I just wanted to let everyone know that there IS an opening cinematic. The only problem is that you have to sit on the menu screen at the beginning for a while before it starts running. They do an interesting adaptation of the original SH's theme and it adds a little more creepiness to the game.

I'm about 4 hours or so into SH2. I am really enjoying it, especially exploring the various buildings (apartment, hospital, etc)... and yes, there IS an "Alternate" Silent Hill, just like the first one. I tell you, hearing the sirens wailing in the distance made me cringe in fear of what was going to come next.

I will admit it's not as bone-chillingly creepy as the first one, but it is still a very creepy game and I'm interested in seeing how all of the disparate characters will come together in the end.

Thanks for the heads up on the opening cinematic, Spigot. I just watched it. However, it's not an opening cinematic at all! It's just exerpts from what looks like every cinematic in the game. And pretty bad ones at that.

I'll stay with Silent Hill 2 a bit longer (I'm half way through the hospital now), but so far it doesn't come anywhere near to living up to the promise of the first one.

-Tom

I know I could find this out somewhere else, but do they make Silent Hill for the Dreamcast?

Amanpour

Hey Tom,

I take it that you played the original Silent Hill. The opening cinematic for it played out pretty much the same as the one for SH2, in that it's more or less a mishmash of cinematics from the game. I admit that the opening for the first one was better, since this one tends to show more shots of people talking, but I love the music and there are some good scenes...

I'm a good chunk further past the hospital, and it's still good. I also hope you're playing it at night, in the dark... if you don't, you're just cheating yourself!

Oh, Amanpour, Silent Hill was for the Playstation 1 and Silent Hill 2 was made for the PS2. I doubt they'll be coming out for the DC.

Is there a comparable game to Silent Hill that was made for the DC? Tom seems to have spoken of Resident Evil with a certain amount of derision in his review, so I'm guessing I can steer clear of that. Is there anything decent horror-wise I can look out for?

Amanpour

Well, RE: Code Veronica is probably the best in the series and it was made for the DC first. It's not bad, but the style of horror is more of a shock value (ooo! Something jumped out of the window at me!) rather than the overall "creeping doom that you can't see" psychological style that the Silent Hill series has.

Other than that... hmm... I've heard that Illbleed is a nice send-up of the whole Survival Horror genre. And Dino Crisis is out for the DC and while it's a lot like RE in presentation, it's got dinosaurs :)

Other than that... hmm... Well, there's D and D2. I'm not all that familiar with them, but they're set in up here in Canada, so they can't be all bad.

Brock, the crazy Canuck.

There is still a slim chance of Silent Hill on Dreamcast...bleem! They haven't announced the next bleemcast project after MGS and Tekken 3. Silent Hill or a Final Fantasy game seem to be likely choices.

If you haven't been following the bleemcast saga, have a look here... bleem!

--Dave

Aww, enough of this Dreamcast stuff -- bring on the Gamecube! :)