Silent Hill 2: A Retrospective

*A word of caution, I’m going to spoil the hell out of this game, and pretty quickly, so just be aware as you read through. Enjoy!*

I’m a psychologist, and aside from all of the fortune and fame that came along with that title (and by “fortune and fame,” I mean working at a supermarket while I slaved away for my Master’s degree), I entered into this field because I love trying to understand the inner workings of the mind. Philosophers, biologists, physiologists and psychologists alike have spent thousands of years debating over it and not one of them has ever definitively been able to define what the mind is or where it comes from. And the mind can be a scary place…especially when we lose it.

Enter the Silent Hill franchise. If there’s three things to know about me, it’s that I love horror, psychology (particularly psychopathology), and video games. And what happens when you throw those three things into a blender? You get a magnificent mixture of what both entices and terrifies us to the core simultaneously.

I believe that a profound fear of insanity lies deep within us all. Do we not flock with morbid curiosity to the latest news stories of psychotic killers who commit heinous acts of violence for no apparent reason? Why is it that we scrutinize, with excruciating detail, the actions of those who kill without conscious or any sense of right and wrong? Because we fear becoming them. The armies of journalists that converge upon the scene will always interview a neighbor or a friend, and among all the news footage you’re almost certain to hear, at some point, “I never thought they would do something like this. They were just a seemingly normal person, kept to themselves. I’m shocked, they must have just snapped.” 

And within us all, we fear the point at which we one day, without warning, might just “snap.” What pushes a human being over that proverbial edge nobody really knows, and that is truly scarier than anything any Hollywood screenwriter or novelist could dream up. The fear of crossing into that dark side of the mind lives within us all, and the Silent Hill games exploit that fear relentlessly.

Read part of this short memo that can be found within Silent Hill 2. I think it sums up my point nicely:

“The potential for this illness exists in all people and, under the right circumstances, any man or woman would be driven, like him, to "the other side." The "other side" perhaps may not be the best way to phrase it.  After all, there is no wall between here and there. It lies on the borders where reality and unreality intersect. It is a place both close and distant.”

The “other side.” A place without rhyme or reason, where our darkest fears come alive. There is no distinct boundary between that side and the side where we feel safe, and as such we can cross over into our own personal nightmare at any time and without warning. This sentiment is at the heart of the Silent Hill series and is one of the primary reasons the games achieve the level of horror that they do.

I’ll be focusing on Silent Hill 2 here for two reasons primarily. Firstly, it’s my personal favorite out of the entire series, and secondly it was the first I played out of any of them, and luckily for me it has almost nothing to do with the first game. Actually, the third game is more or less the true sequel to the first, but that’s neither here nor there. I will be referencing Silent Hill 1 and 3 at points, though I won’t be talking much about them or any of the games beyond those two for that matter, mainly because I really haven’t played any of them save for 4 and Origins. So let’s start from the beginning. Or, my beginning, anyway.

The year was 2001, and I was on a full-on Resident Evil kick. I had just gotten a Playstation 2 and was enjoying the hell out of Resident Evil Code: Veronica X. I couldn’t get enough of the survival horror genre. I vividly remember the first time I had ever heard of Silent Hill 2- through this commercial.

Something about those horrific images struck a chord within me, deep down. It looked unspeakably terrifying, but at the same time I was helplessly drawn to it. I liken it to watching a scary movie through your fingers- you want to hide, but at the same time you just can’t look away; you need to see what will happen next. I needed to see, so I mustered all the courage within me and purchased the game. I remember being in the car with my mom as we were driving home from the mall, just sitting there with the game in my hands and staring at the box, wondering what the hell I was getting myself into. I think it was the first time in my life I was actually hesitant to play a new game that I had just gotten. I couldn’t have even imagined the nightmare I was about to be dropped into.

The game tells the story of James Sunderland, an utterly broken man who has been devastated by the death of his wife Mary three years prior. However, his life is disrupted once more when he receives a mysterious letter from someone claiming to be Mary, who in it beckons him to return to their “special place” in the town of Silent Hill. James is shocked and bewildered, but with nothing left to lose in his life he returns to Silent Hill to find the truth. At the end of the game, it is revealed that James killed Mary with his own hands, as a means of ending both her suffering from a terminal illness and his own misery at helplessly watching her endure the agony of a slow death.

In many ways, Silent Hill 2 is much more driven by its story than its gameplay. There are the typical survival horror-esque elements of collecting ammo, fighting monsters and solving puzzles, but the prime narrative of the game is centered around digging deep into the truth of what really happened to Mary, and subsequently, what is left of James’ sanity. That’s not to say that it’s more like an interactive movie than a game; rather it’s a lot less action-oriented than games like Resident Evil are.

I read a great quote in a magazine I forgot the name of a long time ago which I think sums up the relationship between Resident Evil and Silent Hill perfectly. Resident Evil instills a sense of fear in the way that a movie like Alien did. It’s a primal fear of being hunted by voracious creatures that is, in the only way a video game can be, more grounded in reality. If Resident Evil is to Alien, then Silent Hill is more analogous to a movie like The Shining. In Resident Evil, there is a semi-tangible explanation as to why you’re fighting these monsters, whereas in Silent Hill, there is no solid explanation as to how they got there. Once again, it’s the psychological fear that is at the core of Silent Hill, a place where the natural laws of the world no longer apply and our own deep, dark fears come alive.

Silent Hill is a place that presents itself differently to all those who enter its boundaries. For example, note how in the first game, the nightmare world is an expression of the inner pain of a girl who suffered constant physical torment after she was severely burned in a ritualistic fire and kept alive by a cult in order to bring about the birth of a God. This world is a place of blood, rust, sickness, disease and death. Both protagonists of Silent Hill 1 and 3 see the world this way throughout both games. The nightmare world in Silent Hill 2, however, is quite different. It is instead a reflection of James’ depression and inner torment over the loss of his wife. Instead of the predominantly red color scheme of 1 & 3’s “other” world, his personal “other” world is often just dark and gray. Everything is crumbling away, broken, decaying and burnt out.

This too goes for much of what James encounters in the regular world, too. Through an abandoned set of apartments, a broken down prison, and even a closed down bowling alley, each is a decrepit and long-abandoned structure that is neglected and falling apart before you. The other two primary locations, which are a hospital where Mary stayed while she was dying and a hotel where the couple once spent some of their happier times, are intact in the real world but fade into these crumbling structures as James crosses into the other side. The only other location, the labyrinth, is a sort of mixed zone between the real world and the dark world, but I’ll get to that in a bit.

This point is further illustrated in an area where the second and third games intersect, when in 3, you find yourself outside of the park where James goes to search for Mary in 2. In the second game, you simply stroll into the park where you can explore to your own content. However, in the third game, the park is closed down and inaccessible. In the third game, this place serves no meaning to protagonist, so it only makes sense that it would be just another simple background object, as opposed to in the second game, where it serves great purpose to James. The town literally presents itself differently based on who enters its boundaries and what their motivations are (and yes, I'm aware that probably has more to do with the plot and graphical limitations of 2 and 3 than anything, but I like to think it was deliberate).

There are a number of recurrent themes in Silent Hill 2 which are just so well presented as the game progresses. There’s that of the descent into madness, which encompasses a good portion of the latter half of the game. Let’s take a look, for a moment- upon entering the Silent Hill historical society building at about the halfway point of the game, you’ll need to descend a set of stairs that seems to stretch downward into eternity. I’ve actually timed it, and you’ll be running down them for about a full minute. Next, you must jump down into a well where you’ll find yourself seemingly trapped, until you find a weak spot in the bricks to break through. Then, you must descend another hole that literally looks like a hallway flipped on its side, complete with doors on the walls, as if the world as you knew it is being warped into something else around you. You’ll then find yourself in Toluca prison, where you must navigate through more puzzles and monsters until you come across yet another hole through which you must escape. Now, you’re in the prison’s basement, where you’ll find- yes, you guessed it, another hole to jump into. Is this starting to sound ridiculous? Well, it gets better- at the bottom of that hole is once more another hole! And in that one, yet ANOTHER hole! And finally, in that hole, you’ll find something different- a mysterious elevator. But where does it go? Why, downward, of course. The elevator goes down for what seems like miles, but when it stops (seemingly at the Earth’s core, at this point), your descent is complete. 

So let’s review here. That’s one long set of stairs, followed by a series of six holes to jump into, followed by an elevator that descends into an abyss. And if that weren’t enough, when the elevator reaches the bottom, you’ll find yourself in an extremely surreal area simply known as “the labyrinth,” which almost looks like the halls of an ordinary home with several ladders dug into the floors leading into water-filled underground pathways. And as you work your way through the twisting maze of the labyrinth, entering and exiting strange rooms that are so out of place and bizarre (i.e., the “flesh” room where you fight the doorman boss), and finally emerge on the other side, you’ll find yourself…right outside the historical society building, where you first entered.

Another consistent theme is that of James' longing for his wife, present in the character of Maria. James meets Maria early on in the game, in the park where he expected that he might find Mary. Maria is nearly identical to Mary, except much more heavily sexualized and deliberate. The fact that she's running around a town full of monsters wearing fairly skimpy clothes and holding the keys to a strip a club gives us that impression pretty clearly. In the hospital, she starts to get sick just as Mary did, and eventually is stabbed and killed by the Pyramid Headed monster (I'll get to him shortly) there. James is once again cast into misery upon realizing that he failed in protecting her and couldn't save her from the massive dark cloud of impending death. But it doesn't get any better for him there- later on, he finds her alive and well, only this time imprisoned and beyond his reach. He tries once again in vain to save her, only to have the wound painfully torn open again upon finding her dead. Finally, at the very end of the game, she is killed once more before his very eyes by Pyramid Head, again. His own mind forces him to relive the death of Mary over and over again through Maria, though he continually deludes himself into thinking he can change what has already been done and save her.

And finally, there's the theme of James’ own self-persecution due to the guilt he feels over killing Mary himself. Though he consciously blocks out this memory, the town has a number of ways of manifesting that guilt into reality…none better than the most famous of all the Silent Hill enemies, Pyramid Head. Before I discuss Pyramid Head though, I’ll read you a few quick passages from the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders 5^th ed., or DSM-V, on major depressive disorder (MDD) and how it is operationally defined. One of the diagnostic criteria for MDD is as follows: “feelings of worthlessness or excessive or inappropriate guilt (which may be delusional) nearly every day (not merely self-reproach or guilt about being sick.”  Also, a specifier (a sort of “added feature” that may present itself in tandem with the primary disorder) of MDD is “with mood-congruent psychotic features”, which is defined as follows: “the content of all delusions and hallucinations is consistent with the typical depressive themes of personal inadequacy, guilt, disease, death, nihilism, or deserved punishment.”

Though I’m obviously referring to real-life examples here, these are the sort of themes that manifest themselves in the physical world within the game world of Silent Hill. James’ depression is so great that it not only consumes his life, it manifests as an unconscious desire to punish himself for the crimes he has committed. Nowhere is this more obvious than in our old friend Pyramid Head, who relentlessly stalks James throughout the entire game and forces him to relive the painful moments he has turned a blind eye to again and again. There’s debate among Silent Hill fans as to whether Pyramid Head is exclusive to James’ mind or if he is part of the town itself; personally, I believe that he is part of the town. He takes the form of the classic executioner with the hooded head, as evidenced in both the painting in the historical society and in the image on the gallows in the prison. He follows James right up until the end of the game, and in an utterly shocking moment, another pyramid head appears to fight you! This is once again a manifestation of James' guilt, this time however over being powerless to stop the death(s) of Maria.

And as a side note, yeah, about that the painting in the historical society…oh man, that moment when you walk in and see that painting for the first time…what an absolutely chilling experience. I distinctly remember my blood running cold the first time I saw it. And this game just had so many moments like that. Finding Pyramid Head’s lair in the labyrinth, emerging into the nightmare hospital, hearing the execution in the prison yard…there were so many moments that just radiated within me as pure fear.

Gameplay wise, it’s not a very difficult game, even on the harder difficulties. Some of the puzzles do get extremely cryptic on the harder levels, but in general I never felt as though it was the kind of game that was very challenging to get through. Personally, I think the greater challenge as a player was to get through the game without shutting of your console and burying the disc in your backyard because you feared the evil might somehow escape from the disc and bring the nightmare world into your own reality. Well, at least that’s how it was with me. 

Despite my intense fear, this game is still such a joy to play and it always finds ways to disturb and creep me out even to this day. It always makes me want to dig further into the lore of Silent Hill and the history of the town’s dark past. I think the 1st and 3rd games focused more on that aspect, making it more about cults and demons and Gods from other planes of existence (and to my knowledge, that’s what other games in the series that I haven’t played have done as well). 2, however, takes the concept of “demons” and makes it more figurative and abstract, and that's why it's always been my favorite. Silent Hill is more of a state of mind than an actual place. A state of mind where anything can happen and all of the fear, anxiety, guilt, and shame we feel is free to run loose and torment us. It makes us feel as though we are all in the grips and paranoia and insanity itself, and that is truly the scariest thing of all.

10 Video Game Music Tracks That Creeped Me Out As A Kid

As you may have already gathered from reading any of my previous entries, I love horror. I also love video game music, and as such I thought I'd compile a list of musical scores I've encountered in video games over the years that have frightened me the most. Now, keep in mind a good deal of these tracks really aren't that creepy; however, they all completed the distinct job of disturbing me enough to remember them well. So, I present to you, 10 short stories about creepy video game music that I've heard over many years of gaming.

1. Pokémon Gold/Silver- Ruins Of Alph (Radio Music)

So here’s the scenario: it’s the year 2000, I’m 11 years old, and Pokémon mania is in full swing. After the fallout of Pokémon Red & Blue and the effects it had on kids my age, parents had begun to realize that we were all a lot more concerned with catching ‘em all than our math homework for the night. My parents were certainly among the masses that were in favor of locking our Gameboys up until we finished our homework for the night. As a result, the only time I found that I could play to my heart’s content was late at night, right before I went to sleep. One particular night, I was just futzing around in the Ruins of Alph, and out of dumb luck I just so happened to scroll through the radio stations when all of a sudden, I discovered this sinister little hidden track. With all the elaborate creepy pastas out there about Pokémon these days, it’s funny to think that this was long before any of that, and it terrified the hell out of me. Sitting up late at night, the house completely silent, and suddenly this truly creepy ambience of 8-bit sounds starts coming out of my Gameboy. It almost felt like something was watching me…stalking me through the ruins…ready to strike. Needless to say, after that I stopped playing late at night and stuck to my math homework. Maybe the parents put that track in there on purpose.  

2. Silent Hill 2- Brookhaven Hospital (3^rd Floor)

The Silent Hill series may be the most terrifyingly disturbing franchise of games ever created. I don’t think I’ve ever been as scared playing a video game than I have been while playing some of these games. Silent Hill 2 was my favorite of the entire series, and personally, I think it’s the scariest of any to date. The Brookhaven hospital is about the midway point of the game, but for me, it was the scariest part. Hospitals have always creeped me out to the core. They’re places filled with sickness, with disease, and with death. And not just physical illness, but with mental illness as well. All these abstract aspects are chilling enough on their own, but when you’re thrown into a hospital alone, with the lights out, and with horrific monsters lurking around every corner, you’ll hardly have enough wits left to keep the controller in your hands. But that’s just the setting. The real horror, and this is one of the trademarks of the Silent Hill franchise, is the ambience and atmosphere the music creates which draws you until the world of horror, like it or not. This music plays when you enter the third floor psychiatric wing of the hospital. Every time I played through the game, I dreaded going up to that third floor just because of this music. It was (and still is) utterly horrifying to have to walk down that long, dark corridor, checking every room along the way and praying you didn’t run into something ,whatever that might be, waiting for you in the dark. That was the truly genius thing about the Silent Hill series- it preyed on your psychological fear. It (for the most part) wasn’t one of those games that relied on cheap jump scares to frighten you; it did so by isolating you, leaving you feeling alone and trapped, much like being in the grips of paranoia and insanity itself. Part of the reason it did so effectively was by surrounding you with music like this.

3. Doom II- Map 18, 27 (The Courtyard, Monster Condo) 

This music played on two levels, but the level I associate it with that creeped me out the most was level 27, Monster Condo. The level itself disturbed me in that it was a very dark level, and half the time you couldn’t even tell where you were going or which direction monsters were attacking you from. In addition, there were a number of long, wide open hallways with nothing in them at all; however, one wrong step could set off some kind of trap or trick wall and you’d be surrounded by demons in an instant. There was also one room with nothing in it but impaled corpses and body parts hanging from the ceiling. But aside from all of that, the music was very unsettling and provided for some of the creepiest in the game. Most of Doom’s soundtrack was very heavy metal-esque- literally, it blatantly ripped off the likes of Slayer, Alice in Chains, Pantera, etc. (and speaking of, this track is actually a total copy of Pantera’s “This Love”, practically note for note. However, I’m okay with it simply on the grounds that Doom’s soundtrack on a whole kicked ass). But in contrast, this music is very slow and creeping, like evil luring you into darkness. I remember that it scared me sufficiently enough to use that level skip code every time I got to it. 

4. Resident Evil 2- RPD Building (1st Floor)

For many young gamers of the late 90’s, the Resident Evil series was our first taste of fear from playing a video game. I know for certain that this was the case with me. I hadn’t played much of the first Resident Evil game by the time the second came out, though I knew of it and its plot. My friend Dave, whom I played video games with just about every day after school, had gotten Resident Evil 2 right after it came out, and I would often sit and watch him play it. Just watching was enough to terrify me beyond belief. Flesh-eating zombies, killer zombie dogs, horrific virus mutants, it all was enough to make me piss my pants. Well, not literally, but anyway, I couldn’t even so much as pick up the controller myself without being scared stiff. I remember lying awake at night after watching it being played, horrified at the thought of zombies breaking into my room and devouring me alive. The music only heightened that sense of tension and primal fear as you wandered the hallways of the abandoned R.P.D. police station, just trying to stay alive among the living dead and wondering just what the hell else this game had in store for you lurking beyond the next door. I think the music perfectly captures that fear, and definitely made it that much harder to keep oneself together while playing through. When I finally worked up the nerve to play the game on my own, I would always try to rush through the areas that had this music, just because it was maddening to hear it. The part that always got me, always made me jump a little, is right at the 1:00 mark of the video, when there’s a loud bang that’s part of the soundtrack, but I always thought it was something in the game itself, like some monster breaking through the wall ready to kill me. And that’s why this was the scariest in the whole game for me. There were so many memorable pieces of music, not only from this game but from other games in the series, that it was truly hard for me to pick one in particular. But I settled on this one because it left such an impression on me at a young age, and still gets to me even after all these years.

5. Super Mario Bros. 3- World 8 Overworld Map 

Anyone who calls themselves a true gamer has played Super Mario Bros. 3 at one point in their lives. It’s one of the best games for the NES, one of the best of the Super Mario Bros. franchise, and possibly one of the best games of all time. With its mix of platforming action, great music, and fantastic power-ups, I spent much of my childhood playing this absolute classic. Now at the time, every kid in the entire neighborhood knew how to get those warp whistles and skip ahead all the way to the end of the game, so getting to world 8 wasn’t a big deal. But, oh man, after playing even just a little bit of the game and listening to the happy, upbeat music and going through all those bright and colorful levels, nothing in the world could prepare you for stepping into world 8 for the first time. You go from happy, sunny, mushroom kingdom straight into hell. Literally, hell. There’s fire, darkness, and skulls everywhere. It’s like a bad nightmare. You have to fight your way through Bowser’s battleships and pits of despair (which you are dragged into by hands coming out of the ground) before you can even get to the levels, which are some of the most challenging and frustrating of the whole game. But in the overworld map, you’re treated to this 8-second loop of doom. And that’s what it is, pure doom. Like, “oh, you like using those warp whistles to get here kiddies? Well, welcome to hell. Just try to get to Bowser’s castle if you can.” Being very young and playing this was honestly a terrifying experience.

 

6. Kirby 64: The Crystal Shards- Dark Matter’s Cave

Like all the other great Nintendo mascots, Kirby made a jump to the Nintendo 64 in a spectacular fashion. The game was pretty simplistic, no doubt, but it provided endless entertainment in the form of combining power-ups and searching for all the hidden secrets. Playing the game for five minutes might leave you with the false impression that this is purely a kid’s game. Granted, that’s how it and many other N64 games were marketed, but there were some legitimately challenging puzzles to deal with that often left me stumped as to how to how to collect all those crystals. And much like Super Mario Bros. 3, once you leave those cheery, happy, upbeat levels and make your way to the final world, what you find might truly disturb you.  Entering level 2 of world 6, you’ll be greeted by this sinister music. I remember feeling like the game took on a decidedly darker tone upon entering the final world. This track in particular always left me feeling very unsettled as I trekked into the heart of the dark matter.

7. Pikmin- The Final Trial 

Upon first listen, this track seems fairly innocuous. You’ve all but completed the game, and one last ship part to collect stands between you and 100% completion. Considering the hell you’ve gone through on some of the previous levels, building a few bridges and knocking down some walls doesn’t seem very difficult, right? Right? But behind the façade lurks something terrible. Something horrific the likes of which you haven’t even come close to encountering in the game yet. And that very sentiment is reflected in the music- the background music is pure doom, which is glossed over by a cheery little tune. As you’re progressing through the level, you’re thinking to yourself, “this is it? This is too easy, something isn’t right.” And if you’ve trusted your instincts enough, your dark fears will be confirmed when you break down the last wall and step into the arena, only to be ambushed by the biggest, ugliest, nastiest boss you’ve ever seen- the Emperor Bulblax. I literally jumped during my first playthrough when he burst from the ground and sent my Pikmin flying. He’ll effortlessly wipe out entire squadrons of your Pikmin if you aren’t careful- which, let’s face it, none of us really were the first time we faced him. And the worst part of it all? After nearly your entire army of Pikmin has been annihilated, and you finally manage to slay the beast, and that final ship part falls to your feet, you’ll notice that it’s a piggy bank. A god-damned piggy bank, not even an essential part needed to fly the ship and complete the game. All the lives of those Pikmin sacrificed for greed. Utterly horrific. Intentional moment or not (er, probably not, but whatever), it really puts everything into perspective and makes you think about what you’ve just done. As such, this unsettling music is quite fitting.

8. Crash Bandicoot- Slippery Climb 

The original Crash Bandicoot is a platforming masterpiece, plain and simple. The gameplay is engaging, the graphics are still wonderfully appealing even to this day, and it’s just such an overall fun experience. However, as you progress to the third and final island, the levels take a massive step up in difficulty. Case and point: slippery climb. Just the mention of its name is enough to make most Crash veterans shudder. Easily one of the hardest levels of the game, you’ll find yourself scaling the walls of a medieval castle in the rain while dodging enemies and performing some insane jumps. And just attempting to get the gem from this level was a nightmarish experience. If all of that wasn’t enough, this terrible, twisted track is playing the entire way through.

9. Twisted Metal- City Park 

Along with Resident Evil, Twisted Metal was one of the first games I ever played for the PS1. It’s an action-packed battle game that’s still fun to this day. Different cars, unique special abilities, and some kick-ass heavy metal music made for some great gaming memories. However, things got sinister on the second level if you’ve strayed far enough away from any of the other cars doing battle in the map. If you did, you were treated to this lovely track, which sort of sounds to me like a serial killer’s rendition of classic Christmas songs. I remember just hating this track because of how disturbing it was and always trying to get it to go back to the heavy metal music.

10. Gex: Enter The Gecko- Scream TV 

Though it might not be as memorable as the first game in the Gex series, Enter The Gecko was still a fun little game in its own right. As you traversed through the different levels based on TV shows and movies, you’d notice that it was all pretty cartoony and silly. The second you head into the Scream TV levels, however, things take a much more devilish turn. Looking back on it, these levels are pretty cartoonish too, but it doesn’t change the fact that these levels have you smashing coolers filled with blood, dodging giant monster faces coming out of the walls, and fighting off killer dolls straight out of Child’s Play. That all seemed pretty creepy to me, but this music just totally topped it off. I remember that I couldn’t play this game late at night alone in my basement if I had to go into those levels because of this music.

On Collecting Video Games

So, I have a lot of video games. About 500+ to be exact, across around 20 different consoles including handhelds. What can I say, I just love video games. I have ever since 1991 when I played Sonic The Hedgehog for the first time on my Sega Genesis. Over the years I had many, many games that I eventually sold away only to be re-purchased in my adulthood. I'd say I've been collecting seriously for about 5 years now, and my stockpile has gotten quite big since then.

Here's some somewhat dated pictures of the bulk of my collection, though I have a good amount more not pictured as well. Also, these are fairly old, so it has gotten quite a bit bigger since then.

I've noticed that a lot of collectors usually have a certain focus in their collections- for example, you have many collectors that focus on NES games primarily. I don't really like to choose anything in particular to focus on; if it's a video game, a console, accessory, or some other miscellaneous video game item, I'll take it. I suppose a certain centerpiece of my collection is my near-complete Sega 32X library, but the 32X is so weird and obscure (and has such a small library too) that most people don't look into it too deeply.

I have some modern gaming consoles, but I mostly focus on retro- what I know, what I grew up with, and what I love. Call me an old fart, but games have gotten too complicated for me these days and they aren't fun to me anymore. I prefer the simpler times and also discovering old classics that I never played before.

I buy a lot of my games from a local game store, and if you happen to live in the New York/Long Island area and are a hardcore gamer, I highly recommend checking them out. Besides that, I mostly buy from ebay or Amazon.

I know the best way to find good deals is the scour garage sales and swap meets, but I just don't really have the time or patience for that. If that makes me a bad collector, fine, but I find it easiest to just surf the web or go to my local store, even if I have to spend a little more.

Besides collecting great games that I always enjoyed, or awesome games that I never played before but are notable for being good, fun games, I like collecting interesting things like multi-colored controllers or special edition consoles. For example, as you can see in the picture, I have the ice-blue edition Nintendo 64 and the NES toploader.

I also enjoy collecting imports. I don't have many, but I do have a Japanese Sega Mega Drive with a few games for it, among some other items. I really like playing the original, Japanese versions of games that I love, especially if they have differences from the American versions. I don't know, something about playing a game how it was originally intended or was never even released outside of Japan (or Europe, for that matter) just really fascinates me.

I also have a lot of unnecessary extras, but not of the same thing. For example, I have 5 different versions of the Sega Genesis, none of which are the same but will all play Genesis games- the Genesis models 1, 2, and 3, the Mega Drive, and the Sega Nomad. I also have 3 Game Boy Colors, 2 Game Boy Pockets, and 2 Game Boy Advances, all differently colored.

My ultimate goal for collecting? Well, simple really, to have the greatest video game collection ever. I know it's pretty unrealistic, but hey, striving to be the best never hurts. I know I'll probably never own a Nintendo World Championships cartridge or have a complete Neo Geo library or anything super extreme and amazing like that, but the bigger my collection gets, the closer I get to that goal.

Right now, finances and school (and a combination of those two) have kept me from pushing my collection to the next level, but I hope to get there some day. And I don't think I'll ever sell anything I own, I've done that enough in my life. Rather, I hope to pass on my collection to someone who will love it as much as I did, maybe a grandchild or niece somewhere far down the line. You know, to help preserve the history of great video games.

Gaming Memories- Resident Evil: Part III

These will probably contain spoilers, so if you’ve never played any of the Resident Evil games, go play them right now. And then come back.

So, where we last left off, the remake of the original Resident Evil for Gamecube had blown my damn mind and left me itching for more. Next up in the series was Resident Evil 0, which had originally been announced for the Nintendo 64, only to jump to the Gamecube after the remake came out. I was quite excited for it; after all, it was a brand new story and the first prequel of the series, all in the same graphical style of the remake that I loved so much. As soon as it came out, I promptly snatched it up and delved back into the world of survival horror.

And how I felt after I played it..well…’disappointed’ is too strong of a word, because it’s definitely a solid game in its own right. I suppose it just felt a bit lacking to me. Then again, I was probably comparing it a little too closely to its predecessor, the remake. The remake was just so fuh-reakin’ good to me, it would’ve been really hard to top it in my mind. But, as I mentioned, it certainly didn’t render 0 any worse than a very good entry in the series. 

The story chronologically represents the starting point of all games in the series, hence the titular 0. It follows the doomed S.T.A.R.S. Bravo team on their ill-fated investigation into the murders that have occurred in the Raccoon city forest area, and you take control of forgotten-after-this-game S.T.A.R.S. member Rebecca Chambers. Shortly after the beginning, she finds herself on a zombie-infested train and meets up with a fugitive criminal and new-character-also-never-seen-again-after-this-game, Billy Coen. From there, the two must navigate the treacherous T-Virus plagued Umbrella facilities and the like, solving puzzles and trying not to be torn apart along the way, as we were all accustomed to. 

The new so-called “zapping” system, in which the player could quickly switch between the two main characters each with their own distinct health, item inventory, and other minor quirks was quite unique and helped create a twist in the classic gameplay scheme. Many puzzles in the game necessitated cooperation between both characters in a number of interesting ways, as did enemy combat and management of items throughout the game. And speaking of item management, the classic item crate that was present in save rooms of every previous game was done away with in favor of the ability to just drop items at will in any spot the player pleased. This is both a gift and a curse to the player accustomed to the prior method of item storage; for one thing, long trips back and forth to save rooms in order to drop in just one item to make space for another were eliminated under this scheme. However, should you need an item farther into the game that was dropped in a certain area much earlier (I’m looking at you, hookshot in the church), you’ll need to backtrack alllllll the way back to wherever you dropped it, and this can be both tedious and confusing, if you’ve forgotten exactly where it was you put it down.

If you didn't have the hookshot at this part, which, let's face it, you didn't during the first time you played through, it was pretty annoying.

 

Once again, the horror was back, this time in the form of those seemingly undefeatable leechy-men that relentlessly stalk you at certain points in the game. I remember truly loathing running into those guys and scrambling to do whatever I could to either dodge them or attempt to take them out with limited munitions (this was, by the way, before I figured out that one well-placed Molotov cocktail will do the trick).

Graphically, the game is on par with the remake, and that’s great because both the remake and 0 look absolutely fantastic, even to this day. Every visual just lends itself to the experience. And any hardcore fan of the series that stepped into the main lobby of the lab from Resident Evil 2 in all its graphically remastered glory was beside themselves at the prospect of seeing this area updated. It was also weird as hell to find this area, which was once so alien and obscure, hidden in the depths of Raccoon City’s underground, connected tangibly in some way to the geography of the rest of the Resident Evil universe. Even more weird was to think that members of the Bravo team (namely Rebecca and Enrico) were actually running around in this area prior to the events of the first Resident Evil.

And that brings me to a weird gripe I have. And I might be nitpicking, but this was something that always confused the hell out of me and actually did detract from the game a bit in a way that I suspect I’m the only one bothered by. Okay, so in the very first game way back on Playstation (and the remake as well), the story went that the S.T.A.R.S. Bravo team went out to the forest to investigate some murders that had occurred in the mountains. Their helicopter crashed, they lost contact with the Alpha team, and afterward Alpha team went looking for them. The amount of time was never specified in the original PS1 game, but I always assumed that it was nothing more than a short while afterward. However, according to the story of 0 (and the manual for the remake, see picture below), Bravo team went missing for an entire day before Alpha team went looking for them. So, wait, what the hell was Alpha team doing that whole time? Also, so Rebecca went on this whole adventure, made her way into the mansion, and then just said nothing about it later? I know she was trying to keep Billy’s whereabouts a mystery, but come on. And just how the hell did Enrico get into the lab from RE2? And why couldn’t we explore it more??

The manuals of RE1 and Remake, respectively. RE1 doesn't specify the amount of time between losing contact with Bravo team and the departure of Alpha team, but Remake states that the last communication was "before dawn," at which point Alpha team then decided to investigate. Still doesn't make much sense to me. Also, just a minor detail I noticed when taking this picture, note the misspelling of Arklay as "Arclay" mountains in the Remake manual.

Like I said, I know I’m nitpicking, but this whole thing just seemed really tacked on at the last minute, and for somebody who gets as enthralled in stories as much as I do, I wasn’t really buying it. However, if there was one thing that made up for it, it was the lore the game created on the origins of Umbrella, the careers of Albert Wesker and William Birkin, and the creation of the T-Virus. The game actually seemed more about the genesis of Umbrella and far less about the experience of the Bravo team, if anything.

In all, despite being a bit more lackluster than its Gamecube predecessor, 0 is still up there with the classics in my mind and is worth a playthrough every once in a while. Also, I should mention that the leech collecting mini-game that can be played upon completion of the main game provides for quite a bit of challenging extra entertainment and can also be frustrating as all hell when attempting to just get that infinite ammo quirk.

So even though 0 was still a satisfactory experience, I think it represents the point at which things started declining in the series, for me at least. Next up were two games released within the same year, Resident Evil: Outbreak and Resident Evil: Dead Aim. Dead Aim was a first person shooter along the lines of Survivor, while Outbreak was the first game in the series that boasted online capabilities for Playstation’s then-brand new Playstation Network. I outright passed on Dead Aim as it was pretty much in the same vein as Survivor, which I never truly enjoyed. To this day I’ve never played it, though I do actually own it (yeah, I have a real problem with buying games and then never playing them). Maybe one day when I’m not in school or sitting here writing reviews instead I’ll get to try it.

As for Outbreak, I never owned the broadband network adapter for the PS2, which in a way sort of rendered the game useless. Sure, it does have a single player experience, but almost the entire novelty of the game is centered on teaming up with friends online to fight off hordes of the undead. Nonetheless, I did rent the game when it came out just for the experience, but this time I can definitely say for sure that I was disappointed.

Story-wise, the game takes place right before the events of Resident Evil 2, during which the T-Virus outbreak is just hitting Raccoon City. There are five scenarios to play through, in each of which you’ll take control of one of eight pretty forgettable (and quite annoying, I might add) characters, each with their own unique attributes. Each scenario will have you doing the usual Resident Evil stuff (i.e. searching for items, solving puzzles, and battling monsters) alongside 2 other CPU-controlled characters. Here’s where the online play would come in, as instead of AI you’d have other human players running around alongside you throughout each scenario. I imagine this would’ve been kind of fun back in the day, but these days online play is so ubiquitous in video games that it seems a little silly that you’d be playing this sort of game with other people.

The scenarios vary in location and objectives to accomplish, the most interesting of which are the 2^nd and 3^rd scenarios, where you’ll find yourself in some familiar locations- the lab from RE2 and the hospital from RE3, respectively. I always liked the idea of exploring these locations further than you did in the originals. For example, in ‘Below Freezing Point’, the RE2 scenario, you’ll find yourself at the base of the gigantic mutant plant that’s growing out of the lab’s basement. I always wondered where the hell that thing was coming from. The transition from one scenario to another doesn’t really make a whole lot of sense, however.  After the first scenario, which takes place in a bar and subsequently on the streets of Raccoon City, you suddenly find yourself on a train that magically ends up at the RE2 lab. Or, after that, you go from another train to the middle of a courtyard of a hotel that’s erupted in flames. How the hell did that happen? It doesn’t matter, it’s never really explained so just go with it.

Yeah, so, how did they end up in RE2's lab again? Eh whatever, we got to explore it more and it was cool seeing it in next gen graphics.

Outbreak sort of throws out a lot of basic sensibilities we’ve learned over the years from previous games. For one thing, each scenario is timed…sort of. Since you’re right in ground zero for the T-Virus outbreak, each character is infected with the virus right from the get go. As time goes on, your infection rate steadily increases from 0% to 100%, and as you can probably guess, you’re dead once you reach 100%. This sort of replaces your health, as your infection rate will increase every time you are hit. You can collect certain items to slow it down and it does increase in speed at higher levels of difficulty, but as I mentioned it basically serves as a timer for getting through each scenario. Another major change from previous games is that zombies, which are the primary enemies you’ll encounter throughout the game, respawn infinitely. That throws a huge wrench in what you typically expect from an RE game, let alone a survival horror game in general, where munitions and supplies are often scarce to begin with. I guess you can argue that it forces one to focus more on outwitting enemies and getting through quickly than collecting ammo to blow them away, but I just wanted to kill zombies and have them stay dead without constantly pestering me while I was trying to figure out what the hell to do. And that’s another thing- the game is very vague in terms of what to do at certain points. Often you’ll just find yourself running around completely depleted of ammo and too injured to dodge enemies just trying to figure out where to go and what to do next. 

Beyond that, pretty much all of the scenarios are forgettable. It doesn’t really help that we all know exactly what happens in the end, courtesy of RE3: Raccoon City will be blown to smithereens by a nuclear bomb and every place you’ve just been to will be vaporized. Okay, cool, these new characters may be added to the lore, but all of them are so annoying you won’t care enough either way. For some reason, during gamplay the characters will just blurt out nonsensical lines throughout the entire scenario. Sometimes they’ll be vaguely related to something you need to do, like finding an item or solving a puzzle, but most of the time they’ll just be something stupid like “I need snap decisions to stay alive.” Oh, and in addition to their dialogue text that appears at the bottom of the screen, the characters will also vocally say something completely unrelated that usually just amounts to them saying “what!?” repeatedly. If you’re in a scenario with Jim, get ready to hear “let’s just try to stay calm!” in that obnoxious voice a million times. I’m not sure if this somehow had more functionality in online play, but in single player mode, it’s just really annoying and unnecessary.

Outbreak seemed more like a gimmick to capitalize on the burgeoning online connectivity between video game consoles that was occurring at the time and nowadays is more of a relic of the past, if anything. I suppose it’s worth a playthrough if you want to see RE2’s lab redone in next gen graphics, but with the remake of RE2 on the horizon, even that will be pretty obsolete eventually. There was also a sequel, Outbreak: File #2, but from what I’ve gathered it’s much of the same thing. Which, by the way, doesn’t make a whole lot of sense if the first game ends with the destruction of Raccoon City, but hey, what do I know. By the way, that's another game I own but have never played.

So, now we reach the point where Resident Evil stood at a crossroads and took a different path that changed the series for good. For better or worse…well, I suppose you can argue either way, but personally I’m going to go with worse. Tune in next time where I’ll talk about Resident Evil 4 and beyond in what I think will be the last installment of my Resident Evil retrospective.