In fact, theres really nothing at all new here, except for the fact that PC gamers can finally explore Silent Hill 2.You just knew he was a jaded, hardcore gamer nerd, the kind of guy whod sneer if he caught you playing a demo game on easy.He looked at us, shook his head a little too slowly, and said (in surprisingly perfect and colloquial English): No.We were a little shocked - enough, in fact, to sort of blurt: What, are you kidding You thought it sucked.
The brief, intimate urgency of this reunion-summons would be the stuff of bittersweet love songs if it werent for one near-unspeakable fact: Mary Sunderland has been dead for three years now, victim to an unspecified wasting affliction which James can only think of as that damn disease. ![]() And yet -- torn, desperate and numb -- he makes his way to Silent Hill anyway. The town is deserted (save a scattered handful of troubled people James can encounter). Roads are blocked, surreally shorn off, or in some cases disconnected from reality altogether. More-or-less complete town maps are available -- no minimap though; you must constantly pause and peruse the inventory screens to reorient yourself, but at least James makes handy marks to notate points of interest -- and although many of the towns buildings are simply locked, many others are not. The fog-shrouded streets are alive and crawling with things that arent, and shouldnt be. The towns pervasive silence is broken only by James echoing footfalls or the teeth-grating shriek of his malfunctioning pocket radio (which inexplicably blares warning static whenever some monstrosity approaches from the mist); before long, even the players own sense of time and location begin to misfire, landing James in a bleak and nasty place where the towns dark past begins to bleed through into the canvas of the present. They dont call it survival horror for nothing, and soon James has two choices: get busy killing or get busy dying. James has, well, Things coming after him - some of them look a little like inside-out dogs and some of them look a bit like wet mannequins with too many legs. But some of them dont look much like anything at all, which can be its own special kind of disturbing. Between the somehow hysterical shriek of James kaput radio and his attempts to bludgeon, stomp and shotgun things than often cannot even be identified, Silent Hill 2 has a uniquely nightmarish feel. In the games Hard puzzleaction modes -- which is the only proper way to play the game -- ammunition is scarce and the rounds you expend early in the game you will sorely miss later on. ![]() The control scheme translates to the PC, but its not ideal - if youve got a console-style controller for use with your computer, Silent Hill 2 is the place to use it. Its a coin-toss: With the filter effect off, the games great visuals become cleaner, more distinct; with the filter enabled, everything in Silent Hill takes on a slightly scratchy, grainy look that adds to the games already nightmarish feel. On the whole, Silent Hill 2 has survived the trip to PC Land in excellent shape. ![]() In fact, there just arent a lot of yucks to go around in Silent Hill; even the games one moment of definite humor is rather sick and visceral. We dont want to ruin any more good bits than a decent review forces us to. Its not a very long addition, but its a nice touch taken (again) from the Xbox version.
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