User reviews

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.

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...

Silent Hill 4: The Room is the most unusual entry in a most unusual video game franchise. While earlier installments in the series have focused on stories designed to evoke spine- chilling horror, this fourth chapter in the saga causes much deeper feelings of anxiety and unease. I remember being more traditionally scared playing Silent Hill 2: Restless Dreams, but the underlying, more psychological sensation of existential dread I felt playing this game was something altogether new.

The Silent Hill games have shown a narrative progression by which the nature of the town is expanded upon in each game. In the first two games, your character went to Silent Hill and had his horrific adventure. In the third, Silent Hill itself "came to" the main character of Heather, who merely wanted to have a nice day at the mall. In Silent Hill 4, the town has now invaded your last refuge of security, your home.

You play Henry Townshend, who lives alone in a small apartment in the bustling town of South Ashfield, half a day's drive from Silent Hill. After suffering from inexplicable nightmares, Harry awakens to find that his apartment door has been chained and padlocked shut from the INSIDE. He can't open his windows, and no one, even people standing directly outside his front door, can hear him when he pounds on the door and cries for help.

The game expertly evokes the desperate confusion and lurking fear you would feel if you simply couldn't get out of your house. The strangeness of Henry's situation is underscored by the fact that, tantalizingly, he can see the real world right outside his window, with cars and pedestrians zipping by on a street only fifty yards away. Neighbors in the apartment building opposite his can be seen going about their business (one guy, amusingly, is playing air guitar). The banality of day to day life takes on a whole new meaning when one person is suddenly set apart from it by horrific circumstances he can't understand or control. The next time you're taking a walk down the block, imagine if something terrifyingly Silent Hill-ish was happening to someone in the very house you're walking past, and you're safe outside with no way of knowing. The whole character of the neighborhood will change. That's the kind of thing the Silent Hill series does so well: conveying the deep terror that can result when what is normal and commonplace suddenly and without warning goes all WRONG.

The action begins when Henry discovers that a large hole has emerged in his bathroom wall. As it's the only way out, he must crawl through it, and doing so, finds himself in the decaying, blood-spattered environments of Silent Hill with which the series' fans have become so familiar. But this game offers alarming differences. Some of the creatures that menace you -- like the ghosts that look more like floating paralyzed corpses -- can't be killed, and others -- like the two-headed babies that walk on adult arms -- are so bizarre they beggar imagination. You're also limited in what you can carry, and the only place you can save your game is in your apartment, a safe haven you can return to through holes in walls spread throughout the levels. But even that safe haven isn't safe for long.

In earlier games, the horror, while nightmarish, was still rooted in a sense of realism that, in turn, created realistic horror. You'd walk down dark corridors or misty deserted streets armed with a flashlight and your weapon. But here, the environments are more outrageously surreal, as if you're literally wandering through a bad dream. Spiral staircases seem to float in thin air. A enormous woman's face peers at you from a hospital wall. Living tendrils of no discernible biology dangle upwards from the floor to bar your way. Wheelchairs zoom down corridors by themselves, as if it were a freeway for paraplegic ghosts. It's as if the game designers just decided to let Salvador Dali loose with 3D rendering software and instructions that he was to exercise no restraint at all in coming up with ways to freak people out.

Sometimes it gets a little TOO weird. At times I found myself less frightened by this game than morbidly intrigued; I was actually interested in getting to certain rooms just to see what kind of crazy thing I'd encounter next. In that sense, I'd have to say the earlier games work a little better as pure, edge of your seat, bloodcurdling horror. But Silent Hill 4 still does a bang-up job of generating an entirely different kind of fear, one that doesn't so much leap out at you from the dark as crawl deep into the back of your mind and lurk there.

I leave you with two pieces of advice. One: if you're new to the series, don't start here, start with 2 and 3. Two: don't take the doll.

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

The only ones though I have not played are part one and the sixth one which has yet to be released at the time of this review. Still, it was for me an okay game, with a rather interesting story to it. I have heard though that this was initially not even going to be a Silent Hill game, but I find this hard to believe. If this is the case I am guessing it was decided it would be a Silent Hill game rather early in the development process. The game screams Silent Hill to often to be a switch mid-game development. The story starts off very promisingly as our hero is seemingly trapped in his own apartment room. You explore it first person, then discover a hole big enough for you to crawl through and before you lies the more traditional Silent Hill format type areas. You start off in a subway, then you are out in a forest area, next comes a prison, a building area, inside an apartment and finally a hospital. You meet different people in each of the areas and go to your apartment in between and learn things about your tenants and you receive diary entries from the former tenant of your department telling you about a serial killer named Walter Sullivan who was thought to have killed himself yet you witness murders that have his signature all over it. Killing people and carving numbers on their back. Sounds good, so why is it the weakest of the series you ask? Well the fighting is a bit to tough even on easy. The regular enemies are not to bad, but they have these ghosts that are a real pain to kill. The areas are also a bit of a pain to traverse. You also have to go through every area except the hospital twice so it kind of gets stale near the end. The subway world is a bit tough both times, the forest world was only tough the second time around. The prison was a total pain the first time around, and the building world was easy both times. The apartment was also tough only the first time around and the hospital, which you only went through once was not to bad. The second time around though has one constant annoyance and that is your next door neighbor Eileen dragging slowly along behind you. As for the combat, standard Silent Hill. Basically, two and three type and not much improved fighting of Origins. So a game with a pretty good story that is a bit difficult for me and it repeats itself a bit to much too.

Positives:

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

Negatives:

• Some of the gameplay
• Some of the characters

As stated in the title,it's different! It's not actually set in silent hill! But it I thoroughly enjoyed the game! Story was ok! I really liked the concept.

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.

Oh, how I love the "Silent Hill" franchise. Or at very least, I love aspects of it... specific chapters and select media spin-offs. I've enjoyed most of the games, got a kick out of the first feature-film despite its flaws and have picked up and very much appreciated some of the products and merchandise the series spawned over time. But, much like any fan of "Silent Hill" will likely tell you, there was a definitive turning point for the overall media franchise that signaled an unfortunate trend. A bit of a specific entry that signified great change- that being 2004's "Silent Hill 4: The Room."

It's a very unique and peculiar game in an equally unique and peculiar series. For some fans, "The Room" signals the first "bad" entry in the "Silent Hill" mythos, and symbolizes an inherent loss in quality that no subsequent game was able able to redeem itself from. For other fans, "The Room" symbolizes the last "good" entry in the series, as it was the final game worked on by the original "Team Silent", whom created the series. And for others still, it's merely a slightly wonky but adequate continuation that signaled a turn towards generally far more flawed, but still mildly enjoyable future games. And I suppose I'm in that camp. I really, genuinely admire "The Room" for what it is, but I can't help but feel that starting with this particular chapter, the series has never subsequently delivered a masterpiece along the lines of the excellent first three games. It very much started a trend in lower-quality releases... but I still love "The Room" for at least trying something new with the series, and for delivering the same horrific and highly atmospheric dread that previous games specialized in.

We follow protagonist Henry Townshend, who awakens one day in his apartment in South Ashfield to discover that his door has been chained and padlocked shut... from the inside. Stuck for days on end with his neighbors seemingly unable to hear his knocks and cries for release, Henry worries he might be losing his mind. Until one day, he finds a mysterious hole in his bathroom wall, seemingly having appeared out of nowhere. He enters, intent on escaping his imprisonment... But the hole only leads to new and nightmarish worlds that he must explore over and over again. As the story progresses, Henry learns the dark secret about what's causing his misfortune, and also grows closer to his beautiful neighbor Eileen, who eventually joins him in his quest...

In terms of concept, I actually do find "Silent Hill 4" to be among the more effective entries in the franchise. Its set-up is quality and promises great terror and intrigue. What would you do if you suddenly couldn't leave your home, and you didn't understand why? It's a great hook to get the player instantly invested, and it keeps you questioning and theorizing throughout the entirety of the game. And the concept of your apartment becoming sort-of a hub world that you must return to constantly really does add a constant sense of paranoia and claustrophobia that lends much tension. In addition, though Henry is a bit more of a blank slate than other series protagonists, I actually didn't mind- it lets your put yourself in his shoes a lot easier, and ask yourself what you'd do in his situation. The other characters are generally likable and compelling, and even though you do spend several hours of game-play accompanying her in "escort missions", Eileen is actually one of my favorite supporting characters across all of "Silent Hill."

And the atmosphere? My god, I actually think "The Room" outdoes the previous two entries in this regard. While the game lacks iconic monsters and perhaps doesn't go as crazy with the visuals as "Silent Hill 2" or "Silent Hill 3"... I actually found this one to be more effective due to its inherent simplicity. It seems to be playing up on the sort-of things that everyone finds terrifying- the unnatural contortion and modification of the human form, the startling "uncanny valley" appearance of things like children's dolls, the idea that after death one might be trapped in a spectral form that's cursed to wander forever aimlessly... it's really chilling and deceptively simple stuff that just hits you to the core.

That all being said, there are some major issues, which is why I think this game is one of the more maligned and divisive across the "Silent Hill" saga. And they all come down to the basic game-play- it's a very uneven affair. The basic controls and whatnot are only mildly tweaked from previous entries... but its the structure of the game and some of the new mechanics that are introduced that really threw me off. For example (and without spoiling anything), certain enemies must be defeated in key specific ways, but it's near impossible to accomplish this without reading a dedicated walk-through. Certain worlds must be completed multiple times, which really feels like unnecessary padding. The game's repeated escort missions suffer for the same reasons that most escort missions fail. And yeah... constantly having to go back to your apartment does get old real quick. It's a very repetitious game with very repetitious game-play, and it throws people off.

Still, I loved this game despite these faults, and I do think its unfairly dismissed all too often. It's an ambitious affair, and it makes quite a few interesting choices. And I'd rather play a bit of an ambitious mess than just another standard retread. I give "Silent Hill 4: The Room" a very good 8 out of 10.

In the interest of full disclosure(I'm not sure it matters), I suppose I should say that this is a review of the PC version. Up to this one, each iteration had minor adjustments or fixes; this one is a reinvention. The voyeurism(not seen before in these) and claustrophobia are gripping and immensely effective, and put you in a gruesome world with touches of, as others have noted, Alice in Wonderland and the works of David Lynch. You visit strange and varied environments, including, as the cover promises, a grisly prison. This is psychological terror, and the atmosphere is again excellent. It is built up by the unnerving occurrences and sights, and the sound-side, assembled with careful precision and skill akin to what you'd expect from a brain surgeon. The music fits the mood like a tailored glove. Audio FX are marvelous, with next to no exceptions. The voice acting tends to be great, other than perhaps the lead, who is flat and emotionless. I'm not sure it's the performer's fault; the role has no personality, and in general, you frankly don't learn enough about, or form any kind of a bond with, these characters(maybe partially because there are so many of them)... I can barely determine if they're credible or likable. This switches back and forth between 1st and 3rd person(I won't tell you exactly why or how, you get the hang of it immediately). In the former, you choose between rotation/strafing with the arrow keys. Unfortunately, in the latter, you are stuck with these controls that you may have experienced elsewhere; the direction you press will be the one you move in. That in itself is not necessarily bad; the problem arises when the camera(which you now have no real power over, except you can sometimes switch it from behind to in front, or vice versa; also, I think this has less of those freaky, warped angles that we love) changes(and that happens quite often), since you suddenly have to press another button, and this will cost you valuable seconds many times(no, the old way may not have been perfect, but once you got used to it, it, unlike this, did not detract from the whole). I think the best, most appropriate word is awkward. Sadly, that goes for other of the things this does different. The enemies are frustrating before anything else(they appear *everywhere*, the combat takes up an excessive portion of this, and too many you can't push past and/or are hard to defeat), and a couple of the designs(not all of them *that* grotesque or chilling) produce monsters that are simply goofy(as do other of the things intended to be creepy in this), not intimidating. Does anyone like those monkeys? Haven't we had enough dogs in these? The ghosts are just a pest, and for coming through the walls, they don't use this ability once they have, and in spite of moving around by floating, they continue to use stairs. Left-over memories from when they were alive? The concept itself is brilliant, and I do not believe it's been used in any other game(yes, Stephen King wrote a similar story... so? He surely did not invent "someone is trapped in an apparently haunted room"; there are other... ahem... "inspirations" in this that are troubling), and this utilizes being lost to the outside well, with you being able to witness life going on from your window, and not able to rouse their attention; with that said, I think it would have served this well if there had been a greater amount of unsettling events, and not as much of a sense of security. Honestly, it gets to be like a routine, and when you're used to something, it ceases to be scary. AI is not flawless, the same goes for hit detection. The puzzles can be kinda basic, and you'll figure their solutions out pretty fast. That does bring me back to the positive; this is a solid challenge even on the easiest of the three difficulty setting, and that can not be said about the "trilogy" before this(if to varying degrees). This is about the length of the original or III, and it doesn't overstay its welcome. The plot is great, and it is rather enjoyable to piece the mystery together. This alters the inventory, so you do not pause by bringing it up(so you don't have to go back and forth if you're finding the exact spot to use something), and you can cycle it while walking around. It is now limited; you have to decide what to bring and what not to, and may have to mentally note where supplies are if you can't pick them up when you locate them. There are breakable weapons, and items that provide an advantage over certain foes. You will not be shooting a lot in this, ammo is uncommon and takes up space to carry. There are nearly no bosses. You do not have the light or radio anymore, and they're not really missed. This time, you draw your own map; I'm not going to claim that I wished for that often in the rest of the series, this works for here and that for there. The cut-scenes are entirely in-engine, and there are only a handful of bits where CGI would have been preferable to that. I don't see a giant leap forward in the graphics, merely the minor upgrade that was the case between the previous two. On the whole, I'm thrilled that they took the chance and went with this idea and approach. It helped prevent the franchise from growing stale, and some of what this has that the others don't is amazing. There is continuous disturbing content, plenty of bloody, gory and brutal violence, and a little sexuality and moderate language in this. I recommend this to all fans of any of the other Silent Hill titles, as well as complete new-comers, as you don't need knowledge of them to get into this. 8/10

This game is a good horror game there are some problems like being stuck or not knowing where to go it's also creepy when I played it I was 12 years old I was soo scared to play alone but nice game btw

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.

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.

Whilst every game in the SH series has been picked over and impolitely prodded every which way already, I feel I have to write my own review/nitpick of this particular title somewhere.

This game, despite being a departure from the previous trilogy, is still very much a SH title. Awkward melee combat, creepy atmosphere of the kind RE could only dream of, squeezy females to admire (hey, blame the developers for putting them in), it's all SH. With one exception, these bloody 'ghosts'. Whilst the voodoo behind it is intriguing, having a melee-based combat engine (I've been through most of the game and not used a fire arm once) with enemies you cannot kill seems a bad mistake. There are also several other issues I have with changes to the SH format, not because I hate change itself, but because they're just changes for the sake of fiddling. Almost of the changes are for the worse.

Rather than trying to paragraph it, here's a few lists of what I really liked and what I despised about this game.

Here's what I liked about the game:

* The story was good, it was interesting, I'm impressed.

* The twin-headed enemy is one of the best survival horror monsters ever, what a fantastic design.

* The first half of the game (apart from the annoying gameplay changes) was as superb as ever.

* Some aspects of the room, it was an interesting plot device and things like the notes under the door, the peep-hole and the hauntings really ramped up the atmosphere.

Here are all the problems I have with the game:

* Copying and pasting vast swathes of your own software in a vain attempt to get content for nothing sucks big style. I don't care what excuse/reason anyone comes up with, it's lazy, ignorant and someone needs beating with the ugly stick over it. If they weren't interested in creating a full game then they shouldn't have started it.

* Lack of enemy types. Again, how many survival horror games do you need to make before you bother to at least add a good dozen enemies? The ghosts really don't count, 'leeches' ... how many seconds did it take for you to think of that? Dog monsters! Oh please.

* Dog monsters. They're not part of the SH universe, what cobblers, their only association is that the SH dev. team(s) insists on clagging one into each game. I think we didn't have one for SH2, but then that's another reason to like SH2 :D Dog monsters in survival horror games have been done to death. Let's act like we're making new games, not rehashing our own success, K?

* Puzzles - where? Were they copied and pasted over by accident? Lining up a few blood-splotched rooms to jump down is neither interesting nor difficult.

* Ghosts - why? Why on earth are invincible monsters here? I really don't care if it was supposed to be another game before you clagged SH stickers on top, these do not work, the bug involving Eileen constantly slapping them shows how little the impact of these monsters has been thought over. I got stuck on more than a few occasions in tight corridors by these things. I beat you down, now stay down for 2 seconds or just get the hell out of my way, I don't want to lose precious energy just because of flawed enemies.

* Hauntings - nice idea, why do I have to sacrifice my precious energy(again) in order to deal with them/save? I've scrimped and saved my restorative items, risked being sent to Game Oversville by not using them when I'm half-dead, now you're going to crucify Harry when he isn't even in the game environment? Silly, annoying and pointless.

* Limited inventory space - if you're going to change something, at least change it because you've found something which works. How does limiting the amount of bullets I can carry, limiting the health packs I can pick up, limiting the golf clubs I can pick up HELP me to enjoy the game? Does someone on the development team think trogging back and forth to stick items in the chest is fun? Take some time off, you need it.

* Save system - as above, why? Does the thought of needless time wasting make you people happy? Take another week off.

* Prescence of ghosts sapping energy - yes, I know about the St. Christophers, but why punish us just for accessing that part of the game? This really wasn't needed or well thought-out.

So, as you might have guessed, I'm not much of a fan of SH4. What really annoys me is that it was, at its core, a solid game. If the dev. team/Konami had bothered to make sure the basic game mechanics worked, this could have been an absolute corker. I can only despair when one of the best franchises in video games is rolled out of the showroom without wheels - if SH5 isn't a major improvement then Konami can keep the rest -.-

It's interesting that a lot of these comments are praising "Silent Hill 4" for it's story alone. While I fully agree that the storyline is incredibly engrossing and fascinating, what these people fail to acknowledge is the simple fact that "Silent Hill 4" is SUPPOSED to be a video game. And as a video game, it is far from being an impressive installment to the series.

See the thing is... the Silent Hill series is all about telling an eerie and fascinating tale. And they've all been successful at doing so, even in this latest chapter. But what the others have that this doesn't is an interesting and fun game-play aspect. Silent Hill 4 really isn't that fun to play. It's actually really pretty boring to be honest. You run around in beautifully creative environments fighting somewhat cool monsters with a clunky and hindered battle system. There are no puzzles. No brain twisters. No real challenging obstacles at all really. The only "problem solving" you need to do is backtrack through a vast environment 2 or sometimes 3 times to pick up a key or get behind a closed door.

The entire "game-play" obstacle is simply getting from point A to point B without getting too frustrated and turning your system off. You run from room to room, from environment to environment, dodging annoying ghosts and monsters that are bent on frustrating you to the very end. They are not there to provide interesting combat but instead they are meant to make your journey literally a living hell.

So yes, the story is amazing and the Silent Hill games are incredibly at providing an interactive movie sort of feel. But Silent Hill's 1-3 gave you a great storyline and really fun game-play mechanics. The fighting was phenomenal in these games, the puzzles were challenging and interesting, and the stories were fantastic. "The Room" has VERY little of this.

This game took me nearly 4 months to beat because I simply couldn't stand how it played. The ONLY thing that kept me coming back to it was that I really, really, really wanted to see how it ended. And the entire story arch and ending are just fantastic. BUT THIS IS SUPPOSED TO BE A VIDEO GAME! If you just wanted to see an engrossing story from Silent Hill then they should have made "The Room" a book or a movie or something. As it stands, this was a poor attempt at reinventing the series although yet again Konami proves they are fully capable at creating an intricate, beautiful, and creepy storyline was fascinating characters and incredibly visuals. Sadly, it's not enough in the big picture. I actually only wanted to give "The Room" a 6 out of 10, but as many have mentioned here before... the story is just so dam good. It's just too bad the GAME was so lackluster and poor at times.