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Great looking game with poor controls and camera angles

2 Rating: 2, Useful: 24 / 31
Date: January 16, 2005
Author: Amazon User

I have played and completed the PC versions of Silent Hill 2 and Silent Hill 3, and they are both great games. I am a huge fan of the entire Silent Hill game series, especially SH2. However, Silent Hill 4 is dramatically hampered by not only unbelievably terrible character movement controls (whether using a mouse/keyboard combination, or a PC gamepad), but the computer selected camera that follows the main character around makes the game truly unplayable. The camera will many times "decide" to be in front of the character (pointing *towards* his face) during critical or exploratory situations, while at other times it will be hovering *over* him. Both camera angles make it almost impossible to see more than a few inches in front of your character. This is incredibly annoying, and gets you killed a lot, and takes much of the fun out of looking around and checking things out -- because you simply can't easily do it. (There is a key that is suppose to force the camera back behind the character, but it rarely works as it should). This is one of the few major PC games that I have attempted to play for a few days, but found it so un-enjoyable that I have uninstalled it from my computer. I never thought I would do that to any Silent Hill game!

Someone has a slow computer...

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 17 / 24
Date: November 06, 2004
Author: Amazon User

Our local store over here on base in Korea finally got this game in for the PC, so, naturally, I bought it. This is by far the best silent HIll game out now. The whole plot line is great. Players of past Silent Hill games should know who Walter Sullivan is. This game references the past games a lot, but the kicker is that the story goes into more background on the cult of SH. My review now:

1. Controls - Admitted, the controls can be a little awkward at first like any new game you buy for a pc. But you get used to it. The controls are arranged like most other games, so I have no complaint here. Whoever complained about the controls (you know who you are), then stop playing pc games and stay with console games. Most PC games rely on the keyboard and mouse as controllers.
2. Graphics and Dialogue - As always, the graphics are killer. This one was pretty morbid. Dark as well. But that's all the SH games. It was better this round as well. Slow computer? Turn shadows off, etc. But you lose some of the cool scenes. When the hauntings begin, the graphics go a little blurry to enhance the haunting effect. Way cool. Blood is up as well. The dialogues are great and fit the various characters. Slow computer, again? Guess what, the spoken dialogue in the cut-scenes are going to come after the lips move. Deal with it. My system is fine with handling the dialogues matching the cut-scenes.
Enemies - I don't want to tell you all about the enemies. Let's just say they are more challenging. I recommend playing in easy mode to practice moving before you go into normal or hard mode. Those sniffers and ghosts can be a pain in the arse. Speaking of ghosts (this I will warn you about cause it was irritating at first), you can't kill them. You can beat them down until they stop moving for a brief period of time, or you can run past them. They have a sword to stick in them to keep them from getting back up, but save these. You'll have 'prime' ghosts you'll want to stick because they won't stay down no matter how much you beat on them. All in all, very challenging and exciting.

What more can I say. this is the best in the series and it comes on one DVD instead of multiple cd's like past games. I just wish they would release the very first Silent Hill on the PC so I can complete my collection. I don't play console games.

Get it, play it, have weird dreams just like Henry...

Absolutely amazing(although not totally Silent Hill)!!!

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 8 / 10
Date: September 30, 2004
Author: Amazon User

This game is absolutely UNBELIEVABLE!!! I got it 3 days ago and managed to clear it twice!However,it's not easy at all.The points I'll have to mention are:
1:It doesn't have the awaited silent hill gameplay,as stuff like "I explore a room and it doesn't have anything and when I try to get out...BOO!I scared you" are all gone!I can't say I didn't enjoy them in previous games but a little change now and then is good :)

2:Action level is next to ridiculous(Normal)at the first half of the game and I got a bit disappointed.On the other half however,I got really glad that I managed to finish the game!It gets really hard on the way.

3:Riddles are more than easy.I don't know about hard mode yet but in normal mode ANYONE can move on.There are in fact no riddles.Just a question now and then "How do I move on?Oh,yeah, right!" To summarize I'd say that the game guides you all the way leaving nothing for you to guess.

4:If you take a general look at the game, you will easily understand that especially due to point 1 and 3 we are talking mostly about a movie rather than a game.Yes,a movie in which you just help the main character.It's far more serious than the previous ones(which by the way I loved) but it has all the psychological terror needed to make a movie that could make "Seven" look like "Sailor Moon". The whole storyline is amazing(at the occult side) combining certain rituals and ceremonies with the paranormal.Sound is of course amazing once more.(Akira Yamaoka rules!)

In general,I would recommend this game to anyone that likes psychological terror,although some classic Silent gamers will not like that the town of Silent Hill is actually playing a second role(not in the history,but on the action level)Finally,I'll have to congratulate the production as except everything else,they made a really big game so that we can enjoy many hours of gameplay!

BUY IT!You won't regret it!

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...

Silent Hill 4 is Horrible

1 Rating: 1, Useful: 6 / 10
Date: February 08, 2006
Author: Amazon User

I am an enormous fan of Silent Hill 2 and Silent 3, but Silent Hill 4 is not the same. The controls are so ridiculous that I turned the game off after 15 minutes from frustration and I doubt that I will be playing it again. Very disappointing.

SH4 is not scary and not controllable!

1 Rating: 1, Useful: 5 / 8
Date: January 22, 2006
Author: Amazon User

Silent Hill 3 had probably some of the best and most flexible game controls, with both 2d and 3d option. While Silent Hill 4, for keyboard and mouse users, ie: a PC victim, has the VERY WORST! Heck, even players with gamepads complained. (AMAZON, if you have any pull or clout, please have Konami make up a new .dll file for this game. Thanks. :)

And their "Mister Pacman visits Silent Hill" effect with the excessive ghosts, arcade-like simple-mindness, silly wheelchair "challenges" and the over-usage of a certain key "monster" quickly made a SH fan into a SH critic. (And I will never trust Konami products, ever again!)

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.

Good but not quite what you'd expect from a Silent Hill game

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 3 / 4
Date: November 19, 2005
Author: Amazon User

I'll just give a list of pros and cons for this game, since everyone's covered it pretty thoroughly already:

Pros-

Very good plot
Original enemies (ghosts)
Switch from first-person to third-person p.o.v.
Challenging
Graphics

Cons-

Not as dark as the previous instalments
Controls do take a while to get used to since they are quite different from SH2 and SH3.
Ghosts can get annoying
Need to return to your apartment each time you want to save your progress which does become a little cumbersome after a while.

However, I do recommend the game to everyone, not only SH fans. Just be open-minded and don't expect a typical Silent Hill game.

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!

Silent Hill 4 for PC Stinks! I Should've Got the PS2 Version

2 Rating: 2, Useful: 7 / 21
Date: October 12, 2004
Author: Amazon User

I've had Silent Hill 4 installed on my PC now for about a week. And it sucks! The controls are very hard to manage without a joystick or something. I was using the default controls which consist of using your keyboard and mouse (sometimes at the same time!). Also, the spoken dialog is heard about 15 seconds prior to the character's mouths actually moving. The spoken dialog is also heard about 15 seconds prior to seeing it spelled out in subtitles. I don't know what is causing this large delay, but it sucks!

Even though I haven't played a PS2 version of this game, I'm sure it has to be much better in terms of control and the dialog problem. I have played ALL the other Silent Hill games for the PS1 and PS2, and I never had a problem with them.

I visited the various tech support sites listed in the instruction manual to get help with the sound/dialog problem, but there is absolutely no help for SH4 tech problems (as of yet). Perhaps this is because the game is still relatively new, and PC players of the game are still in the process of getting royally pissed off like I just did.

Only buy the PC version of Silent Hill 4 if you have a joystick or something. Using the keyboard and mouse controls is just too difficult and very frustrating. Better yet, stick with the PS2 version! Believe me, you'll be glad you did!!

P.S. Anybody wanna buy a slightly used "Silent Hill 4" for the PC? (ha ha ha!)

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