I bought the game having never seen SH1, but looking for something along the lines of Clive Barker’s Undying with respect to it’s creepiness.
I was really disappointed in Silent Hill 2, but to be honest I’ve been really disappointed in all games I’ve played for the PS2. I’ve never taken part in the console vs. PC game debate because I always played PC games, but now that I’ve got a console (perhaps not the best of the ones available), I find that the games for it just don’t have the same attraction.
It’s an unfair comparison because consoles (to my knowledge) don’t have a game like it, but as an example, Baldurs Gate II:SoA kept me enthralled for days and days and offered tons of replayability. I’ve yet to find a console game that can keep me interested for more than a few hours.
I had higher hopes for SH2 but I find the storyline to be dull, the voice acting to be terrible, the linear nature of gameplay to be too confining, and the puzzles to be too awkward an attempt to make them difficult by the game designers and lacking in logic.
Running about to get unconveniently placed (though convenient as far as advancing the storyling goes) clues to open a box with various locks on it so that you can get a strand of hair to tie to a rusty pin so you can salvage a key from a shower drain? Our protagonist is so dense that this is the only way he can fish a key from a drain? He’s got a pipe and a 2x4 and a pistol and a shotgun, and he needs the combinations to open the locks? A strand of hair? …what, a more readily available piece of string from say, his shirt, isn’t good enough?
The same with the garbage chute puzzle. What’s wrong with pushing it down with your hands? The guy is covered in zombie goo and road muck, but he doesn’t want to touch icky garbage?
Other than that, I found the game to not be creepy at all, but I’ll admit that I’m a bit jaded. The background music was more irritating than anything. The music is supposed to be a part of the game; blend in and add to the overall feel. Contrarily, in this game it stood out as separate from the game and made me want to mute my television.
I could go on, but I don’t see the point. If you like this game, more power to you, but it’ll take an awful lot of improvement for me to even consider picking up a copy of SH3, should they ever decide to make it.