Silent Hill 2 is a fascinating, beautiful game. Through a series of courageous stylistic choices, the developers have created a game that is pure art. First of all, a special grainy filter is used to give this title the look of a horror B-movie shoot in 16mm. The cinematographic attitude of this title is also evident in the marvellous work done with the camera movements. The camera always follows the character with perfect fluidity and precision, while a continuous change in the camera angles raises the player’s tension. In Silent Hill 2, thanks to the wise direction and to the fact that you can change the camera angle using the stick of the Dual Shock 2, you’ll never find yourself in the situation of not being able to see what’s in front of James, like it happens in Survival Horrors with fixed camera angles.
Of course this is possible because in Silent Hill 2 there are no pre-rendered backgrounds. Konami’s developers seem to have always preferred real time rendered environments: and in fact this gives the director and the lead artists all the freedom of a film director.
And the environments in Silent Hill 2 are marvellous. While you are outdoors, in the streets of Silent Hill, the thickest, most realistic 3D fog ever seen in a videogame embraces the character like an evil, sad creature. The improvements in the hardware become evident here: the fog is no longer a way to hide pop-up issues; it’s something fundamental to the gameplay, an element that is a constant menace to James, something that moves silently in spirals and permeates the world of the game. Darkness and light are often synonymous of death and life in Silent Hill 2. Light effects are just gorgeous and the shadows cast in real time by the characters and the creatures are so real, scary, dramatic – so full of life, in their own way.
Silent Hill 2 looks like a real American small-town, something that closely resembles David Lynch’s Twin Peaks. Every building looks like no other in the game, every road is unique and surprising. Inside the buildings, the developers have created a world made of darkness, blood, rust and decay. If in the first episode you were scared to enter that gloomy Hospital, this time you’ll be terrified. The quantity of details that is possible to see in every room is astounding, and from this point of view Silent Hill 2 really makes you think you are seeing a real place, where someone lived and suffered. The quality of the textures is always excellent: the artists at KCET did a maniacal, absurd job to give this game something previously unseen in a Survival Horror.
The creatures that populate Silent Hill 2 seem to be a part of the city, fused with the bloody walls and the silent fog. Their bodies are made of parts of other bodies, their skin seem to be devoured by a devastating disease. They don’t have faces and if they have one, it’s like if someone turned their inside out. The movements are always disturbing, sick, sexual. It’s as if these creatures are suffering in an unbearable way, as if someone is torturing them from the inside.
The “human” characters and first of all James, show the same realism used for the rest of the game. The models look much better than those seen in Capcom’s Onimusha. The hair, the eyes, the characters’ posture, the hands that feature magnificently defined and animated fingers are among the best seen in a videogame. During in-game moments, the movements of James, Marie ( a girl that he meets in Silent Hill) and of all the other characters that I don’t want to spoil are so real that you’ll be amazed.
Another great feature is the fact that the transition between in-game graphics and CG prerendered movies is never jarring. And the prerendered movies are just unforgettable in Silent Hill 2. The artists have created polygonal models able to show a range of emotions and facial animations that surprised me. From movie to movie, the game becomes more and more gorgeous, the characters become more and more believable, and your heart is completely absorbed into the world of Silent Hill 2.
