Silent hill 2 remake - remade to be a long bore?
The return of James Sunderland in the remake remains true to the source, with minor, possibly questionable tweaks. The atmosphere as I played was fantastic; my breath remained shallow as I winced at every turned corner. The updated graphics and the polished soundtrack enforced the horror and made every muscle of my body tense for the entire duration of the game. The voice acting in the remake sounds like there was actually a budget, compared to the stiff and almost comedic voices of the original game. The characters were actually able to invoke emotion and a few tears with their newly dynamic voices. While the atmosphere and story remained strong and even improved, the alteration in level design was atrocious. They took what was a short and tasteful 6- to 8-hour game and extended it into almost an 18-hour-long trudge to the end. After shooting my hundredth sexy nurse, I was over the gameplay loop of enter-big-building, shoot-oddly-attractive-monsters, then-get-beautifully-cinematic-cutscenes. They made it arbitrarily longer, which hurts the overall product. Still, Silent Hill 2 (Remake) is a mind-blowing and life-altering experience, if you can make it to the end.
