Is Silent Hill 2 the best game ever made?

[Sung-Hwan]

At least, from a storytelling perspective. To share sentiments with Ben Croshaw, to this very day, I've never been quite affected from a video game (not counting visual novels) story as Silent Hill 2. It is a haunting, yet beautiful tragedy backed by a kind of atmosphere that was never truly matched.

 

[Alma Mare]

It cannot be, on the fact that the gameplay is atrocious.

Mind you, that had 0 effect on it being one of the most incredible experiences I've had with a game, I love it to death.

 

[Sung-Hwan]

It cannot be, on the fact that the gameplay is atrocious.

Mind you, that had 0 effect on it being one of the most incredible experiences I've had with a game, I love it to death.

Which part of the gameplay? If its the combat, a very interesting thing to note is that Silent Hill 2 can actually be beaten with almost, if not, zero fighting. Bosse fights Pyramid Head and the final boss are scripted to end after time passed. I loved the puzzles though, especially given that even the puzzles have meanings behind them.

 

[ninja666]

I've never played Silent Hill 2 personally because I'm scared of horrors. I watched a full playthrough on Youtube, though, and I must say that, strictly from the storytelling perspective, Silent Hill 2 is the best. No other game storyline has ever blown me away and got me thinking as much as this one. I'm still looking for a game with a story nearly as good, with no luck.

 

[Casual Shinji]

Best horror game, sure. Best game ever? Nah. But then what game is?

 

[stroopwafel]

The game itself isn't very good(clumsy camera, clumsy controls, clumsy combat, clumsy everything) but the atmosphere is so thick and the premise of its storyline so intriguing that these things alone can carry the game. Not surprisingly this game came out at around the same time as Metal Gear Solid 2, and if MGS2 was the first true postmodern videogame than SH2 was the first true avant-garde videogame. Konami evidently gave complete creative freedom to the developers of these games which shows in their uncompromising vision. I haven't really seen that before or since. Atleast in my mind this is what makes SH2 such a classic(and MGS2 for that matter).

 

[Alma Mare]

It cannot be, on the fact that the gameplay is atrocious.

Mind you, that had 0 effect on it being one of the most incredible experiences I've had with a game, I love it to death.

Which part of the gameplay? If its the combat, a very interesting thing to note is that Silent Hill 2 can actually be beaten with almost, if not, zero fighting. Bosse fights Pyramid Head and the final boss are scripted to end after time passed. I loved the puzzles though, especially given that even the puzzles have meanings behind them.

Everything. The combat is horrid, and so is the camera. Being optional doesn't excuse that. Especialy when the alternative is rubbing against doors to find which ones aren't locked and looking for convoluted keys that fit convoluted doors. This is the gameplay that we had back in the Alone in the Dark games, and it was poor then.

Not that it makes a dent in the experience, it's still an incredible game, in many ways peerless, but I personally would save the 'best game ever' for a game that actually allows the gameplay to enhance the story/theme/experience, rather than getting in the way of it or being a mandatory input check. Games like Journey or Brothers: Tale of Two Sons came closer to making that happen.

 

[Nazulu]

It cannot be, on the fact that the gameplay is atrocious.

Mind you, that had 0 effect on it being one of the most incredible experiences I've had with a game, I love it to death.

I don't believe game play should be numero uno when judging the overall quality. Personally, I judge by how many great moments it has to offer. Doesn't have to be the most re-playable to have the biggest impact. Like I believe 2001: A Space Odyssey has one of the greatest scenes I've ever seen, though I'm not in a hurry to re-watch it because I find most of it rather tedious.

I haven't been able to play Silent Hill 2 yet, though I do own it for PS2. This thread is making me a little hyped for it. Hope I'll be able to get through it too, since horror games scare me a lot more than horror films.

 

[Chimpzy_v1legacy]

That is really dependent on what you want from a game. If you like story and atmosphere then you can't go wrong with Silent Hill 2. If you want fluid controls and challenging, fun gameplay, then you'd be much better off with something along the lines of Bayonetta.

And even then, I kind of detest people calling any title the 'best game ever', since it kind of implies that game has accomplished all there is to achieve in gaming. And there is still so much more that can be done and improved. So much.

Call it 'best game of its type so far', or better yet, 'game I like the best'. It's more honest.

 

[Alma Mare]

It cannot be, on the fact that the gameplay is atrocious.

Mind you, that had 0 effect on it being one of the most incredible experiences I've had with a game, I love it to death.

I don't believe game play should be numero uno when judging the overall quality. Personally, I judge by how many great moments it has to offer. Doesn't have to be the most re-playable to have the biggest impact. Like I believe 2001: A Space Odyssey has one of the greatest scenes I've ever seen, though I'm not in a hurry to re-watch it because I find most of it rather tedious.

I haven't been able to play Silent Hill 2 yet, though I do own it for PS2. This thread is making me a little hyped for it. Hope I'll be able to get through it too, since horror games scare me a lot more than horror films.

It's not about being 'the numero uno', it's about being serviceable. Silent Hill 2 does get carried by it's story and atmosphere, but it's still worth pointing it out. Hell, it's the reason why Silent Hill 4, which arguably has a nearly as good of a story, gets so much flack. The gameplay screwed the pooch a bit too much for the story to save it.

 

[Evonisia]

I think the only issue with Silent Hill 2's gameplay is that the third person wasn't properly done at the time so they don't exactly move much more smooth than in Silent Hill 1. That meant an aim assist feature which was incredibly unreliable once you fired two or three shots, and the melee weapons were sticky. I will join the wagon of "that's kinda the point" given that the only Silent Hill protagonist with fighting history is Alex Shephard, and that's only so they could justify putting so much violence into Homecoming (and lessen the Silent Hill 2 rip-off from being as blatant).

Then again this series has always suffered from gameplay issues in that sluggish regard. I'd say Downpour was the only one which had gameplay that reached the high echelons of adequate.

Silent Hill 2 could be argued as perhaps being the best game to incorporate the gameplay with the story, but best game on the whole? Well that can't really be determined, due to genre and all that.

 

[ObsidianJones_v1legacy]

I love fighters like I love my not even conceived child. so I can't say Silent Hill is the best game of all time because it doesn't scratch my fighters' itch.

Now, has there been a game that filled me with the same amount of Dread? That compelled me and moved me? That made me stop and be sure that I wasn't being followed? No. There has never been a game like Silent Hill 2 that made me react as I did. And I love it for it.

Just as other games can't give me the Atmosphere that Silent Hill has, Silent Hill 2 can't give me the satisfaction of landing a perfect out-of-nowhere combo to make the come from behind win. So it could never be the best game ever made for me. No game can, as we all have diverse tastes and desires that we all want sated.

 

[maneyan]

TL;DR: No

Actual answer: No, because there cannot be any such thing as THE best game ever. There can be "one of the greatest games", there can be "a personal favorite", but in something as taste-based as video games there cannot be "THE best". It did what it did damn well and used the limitations of the PS hardware to great effect with the mist etc. Its story was smart and even the stiff gameplay could be argued as a point in its favor. So yes it's a great game but again; calling it THE best game ever made doesn't really make sense since, again, there's no real objective criteria for what makes something the best game ever.

 

[communist gamer]

Thats not how you spell planescape: torment or homeworld

 

[Johnny Novgorod]

It's one of MY Best Games Ever, that's for sure.

I've played it three times now on the PS2. I wish people would elaborate more on the "clumsy camera, clumsy controls, clumsy combat, clumsy everything" argument. WHY are these things clumsy? I'll give you the camera. Despite the tank controls, the game doesn't have fixed camera angles (for the most part), so the camera may or may not swing violently every time you change directions in a tight spot. And that's it for me. I don't mind the tank controls, and I don't mind the combat either. Yes, enemies will probably land hits on you if you approach them head-on with your plank instead of running around them in circles baiting their attacks and waiting for your chance. If you haven't figured this one out yet, I don't know what to tell you. It doesn't look very graceful, but it's still satisfying to drop a couple of fuckers with a lead pipe unscathed. Or you can always just run past them. My point is, I think for the most part you get exactly what the devs intended. Combat is primitive, but it's deliberately primitive. No dodging, rolling, crouching, countering, or QTEs (which everybody complained about, by the way, when they showed up in Origins). Take your stick and figure it out. It's very much doable.

As for the graphics, I think they've aged significantly better than other games' from its generation (and before that). This is largely because the game's been designed around a specific aesthetic OTHER than a realistic one. It's all about grime and murkiness, and what you can't render very well is covered in shadows and fog. It's like Okami and early-day Nintendo. You artistically mask your own shortcomings.

 

[Silvanus]

It's an incredible game, and the most solid horror experience I've ever had (by some distance).

Cross-genre, it would rank in my top ten easily, and perhaps my top five, but I don't think it would take the top spot.

 

[Evonisia]

Snip

While I have issues with the tank controls, I only really had any pain with the gameplay during some of the boss fights. Like I said in my original post I agree with the assessment that it's the point for things to be primitive and awkward, but that doesn't excuse some of the set pieces and boss fights. Most of my irritation came from dealing with Pyramid Head.

I'm thinking the first "fight" with Pyramid Head when you are stuck in the fixed camera angle room until it arbitrarily decides to open up the staircase, and even then Pyramid Head's sword does not line up with where the weapon actually deals damage. Then there's the fixed camera angles as you're running away from Pyramid Head in the hospital when the tank controls start showing off their now out-dated nature. The penultimate boss fight with the two Pyramid Head is hampered by the solution being to run away because neither of them can die (I think I remember people shitting on Resident Evil 6 for doing this).

Honestly those parts are part of the reason why I prefer Silent Hill 3 on the whole. The worst boss fight in that game is the rooftop one against the *spoilers* because the camera is angled towards the floor. That's fitting for most of the game, but not when you actually need to look up to see where the bloody boss is with the big pike. But the others (sewage boss, the dual-genitalia monster, the final boss) are all fine.

 

[Rozalia1]

How when it isn't even the best Silent Hill? 3 and Shattered Memories were both superior to it.
Shattered Memories is often remarked to "not be a true silent hill game" due to I suppose how it plays and its alternate reality/non canon story... but really who cares, its a superior game. Liked its plot more than 2, combat was handled better, game tried to change the game based on how you played it, and was all round a nice interesting game.

3 is superior to 2 in near all aspects. I suppose you could say 2 is better in story... though I don't like 2's throwing out of the Silent Hill narrative to do its own thing, makes it seem alternate reality/non canon which is something a numbered title shouldn't be (which is why I can excuse Shattered Memories). Atmosphere I suppose also at a stretch... that is it. 3 is better in every single other aspect.

 

[Casual Shinji]

As for the graphics, I think they've aged significantly better than other games' from its generation (and before that). This is largely because the game's been designed around a specific aesthetic OTHER than a realistic one. It's all about grime and murkiness, and what you can't render very well is covered in shadows and fog. It's like Okami and early-day Nintendo. You artistically mask your own shortcomings.

Well, the game did go for realism. It was "hellish" realism, but none of the designs where cartoonish or over the top. Even the monsters, while covered in membranes and muck, still had realistic propertions.

I think what makes a game like Silent Hill 2 (as well as SH1 and 3) age well is that the techinical limitations of the system it was on adds to its eeriness. And I don't just mean the fog. Sound isn't completely clear, the graphics are a bit hazy, the camera is a bit wobbly etc. All of this helps to make you feel way more uneasy than if it was all super slick, like games today. Which is why, untill recently, horror really hadn't been able to break through in the 7th generation. The over-the-shoulder view of nearly every third-person game today makes you feel a lot more in control of the situation than when the camera would be zoomed out more and not focusing as much on where you want to look.

This seems to be something that they brought back for P.T. a.k.a. the Silent Hills teaser. The graphics are a bit granier on purpose. Initially to try and fool the audience in thinking it was another indie horror, but it works just as well in channeling the older SH games. And everytime you turn the camera there's like half a second of your (in-game) eyes refocusing.

 

[Erttheking]

No. There is no such thing as a "best game ever made" because it's completely subjective.