Silent Hill 2

Following on from the success of Silent Hill, Konami set to work on a second game. This would be released on PS2 as the console was brand new and it seemed like a great idea to bring one of the scariest games of 2000 to a better platform and with breath taking graphics.

In 2001, Konami released Silent Hill 2 on Playstation 2.


The story of Silent Hill 2 is not a continuation of the first game, but rather a stand alone story which isn't tied to any other game in the series.
It follows the story of James Sunderland, a man in his late 20s who has lost his wife three years prior to the events in the game. He comes to Silent Hill after receiving a letter from her saying she is waiting for him in their "special place"

The game features the radio and flash light from the previous games which still serve their purpose of detecting monsters and lighting the environment slightly. However, this game's otherworld is only featured twice in the game and it is not bloody and rusty like in the first game.

The game also takes place in a new area of Silent Hill, south of Toluca Lake which features Blue Creek Apartments, The Silent Hill Historical Society and Brookhaven Hospital among other scary environments.



The graphics in this game was fantastic for PS2 at the time. Sharper images and more polygons allowed for more detail in the characters and the environments. This also allowed for a scarier game experience too, and indeed it was. Silent Hill 2 gave a more psychological experience as everything in the game was constructed from James' mind and subconscious. Through the monsters and events we get to know the character and sympathize and even hate him, something the previous game didn't do. It also gave birth to Pyramid Head, a firm fan favorite but sadly very over used.



The ending has a superb twist to it and has landed this game one of the best in the series. It's beautifully written story is so sad, so depressing, yet fantastic gave this game a great feeling, as well as the environments and fantastic music from Akira Yamaoka, this has to be the best Silent Hill game in the entire series.

It was a firm success which lead Konami to go ahead and make the next game in the series.

Silent Hill

With Silent Hill 6's big reveal only hours away at E3, I thought it would be nice to do a blog about the Silent Hill series, having a brief look at the games and how they redefined Survival Horror.

In 1999, Capcom's "Resident Evil" was pretty much dominating the survival horror genre in video games and with Resident Evil 3: Nemisis just around the corner, Konami wanted to try and create their own survival horror game.
They came up with a game that was completely different to Resident Evil and other previous survival horror games. Previous games had an emphasis on fighting and shooting monsters with the occasional "jump scare" tactic to frighten the player, Silent Hill decided to take the atmospheric route and have a psychological scare.

So in 1999, Konami delivered Silent Hill.



Silent Hill followed the story of Harry Mason. He travels to Silent Hill with his daughter Cheryl for a holiday. While driving at night on the outskirts of town, a police officer roars past on a motorbike, shortly after, Harry sees the motorbike discarded on the side of the road with the police officer no where in sight. As he looks back to the road, a figure of a girl steps out in front of the car, Harry tries to avoid the girl and crashes into a gully.

Awaking from the crash, he sees fog is all around him, he turns to check of Cheryl is ok, but she is nowhere to be seen. Panicking, Harry leaves the car and heads to a deserted town in the distance.

This is where you take control, following what looks like Cheryl into town and down an alley. Once in the alley, the true feeling of Silent Hill's horror sets in. A dead dog lying in a pool of it's own blood, darkness quickly growing and an ominous siren lowly wailing in the distance all add up to a feel of unease and confusion.

Further down the alley, a loud squeaking can be heard, a broken wheelchair lies on it's side with one wheel slowly spinning, next to that, a hospital gurney with a covered body lying on it. The concrete fades away to reveal wire mesh on the walls and floor, and a dead body strung up with barbed wire hangs in front of Harry's lighter, the only source of light he has. And after that, there is nowhere else to go. Turning around reveals 4 monsters coming towards Harry, completely defenseless, Harry succumbs to their attacks and passes out....

Playing this for the first time scared the hell out of me! Thankfully Harry wakes up in a cafe and then the game really begins. But that opening section really defined what survival horror really could be! The atmosphere and uncertainty of what was happening made the game a terrifying experience. The fog severely hindering the players view also added to suspense and unease as you couldn't see any monsters coming, but you knew they were around due to the radio emitting static whenever they are near.

Silent Hill offered less emphasis on combat and more on story and atmosphere, it created a truly terrifying experience and once it finished, it left us begging for more!

The Monster Ball

So I went to see Lady Gaga in Manchester last night with my boyfriend and my god it was amazing!!!
We were right at the front so we could see Gaga clearly and the show she put on was just fantastic!!!!

Amazing sets with keyboards everywhere, a HUGE Fame Monster and Gaga with her amazing outfits.
At one point she looked right at me and Richard and leaned over to touch us! We were INCHES away when a security guard stopped her. But my god it was fantastic! She also managed to tell off the entire security staff for not allowing people in with coke cans in their hair. Thankfully security listened to her and let people keep the cans in their hair.

I absolutely adore Lady Gaga. She is down to earth and really cares for her fans! I would deffo go and see her again!!!