Silent Hill 4: The Room

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.

Silent Hill 4 is satisfying me more and more as I play it. I will admit that the gameplay is kind of clunky, but that's like it's only flaw along with The camera angles. As awesome as they are in a lot of parts, it gets in the way when it comes to fighting. This is the first SH game that I've.. worried about dying in. I can see what they were trying to do and for the most part it works, I'm a lot more panicked. In the first three, enemies would be like... hie, and I'd be like "hey whatever" and they'd be like "-k- I got owned". in this one, I dread every single moment I run into an enemy so that adds a lot for me. It IS a game, and I do like challenge. I must go against what a lot of the naysayers are going on about on this site and elsewhere, there is NOTHING all that wrong or "missing" so far. It feels like I'm playing a Silent Hill game, but this one, at the same time, feels more adventurous to me. It's acting like there's a lot more story to be told, but its being cool about not letting things go. It's really trying to just mess with your head so far.

One thing I REALLY like is how unlike the previous games, like... its like YOU'RE Henry, experiencing the events, which is a good reason why you're in first person mode in the apartment room (A SH first). You're seeing out of his eyes. In the other games, you're controlling a character, but in this one, its like you're in control but you ARE the character. It's very awesome. On this subject of being scary well, I've heard people complain that it wasn't as scary and I respect that, but the game is doing some kind of different fear to me. The environments so far have been extremely just... depressing. In the other three, there was depression, but the environments were more modeled after anxiety and fear. This one.... just feels like you're in purgatory or something. Like you're a wandering spirit yourself. I mean, the forest part of the game for example; its a forest, but there are a lot of "rooms" like...buildings and shafts, and the orphanage for another example, it feels almost... unnatural like its some sort of stage in a way. However at the same time, it feels very alive. So, this one... its extremely creepy, but while playing, its given me this incredibly... lost and hopeless feeling, like this story will never end or something. Like I'm just going to keep going through these portals, ending up in God knows where, watching other people get drawn in and eventually suffer. They don't have to be developed characters...this is another thing people are complaining about while playing; The way I feel while playing is the same way I'm sure they feel, and I feel sorry for the characters because of that.

So in conclusion, This game is anything but a disappointment. After having played it for hours and hours after hearing a year full of "something is missing" and "this is the weakest title," all I can do is just sort of giggle. Its better than SH1 and SH3 IMO. I' say its on par with SH2 almost, but VASTLY more creative and amazing on so many levels. I love this game, really it's.... its own little thing, kind of a departure from the rest, but it took its time to be its own thing and expand upon things heard about in the others; which was good. It's like the film "Memento" You get the story piece by piece while at the same time you KNOW there's a lot of pieces to be found; there's a lot of story coming your way - and that's just awesome. I really cant see how people were let down by it, definitely not. I mean it was just... it was like the same, kinda, except with original ideas. It's just different because you can't freely explore the town; which I admit was one of the more intriguing things about the series, but... moving AWAY from that for once isn't bad. I guess it could be if the story wasn't so hot, but the story in this one is right behind SH 2'S. That's saying a lot. I cannot even begin to express the many reasons Silent Hill 2 is one of the most brilliant games ever created, at least story wise. Not only is it a true assault on your nerves, it's very deep; the story itself is just genius.

Basically, These games are oozing with atmosphere, art, fear - very emotionally taxing stories; just pure brilliance. There's deep characters, the art of course... all of these things are simply perfect in these games. The music is also a high point, being both subtle and deep at the same time.

As much as these games are acclaimed, I still feel that they are vastly underrated. I hope the film brings the games more attention.

This is the 4th game of the franchaise with number and the last one that deserves the name Silent Hill. These games have 4 ingredients to be: Epic, Terrifying, Psychological, and Sad. The 4 titles have this ingredients, but each one stands out with one of these:

Silent Hill 1 - Epic Silent Hill 2 - Sad Silent Hill 3 - Terrifying Silent Hill 4 - Psychological

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.

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...