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indigozealThankfully, the store warranty on my malfunctioning PS2 ran a few days longer than I'd thought, so, outfitted with a keen new PS2 slim and a nifty translucent green controller, I headed back into the breach today.
I'm having mixed thoughts on the game so far. Coming back into Silent Hill proper, with all the dingy, boarded-up storefronts you can't enter and the crumbling, scuzzy hallways of the few you can, reminded me that the basic series aesthetic is not one to which I perhaps I'm ever going to cotton. Cheap and rundown environments just make me depressed instead of scared. It was particularly dispiriting compared to the lakeside forest walk that begins the game, which is unsettling and spooky but still provides a welcome visual respite from the rust-orange and plaster grey that are the series mainstays. More natural environments would perhaps be a boon for this game.
Combat is some respects a stickier situation than it was in the first Silent Hill. It's an improvement in that the first enemies in 2 are decidedly land-based instead of swooping flying creatures. The problem is that they have a long-range spitting attack that always triggers if you move in to melee them. I can't control James well enough to dodge the dang thing (if it indeed can be dodged), so every confrontation leaves me worse off for health. Furthermore, once you get in a certain number of hits, the creatures start crawling around on the ground at high speed like Regan from The Exorcist, whappable only in the short pauses they take between sprints and rising to spit once more if they're not soon stamped out. The camera is even less cooperative in this game, though, its angles more fixed and close-range, so it's hard to get to a position where you can actually see what's attacking you, particularly when it's skittering all over. I have no projectile weapon at this point, despite having found a box of handgun bullets. On the bright side, running from combat does work better in this game, since the enemies have a shorter range than the fliers in 1, but there're a few situations where you can't avoid being worked over.
Oh, and those health drinks I noted in the previous log? They worked like a half-heal in the first game; here, they are as Goggles, such is the nothing that they do. If I had to guess, they replenish only about a sixth of your life bar at best. Even the mighty first-aid kit offers only a halfhearted heal. To add to the problem, there's no clear health meter - only a photo on your status screen that becomes grainier and more flickery as your condition deteriorates. Artistic, but I've no idea what constitutes orange, yellow, red, caution, danger, or whatever. Right now, I tend just to take something whenever the controller rumble kicks in. Even with further replenishment following my extended travels in town, my once-mighty stockpile of health drinks has dwindled to two or three, and I've the first "dungeon" just ahead.
I'm currently on the second floor of the apartment building, though I might have to backtrack to an earlier save. The handgun situation I'd mentioned earlier? I actually hadn't gotten around to checking out the entire city available to me before heading into my first destination; I'd just gotten beat up a bit by some enemies, recalled there was usually a save point at the ground floor of the Silent Hill "dungeons", and figured I'd just duck in, make a quick save, and finish exploring. When I tried to head back out, though, Mr. James Sunderland decided that no, this apartment building seemed suspicious to him, and he wasn't going to leave until he'd satisfied his curiosity, just like he'd satisfied his curiosity earlier about the jittering shadow down the road by walking six blocks to get in a fight with a writhing monstrosity. I said "the heck with it" and forged on with the exploration, but I am currently stuck in an awfully tight corridor with two creatures waiting at the end and only a plank with a couple nails in it for protection. Oh, and a garbage chute. Which has something puzzleriffic stuck in it. OH IF ONLY I HAD A STICK OR 2X4 OR SOME MANNER OF LONG LUMBER WITH WHICH TO NUDGE THIS OBSTRUCTION DOWN THE CHUTE. ALAS. I'm gonna regret choosing Hard mode for the puzzles, aren't I? Anyhow, I might just reload that earlier save and see if there was a firearm in the unexplored quarters of the city, just to try to make my life easier.
A new practical problem has reared its head: motion sickness. Nausea knocked me flat for a good hour after my play session. Was I sitting too close to the TV?
.
I'm having mixed thoughts on the game so far. Coming back into Silent Hill proper, with all the dingy, boarded-up storefronts you can't enter and the crumbling, scuzzy hallways of the few you can, reminded me that the basic series aesthetic is not one to which I perhaps I'm ever going to cotton. Cheap and rundown environments just make me depressed instead of scared. It was particularly dispiriting compared to the lakeside forest walk that begins the game, which is unsettling and spooky but still provides a welcome visual respite from the rust-orange and plaster grey that are the series mainstays. More natural environments would perhaps be a boon for this game.
Combat is some respects a stickier situation than it was in the first Silent Hill. It's an improvement in that the first enemies in 2 are decidedly land-based instead of swooping flying creatures. The problem is that they have a long-range spitting attack that always triggers if you move in to melee them. I can't control James well enough to dodge the dang thing (if it indeed can be dodged), so every confrontation leaves me worse off for health. Furthermore, once you get in a certain number of hits, the creatures start crawling around on the ground at high speed like Regan from The Exorcist, whappable only in the short pauses they take between sprints and rising to spit once more if they're not soon stamped out. The camera is even less cooperative in this game, though, its angles more fixed and close-range, so it's hard to get to a position where you can actually see what's attacking you, particularly when it's skittering all over. I have no projectile weapon at this point, despite having found a box of handgun bullets. On the bright side, running from combat does work better in this game, since the enemies have a shorter range than the fliers in 1, but there're a few situations where you can't avoid being worked over.
Oh, and those health drinks I noted in the previous log? They worked like a half-heal in the first game; here, they are as Goggles, such is the nothing that they do. If I had to guess, they replenish only about a sixth of your life bar at best. Even the mighty first-aid kit offers only a halfhearted heal. To add to the problem, there's no clear health meter - only a photo on your status screen that becomes grainier and more flickery as your condition deteriorates. Artistic, but I've no idea what constitutes orange, yellow, red, caution, danger, or whatever. Right now, I tend just to take something whenever the controller rumble kicks in. Even with further replenishment following my extended travels in town, my once-mighty stockpile of health drinks has dwindled to two or three, and I've the first "dungeon" just ahead.
I'm currently on the second floor of the apartment building, though I might have to backtrack to an earlier save. The handgun situation I'd mentioned earlier? I actually hadn't gotten around to checking out the entire city available to me before heading into my first destination; I'd just gotten beat up a bit by some enemies, recalled there was usually a save point at the ground floor of the Silent Hill "dungeons", and figured I'd just duck in, make a quick save, and finish exploring. When I tried to head back out, though, Mr. James Sunderland decided that no, this apartment building seemed suspicious to him, and he wasn't going to leave until he'd satisfied his curiosity, just like he'd satisfied his curiosity earlier about the jittering shadow down the road by walking six blocks to get in a fight with a writhing monstrosity. I said "the heck with it" and forged on with the exploration, but I am currently stuck in an awfully tight corridor with two creatures waiting at the end and only a plank with a couple nails in it for protection. Oh, and a garbage chute. Which has something puzzleriffic stuck in it. OH IF ONLY I HAD A STICK OR 2X4 OR SOME MANNER OF LONG LUMBER WITH WHICH TO NUDGE THIS OBSTRUCTION DOWN THE CHUTE. ALAS. I'm gonna regret choosing Hard mode for the puzzles, aren't I? Anyhow, I might just reload that earlier save and see if there was a firearm in the unexplored quarters of the city, just to try to make my life easier.
A new practical problem has reared its head: motion sickness. Nausea knocked me flat for a good hour after my play session. Was I sitting too close to the TV?
.
