MegaDrive20XX
Segatron Genesis... call me the wizard.
Silent Hill 4: The Room.
The most downward spiral story I’ve ever watched unfold before me. An “Alice in Wonderland” story that’s gone horribly wrong. The further you go into the rabbit hole, more Hell breaks loose. Since it came out during fall of 04'. I've avoided it on many reasons. It's confusing paths, no real direction and the game of "guessing" happens many times. Any decision you make in the game, pretty much can help you or screw you up badly. For example; a simple act of dialing the phone in apartment 103 can lead to some dire consequences. Odd premise regardless, but I found the game to be the most confusing games I've ever played.
The combat system is greatly improved compared to Silent Hill 2 and 3. Some noticeable changes, like having a “charge” meter for your attack, takes practice, but it’s very simplistic. The aiming system is a tad better. Finally adding a health meter is a blessing and a curse at times, since it makes you more self-aware of situations you’re in, compared to the old fashion rumble feature you feel in the previous Silent Hill games. Melee weapons tend to make the strongest and most effective of the batch compared to guns. which is pretty original for a Silent Hill game.
The room you’re trapped in, Room 302. Henry Townsend is the character you play as. Your neighbors and the superintendent of the South Ashfield Heights Apartments are aware of your presence but, they cannot see or hear your screams when you are pounding on the doors or windows. Your only way out of the room, is a mysterious hole with bizarre markings that appears inside the bathroom, next to the sink. This room is a safe-haven during half of the game, so anytime you’re low on health, you can return to the room, and it will auto-restore your health. Sounds fantastic, doesn’t it?
Yet, all good things must come to an end in the essence of Silent Hill. When you soon discover, the room is slowly emerging into the nightmare world. That has been created by a man everyone talks about in the game, by the name of Walter Sullivan. The auto-restore feature is gone and now possessed poltergeists and ghost are going to be popping up in every location of your apartment. Which brings back the classic Silent Hill feel of true survival horror. Only two ways to rid the ghost in the entire game, which only a letter you find in the game explains how to do this. Did I mention, you cannot kill ghost in this game? Which is a first for a Silent Hill game.
The storyline is enthralling, but I found myself reading more documents and pieces of paper scattered throughout the game to learn about the main point of “The Room“, than to actually hear people talk about it. Not really much a bad idea, but feels like I’m playing a classic RPG instead of a survival horror.
Fear effects of the game are very intense with literally a few seconds to react or escape the problem. Yet for some reason, this game punches below the belt with animal cruelty for some sick reason that even I found wrong. I know I’ve seen movies like, “The Grudge” with the killer is drowning the cat in the water, yet this game was beyond disturbing. Any other Silent Hill game only talks about zombie dogs and in Silent Hill 1, you find a cat trapped in a locker, but he’s free and okay, right? RIGHT? No! they had to kill him too, but you don‘t visually see it, you just hear it happening. Yet there’s a particular scene where you find a refrigerator with the corpse of a bloody and mangled cat and the slaughtering of a Pet Shop with an Uzi.. Seriously Konami? Was this even needed?? I digress, this should have been like, “Oh a human arm!” and I would have been like, “Okay, that’s acceptable”. Yet leave the animals out of it for the love of God!
Leaves a very bad taste in my mouth and I personally have to say, this was not one of my favorite Silent Hill games. It took me literally 15 hours to make it through, because I did find it confusing. Any other Silent Hill game and it’s approximately 5 hours tops.
Pros: The only thing I have to admit I like, is the fact this game was a freaky and scary experience, besides getting lost a majority of the time, it’s one of the easiest Silent Hill games I’ve finished. Enemies don’t put up much of a fight and the dogs are dumb as a box of rocks if you just walk pass them if you don‘t run.
Cons: I have to say, escorting your neighbor Eileen Galvin, is the longest freakin’ escort mission ever. It last from the Hospital until nearly the END of the game. Even Ashley from Resident Evil 4’s escort missions were NOT this horrid and dragged out. She’s slow as mud and a pain in the butt, she can’t even climb ladders, it‘s like the game put a ball and chain on you as a joke! There's an honest reason she's slow, but even I have to admit, that's downright wrong.
Final thoughts: Silent Hill fans will eat this alive, especially if you loved Silent Hill 2. Yet to any newcomer, I’d recommend Silent Hill Origins, 1, 2, 3, or Silent Hill Homecoming over this odd black sheep of the series.
The most downward spiral story I’ve ever watched unfold before me. An “Alice in Wonderland” story that’s gone horribly wrong. The further you go into the rabbit hole, more Hell breaks loose. Since it came out during fall of 04'. I've avoided it on many reasons. It's confusing paths, no real direction and the game of "guessing" happens many times. Any decision you make in the game, pretty much can help you or screw you up badly. For example; a simple act of dialing the phone in apartment 103 can lead to some dire consequences. Odd premise regardless, but I found the game to be the most confusing games I've ever played.
The combat system is greatly improved compared to Silent Hill 2 and 3. Some noticeable changes, like having a “charge” meter for your attack, takes practice, but it’s very simplistic. The aiming system is a tad better. Finally adding a health meter is a blessing and a curse at times, since it makes you more self-aware of situations you’re in, compared to the old fashion rumble feature you feel in the previous Silent Hill games. Melee weapons tend to make the strongest and most effective of the batch compared to guns. which is pretty original for a Silent Hill game.
The room you’re trapped in, Room 302. Henry Townsend is the character you play as. Your neighbors and the superintendent of the South Ashfield Heights Apartments are aware of your presence but, they cannot see or hear your screams when you are pounding on the doors or windows. Your only way out of the room, is a mysterious hole with bizarre markings that appears inside the bathroom, next to the sink. This room is a safe-haven during half of the game, so anytime you’re low on health, you can return to the room, and it will auto-restore your health. Sounds fantastic, doesn’t it?
Yet, all good things must come to an end in the essence of Silent Hill. When you soon discover, the room is slowly emerging into the nightmare world. That has been created by a man everyone talks about in the game, by the name of Walter Sullivan. The auto-restore feature is gone and now possessed poltergeists and ghost are going to be popping up in every location of your apartment. Which brings back the classic Silent Hill feel of true survival horror. Only two ways to rid the ghost in the entire game, which only a letter you find in the game explains how to do this. Did I mention, you cannot kill ghost in this game? Which is a first for a Silent Hill game.
The storyline is enthralling, but I found myself reading more documents and pieces of paper scattered throughout the game to learn about the main point of “The Room“, than to actually hear people talk about it. Not really much a bad idea, but feels like I’m playing a classic RPG instead of a survival horror.
Fear effects of the game are very intense with literally a few seconds to react or escape the problem. Yet for some reason, this game punches below the belt with animal cruelty for some sick reason that even I found wrong. I know I’ve seen movies like, “The Grudge” with the killer is drowning the cat in the water, yet this game was beyond disturbing. Any other Silent Hill game only talks about zombie dogs and in Silent Hill 1, you find a cat trapped in a locker, but he’s free and okay, right? RIGHT? No! they had to kill him too, but you don‘t visually see it, you just hear it happening. Yet there’s a particular scene where you find a refrigerator with the corpse of a bloody and mangled cat and the slaughtering of a Pet Shop with an Uzi.. Seriously Konami? Was this even needed?? I digress, this should have been like, “Oh a human arm!” and I would have been like, “Okay, that’s acceptable”. Yet leave the animals out of it for the love of God!
Leaves a very bad taste in my mouth and I personally have to say, this was not one of my favorite Silent Hill games. It took me literally 15 hours to make it through, because I did find it confusing. Any other Silent Hill game and it’s approximately 5 hours tops.
Pros: The only thing I have to admit I like, is the fact this game was a freaky and scary experience, besides getting lost a majority of the time, it’s one of the easiest Silent Hill games I’ve finished. Enemies don’t put up much of a fight and the dogs are dumb as a box of rocks if you just walk pass them if you don‘t run.
Cons: I have to say, escorting your neighbor Eileen Galvin, is the longest freakin’ escort mission ever. It last from the Hospital until nearly the END of the game. Even Ashley from Resident Evil 4’s escort missions were NOT this horrid and dragged out. She’s slow as mud and a pain in the butt, she can’t even climb ladders, it‘s like the game put a ball and chain on you as a joke! There's an honest reason she's slow, but even I have to admit, that's downright wrong.
Final thoughts: Silent Hill fans will eat this alive, especially if you loved Silent Hill 2. Yet to any newcomer, I’d recommend Silent Hill Origins, 1, 2, 3, or Silent Hill Homecoming over this odd black sheep of the series.