Generally, a ported game will support higher resolutions than its PS2 counterpart, run a bit smoother and have much higher resolution textures. The Xbox did have the most powerful graphics processor of its generation, that is an immutable fact. There is a 3D-movement option, but it is quite limited, you can end up spinning in place because a camera angle movement keeps orienting you the other way. More than once I took some damage or got stuck in places simply because the controller registered some spurious diagonal movement, using the analogue thumbstick is little better. SH 2 infamously uses tank controls, basically engineered to be used with a D-Pad, unfortunately of course, the Xbox D-Pad is probably the worst official D-pad in existence, often you accidentally press a diagonal just trying to turn. The triggers are used for camera control and aiming, it’s actually fine, B and X are remapped to the strafe buttons. On the old duke controller this wasn’t a huge issue, as they were near the ABXY buttons, on the S they are on the lower right, well out of the way and quite difficult to use in a pinch. Actions such as cancelling out of menus or puzzles and using the flashlight are set to the white button, running to the black button. Much of this is actually due to the controller S design. The Xbox controller isn’t all that great, while a revelation for FPS games it frequently gives me hand cramp to deal with in other games. The better hardware usually meant better graphics, better sound, custom soundtracks etc. Back in the day, if there was a multi-platform game, you probably wanted to get it on the Xbox. I’m talking about the Silent Hill 2 port for the original Xbox, whether it’s worth picking up. Though I won’t be going into real spoilers.īeing so popular it makes sense now that the game would be ported to other consoles, but this is in a day when console hardware was incredibly different, with different challenges and different strengths. In fact I’m mostly going to assume you’re familiar with the PlayStation 2 original on some level. It’s also one of the games I go to when I talk about games as art.īut I’m not here to talk about that quite so much. It became an absolute masterpiece, a gem and a real feather in the cap of the very early days of the PS2. Emboldened by this success Konami said to these misfits – now named team silent- essentially “okay, here’s some more money and some PS2 devkits, do that again”. Originally created by a team of misfits at Konami Silent Hill was originally meant as a low-ish budget title meant to take on Resident Evil which, at the time was a juggernaut for Capcom and one of the examples of why PlayStation was king in the late 90’s.
#SILENT HILL 2 PC KEY SERIES#
In the annals of horror video games, one series sticks out. "Silent Hill 2 is a masterpiece from back when Konami meant quality. Silent Hill 2: Restless Dreams (Xbox) review