Silent Hill 2

Silent Hill 2  is the second installment of the series of video games Silent Hill and the first game of the franchise that was published for PlayStation 2. It was launched in North America on September 24, 2001 for the PlayStation 2 of Sony and later was ported for the Microsoft Xbox (with the subtitle "Inner Fears", which included unprecedented features, such as a new sub-scenario) and PC.

The changes added to the Inner Fears port were also included in the re-releases of the Greatest Hits / Platinum Edition special editions of the PlayStation 2 game.

It was re-done with high-definition graphics and new voices in the Silent Hill HD Collection, along with Silent Hill 3.

Gameplay

Some of the new features included in the game are:

The screen filter "noise effect"
2D and 3D modes (2D is an alternative name for "tank" controls)
A fellow NPC (Non-playable character)
The gameplay of Silent Hill 2 is almost identical to the first game in the series, which includes exploring Silent Hill with a flashlight and a radio, while defeating monsters and solving puzzles along the way. Many of the environments are dark, and the lantern is often the only source of light. The radio that James finds detects the monsters when they are close to him by emitting static and notify the player of his presence. James can find many useful objects in his way, and without picking up some specific objects, the player can not advance in the game. If James receives too much damage from an enemy, he will die, leading to a Game Over screen.

When a monster appears, the player will have to make a decision on whether to fight him or run away. Both options work well in different scenarios, for example, in a narrow corridor, the best option would be to fight, but in a large open space, the best option would be to flee. Even if James flees from an enemy, he remains vulnerable to attacks, however, if James turns off the flashlight, this is less likely to happen.

Arriving at Rosewater Park, Maria will accompany James. She will follow James although he will not be able to defend himself because he has no weapons. So James's responsibility will be to protect her from monsters. If Maria dies from receiving too much damage from the enemies (or if James shoots her), the game will result in a Game Over screen. Also, even if Maria is too far away from James when he opens a door, she will appear next to James in the next area.

Developing

Influences and design
The atmosphere of the game is mostly similar to that of the first Silent Hill, including the abandoned and / or decomposed aspect of the city and the persistent fog that obscures the streets, but it has been given a more psychological turn of focus. An example of this is Mary's letter, which disappears progressively during the game implying, as Konami later confirmed, that the letter was not real and was simply part of James' hallucinations. The explanation is that, as James slowly begins to understand what he did, the illusions of the people begin to disappear. This could also be the explanation for the transformation of the hotel, because when James enters it is almost intact, but after watching the videotape he finds that it returns to its true form: a structure mostly burned. Other attempts to induce a recognized psychological influence in the game include the placement of Mary's dress in the room in which James discovers the flashlight and the modeling of at least two corpses in the village in the shape of James.

The monsters in the game, in addition to being more humanoid in design unlike their counterparts in the previous Silent Hill game, are acknowledged to have been, for the most part, designed as a reflection of James' subconscious. At least two creatures, the Mannequins and the Nurses, are recognized to have been created with sexual suggestion in mind, a reflection of James's carnal desires and probable sexual deprivation during Mary's illness. Pyramid Head is acknowledged to have been based on the executioners of the town's fictional story and is destined to be a punisher for James. There are two exceptions to this theme, the Abstract Daddy, a reflection of Angela's subconscious memory, and the Creepers, which are also observed in the first game.

Silent Hill 2 also includes some references to real life events. The creators have said that the name "Mary" comes from Mary Ann Nichols and Mary Jane Kelly, the first and last victim of Jack the Ripper respectively. Other observers have claimed that Maria's clothes were copied from Christina Aguilera's appearance at the 1999 Teen Choice Awards. Eddie Dombrowski's name was taken from actor Eddie Murphy during the early stages of production when Eddie was originally designed with a personality nice and optimistic. The name of Angela Orosco is derived from Angela Bennett, the protagonist of the movie The Net (The Network), and Laura from the novel No Language But a Cry, by the author Richard D'Ambrosio. There are also indications that the design of Silent Hill has been based in the city of San Bruno, California, to some extent.

Releases

Silent Hill 2 was first released for PlayStation 2 at the end of 2001. The original European edition also included a second disc: a DVD of the "Making-of" ("How it was made") along with trailers, a book of illustrations, and a documentary about the development of the game.

The Xbox port was released at the end of the same year as the PS2 version, on December 20, 2001, and the PC version in December 2002. Each region had a different subtitle, the Xbox port was subtitled as Saigo no Uta (最 期 の 詩, literally "The Final Song") in Japan, Restless Dreams ("Restless Dreams") in North America, and Inner Fears ("Internal Fears") in Europe. The ports also contained additional playable material. A sixth ending was added to James' stage and a subscenario called "Born of a wish" was included. This sub-scenario is played from Maria's perspective, which explains the events that happened to her before she met James on the main stage.

This extended version of the game was taken to PS2 and PC, and cataloged like the version of the director ("Director's Cut"), "Greatest Hits" and "Platinum" according to the place of launching.

The PC version of Silent Hill 2 was released in December 2002, carried by Creature Labs and published by Konami. The PC edition is equivalent to the Xbox port, including Maria's stage and the extra end. The PC port generally received negative reviews, due to its controls, which in general were only with the keyboard. The gameplay with the mouse was limited to menus and maps, although the game had support for USB control. Other additional features include the ability to save anywhere, save and load quickly, and a movie menu to watch Silent Hill 2 and Silent Hill 3 trailers, as well as any other in-game kinematics once seen by the player during the course of it.


Title: Silent Hill 2 Director's Cut
Released: September 24, 2001
Genre: Survival Horror

Minimum requirements:
Operating system: Xp / Vista / 7/8
Processor: 700 MHz
RAM: 128 MB (256 Recommended)
Graphics: 64 MB DirectX 8.1 level graphics card.