Silent Hill 2: Restless Dreams

"A wonderful game, if not for its minor flaws"

This was my first venture into the Silent Hill series. I have not played the PS2 version of SH2 either. I still very much enjoyed this game.

GRAPHICS:
I thought the graphics of the game were very well done. I'm not quite sure if they are up to par with the graphics of other XBox games, but in the very least they come very close. The real-time character models were fantastic to look at. The environments were nicely done, with no pixelling or flaws. The CG movies were really nice too. However, the lip syncing of them is a little off in the games introduction movie. I also enjoyed the idea of the noise. It gave the game a grainy look and added to the eerie atmosphere of the game. The flashlight effect was also really well done, with lens flare and real time shadows casted by the environments and characters.

SOUND:
I really loved the sound and music in this game. From the sound effects made by your characters and mosters, to the eerie random scare sounds that occur in the game, everything is done perfectly. The sounds in the game really add to the games scary atmosphere. I was also surprised by the voice acting in the game. In previous survival horror games, voice acting has been at best, B-rated. However, in Silent Hill 2, you can actually feel emotion in the voices of the characters and it just makes the game all the better.

PRESENTATION:
Everything is put together really nicely. I really can't think of any faults in the presentation of the game.

GAMEPLAY:
I guess, if there's anything that I have to put down about this game, it's the gameplay. Mostly in the first half of the game, you spend a huge amount of time running around the town. Now I normally wouldn't mind having to have your character run down streets and so on, but having to spend two to three minutes just to run down one single road, gets a bit boring. The pace picks up in the second half of the game though, putting you more in indoor environments. The controls are standard Resident Evil issue, and while I hear lots of people say the control issue is bad, I've never had problems with the style of controls for the games. One other flaw in terms of gameplay, was the games length. My first try, I finished it in just under 8 hours. And the Maria side quest is extremely short, with under one hour of game time.

REPLAY:
With four (plus 1 bonus) endings, you'll be sure to be playing this game a lot. However, I doubt the scare factor will have such an impact on the 5th time going through this game, as it did on your first try.

OVERALL:
I give this game a 9/10. It easily would of gotten a 10/10 if they had shortened some of the roads, made the intro movie lip sync and made the main scenario and side quest longer. This game is a definite buy for anyone who doesn't have the PS2 version, or for anyone who wants an upgraded PS2 version.

Reviewer's Score: 9/10, Originally Posted: 12/28/01, Updated 12/28/01