5 Things Silent Hill: Homecoming Does Better Than SH2

[DistantJ]

But in most games, you don't even need to hold L2 to do that, the right stick should do it, and most cameras are less twitchy and stubborn too.

I have a lifelong friend who is now a professional games designer, working for Eurocom, and he had recently decided he wanted to play all of the 'all time best' games which he hadn't played before, and so I forced Silent Hill 2 onto his list - from fresh eyes, from somebody who hadn't played the game years back, the camera issues and datedness ruined the whole thing for him. So yes, I would say that SH2 would 'need' a better camera to stand up better. It didn't bother me except the silly way the camera points at the door you just came through and you have to use L2 to force it around behind you, that is the times it decides it wants to respond to that, but point is, Homecoming and Shattered Memories let you look around and point the flashlight anywhere you want, even while moving, and I think being able to look up and down independently without stopping and things adds so much to the immersion.

SH2 may be groundbreaking even to this day in narrative and atmosphere, but the fundamentals that make a game, the controls, camera, combat etc. certainly could be a lot better. They don't bother me at all, horror games aren't about smooth controls and cameras, but looking at it from the point of view of people not all that interested in macabre horror, it might not be particularly appealing, like offering Sonic Adventure games to people not interested in high speed, they're just going to see the problems with the game and not have any fun.

[clips]

It's kinda unfair to compare these games because as you've stated, because of techical advances alone, homecoming is bound to do some things better,....still i preferred SH2's combat to homecomings....homecomings combat with the gun felt really "arcadey" with the big-ass crossfire targeting system...SH2 and SIREN Bloodcurse for that matter handled things more effectively...there's no crossfire target, just point and shoot.

Homecoming's melee combat wasn't smooth at all either...i hated that you had to remember "patterns" to defeat enemies...in SH2 you just fought them....i think the only element that the series could've had was the blocking system that was somewhat used in SH3.

The only thing i can remember that homecoming did better was the voice acting....SH2's overall otherworld levels were better,the non-otherworld levels were better,etc.....oh and homecomings graphics might've been slightly better...except for the mayor...he was just a horrible design.....heh i remember some cutscenes in SH2 that it seemed like james looked like a zombie and some cutscenes of Angela's in game model looked horrible too...

[Doctor Eggnog]

What Distant3 mentioned about the camera would only be a problem if enemies appeared at your sides or behind you a lot and you needed to be able to turn the camera around quickly, which is rarely the case. Simply put, the combat is too simple and easy for problems like that to matter. Also, I feel like a game designer would be the first person to be able to overcome design challenges in a game. Also, SH2's controls felt very smooth too me. SH3's were too tight for me, they annoyed me.

[DavTheProtagonist]

Well, after reading all the comments, I have to say that I like Silent Hill 2 more, though Homecoming, though disliked by a few, was very good. I loved the puzzles, and the gameplay, and the story. But for some reason, I just... like Silent Hill 2 more. I am very much like the protagonist, and I like the characters a little more. Their dark backgrounds, their dark endings. It just, made me smile, in a horrible way though. The ending I got in 2 (In Water) brought tears to my eyes as I heard the splash of water and watched the letter read with an under water scene. My ending in homecoming, made me feel happy for Alex, but I wasn't as emotinally touched. It was nothing big. He escapes, and there is Elle. Yay. I like them both, but SH 2 wins for me. Enough said.