Prince of Space
Banned
Silent Hill 4: The Room
Under House Arrest
It would almost seem like Silent Hill is becoming the Madden or Tomb Raider of the survival-horror genre. With the fourth installment in the seminal horror series shambling onto store shelves less than a year after Silent Hill 3, one might wonder if theres any part of fans left to scare. After all, one can only wander through so many hospitals and gloomy forests before it becomes standard procedure. So does being sent to The Room yield any fresh surprises? Well, yes and no.
Dont Go Out!
I suppose to stave off any more comparisons to other companies yearly offerings, its important to note that Silent Hill 4 began life as a *gasp* original game titled simply Room 302. This is immediately apparent as the game has almost nothing to do with the town the Order built beyond a few plot references and injokes. Instead were introduced to Henry Townsend, your average SH protagonist who at times seems utterly blasé regarding the fact that hes trapped in his apartment. Seems someone made a serious effort of locking Henry in his pad five days ago, and though he just now seems to be noticing this, it is in the room that, erm, The Room exhibits its greatest gameplay draw. Nothing draws the player into this world like being able to wander around Henrys apartment, feeling totally cut off from the world as you glimpse the people on the streets going about their business, your neighbors working out or watching TV, and the cutie next door sweeping the hallway. Although the game doesnt approach Breakdown-levels of first-person realism here, it still does an admirable job of making you feel utterly alone and perhaps a bit frightened, moreso when the ghosts come a-knockin.
Wallflowers
Yes, the Silent Hill series is now home to ghosts, though they are far from the friendly type. The latest additions to SHs rogues gallery often emerge from the walls without warning and cannot be killed. They also are able to follow you pretty much anywhere and can cause damage on sight. To counter this, Henry can acquire Swords of Obedience to permanently pin ghosts down. What makes this exchange interesting though, is that there are approximately 19 ghosts and only 5 Swords, so choosing which ghosts to permanently ground makes for an interesting combat departure for the series.
Unfortunately, the rest of the enemies are wholly uninteresting and the stale combat engine the series has relied on since day one has returned almost completely unchanged. Konami added a charge attack for your weapons this time, but its utterly useless unless youre completely surrounded by moths. Speaking of utterly useless, who the hells idea was it to give Silent Hill an item chest? Theres a reason people recognize limited inventories as one of the worst features in Resident Evil, and its a VERY unwelcome addition here.
Mom! Let me in!
If theres one thing that separates Silent Hill from the rest of the survival-horror pack (aside from their distinctive soundtracks), its the intriguing, complex, and often grotesque stories it weaves. While Silent Hill certainly sets up an interesting tale, it often falls victim to poor pacing, weak characters, and a half-assed climax. Unlike previous entries which featured interesting characters with complex motives The Room introduces talking heads for the sole purpose of dying at the hands of a scraggly hobo with a serious Oedipal complex. Main character Henry displays barely mild discomfort for a guy whos been trapped in his apartment for a week, and only shows any initiative when hes notices his hot neighbor may be in danger. Eileen the female lead is only in the game to make your life a living hell (more on that later). This leaves Walter, the only character with any real character, even if it does come off as unintentionally funny. Seriously, how whacked in the head do you have to be to think an apartment room is your mother?
Where did this hole come from ?
Another departure for The Room is the decision to break the game up into distinct worlds with no wandering around in-between. This represents a nice change as youre no longer forced to wander around town looking for elaborate routes around giant holes in the road just to get to the next area. Unfortunately though, someone made the decision to have you revisit every area in the game about halfway through the quest with three VERY distinct and annoying differences: the previous characters you meet who died at the end of each chapter return as highly annoying poltergeists; youre forced to escort an incredibly slow and weak Eileen everywhere; and the Nemes er, Walter likes to show up at odd places to add to your misery.
In this way, SH4 is almost a mirror of SH3. Silent Hill 3 started off with Heather taking a long and completely nonsensical route through a subway, sewers, construction site and office building JUST to get home. This wouldnt be a problem if the game presented something in the way of some decent scares and a clever puzzle or two. Once the game moves to Silent Hill though, it actually picks up with some of the best areas in the series (the hospital, amusement park, and church).
By contrast Silent Hill 4 starts off fine, with each area worked out quite nicely just long enough that they dont become exercises in frustration like the majority of SH1s hellholes, and the ghosts, particularly those damn twin victims actually provide some decent chills. But once you leave the hospital and are forced to revisit each world with a major crutch, the game just goes to hell.
A Lullaby to Close Your Eyes
One area the Silent Hill series continues to dominate is sound design. Akira Yamaoka can turn something as mundane as exploring a kitchen into a pulse-quickening affair. His ambient white noise returns here in full swing, along more refined vocal performances. Seriously, the vocal tracks in Silent Hill 4 particularly Room of Angel and Waiting For You are some of the best in gaming and go a long way towards blurring the line between video game music and mainstream music.
Voice acting is up to its usual standards, especially those used for Cynthia, Eileen, and Jasper.
Guess well have to find a new place to live, huh?
Its quite obvious to even the casual fan that Silent Hill 4 is really more of an experiment than a true follow-up. And while some choices work (the apartment, the episodic progression, the ghosts), a lot dont (limited inventory, male escort, stale combat, recycled areas). Perhaps if Konami actually took the time to study this series numerous faults, they could come up with a game to match their high aesthetic value. Wouldnt that be a scream
Under House Arrest
It would almost seem like Silent Hill is becoming the Madden or Tomb Raider of the survival-horror genre. With the fourth installment in the seminal horror series shambling onto store shelves less than a year after Silent Hill 3, one might wonder if theres any part of fans left to scare. After all, one can only wander through so many hospitals and gloomy forests before it becomes standard procedure. So does being sent to The Room yield any fresh surprises? Well, yes and no.
Dont Go Out!
I suppose to stave off any more comparisons to other companies yearly offerings, its important to note that Silent Hill 4 began life as a *gasp* original game titled simply Room 302. This is immediately apparent as the game has almost nothing to do with the town the Order built beyond a few plot references and injokes. Instead were introduced to Henry Townsend, your average SH protagonist who at times seems utterly blasé regarding the fact that hes trapped in his apartment. Seems someone made a serious effort of locking Henry in his pad five days ago, and though he just now seems to be noticing this, it is in the room that, erm, The Room exhibits its greatest gameplay draw. Nothing draws the player into this world like being able to wander around Henrys apartment, feeling totally cut off from the world as you glimpse the people on the streets going about their business, your neighbors working out or watching TV, and the cutie next door sweeping the hallway. Although the game doesnt approach Breakdown-levels of first-person realism here, it still does an admirable job of making you feel utterly alone and perhaps a bit frightened, moreso when the ghosts come a-knockin.
Wallflowers
Yes, the Silent Hill series is now home to ghosts, though they are far from the friendly type. The latest additions to SHs rogues gallery often emerge from the walls without warning and cannot be killed. They also are able to follow you pretty much anywhere and can cause damage on sight. To counter this, Henry can acquire Swords of Obedience to permanently pin ghosts down. What makes this exchange interesting though, is that there are approximately 19 ghosts and only 5 Swords, so choosing which ghosts to permanently ground makes for an interesting combat departure for the series.
Unfortunately, the rest of the enemies are wholly uninteresting and the stale combat engine the series has relied on since day one has returned almost completely unchanged. Konami added a charge attack for your weapons this time, but its utterly useless unless youre completely surrounded by moths. Speaking of utterly useless, who the hells idea was it to give Silent Hill an item chest? Theres a reason people recognize limited inventories as one of the worst features in Resident Evil, and its a VERY unwelcome addition here.
Mom! Let me in!
If theres one thing that separates Silent Hill from the rest of the survival-horror pack (aside from their distinctive soundtracks), its the intriguing, complex, and often grotesque stories it weaves. While Silent Hill certainly sets up an interesting tale, it often falls victim to poor pacing, weak characters, and a half-assed climax. Unlike previous entries which featured interesting characters with complex motives The Room introduces talking heads for the sole purpose of dying at the hands of a scraggly hobo with a serious Oedipal complex. Main character Henry displays barely mild discomfort for a guy whos been trapped in his apartment for a week, and only shows any initiative when hes notices his hot neighbor may be in danger. Eileen the female lead is only in the game to make your life a living hell (more on that later). This leaves Walter, the only character with any real character, even if it does come off as unintentionally funny. Seriously, how whacked in the head do you have to be to think an apartment room is your mother?
Where did this hole come from ?
Another departure for The Room is the decision to break the game up into distinct worlds with no wandering around in-between. This represents a nice change as youre no longer forced to wander around town looking for elaborate routes around giant holes in the road just to get to the next area. Unfortunately though, someone made the decision to have you revisit every area in the game about halfway through the quest with three VERY distinct and annoying differences: the previous characters you meet who died at the end of each chapter return as highly annoying poltergeists; youre forced to escort an incredibly slow and weak Eileen everywhere; and the Nemes er, Walter likes to show up at odd places to add to your misery.
In this way, SH4 is almost a mirror of SH3. Silent Hill 3 started off with Heather taking a long and completely nonsensical route through a subway, sewers, construction site and office building JUST to get home. This wouldnt be a problem if the game presented something in the way of some decent scares and a clever puzzle or two. Once the game moves to Silent Hill though, it actually picks up with some of the best areas in the series (the hospital, amusement park, and church).
By contrast Silent Hill 4 starts off fine, with each area worked out quite nicely just long enough that they dont become exercises in frustration like the majority of SH1s hellholes, and the ghosts, particularly those damn twin victims actually provide some decent chills. But once you leave the hospital and are forced to revisit each world with a major crutch, the game just goes to hell.
A Lullaby to Close Your Eyes
One area the Silent Hill series continues to dominate is sound design. Akira Yamaoka can turn something as mundane as exploring a kitchen into a pulse-quickening affair. His ambient white noise returns here in full swing, along more refined vocal performances. Seriously, the vocal tracks in Silent Hill 4 particularly Room of Angel and Waiting For You are some of the best in gaming and go a long way towards blurring the line between video game music and mainstream music.
Voice acting is up to its usual standards, especially those used for Cynthia, Eileen, and Jasper.
Guess well have to find a new place to live, huh?
Its quite obvious to even the casual fan that Silent Hill 4 is really more of an experiment than a true follow-up. And while some choices work (the apartment, the episodic progression, the ghosts), a lot dont (limited inventory, male escort, stale combat, recycled areas). Perhaps if Konami actually took the time to study this series numerous faults, they could come up with a game to match their high aesthetic value. Wouldnt that be a scream
