'Silent Hill 2' is a survival horror game that follows James Sunderland who has arrived at Silent Hill after receiving a letter from his wife who is three years deceased. | As this game was initially released in 2001 the game will be compared against a more recent survival horror title 'Dead Space 3' and question how far has the genre developed over the last decade? |
I hadn't played Silent Hill 2 until recently when I picked up the remastered version for the PS3. Upon starting a new game I was faced with an option, 'Original voices' or 'New voices'. Now, to someone like me - who had no experience of the game prior to my recent play through - I cannot claim to attribute nostalgic values to this choice nor would it impinge on my own play through. What it was that interested me about this choice was the transition between the old and the new. The year is 2001 and PS2 games still cost £40, welcome to Silent Hill. It's foggy, grey and the inhabitants are uninviting to say the least. Through the protagonist James, the game plays out like your own sensory-deprived torture session where the visuals are bleak and the narrative is bleaker. Corridors are narrow, cameras are awkward and you're almost always surrounded by darkness. The audio does not help, as the constant static sound that signifies nearby enemies which twist and lurk beyond your peripheral vision begins to bore into your skull. The game rewards the masochistic, giving you next to no information as to where you can find the key items necessary to progress. This means you'll wander the streets or hallways for hours unless you crawl defeated towards the solace of an online guide and if you haven't saved in a while, well that's on you. 2001 favoured the bold: checkpoints and red fading health screens were still unheard of within the horror genre. Twelve years on, compare this game with 'Dead Space 3' (2013), the third instalment of a modern survival series that - similarly to 'Silent Hill 2' - saw it's protagonist Isaac Clarke facing hordes of aliens through dark narrow corridors alone. This is no longer the case, as the series now encourages players to embrace the newly established co-operative gameplay. | Having a one-player experience through a game designed for two reached a point where the only real factor scaring me was that I had no friends to play with. No one likes to ride tandem bikes alone (or unless you're madly in love, at all). Amusingly, the co-op character Carver appeared out of nowhere for cut scenes, before running off shot upon regaining control of Isaac. Carver my only friend, where did you come from, where did you go? I am aware that 'Dead Space' gives players the option of experiencing the game in a difficulty reminiscent of classic games such as 'Silent Hill 2', though I would argue that there are still elements which come into play that create easier gameplay overall. To provide an example: the navigation system built into Isaac's suit that guides the player through to the game's completion had me questioning whether much had improved over the last decade. Because I often didn't know where to go next in 'Silent Hill 2', I was more apprehensive to enter certain rooms or wander the streets too long. It made me think about the survival rate of my character in the long term, and this reinforced the genre of the game. Enemies faced did not drop weapons upon death, therefore the use of firearms came at a price during boss encounters later on. |
The 'New Voices' mentioned earlier could reflect the way horror is currently perceived. The voices are gritty, breathy, Hollywoodised, so admittedly they should suit the game. But 'Silent Hill 2' is a game about the uncanny, the subconscious manifesting itself within a ph
ysical form. The 'Original Voices' at times sounded overtly friendly or exaggerated, though this served only to add to the unusual atmosphere of the town and its inhabitants. In comparison with 'Dead Space', Isaac faces a constant visceral threat, where scripted events jump-scare you when you least expect. However, this occurs so regularly in the game that the scares become more inevitable and the player becomes desensitized to the violence. 'Silent Hill 2' Saw elements of James's repressed emotions become the very enemies you fought. They may not be 'scary' by today's standards but through visual connotations, the addition of a subtext encouraged players to think more about the true meanings of the game.Would You Kindly follow the Paused Thoughts twitter page!