Silent Hill 4: The Room

I'm a huge fan if the Silent Hill series and whilst I fully understand and appreciate why so many fans rate this sequel lower than the others (because it isn't actually based in Silent Hill), I believe it's merits far outweigh their complaints.

Typically with any Silent Hill game it features strange and psychotic creatures, puzzles and battles. The controls are perfectly simple. The story-line is smooth, the characters are intriguing and the voice acting is great. But of course the graphics and the sound effects - just superb! I would not class this as one for novice game-players. It's a notch up in terms of complexity.

Synonymously, the atmosphere is overwhelmingly dark, creepy and VERY unsettling.

There are plenty of scares and frights in this one, and very often you get the feeling the whole game is TOTALLY messing with your head -- Which it is!! Enjoy it with the lights out and the sound turned UP...

Among seeing some of the complaints involved, it truly makes me wonder how people actually look at the Silent Hill series. Most see them as games, simple as that. I somehow have the impression of interactive movies - a glorious story that we have the privilege to unravel ourselves through each installment. So what if the controls, combat and inventory are plunked down a peg? Are you really gonna let that ruin your perspective of a wonderfully styled new story in this respectable series?

First thing I really liked about the story - it's irrelevant. That's right, completely out of wing from the first three. Instead of following through the grand cultist prophecies that Silent Hill 3 so casually topped off, we have the story of an individual that was misled by this cult since a child. That right there is a sign that the Silent Hill stories are maturing; the ability to successfully elaborate on and illustrate a smaller slice of the same pie.

The next thing I enjoyed was the innovation involved. The series has a history of altogether gritty and grotesque imagery, not holding back at the least. Here you have a much slower progression into that messy environment, and rightfully so. This is a more personal story, that of Walter Sullivan, therefore we don't see the cult's signature gooey imagery until they are quite literally consuming the main character's home. Until then, it is a journey through this very personal story in the form of dreamscapes. Though misshapen to say the least, the environments aren't as alive and gritty as most would like it, but that's perhaps because it's all in the perspective of Walter, not the 'paradise' that previous cultists allowed to come alive. Through this droning and down-beat style, the player can truly learn the story of Walter and maybe even come to have sympathy for him.

And perhaps the biggest thing I loved about the story is how the story is told. Previous installments was by adventuring and word of mouth. The Room takes a very abstract story and presents it in an abstract way. Whether by reading the diary entries of a forgotten journalist or reading random scriptures off walls, you have a presentation based more on illustration than verbal storytelling. Not only that, but the pieces don't even come in chronological order, so you are left to stare and think on a certain detail until you find perhaps another five to put together in a sort of order and make sense out of it. This abstract storytelling seems frustrating, but given its relevance to the harsh and melancholy imagery it comes from, it only provides further suspense and motivation to learn more.

Overall, I find this to be a very refreshing title in the series. I don't rate it any higher or lower in comparison to the previous titles, as it's a completely different entity on its own. And even considering the grotesque nature that it shares with its predecessors - it's a beautiful entity, indeed.

Positives:

• Atmosphere
• Story and writing
• Creatures designs
• Psychological elements
• Musical score

Negatives:

• Some of the gameplay
• Some of the characters

How anyone can say that this game is the weakest of the Silent Hill series, or weak in any aspect is at all is beyond me. This game is simply breathtaking. The environments, music, sound effects, monsters, storyline and appearance of this game FAR surpass any of the (admittedly excellent) previous 3 Silent Hill titles.

"The Room" just does it for me. I have played it at least a dozen times and it has been well over a year since its release. Right now just talking about it makes me want to play it again.

I personally feel, (in reference to what others have said about it) that it is the strongest in the series so far, with Silent Hill 3 coming a close 2nd, the 1st installment coming in 3rd and the "not very scary" but still very good Silent Hill 2 last on my list.

It is a big step away from the other games but thats what was needed. It would be too much to have 4 games that follow the same formula. Silent hill 4 has freshened up the series and more than opened the road for a 5th game on the upcoming PS3.

In conclusion - if David Lynch made a video game, this would be it. I can't think of a more glowing compliment for a game.

Sh 4: the room is the last in the series to be developed by team silent and it's probably the last good silent hill game despite how wildly different and unique it is from the rest of the series.

sh 4 may not be the scariest but the game is very aggressive specially in the harder difficulties and it can frustrate you sometimes which is one of the points of any silent hill game for you to feel lost and desperate.

it is unfortunate the fact that this game had the lowest sells compare to the first 3 and konami eventually let go of team silent and we didn't get a great silent hill game ever since.