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Not the best in the series

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 4 / 5
Date: September 22, 2004
Author: Amazon User

I have been a huge fan of the Silent Hill series, despite the fact that they tend to scare the hell out of me every time. So, needless to say, when Silent Hill 4 came out to raving reviews, I had to go out and see for myself.

Now, while this game isn't up to par with Silent Hill 2 (while you're told of Walter's background extensively, you're given nothing on Henry's), it does rank above many of the other so-called horror games out there. You play as Henry Townsend, a man trapped in his own apartment with no way out. That is, until a hole appears in his bathroom.

Unlike the previous three Silent Hill games, this one does not go directly into the town of Silent Hill. Rather, you're transported to areas around it, such as the Wish House (an orphanage run by "The Order") and the forest. And rather than simply having monsters you're able to fight to the death, we're treated to hauntings in Henry's apartment and ghosts that are impossible to kill and do more damage than any other foe in the series.

The plot involving Walter Sullivan and the Wish House is rather thin and cut in corners, presumably to release it quicker. But this does not take away from the overall game. The hauntings are truly scary at times (windows rattling, a ghost bursting through your bathroom wall) and there are still the puzzles Silent Hill has always been known for.

Though it could have been better, I would still say this is one of the best games ever made. I just hope that Konami takes more time for the next game. We can wait. We promise.

Not bad...

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 4 / 5
Date: November 29, 2004
Author: Amazon User

In the past, the Silent Hill series has always frightened and delightfully scare and disturb me and other gamers like no other game could. It was a delectable taste to not only experience gruesome and dilapidated environments (as well as stare in awe at horrifying sights and creatures) but to also contemplate on the theories and many themes that display themselves on numerous occasions throughout the past. Now, with Silent Hill 4: The Room, it's a bit different.

Silent Hill 4: The Room is a journey into the mind of Henry Townshend and being able to see what he sees while in his prison that is his apartment. Silent Hill 4 does tend to weave bits and pieces of information from other Silent Hill installments (Silent Hill 2 specifically) but really doesn't have much of a story on it's own. The protagonist of the story is almost as if it were fate and destiny that he come to South Ashfield Heights and be the 21st victim of a serial killer. The story itself basically revolves around this serial killer and what he is committing, rather than explaining on why Henry is there in the first place. Henry (unlike precedent protagonists) does not have a tragic flaw (the element that ultimately results in the demise of the hero) and he seems to just be in the story as an obstacle blocking the antagonist. Now, I know that what I just said may seem contradicting but what I'm trying to say is that Henry almost seems like a supporting character in the game instead of the lead character. Now, on to the actual gameplay elements.

Sound: the audio presented in the game is almost second to none. Spirits wail and moan as they hauntingly drift and float towards you in all their disgusting appearances. The cries from the creatures are downright creepy as it will disturb you to the core of your soul.

Graphics: A wide improvement and vast acknowledgement over previous installments. Perhaps the biggest demonstration of these improved visual effects are the way the spirits are presented as they struggle to grab at you as they make their way through walls and other structures. Trust me when I say that the death of Richard Braintree will be beautifully portrayed to horror fanatics yet seem repulsive and horribly graphic and disturbing to fellow gamers.

Gameplay: the gameplay hasn't changed much in throughout the series and it hasn't really in Silent Hill 4; specifically the combat engine. The combat in the game is pretty much the same (except for the inclusion of a revamped melee system) and offer more versatility to the gamer as well as Henry's capabilities. One of the more annoying aspects is the lack of firearms in this game. In Silent Hill 3 gamers were able to pick up a sub machine gun yet in Silent Hill 4, gamers only got the pistol (not a bad weapon though lacking in power; the gamer's right hand friend in survival horror) and Richard's Revolver (a slightly more powerful gun with VERY limited ammo). I would have been a bit dissapointed if not for the extensive melee weapon variety (weapons ranged from wine bottles and golf clubs to a rusted axe and the screwdriver in the Silent Hill tool box, the Steel Pipe).

Control: Not really much to note on here except for the exclusion of the much needed flashlight and radio (I understand that with the new inventory system Konami needed to rearrange the button configuration but the flashlight was really a core element in the Silent Hill series; the radio should have been given to the gamer anyway, no matter what happened in the game).

The actual horror element that was portrayed in the game was still a character in its own with grotesque hallways, disgusting corridors, etc. and some areas are more noticeable than others (the hospital for example has an almost Twilight Zone essence to it) while some character deaths are more gruesome than others (i.e. Richard Braintree's death had an Alfred Hitchcock mood and feel to the scence). The game was an overall good installment but the game had a few flaws. The environments lacked the creativity that Silent Hill 3 had (specifically the Alternate Brookhaven Hospital) and the story was not as engrossing as Silent Hill 2 (OR Silent Hill 3)but it still is fun to play. Once again, Silent Hill 4: The Room prooved to be a nice addition to the Silent Hill universe; if you're looking for a game that will give you chills and if you are looking for a good scare, I would recommend Silent Hill 4.

Off the Silent Hill beaten path...

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 4 / 5
Date: December 23, 2004
Author: Amazon User

Silent Hill 4 is, truely, a game made for Silent Hill fans. More info is delivered on the Hope/Wish House, Dahlia's involvement and just about any other point in the Silent Hill series that seemed confusing. I look forward to the next two reported games (Silent Hill 5 is already in production, it's said) as more background games than anything. The first three were to leave us wondering about just what Silent Hill really is ... and I hope the next three will clarify it all.
That said, this game /is/ different from the last Silent Hill games but just as well-crafted and adept at keeping one walking the thin rope between ease and wracked-nerves.
I also recommend that anyone looking to this game play the other three - or, at least, Silent Hill 2 and 3. A good plot guide also does wonders in understanding just what is happening in this delightfully mixed-up game.

The weakest Silent Hill game

3 Rating: 3, Useful: 4 / 5
Date: January 31, 2005
Author: Amazon User

This game is somewhat different from it's predecessors. The combat is more smooth, but not by much. You can use a first-person mode in the room, which is somewhat interesting, but I don't think it's any better than third-person view. There are a few things to do in your home, like peek in on your neighbor or look out into the hall. But it all gets pretty repetitive. And in order to save, you have to return to your room, which requires finding and going through a portal, and it just takes up more time than having a save point in the place of the portal. So, I wouldn't say that whole portal thing is an improvement, either. There are a few places to go, like a prison or a forest. You move through each area fairly quickly. The characters are pretty interesting, although most don't stick around long. Someone is killing people and the pattern is following a murder from the past, in Silent Hill. The story is decent. I look forward to seeing what happens next. Although, getting there can be a pain, because of some of the ghosts. That is the major problem I had with the game. You cannot kill them. They can do some serious damage to you if you stick around long. You can beat them down, but they'll just get back up. There is a rare item that you can use to keep them trapped, but you can only keep them trapped if you leave it there, and you only get a few. So that is not very helpful in the long run. The ghosts are just floating people, sometimes flaming. They aren't scary or creative. They are just annoying. That is the main reason that I don't like this game much. Other than that, it's a good game. And although it's not as good as Silent Hill 1, 2 or 3, it's still worth trying.

Maybe a little TOO different?

3 Rating: 3, Useful: 5 / 8
Date: November 02, 2004
Author: Amazon User

I'd like to start out by saying that Silent Hill 4: The Room is an outstanding video game in terms of graphics and story. Where it stumbles is in its continuation of the Silent Hill legacy: dark places, scary static, flashlights, and where the hell are the freakin' nurses?? None of these things that make Silent Hill games the frightfest that they are were present in this game.

My gripes:

1. NO NURSES - This HAS TO BE the worst problem of this entire game. Every Silent Hill game has had demonic nurses with knives, pipes, or guns. There's even a Hospital World, but do they have nurses? NO. They have these terrifying patient demons that scare the hell out of you, but no demonic hospital personnel.

2. Lighting - One of the unique things about past Silent Hills is how through a lot of the game you have a limited range of vision due to darkness or fog. Every area is fairly well-lit, which takes away from the creepiness they would have if they were shrouded in darkness. The fact that you don't get to wear a cool flashlight in your shirt pocket contributes to the sense I have through the entire game that something is missing.

3. Weapons - I could almost excuse the golf clubs, which were a huge waste of space, if they would have put more than two ranged weapons in the whole game. This is ridiculous. I used all of my revolver ammo when fighting Walter, and I still had to use my axe to finally kill him.

4. (H)enry, (H)eather, (H)arry, (J)ames - pick one of the 24 remaining letters for the next game.

5. Victims/Bottoms - It's very obvious that to make the bottoms, all they did was change the model of the twin victims. The first time I saw them, I thought there was something wrong with the game.

6. Items - This is a very bad idea. Someone's been playing too much Resident Evil over at SH HQ. An item chest? That's original. The cool thing about the other games is that you can carry all of the items you needed without going back to a chest to retrieve things. Yes, I know that going back to your apartment frequently enables you to collect all of the messages, but the chest really gets annoying after a while.

Good Schtuvf:

1. Life Bar - YAY. Now I don't have to go to the freakin' item screen just to see what my health is.

2. Graphics - Just beautiful.

3. Ghosts/Swords - The whole ghost idea and the swords of obedience were very cool. Finally, I can't just run past most enemies and leave them behind permanently. The fact that there are five swords is a little much, though. The only ghosts that really need swordin' are Victim 10, Cynthia, Richard, and Andrew. Victim 10 is debatable, though.

4. Hauntings - The hauntings in your apartment were a really nice touch to the game. Finally, there's a use for those stupid Holy Candles and Saint Medallions.

5. Story - Whoa, that's a freaky story. The whole mass-murderer bit is nifty. I like the fact that it mentions things from Silent Hill 2.

It wasn't a HORRIBLE game. As video games go, it is excellent. It just wasn't a good Silent Hill game. That's why I gave it three stars. It didn't deserve only two, but it wasn't good enough for four. Let's hope Silent Hill 5 has darkness and nurses :)

Average survival horror adventure.

3 Rating: 3, Useful: 5 / 8
Date: October 25, 2005
Author: Amazon User

I just finished playing Silent Hill 4 and it took me a total of almost 8 hours of play time. Were all 8 hours enjoyable? Hardly.

Sure the game has its moments of spooky survival and dark things that go bump in the night, but i wasnt too impressed with the final product.

The 'room' gets very annoying quick. You have to go back to your room a bajillion times throughout the game to save, heal, swap items (because of the super annoying inventory system), exorcise hauntings, and read clues under your door. Having to go back to the same old dull looking apartment room gets old too fast.

Plus some of the areas are downright confusing. The circular prison and subway system will have you running in circles figuring out what and where to go next. And i was hardly impressed with the level design. The hospital was a large hallway with 10 rooms like a grid. And the apartment complex and sports store level were nothing but similar stairways and rooms. The levels lacked originality in my book and the only one i really enjoyed was the forest and orphanage. Spooky stuff there.

And quite possibly the worst thing about Silent Hill 4 is the combat. Every enemy, from the dogs to the two headed monsters to the nurses followed the same attack pattern. And knocking each one down then 'stomping' them gets tedious too. And sometimes you will keep attacking a downed enemy while another standing enemy is right beside you! Annoying? Yes.

And dont even let me get started on the horrible, ugly, dumb, partner you pick up halfway through the game. Having to constantly protect and walk slow for a useless 2nd character was terrible.

All in all Silent Hill 4 is not a bad game. Though its not a particularly good one either. Stick to the Resident Evils or earlier Silent Hill games.

It gets better as you go but doesn't measure up.

3 Rating: 3, Useful: 5 / 8
Date: April 29, 2006
Author: Amazon User

just writing a review to let you know what this game ISN'T (despite what others may say in their reviews)
1. It isn't scarey. I'll admit that SH2 creeped me out, then 3 eventually. This one: not at all. For one, they removed the need for flashlites or radios which means that you see the monsters from a long way away.
2. The monsters are mostly lame. While I didn't care for the ghosts, they added some tension to the game. The green dogs with tongues hanging on the ground were cartoonish. The bat wasp things were a joke. The "patients" seemed cool until you hit them and they make burping noises. Early games had more human monsters, this one seemed to go the fantasy route.
3. Even the game tries to claim that when you are going through the portal, you are ending up in other worlds. You aren't. There's "forest world" which is the forest nearby. There is "subway world" which is (yep you guessed it) just the subway by your apartment. The hole just means that you don't have to walk throught the city to go where you want.

I will say that after putting the game in I wasn't going to bother with it. The trailer is a collage of monsters moaning. The controlls (especially the first person angles which I always hated) can be annoying til you get used to them. Much of the game seems more like Resident evil (which I like but I didn't try SH to play RE version 2)... you run through the woods but only have a narrow path to follow. Also, your character doesn't seem to have any personality whatsoever. Someone's getting electrocuted? I think I'll just stand here doing nothing. The main character in Silent Hill 2 has issues, Heather in #3 seems tortured or at least very emotionally tired. The main character in 4 shows as much emotion during a death as most people do opening up a bag of cheetos. The story does get interesting though.

But, as always, the story starts to kick in and it gets better just about when you consider trading the game in and you can get hooked.

Lest compare, shall we?

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 8 / 17
Date: October 11, 2004
Author: Amazon User

Okay, let's get at it. Silent Hill 4: The Room...good or bad? Good.

As a fan of the series from the beginning I was eagerly expecting this game. Thus far I've completed all four games numerous times. And, I can't say enough about not only the series but 4.

Point. It's different. A new first-person mode is very different from what Silent Hill fans are used to. But, it works. And, it works beautifully. You get a new perspective in the room; the designers really know what they are doing.

The fighting. Silent Hill isn't so much about fighting rather than developing a wonderful story. But, this Silent Hill takes a bit of a turn. Now, there are various monsters, like ghosts, that attention needs to be given. It's good if you like the fighting aspect. If you don't: start crying.

The story is genious. Weaving it in with Silent Hill 2 tid bits is what we've all been waiting for. SH2 was, in my opinion, one of the greatest games to be seen. It had a story that was beyond words. SH4 has been able to steal some of it's sunshine.

It's different. Well, yes. But fans, I have news for you: GET OVER IT. The game is genious. If you can't look over the petty fact that SH4 isn't SH2 then stop complaing. Awww, poor babies. The game creaters are experimenting. They're changing my favorite game for the worst! Boo-hoo. It's not a total waste as some will say. You just have to get over the fact that it's not what you wanted.

NOT Silent Hill

3 Rating: 3, Useful: 6 / 12
Date: March 28, 2005
Author: Amazon User

There is more dislike or disappointment for this game than there is satisfaction from fans of the series. That should tell you something.

It tells me this: If it works the first time, why change it?

People are going to hate me for this, but somebody has to put it this way.

Not only is the entire game restricted to the same old levels which you must revisit (can you say major slapstick syndrome, anybody?) you do not even visit Silent Hill in this game. What the **** was Team Silent thinking? Too busy plucking sushi from the A$$ cracks of those waitresses that work at those neo-sign sushi bars when they ought to be writing a script...I'm telling, they're getting lazy.

When I was first playing it, I was opened minded about it: "Oh, eventually these tunnels are going to drop him smack dead in that foggy, barren town which we have all come to love," but as it turned out, it never happened. I thought I saw the words "SILENT HILL" on the cover of the game when I bought it, but I guess the lady at the cashier made a mistake with the order or something. I thought enough people complained about part 3 not taking a LONG ENOUGH ride into Silent Hill (the TOWN itself) would have helped the developers to correct this error with part 4, but instead they totally **** it up even more. I guess they've made their money with the first couple of games and are no longer hungry....and...no longer care. Lets go for a drink at that all night sushi bar, what do you say?

It would have made a decent game if each individual level was actually DIFFERENT and UNIQUE, rather than making you re-visit levels you have already seen before during the first few hours of game play....

No dark atmosphere, no flashlight (which just look so bad-ass ripping through the darkness in previous games, never knowing what it will shine on next) no radio to get that heart pounding, no ominous looking town enshrouded by fog; to call this a Silent Hill game is not only a mistake, it's BLASPHEMY.

Put some more corpses in vents, or add more creepy sounds and whispers in those empty rooms or make one of the stiffs under those hospital sheets fall to the floor as you walk by - DON'T CHANGE THE GAME that made it to the 'Greatest Hits' list. You might as well on give it a whole new title now.

I hope that waitress carries some kind of disease and that sushi kills you.

Stepping Backwards

2 Rating: 2, Useful: 6 / 13
Date: September 15, 2004
Author: Amazon User

Ok, so I could not believe in the bad press until I played through this game myself. This is the first SH game I didn't really enjoy. There is so much that is just wrong with it that it starts to overtake that which is new or innovative. Basically you play through 5 generic levels.......then you get to struggle through the same identical 5 levels with a limping companion who gets injured easily and who gravitates into conflicts with invincible enemies (I am not kidding). Some of the monsters/ghosts are creepy the first time you see them (which is saying something seeing how you don't encounter them in the dark with a flashlight) but lack the originality of SH2 or SH3 and have seemingly nothing to do with the storyline. The story is a re-hash of "Seven" morphed with "Nightmare on Elm Street" with a main villain who is about as scary as some trendy 20-something actor playing a serial killer in any boring 20-something neo-horror flick (not to mention Henry). Your room is an interesting and engaging concept but doesn't equate to what the spralling town of Silent Hill did for SH1 & SH2. Lastly, there is the soundtrack. Whoever thought to put a weak neo-metal ballad vocalist and a Peter Murphy wanna-be singing the lamest lyrics ever over the soundtrack needs to seriously explore another direction. On the SH3 soundtrack it was annoying and embarrassing, now it just sucks. Konami needs to put "quality" back into this series (no repeating levels, no RE item system) and seriously reconsider the nuances between scary and annoying game play.

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