dvdsteve2000

I just rented this game and boy am I disappointed. After playing Halo, with it's "Go anywhere at anytime" style of gameplay, SH2 is a huge letdown. The monsters are more annoying than anything, except the tedious task of endless walking with nothing to examine or 'pick-up'. Your game is basically choreographed step by step which really takes the fun out of it. It is basically "Do this, get this, OK now you can do this". Even Tomb Raider has more freedom than SH2 by allowing you to achieve goals in a somewhat random order. After about 5-6 hours of gameplay, I've come to this:

Great graphics, horrible A.I.(monsters freeze until you get close alot of times), stubborn controls(especially hand to hand fighting), poor puzzles, lack of open environment, lack of interactive environment, poor storyline, a little creepy, but overall...boring!

Just my 2 cents. Rent this one first. Not much different than it's PSX predecessor.

Don't flame me, I'm just trying to save $50 for some people.

mljones99

I don't think it is overrated one bit. This is one of the best games I have played! But then again, my favorite genre is thriller/horror. I loved part 1 and part 2 so far is blast (I got sidetracked when I got my cube and xbox). But it is all personal opinion, sucks you didn't like it though

BigDave

My wife and I really enjoyed this game. The graphics were great and I thought the story was good too.

You can't really compare this game to Halo since they're not even in the same genre. Granted, I haven't played Halo, but I doubt you would put it in the same group as SH, RE, etc.

dvdsteve2000

...by the way, this is the X-Box version I'm playing.

I loved Resident Evil, but this game just seemed to lag on & on for me. Parasite Eve for PSX was the same way.

The only way I was comparing Halo to SH2 was the lack of open environments and the poor AI in SH2.

Once again, I don't want to get into game bashing, but I couldn't wait for this game to be released. I couldn't get somewhere to buy it so I rented it, and I was very disappointed. I love every genre of games except fighting games, so I'm familiar with the genre.

Just a suggestion, rent first.

Cardiff Giant11

I too think it is overrated. I LOVED the first Silent Hill on the PSX but this one seemed like a retread but without the interesting cliffhanger that the first game set up. I was really looking forward to this game but when I rented it, I was very let down. Oh well, I didn't expect the new PS2 007 game to be any good, and when I rented that I liked it enough that I bought it.

Spiderbite

I bought this game sight-unseen (hand-unplayed?) due to all the great reviews. I will say that it is quite spooky & the atmosphere is great. My problem was with the gameplay. It was pretty slow after playing Halo, Max Payne, etc. I am not really a puzzle player so I guess I should have read more reviews before buying.

I was most disappointed with what dvdsteve mentioned...following a script. I found getting an object, walking forever, getting a new object, walking, placing the object, walking, getting another object, walking...etc. quite dull. The fighting is annoying & awkward, & if you are not standing in the exact spot the game wants you to, you can't do the action needed. Guess I was a little spoiled by Max Payne & Halo in which you can truly affect almost anything.

If you shoot the wall, you leave a mark. If you touch the water cooler, you pour out water. If you hit a wall with a baseball bat, it makes a noise. In SH2, you swing at a wall & your stick goes thru the wall. There are tons of things lying around that you cannot pick up, touch, interact with, etc.

I can see where others really like this game but I found out that games like this are not my cup of tea. I gotta have a little faster pace. The graphics, sound, & cut-scenes were all awesome though. I traded it without finishing it. So how did it end? (put some spoiler brackets around your answer) Thanks.

dvdsteve2000

That was another thing we were bitching about. After walking by about a dozen 'locked' cars, I started swinging at them with the 2x4 and like you said, nothing but air. You walk through a ton of stuff that doesn't register when you try to examine it, but all of a sudden you'll find "There is a newspaper on the ground. There is nothing interesting about it.". The game gives you what it wants to give you.

rabbit77

It's kind of disheartening to hear about the lack of interactivity with the game. I absolutely loved the experience of playing Silent Hill 1 on the PSOne, and was looking forward to SH2. Unfortunately it doesn't seem to have kept up with the times, and I don't think I can play a game as linearily-forced as you guys have been saying it is - especially since I'm in the middle of playing Max Payne right now.

Trigger

I loved SH2 - I thought it was heaps better than SH1... the story was way more developed and the characters were alot more fleshed out. I thought the scares delivered. It's a very creepy game I think. As far as Survival Horror games go, SH2 is the best I've played - better than any RE game or Alone In The Dark. Survival Horror is a vastly different type of game and gameplay than a First Person Shooter - both of with I'm very familiar with. Comparing Halo and Silent Hill 2 comes to an end after you state that they are both video games - beyond that, they have pretty much nothing in common and they aren't really offering similar results. I've played SH2 to the end on PS2 and then I bought it for my X-Box. I think it's a great achievement and a step forward for Survival Horror games. Games like this fall into the Adventure category - they are filled with puzzles and scripts... the fun is figuring out the puzzles and watching the story unfold as you do things. The Survival part comes in when you have to rely on your rudimentary skills at firing a gun at a scary monster. I mean - people buy puzzles so they can put them together even though the image from the finished puzzle is already complete on the cover of the box. Perhaps you don't like Adventure games as much as you think you do. Resident Evil isn't really quite the same since there is less adventuring and more survival going on. Tomb Raider has far less adventure and far more survival. Silent Hill 2 is for people who like the whole Horror thing and playing a slower paced adventure game. If you liked the first one, then you should (but apparently aren't guaranteed to) like this sequel.

Trigger

That's how adventure games work... can't say they are for everyone. I hear ya though... some used to call it "pixel hunting" back when adventure games went from text based to 2D. You would move your little hand around and click on something in the room that looks interesting, but your character would just ignore your clicks until you look at the one thing in the room you're supposed to look at or else until you click the item in quesion at just the right pixel to register. Eventually these games lost the little hand, but you still have to find the pixel sometimes and of course not everything is touchable. I'm totally fine with that, but adrenalin junkies won't really get their fix off this game unless they really like horror.

JaxComet

I'd have to bounce the overrated title back to "Halo". I bought this about a month ago, played it a few times, and haven't picked it up since. I'll give it another try after I finish "Silent Hill 2" and "Max Payne".

djones6746

Not overrated by any means...this game did not receive top honors and the reviews it did receive are justified. This game was worth a one time play through for me than I sold it. Definitely not along the lines of Grand Theft Auto which I have finished twice now with many more hours of game play coming in the future. The first Silent Hill on the PS1 was alot better as far as the storyline. People have different opinions....Metal Gear Solid 2 became tedious to me after they switched up the story on you after the first mission with Snake....I still have to finish the game if that ever happens.

The next game I am looking forward to would be State of Emergency and Medal of Honor.

RudeBoie

I enjoyed it. Wasn't too scary with monsters (suprises), but they did a good job with the atmosphere and nastiness (what is that mannequin doing?)

Story seems a bit disjointed as a whole to me, but I may be expectint too much as I never played any of the other RE and SH games, except for RE CV, which I only went half way on.

djones6746

I feel the first SH game was much better then the sequel....you should try it out. Should be able to find it somewhere used and cheap.

Lethal Nemesis

Great graphics, great atmosphere, but somewhat boring to me. The story wasn't gripping to me, and running down endless hallways and coming across countless "the lock is broken" doors, I got tired of playing it. I've had it since it came out, but I've only managed to play it for about 5 hours. I'll finish it eventually, but there are other games right now that are occupying my playing time.

DVD Lamer

The game itself doesn't "suck." It's linear gameplay that doesn't fit your demographic type: nonlinear gameplay. That's all. The ones to advise not to spend $50 are for the nonlinear type gamers.

Spiderbite

In issue #2 of Official Xbox Magazine, they ask 10 questions of Takayoshi Sato, who was the director & character designer of Silent Hill & Silent Hill 2.

One of the questions they ask is, "In one sentence...what's the deal with all the monster sex?" He answers (for those who are curious), "Because they are starving for love and communication. Monsters need love and mercy, too."

So...I guess the mannequins are having sex. That was even stranger than what I was thinking when I first saw that part.