average voice acting for a video game. Everything is completely detailed, from little marks on James' face, to the very gruesome looking monsters. What little was shown of in-game footage though looks very interesting. The game is completely dark, except for the light coming from a flashlight clipped to James' jacket. And fog is used in all the outdoor scenes to give Silent Hill 2 a definite "fear of the unknown" factor. Rounding out this total horror experience is the ambient sound effects and music that will have you checking your room for monsters when this game is over. Silent Hill 2's trailer also features some very cool guitar music in the background. If any of you have the original Scream soundtrack, listen to the guitar on "Don't Fear The Reaper" by Gus. The guitars in Silent Hill 2 sound very similar and lend that creepy horror movie feel to everything. I really hope that makes it into the final game, and wasn't just add on music for the trailer.

Controlling your way through this horrific setting should be simple enough as Silent Hill 2 uses the traditional Resident Evil controller scheme of up moving you forward. And with Left and Right spinning your character in different directions. The developers at Konami have also decided to include a 3D controller scheme where whichever direction you push is the direction you go.