Silent Hill 2 is, quite simply, the absolute best horror game that's ever been produced. Every aspect of the game comes together to create a thrilling, compelling and downright scary experience. Konami has gone the extra mile in creating an immersive world that sucks you in and doesn't let go. Playing this game was the most terrifying experience I've ever had with an entertainment product. From the opening notes until the end credits, Silent Hill 2 drew me in with its haunting characters, familiar-yet-dangerous locales and its thick, oppressive atmosphere. I can honestly admit that I was scared to play this game. And if you're like me, then that's a good thing.

Silent Hill 2 is not "fun", in the traditional sense. You won't be blasting undead monsters into oblivion left and right, nor will you find cathartic release as your hail of rockets tears through monster flesh. Silent Hill 2 is a physical and mental endurance test, less a game than an experience. SH2 is great fun, however, if you revel in being scared out of your mind, or running blindly from faceless, twitching nurses and horny executioners with a penchant for plastic. While horror veterans might not bat an eyelash, it's quite shocking to see some of this content in a video game. Special thanks must be heaped onto Konami for having the stones to bring out something this horrific. This game is sick, twisted and deeply disturbing. And quite honestly, I loved every second of it.

The game begins eerily enough. Three years after his wife Mary's death, James Sunderland receives a letter from her, imploring him to return to their "special place" in Silent Hill. Feeling strangely drawn to the town, James hops in his car and heads back to Silent Hill. It's here, in a deserted bathroom on the outskirts of town, that the player takes control of James. Along his journey, James will find a strangely deserted town, devoid of all but a few occupants. These people all harbor a dark past, and are searching for a resolution in Silent Hill, just like James. It is through the interaction with these characters that we learn more about James and his happenings in Silent Hill. And, like the characters around him, James will come to learn about himself as be braves the town's many perils. The story is driven forward by its finely-crafted cast of characters, expert pacing and competent voice acting.

To delve further into the specifics would spoil the experience, but suffice it to say that the story is dark, haunting and genuinely disturbing. Never has a game earned its M rating as much as SH2 does. The torment never relents until the end credits, and 4 different endings ensure that you'll be coming back for more. Now, in examining Silent Hill 2, the inevitable comparisons to Resident Evil will rear their collective heads, so let's get that out of the way. Silent Hill 2 is not Resident Evil. Fans of Silent Hill are already well aware of this, but for those unfamiliar with SH, it needs to be said. Resident Evil is campy and outlandish, and uses jump-out scares and gore to shock the player. Silent Hill is the complete opposite. It uses expertly directed character development to paint a twisted picture of human conscience and ungodly events, and uses your own worst fears against you.

Silent Hill 2 boasts the most photo-realistic visuals this side of Gran Turismo 3. There were many points in the game where I just couldn't believe I was looking at game graphics. Each character is composed of a staggering number of polygons, so much so that they almost appear to be made out of bezier curves instead. Even hairs are individually modled on some characters, and the mouths of all the actors are chock-full of polygonal teeth. The motion-captured animations are outstanding, some of the best that's ever been seen in a game. One scene, in which a little girl crawls across a bed, looked so incredibly real that it gave me the chills. The characters interact with each other as if they were solid matter, instead of pixels. Top-notch work by Konami's team of animators.

The texture detail is also the best the PS2 has seen so far. Someone obviously hasn't told Konami that hi-res textures can't be done on PS2, because they've done just that. Every wall, floor and facade is lavishly covered with the dingiest, grimiest and most hideously stained details. There are very few textures that repeat, and each new area you encounter is drenched in hi-res eye candy. Each character is dressed in the sharpest, most detailed clothing yet to be seen in a game. Angela's mesh knit sweater looks so incredibly realistic and beleivable, as does James' jacket. What's even more outstanding is the way the clothing moves naturally with the actors. No unsightly clipping errors here.

The 3D environments boast an insane amount of polygonal detail. Every broken shelf, shredded newspaper and soiled mattress is expertly rendered in realtime, lending a very natural, organic feel to the game. Think of the detail in the pre-rendered backgrounds from RE3, and you'll have a good idea of the realtime detail you'll see in Silent Hill 2. Bleeding bodies litter the floors, file folders full of 3D files line shelves, and burned-out sections of wall reveal charred and broken bits of interior woodwork. The attention to detail is staggering. The town of Silent Hill 2 is bathed in the most realistic fog you'll ever see. No longer used to mask pop-in, the 3D, volumetric fog is a living entity that swirls and sifts past you, changing direction on a moment's notice. Special mention must also be given to the "grain filter" that makes the game look like an old 35mm film from the 1970s. This outstanding effect completes the illusion of immersion that the developers were aiming for, and adds another layer to the gritty feel of the game. It must be seen to be fully appreciated.

Of course, the real star of the game is the lighting. Quite frankly, this is the best realtime lighting I've ever seen. James' flashlight realistically illuminates the areas in front of him, and casts correctly elongated shadows on floors and walls. The shadows dance and mutate as you shift James' field of focus; they almost seem like an entity unto themselves. Not once was the illusion broken by incorrectly popping shadows, or objects that failed to project one. I was floored time and again by how real everything looked. This is truly a next-generation game title, and it really shows us what the PlayStation2 is capable of. There are many pre-rendered movies that pop up throughout the game, and these are expertly crafted as well. I must say, however, that there has never been such a trivial difference between real-time and pre-rendered visuals. One memorable scene slowly faded from CG to realtime with such subtlety that I didn't even notice. Simply astounding work.

Sound plays a critical role in the world of Silent Hill 2. Konami has implemented a proprietary sound technology entitled S-FORCE, which enables 3-dimensional sound from a stereo source. Even if you've just got the speakers on your TV, you'll still be able to experience this minor technological miracle. Of course, a high-end setup only sweetens the deal. With S-FORCE, you'll be able to detect sounds from a variety of directions. Upon entering one room, I was startled by a child's voice whispering off to my right. In another, loud metal clangs seemed to feel the room with sound, making it very difficult to concentrate. The effect is dramatic, and it really pulls the player into the game world. The ambient sounds are amazing. Creaking doors, muffled screams, ghostly footsteps and demonic voices all work to drive you slowly insane. Much of the tension is generated by startling noises that reveal nothing upon inspection. The buildings themselves seem to groan under the weight of the supernatural presence. The creatures emit terrifying shrieks and moans, and the snapping sounds emanting from their mangled bodies suggest that their bones and muscles are tearing, even as they try to bludgeon you to death. Overall, I found the sound effects excellent; they definitely heightened the sense of hopelessness the game projects.

James can pick up a pocket radio early in the game. It doesn't work properly, but it has the strange trait of buzzing with white noise when enemies are nearby. This audio clue will come in very handy while exploring the dark corridors of Silent Hill's many buildings, giving you a few seconds notice of an impending attack. There's even an instance where the radio springs to life, presenting the player with a deranged quiz show directed solely at James. It's tough to take in all the questions at once, but it is a super cool idea. I just wish it was used more often. Music is sparse, as the game primarily relies on ambient environmental sounds to set the mood. What little music there is has a uniformly somber tone; the songs mainly consist of piano arrangements with guitars and soft percussion. There are full-length songs that play during each of the games' five endings, and these are similarly excellent. This is one of the most haunting and moody scores ever to grace a game, and the soundtrack adds an enormous amount of character to the game.

The one element that usually breaks the mood in games of this type is voice acting. It's hard to take Resident Evil seriously with such cheesy dialogue and half-competent readings. But I'm happy to report that SH2 features very good voice acting for a video game. It's not stellar, but it is adequate for properly setting the tone of the game. James is initially portrayed as a sympathetic character, and through his acting I can feel empathy for the situation in which he finds himself. Laura is very good as the little bratty kid, and Angela is quite good as a schyzophrenic survivor of domestic violence. Maria is good as well: sometimes gruff, sometimes flirtatious, and always weird. Overall a solid cast of voice actors that really do a good job of fleshing out the characters.

Silent Hill 2 uses the standard Resident Evil-style of character control. Pressing up on either the D-pad or left analog stick moves James forward, no matter which direction he's facing. Left and right rotate your character, and pressing back lets you retreat at a respectable rate. L1 and R1 are used to strafe left and right, which really helps you to avoid enemy attacks. R2 raises James chosen weapon, and pressing X will fire that weapon. Once you obtain the flashlight, pressing Circle will toggle it on and off. L2 allows you limited control of the camera. When used in conjunction with the right analog stick, you can shift your field of view, even while walking. It's a nice touch. Start brings up your inventory, while Select pauses the action.

For those of you who've grown tired ot the RE control scheme, Konami has given you a choice. In the options menu, you can select either 3D (Resident Evil) or 2D (Metal Gear Solid). I tried the 2D method, thinking it would be more intuitive. In reality, I found it harder to control James this way. The problem is this: you're pressing left to move your character to the left side of the screen. At the same time, the camera is panning in a circular path to the left. So instead of your character walking in a straight line, he's actually curving in one direction. With this setup, you'll constantly be adjusting your tradjectory to move in the desired direction. Also, the camera will rapidly switch direction sometimes. One second it's pointed at your face, the next it's behind your head. You do have partial control of the camera with the L2 button, which alleviates matters to some extent. Personally, I found it too hard to adjust to, so I switched back. Anyway, it was nice of Konami to give the gamer a choice.

At its heart, SH2 is a puzzle/mystery game with combat elements. Most of the puzzles consist of reviewing documents found throughout town, then using the clues they provide to solve the various puzzles. Most of these riddles are combination locks or key-in-hole type items. The riddle difficulty is chosen at the beginning of the game, and can be set to easy, normal or hard. I played on Normal my first play, and I found the puzzles to be challenging, but not impossible. Combat is a mixed bag as far as controls are concerned. It takes an inordinate amount of time for James to raise his weapon and fire, especially with the heavier guns. In addition, you can't go into the inventory screen while you have your weapon raised. You have to lower your weapon, press Start, reload, then raise your weapon again to fire. In all fairness, James is not a trained assassin, and firearms really aren't his forte. It's not surprising that he's not as proficient at killing monsters as say, a Chris Redfield. But it's still a little frustrating to get hit when you're in mid-swing, or while you're trying to raise your weapon after exiting the menu screen.

Bah, I'm just quibbling here. Konami has taken an established control scheme, added a bit to it, and left it to the player to sort it all out. I can't really blame them for this, as the perfect control scheme for a panning, cinematic 3D game has not yet appeared. I was hoping SH2 would deliver just that, but I find the controls merely competent. Veterans of survival horror games, however, should have little trouble adjusting.

In the end, Silent Hill 2 is an incredible gaming masterpiece. I thoroughly enjoyed every tense, frightful, claustrophobic moment. I was genuinely scared playing this game, an emotion I hadn't experienced in a long time. Playing SH2 with the curtains drawn and the lights out is the perfect recipe for a scare-tastic evening this October. On a grander scale, I'm very pleased to see game companies developing truly "mature" content, as Silent Hill demonstrates. The themes of murder, incest, rape, revenge and euthenasia are presented both with appalling realism and quiet intelligence. These brutal acts, while hard to digest, are fascinating to explore in a game world, for those of use who can distinctly separate fantasy from reality. Konami has treated us like adults, and it's only fitting that we reward them with fist-fulls of cash for doing so. Silent Hill 2 is the best gaming experience yet this year for PS2. Only Metal Gear Solid 2 (another Konami product) can possibly exceed it in overall game quality in 2001. Within the genre, Silent Hill 2 is peerless.