Full Review: Cast in the shadows of great Konami games…we won’t point fingers MGS, don’t worry.
The lag time between now and when Silent Hill 2 hits North America is quite immense, however Konami managed to whet our appetites with Zone of Enders and the MGS: 2 demo. In all the commotion surrounding the two flagship titles of Silent Hill 2 and Metal Gear Solid: 2, Konami’s first release for the PS2, Shadow of Destiny, was over looked.
Shadow of destiny is one hell-of-a good game, incorporating a great story line with extremely easy game play. The story revolves around Eike Kusch, I’m guessing he’s German, who one day after leaving a café is stabbed in the back and left for dead. Of course he does die. Instead of being taken to heaven or hell as the case may be, Eike is resurrected by a supernatural being known as Homunculus (a being that is without sex/gender and a body). After being brought back to life, Eike is given the chance to prevent his own death by traveling back in time to stop the events that led to his demise. But the game doesn’t just stop at this one death; Eike must prevent his own death in eight different scenarios, which are played out in chapters, containing both a prologue and an epilogue. To prevent his death, Eike can talk to the towns’ people and gather clues as to whom the assailant of his murder might be. To travel back and forth through time, Eike is given a time traveling device known as the digipad. One cool feature about the game is that time passes exactly the same in the present, as it does in the past. For example, if you remain in the past for an hour, then when you return to the present an hour would have passed.
The game relies heavily on your quick thinking skills and problem solving abilities. There is no senseless violence or fighting. Eike has only his brain to outwit death, as will you and timing is key to solving the puzzles here. Learning how to use the digipad at precise moments will let you advance further in the game. And also talk to anyone and everyone, as they will provide you with much-needed hints and clues. Preventing Eikes death is not the core of the game, rather uncovering the reasons why Eike has been chosen to die and in the hands of who is the central goal in this title.
The control is quite simple and nothing hard to figure out, taking the average gamer about 10 or 15 minutes to become familiar with the controls. Other than that, the game consists of pretty much just walking around and talking.
The graphics are a good preview of what is to come in Silent Hill 2 displaying textures of characters that are smooth and easy on the eyes, placed in backgrounds which seem extremely detailed and well laid out. The time period settings are extremely accurate and give the player a great sense of the way of life back in those eras. Just walking around the various towns is fun and at the same time the game gives you a bit of a history lesson; of course, I’m talking about the fun type history lesson, not the boring, textbook school type.
