Silent Hill 2 - Part 4

Admit it, when Konami broadcast unfinished SH2 footage, you switched off. I did at least. It shut off my anticipation as quickly as my excitement registered on announcement that Bloober Team would be breathing new life into Silent Hill, 23 years after the original sequel defined the genre of psychological survival horror. James Sunderland's journey is given the over shoulder treatment of the Resident Evil remakes and The Last Of Us, and for the most part is a competent remake. Graphically, Silent Hill 2 does what it needs to with the iconic fog looking better than it ever has, hiding the stumbling and shuffling enemies that stalk you around the streets of South Vale. The weather effects are grim, moody and really help the tone of the game through night and day. And indoors, otherworld or otherwise are dust filled and mouldy, designed in a way that whatever lurks around each corner will ALWAYS make you jump and panic. The sound design is incredible, with every drip, footstep, gust of wind or creak keeping you on a knife's edge. The dread and uneasiness is second only to maybe Alien Isolation - it is not pleasant at times. And Akira Yamaoka's soundtrack very much remains the highlight, even in it's reworked state. Unfortunately, it's not all glory days for this remake, and I'm not convinced that it's the fault of Bloober Team. The original development team were very protective of the original masterwork, and whilst this is important - it ain't always for the best. The lovingly reconstructed streets and buildings are beautiful to see - as are some of the reworked brain teaser puzzles - but once the game passes Brookhaven Hospital it begins to suffer from formulaic encounters... zipper monster into mannequin into nurse, rinse and repeat. New monsters are a sorely needed addition. The dialogue has hardly changed, where there was a perfect opportunity to edit the dialogue that is so bad - and the acting of the original lines is utterly flat. So whilst we have new character models, they're the same 1 dimensional characters in a decent story. All in all, is it bad? No. But is it reined in and anchored by putting too much respect on the OG? Definitely - and that's something I never thought possible. #ps5 #silenthill #nukeboxharris #twitch #silenthill2 #silenthill2remake #konami #blooberteam #fullplaythrough Broadcasted live on Twitch -- Watch live at   / nukeboxharris