Silent Hill 2 (PS2, 2001)
Graphics-7.5 Sound-8.5 Control-5 Challenge-6.5 Story-6
Level Design-7 Frustration-7.5 Fun-6.5 Originality-
Overall Score-7?
+
Unconventional solutions to some gameplay elements (main character turns his head towards items or enemies to help locate them - usually works well but can be confusing at times, broken radio makes a noise near living monsters - helpful yet stressful and creepy at the same time)
Difficulty and control options (the latter are a bit limited though, different puzzles on harder riddle levels)
Decent cutscenes which are all skippable
Very good art direction and sound design overall
Some good puzzles (the coin box)
Effective and not always obvious symbolism
Strafing and quick turn (l+r) moves
Pretty good storytelling via the environment/symbols/clues/notes (better than through the character interaction or narration)
Alternate endings
Unlockables (such as a chainsaw and extra ammo per ammo box, see notes for more)
Notes are added to the map automatically as you play (marking important spots, blocked paths or dead ends - while useful it's a shame you can't creates notes manually)
+/-
No control tutorial except for the button config in the options menu (usually not a problem but fighting could've been explained via a subtle pop-up or something)
Heavy fog makes it hard to spot some stuff like the memorial stone (obviously it contributes to the atmosphere but after the park it gets a bit ridiculous)
Health items are randomly placed around town
Invisible walls or silly objects as road blocks (cuts down transportation time/dead space but the fog and background graphics can make you waste your time anyway by making it seem like there's something there to investigate)
Tank controls
Game pauses while in the inventory (so you can reload or heal yourself without worrying about the enemies)
Limited inventory?
Save points (pretty frequent, multiple save slots)
Decent foreshadowing through the dialogue (but the weird intonation on words or sentences that aren't meant to be makes many dialogue scenes sort of comical in a way that seems unintentional)
Early enemies don't use doors or keep following James if he moves far enough away (about 20 meters?)
Can't save Maria from cutscene death (if she dies beforehand it's game over - inconsistent)
-
Some control and interface issues (enemies aren't stunned if hit while they're getting up, can't smoothly trigger downward/upward attacks with the stick, there's a fairly long delay after each action (like in Tekken 1 or 2 but worse) during which the player can't pause/view the map/move or turn, clunky interaction with the coin box, inconsistency when trying to beat a monster that's lying down with the stick, fairly easy to accidentally skip description text since it's triggered with any button and without delay, awkward health indicator (need to go into the options menu and it's not very clear how close to death you are, overly sensitive and kind of clunky controls for looking around - sometimes the game just tilts back to a bad camera angle if you release the button, map is on a separate menu screen and doesn't show your location in all maps on its screen - also doesn't show how the different maps are sorted in the map menu)
Overly dramatic and cryptic acting and script at times (encounters with the woman who was at the graveyard in the beginning, first Laura encounter) and you can't manually ask questions that seem obvious given the situation
Many non-interactive objects (sometimes activated later on by certain events but not always in a logical way, many doors and such where it would've been good to have the game/character tell you that there's nothing there or that it can't be opened) and minor dead ends
The first enemies (after the very first encounter) are kind of comical and not interesting to fight
Dumb design relating to the flashlight (can't read text on the clock and on the wall in the same room without it even though you can clearly read it before picking the flashlight up, can't pick up the handgun without it - same thing here and you also need to do these in the right order to trigger the event with the dead man in from of the TV on the second floor) and stick (can't reach for the key in the apartment building using it)
James can't move light furniture around to reach some doors (one apartment, locker to the left of the stripping stage) and can't climb ankle- to waist-high height differences in the environment (to reach for example the shed next to the pool)
Trial & error (the garbage chute puzzle (have to use a random item (juice can container which gives the impression it's for healing unless you try using it) when you could've used the stick or even your hands - some sort of chemical liquid would've made more sense), the game doesn't save the elevator quiz game message in text form so you had to write it down when it happened to remember the order of the questions and answers, somewhat annoying safe puzzle though it is optional, the pyramid head encounter in the stair room - need to stall him with 30+ shots (?) to make him go away and you can't escape or see that the stairs are covered in water thanks to the weird camera there)
Plot oddities (how do the other inhabitants get to where they are and why are there never monsters around when you meet them?, not being able to ask them on your own makes things more cryptic in a clumsy way, can't ask Maria where Laura did run when she tells you that you're going the wrong way)
Odd hit detection on Maria (try running near her) and you can't tell her to move out of the way or perform a certain action
James sometimes changes position a bit when you initiate a dialogue scene with an NPC (for example in the bowling hall you'll end up behind the fat guy after speaking to him regardless of where you stood before)
Some tedious parts (respawning and resilient enemies in the hospital)
So-so translation/grammar at times
Notes:
-Minor graphical glitches on PS3 (parts of James' character model flickers, the flashlight lights through some walls),
-Unlockables: http://www.gamefaqs.com/ps2/437029-silent-hill-2/cheats
Level Design-7 Frustration-7.5 Fun-6.5 Originality-
Overall Score-7?
+
Unconventional solutions to some gameplay elements (main character turns his head towards items or enemies to help locate them - usually works well but can be confusing at times, broken radio makes a noise near living monsters - helpful yet stressful and creepy at the same time)
Difficulty and control options (the latter are a bit limited though, different puzzles on harder riddle levels)
Decent cutscenes which are all skippable
Very good art direction and sound design overall
Some good puzzles (the coin box)
Effective and not always obvious symbolism
Strafing and quick turn (l+r) moves
Pretty good storytelling via the environment/symbols/clues/notes (better than through the character interaction or narration)
Alternate endings
Unlockables (such as a chainsaw and extra ammo per ammo box, see notes for more)
Notes are added to the map automatically as you play (marking important spots, blocked paths or dead ends - while useful it's a shame you can't creates notes manually)
+/-
No control tutorial except for the button config in the options menu (usually not a problem but fighting could've been explained via a subtle pop-up or something)
Heavy fog makes it hard to spot some stuff like the memorial stone (obviously it contributes to the atmosphere but after the park it gets a bit ridiculous)
Health items are randomly placed around town
Invisible walls or silly objects as road blocks (cuts down transportation time/dead space but the fog and background graphics can make you waste your time anyway by making it seem like there's something there to investigate)
Tank controls
Game pauses while in the inventory (so you can reload or heal yourself without worrying about the enemies)
Limited inventory?
Save points (pretty frequent, multiple save slots)
Decent foreshadowing through the dialogue (but the weird intonation on words or sentences that aren't meant to be makes many dialogue scenes sort of comical in a way that seems unintentional)
Early enemies don't use doors or keep following James if he moves far enough away (about 20 meters?)
Can't save Maria from cutscene death (if she dies beforehand it's game over - inconsistent)
-
Some control and interface issues (enemies aren't stunned if hit while they're getting up, can't smoothly trigger downward/upward attacks with the stick, there's a fairly long delay after each action (like in Tekken 1 or 2 but worse) during which the player can't pause/view the map/move or turn, clunky interaction with the coin box, inconsistency when trying to beat a monster that's lying down with the stick, fairly easy to accidentally skip description text since it's triggered with any button and without delay, awkward health indicator (need to go into the options menu and it's not very clear how close to death you are, overly sensitive and kind of clunky controls for looking around - sometimes the game just tilts back to a bad camera angle if you release the button, map is on a separate menu screen and doesn't show your location in all maps on its screen - also doesn't show how the different maps are sorted in the map menu)
Overly dramatic and cryptic acting and script at times (encounters with the woman who was at the graveyard in the beginning, first Laura encounter) and you can't manually ask questions that seem obvious given the situation
Many non-interactive objects (sometimes activated later on by certain events but not always in a logical way, many doors and such where it would've been good to have the game/character tell you that there's nothing there or that it can't be opened) and minor dead ends
The first enemies (after the very first encounter) are kind of comical and not interesting to fight
Dumb design relating to the flashlight (can't read text on the clock and on the wall in the same room without it even though you can clearly read it before picking the flashlight up, can't pick up the handgun without it - same thing here and you also need to do these in the right order to trigger the event with the dead man in from of the TV on the second floor) and stick (can't reach for the key in the apartment building using it)
James can't move light furniture around to reach some doors (one apartment, locker to the left of the stripping stage) and can't climb ankle- to waist-high height differences in the environment (to reach for example the shed next to the pool)
Trial & error (the garbage chute puzzle (have to use a random item (juice can container which gives the impression it's for healing unless you try using it) when you could've used the stick or even your hands - some sort of chemical liquid would've made more sense), the game doesn't save the elevator quiz game message in text form so you had to write it down when it happened to remember the order of the questions and answers, somewhat annoying safe puzzle though it is optional, the pyramid head encounter in the stair room - need to stall him with 30+ shots (?) to make him go away and you can't escape or see that the stairs are covered in water thanks to the weird camera there)
Plot oddities (how do the other inhabitants get to where they are and why are there never monsters around when you meet them?, not being able to ask them on your own makes things more cryptic in a clumsy way, can't ask Maria where Laura did run when she tells you that you're going the wrong way)
Odd hit detection on Maria (try running near her) and you can't tell her to move out of the way or perform a certain action
James sometimes changes position a bit when you initiate a dialogue scene with an NPC (for example in the bowling hall you'll end up behind the fat guy after speaking to him regardless of where you stood before)
Some tedious parts (respawning and resilient enemies in the hospital)
So-so translation/grammar at times
Notes:
-Minor graphical glitches on PS3 (parts of James' character model flickers, the flashlight lights through some walls),
-Unlockables: http://www.gamefaqs.com/ps2/437029-silent-hill-2/cheats