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Wow.

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 0 / 0
Date: June 26, 2008
Author: Amazon User

I'm not much of a gamer, so I can't really explain this game from a gamer's point of view. However, from the point of view of someone that almost never plays games like this, I think it was a lot of fun! There's the action element, which is voluntary if one doesn't care for the bloodshed, and there's also a lot of puzzles that requires one to think about what he/she should do next. I haven't finished the game yet, but the storyline so far is intriguing, enticing one to go further to find out what creepy part of the story will be revealed next. Certainly not a game for people with weak stomachs, but if one is the type to enjoy being creeped out, this is a great game for it! :3

silent hill series

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 0 / 1
Date: January 16, 2008
Author: Amazon User

I havent really played SH3 yet but 2 was so good I even bought the movie!! So I'm going to buy silent hill 3 and 4 ASAP! BUY THESE GAMES THEY ARE DAMN GOOD.

SH4...the best of the 4 games so far

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 0 / 0
Date: April 06, 2007
Author: Amazon User

incredible sound effects and great storyline, once you start playing, you cannot stop until you finish the whole game...theres several different endings which keep ya interested in the game...absolutely a great game!!!

for all of you who read the piss poor reviews of the incompitent

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 1 / 5
Date: February 26, 2007
Author: Amazon User

those of you who think this is a bad game should maybe rethink things ..first of all dont play this without a controller its ported from 2 systems that use controllers..think about it.secondly the enemies u cant kill are ghosts...can you kill something thats already deaad?i think not.there ARE mmore enemies than the ghosts most of them are not.you have the time of your life beaten em and watchin there life juice flow out of them like a fountain.and thirdly you DO DO DO go into silent hill all of u incomitent fools.whne u go through the hole you arent alwasys in the same town the forest is in silent hill the prison is and so are more of them THINK BEFORE YOU MAKE YOURSELF OUT TO BE THAT STRANGE KID WITH NO PERSONALITY ON THE CORNER.this is a very good game buy it.

Unplayable

1 Rating: 1, Useful: 6 / 11
Date: September 03, 2006
Author: Amazon User

I had heard great things about this series and how scary they were, and what a great storyline the Silent Hill series has. Unfortunately I will never know because I uninstalled it after about 5 hours of "gameplay."

I have been playing computer games for 25 years of all types, from Zork, to King's Quest, to FPS games, and without a doubt, this game has the worst movement controls and combat system I've ever seen. It is incredibly awkward to move, mainly because of the camera angles, which continually change direction. Sometimes the camera will be in front of you facing the character (almost always a terrible position if combat is involved), and sometimes it will switch to a bird's eye view and you wil be staring at the character's head. Combat is awkward too due to the camera angles. It's difficult to target certain monsters, and some you won't even know are there until they're right on top of you when the camera is faced forwards. This just not make for a "Scary" gameplay experience, just frustrating. I hate dying to what appears to be a very easy monster because the camera angle won't easily shift to it. When the camera is in first person view, response time of the mouse is not very quick (you can't change this, even with your mouse), and trying to use the "look" cursor to view objects takes way too long.

In addition to this, the game is slow. You can run, but combat moves are about half as slow as traditional games (even adventure ones). And if you die, prepare to have to go through a lot of trouble to get back to your resume point, including having to go through the same cinematic sequences, since the game has very inopportune save points.

I won't be going back to the Silent Hill series without playing a demo of future games first. This game almost would have been much better as an adventure game instead of an action game. I'd rather watch the cinematic sequences and try to figure out puzzles than spend my entire time just trying to move around and fight.

Really Spooky, But Only If...

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 2 / 2
Date: August 11, 2006
Author: Amazon User

... you like atmospheric horror. There are plenty of gorey and disturbing images and plot elements to lend to the over all 'shock' of the gaming experience, and believe me, they're weird and creepy and disturbing all right, but for me it was the game's well-crafted atmosphere that really got to me. I highly recommend you play it at night, lights off, on a better-than-decent sound system with better-than-decent sound and video cards if at all possible, the better the tools, the better the experience. I'm really into atmospheric horror to start with, finding spine-tingling creepiness that builds and builds to a crescendo much spookier than instant shock-terror, so if that's you too, you will definitely appreciate the willies this game is capable of giving.
That said, however, I do have a gripe or two. You might also want to purchase a better-than-decent gamepad or controller and ditch your keyboard/mouse combo for this one, if you haven't already - the weirdness of the keyboard configuration combined with the frustrating camera angles do make combat more than just challenging.
The camera angles don't initially make sense, true, but after playing a bit I realized it's purely intentional - yes, it's kind of mean of the developers to not always let you see what's coming up ahead of you by turning the camera to face your character as you run 'forward,' but that's all part of the atmosphere (although yes, it does at times result in you taking damage a bit unfairly). I found it a truly neat trick that made the game a bit more difficult but also added significantly to the creepy factor, particularly in tense and dangerous areas. Note, however, navigating this way will definitely take some getting used to.
The combat (on a keyboard) is truly clunky and frustrating, make no mistake, but I found after a bit of practice and button reassigning I got the hang of it, and it's definitely better than some ports I've played. Do buy a controller, though, to truly enjoy the game's engine.
Lastly, the game's voice-acting and dialogue loops are a bit cheesey at times, but then that's also part of the atmosphere - when you're not being creeped out, you can laugh at the 'B-Horror' elements (which I believe are intentional) of the experience.
I'm currently about 1/3 of the way into the game; I purchased it new in 2004 but then shelved it for awhile in favor of other titles and have finally come back to it, and I'm glad I did. It definitely plays without problem on my XP Professional system although the amazon description points out it was made for Windows ME. The plot is so far definitely engrossing, and just as (if not more so) intriguing as Silent Hill 3, also definitely worth playing for much of the same reasons I'm listing above if you haven't already. However, if you are totally unfamiliar with the series (as I once was), I recommend you do some digging online and study up as it's a bit confusing and has recurring themes in each game. Or better yet, pick up a strategy guide.
If you like dark-room I-don't-know-what's-in-there-with-me-and-I-can-hear-it-breathing-when-I-hold-my-breath terror, than this is definitely a game for you!

Download the demo first!

2 Rating: 2, Useful: 2 / 3
Date: June 16, 2006
Author: Amazon User

I had great hopes for this- it looked spooky and fun. Perhaps it is on a console, but it's utterly unplayable on a PC. The camera seems to be controlled by a random number generator- why would I *ever* want the camera facing me when I'm exploring with a bunch of baddies around? For some reason Konami thinks this is the best possible angle, since moving away from it is virtually impossible and the camera will swing back after your character gets caught in a corner. Add to that the fact that there's no "invert mouse" function- it looks like there is in the options, but it does nothing. I simply cannot understand why this is a problem on any title today- both 1st and 3rd person (SH4 uses both) camera/movement control issues were solved years ago on both consoles and PCs

I still think it looks spooky and fun after playing for a bit, but I got so frustrated being unable to do the simplest things I gave up and went back to Oblivion. There's a downloadable demo- try it out and see if you can control the main character before plunking down cash for this dog.

Not even worth the title silent hill LITERALY

1 Rating: 1, Useful: 5 / 7
Date: June 10, 2006
Author: Amazon User

I was disappointed beyond even my expectations when I played this, I am one of THE BIGGEST fans of silent hill 1 (PSX only) 2 and 3 all extremely chilling and beautifully crafted games - this `silent hill' 4, only one word describes it, excrement.
My main problems with the game - although it has a great principle (locked in your own apartment with padlocks on the inside - no escape - only able to escape through an ever increasing portal) it really:
1) The controls are pointless; you would be better trying to move the character with `Good wishes'.
2) the camera positioning is pathetic, 1st person in the apartment - wide aspect `through the portal'
3) You can only hold 4-6 items INCLUDING GUNS AND BULLETS (bullets take 1 space for EVERY 25 or so)
4) The monsters are monsters that can't be killed - mmmmm pointless? Maybe. Annoying? Definitely.
5) And you don't actually visit silent hill - the town that gives the game it's name

I love silent hill 1,2,3 so much I rated them all 5 stars all round I have played them all 5-8 times but this I played for about two hours before I binned it, I actually binned it - on hind view I should have just resold but I do get freaked out like that - anyway the madness continues - I did some research LOTS OF RESEARCH and: Silent Hill 4 the room is NOT ACTUALLY A SILENT HILL GAME ORIGANNLAY, although Konami developed it, the plan was for it to be an independent game but Konami saw the similarities in the products (both survival horror, both psychological games) they mage some `alterations' making it more Silent Hill'ish and changed some names around - in my eyes they should NOT have released this under silent hill as - with an independent name I would have had a less extreme reaction to it - maybe even enjoyed it but THIS IS NOT SILENT HILL.

Good news for the die-hard fan of Silent Hill - I think that Konami have another silent hill in production on which THEY REVERT TO THE OLD SYSTEM (as with 2 and 3) this is a confirmed development (Silent hill 5) *crosses fingers for better game* I hope this has helped you.

My advice if you wish to buy this game DON'T LISTEN TO THE SILENT HILL TITLE - you will enjoy much more. Enjoy...

SUPER SCARY

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 0 / 1
Date: June 01, 2006
Author: Amazon User

The Movie version of "Silent Hill" came out recently, but it is not the story of Silent Hill 4 - The Room. The Movie reminds me about this game that I watched my brother playing with play stations 2 years ago. I admit that this game is way too scary for me to play it; I don't have the guts to be the player for this game, so I was just being an observer for this game. In the beginning, we started with the first person camera view, my brother and me were totally freaked out, since we thought we would be in the first person mode for the whole game. I think starting with the first person mode is really creative, it can really brings the player into the game. I like how there are so many things to explore just inside the small room. Looking through the hole of the door to observe what is happening outside, and also through the windows to look at the outside world. I didn't get to see the previous 1, 2, and 3, so I can't really get to compare them. However, I think Silent Hill 4 - The Room is a really great game for those people who are brave to play this kind of game, the story line is really interesting and the horrify surroundings were created in great details. There are always something surprising coming out all the time which makes it really scary. That's why even though I was only an observer, it gave me a really deep memory about this game.

The best Silent Hill game to date

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 1 / 7
Date: March 18, 2006
Author: Amazon User

The plot was excellent, and the endings were quite interesting. The environments were overwhelming, and the monsters were very scary.

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