Review #236: Silent Hill 4 - The Room

 The Room of AWESOME that is.

 Everyone and their dogs(If you know what I mean(Hint, it's a reference.) knows Silent Hill 4's story, it was supposed to be a gaiden/spin-off game, but somebody decided to make it a numbered sequel yadda yadda. And it's true, it might be a terrible Silent Hill game, but it's an awesome game.

 The game's premise is easily what I like best about it. You play as Henry Townshend, a character that it's as flat as they come--but that's alright, he's supposed to be an everyman, an unlucky sod that finds himself trapped in his apartment. The door leading outside is chained up, the windows are shut, it doesn't matter how much he screams or punches... nobody outside can hear him. It's genius, it's original and it's immediately engaging. The game does a great job of letting you feel as trapped and isolated as Henry, as a matter of fact, while the game is played in third-person, whenever you enter your apartment, it goes into first person. You can stare through the windows, you can look through the door's peephole, and watch as the world goes by. Oh, and I did mention 'entering' the apartment, y'see, not long after the game starts, a hole opens up in his bathroom, a whole that leads into the outside world. Everything about the game's story kept me hooked all the way through the end, as a matter of fact, this was the second time I played through the game, and I was every bit as invested on the story as before. It can be argued that Henry isn't a very good character, but I don't think that's fair. Henry is supposed to be a flat, one-dimensional character, not unlike Gordon Freeman(Foreshadowing), Henry is the medium through which the player interacts with the world and learns Walter Sullivan's story. That said, the game is very loosely tied to Silent Hill, you do travel near Silent Hill, and Henry claims to have visited Silent Hill before, but that's as close as you'll get to the fog-infested hell.

 Most of the game follows a pretty clear structure, you start off on your apartment, which serves as your personal stash, as Henry can only carry up to ten items, and it's the only place in which you can save your game and even restores your health.... initially, anyways. As you go through the game, your previously thought safe haven will start getting possessed by the outside world, and you'll have to get Holy Candles if you don't wanna take damage while on your apartment. Regardless, you will go through the hole on the bathroom to the zone of interest. You could argue that the game is made up of different chapters, which each takes place in a different area, regardless, in these outside areas is where most of the game takes place. Where you'll explore and solve most puzzles(Some require travelling back to your apartment!), fight monsters and collect weapons and other miscellaneous supplies. You may also come across holes that allow you to go back to your apartment, so that you can save, peep through the windows or the door or reorganize your inventory.

 Fighting is fairly simple and a bit clunky. There's two types of weapons, melee and ranged. There's only two ranged weapons, a pistol and a revolver, but there's a lot more of variety when it comes to melee weapons, from a pipe, golf clubs, an aluminium bat to a cardboard cutter or a hand-axe. Melee weapons not only offer different speeds and damage, but Henry will swing them in different ways, plus, you can hold the attack button to charge for an stronger attack, and each weapon will produce its own, unique charge attack. The thing about the combat, is that it's fairly slow, you can only attack while holding the R2 button, which enters you into targeting mode. Henry can't run while targeting, and his sidesteps feel off. Fighting enemies in numbers can be a bit daunting, they can take a fair bit of punishment, and unless you finish them off by stomping them, they will rise back up for another beating, when facing larger numbers of enemies, getting an opening to stomp a downed enemy can be difficult! But that's OK, a large amount of enemies are actually immortal, so you'll have to get used to running.

 Moving around isn't all that bad, except when the camera decides to get in your way. Y'see, most of the game is seen on a third person-angle, but sometimes the game decides to throw fixed angles into the mix... and some of these are a bit... bad. Heck, sometimes the it won't be a 'fixed' angle, so there's actually a button to move the camera behind Henry, which is all kinds of odd, it managed to throw me off quite a couple of times, as the switch isn't done very smoothly. Still, besides one or two cheap hits, the camera didn't really get in my way when it mattered. The puzzles in the game were quite simple, but then again, I didn't play on the hardest difficulty setting, which apparently, changes the hints to make them more vague!

 So, you made it through half of the game, which is about 3-4 hours in, and then... the game turns into a massive escort mission all the way to the end. And you have to go through all the previous areas. Sounds terrible, doesn't it? Well, it isn't. The person you are escorting can't actually die, though if you want the best ending you'd better do your best not to them get hurt a lot, although they seem to fall behind very easily, so sometimes you'll have to go back into the previous room to fetch'em, or wait until they are closer to you before getting through a door... and in those rooms filled with unbeatable enemies, waiting for them to get closer can be a bit of a pain. As for retreading old ground, you'll go through new areas and rooms, plus, all the puzzles are different. As a matter of fact, your first visits through the different 'worlds' are pretty short, with 1 or 2 simple puzzles, it's on your second time around when you'll actually have to do most of the thinking and exploring!

 As far as visuals go, it's nothing short of excellent. While I usually like my games colorful and vibrant, this game was aiming for creepy, so the dark, dry colors are welcome. The game also has a grainy filter applied to it, that heightens the creepiness. As for the art itself, the monsters are all abominations that look and sound the part. And then there's your apartment, which gets possessed, and all the various hauntings are both creative and scary, I mean, there's zombie ghosts trying to come through your walls, that's enough to merit a visit to the big boy's room! Sound design is top notch as well, what little music there is fits the scenes when it play, but the ambient noises? Holy chipotle. The voice acting however... Let's just say that it's passable at best, but Henry? Either the guy is the most badass everyman ever, who manages to keep his calm and stoicism regardless of what is going on around him... or the voice actor just didn't know what he was doing. I think it's the latter.

 Look, I don't care if the game 'isn't really a Silent Hill game', as far as I'm concerned, Silent Hill 4 - The Room is excellent through and through. The premise is original and creative, and they managed to make the most of it. And there's something to be said for a game that makes you go through the same areas twice, that half of it is a massive escort missions, and remains being fun.
 9.0 out 10.