Fans of the original will know that Silent Hill world is not a pleasant place. This is survival horror in it’s purest form. Forget Alone in the Dark and Resident Evil. Those games are for wimps compared to this!

Silent Hill 2 is set in an abandoned and boarded up mental institute. There is no light other than that emitted by your quite pathetic torch. As you move around the corridors you see that the walls are covered in decay and filth of organic origin.

There are stained mattresses a ... more >>

Fans of the original will know that Silent Hill world is not a pleasant place. This is survival horror in it’s purest form. Forget Alone in the Dark and Resident Evil. Those games are for wimps compared to this!

Silent Hill 2 is set in an abandoned and boarded up mental institute. There is no light other than that emitted by your quite pathetic torch. As you move around the corridors you see that the walls are covered in decay and filth of organic origin.

There are stained mattresses and dirty old piles of medical supplies and general mess piled up everywhere. The doors are mostly locked and the windows into the various rooms show only your reflection. There is a low pulsating, menacing and intimidating noise, which is impossible to describe.

The Konami developers are not messing about with this game. There is no comedy and nothing included that isn’t in some way disturbing. Silent Hill 2 is, if you can handle it, absolutely amazing.

There is a genuine feeling of claustrophobia throughout the game that is compounded by the darkness. The control method is fluid and well constructed but at the same time is purposefully restrictive.

The monsters in the first level are kind of headless nurses that stagger towards you and spit rotten filth in your face. Not pleasant. There are also odd-limbed dismembered torsos that drag themselves around at some speed. You are amply equipped to deal with these however, armed as you are with a handgun and a wooden stick with nails through the end. It is worth mentioning at this time that everything bleeds in a very realistic way.

You basically have to get out of the asylum by working out how to operate the elevator, which involves stalking up and down the corridors, collecting and combining items and feeling ill.

There is one particularly gruesome scene that sees you reading a message daubed in gore in a heavily bloodstained padded cell.

Silent Hill 2 is a superbly put together game. It is brilliantly presented and knows what it is about. If you can handle the subject matter and don’t mind interrupted sleep, look out for Silent Hill 2. << less