Sh4 the best in the whole franchise ....Almost

[ww_andi]

at mimee

i dis agree about the ghosts i enjoyed an enemy i couldn't kill, it made me afraid
and would love to see this sort of thing again.

also i admit the area's could have differed a little more the second go, but come on in every game we go through most locations twice

[Skele]

I find the whole game has a very strange atmosphere though... It's a bit more 'weird' kind of surreal than the previous games in the series since everything is bathed in light, even the outdoor areas at night time like the forest world are bright, and there's no flashlight, as a result you get the really weird monster designs, crawling maggot-like walls etc. without the darkness and it all comes across as a very weird Dali painting moreso than terrifying nightmare to me. Some of the designs in the game however, if they were in darkness with a flashlight I think they'd be some of the freakiest in the series.

that's exactly how i feel, and it's one of the things i loved about the game. although, i didn't care for a few of the monster designs, and locations. SH4 did feel a bit more surreal than the others. one of my favorite parts/scenes in the game is towards the end, and the dark shadowy guy hangs upside down from the cieling and starts talking to you.

i disagree about it being the best game in the series, but i agree that it could've been. there's a few things that hold it back imo. the controls were bad, some locations were lame, and a few of the monster designs/sounds were horrible.

[supperhater]

I got my copy in the mail yesterday and I'm loving it! I'd already played the PC version (only up to the start of the building world before I accidentally deleted my saved game...) so I was expecting the controls to be horrible but they're ten times better on PS2 so it just made the game way more enjoyable for me.

I played for like 5-6 hours with a couple of short breaks in between and the time really flew by! I think I'm much more interested in the plot of this game than I was with SH3 which makes it more compelling to keep playing. I loved SH3 for the atmosphere/enemies/environments but the storyline felt like incoherent garbage and the part before you fight the missionary was the only bit that really felt meaningful to me at all. Anyway... SH4 has a really intriguing story which I think far outweighs the few gameplay/design issues. I still wish it was more like the first 3 games, and some things like the burping nurses just seems like a waste of a potentially great enemy, but overall I really like this game. I'm just up to the forest world 2nd time now, had to stop playing as it was like 4-5am and I was overtired haha.

I think this game would be the best SH game for an adaptation to film by far. I still prefer the first 3 but it's good once you adjust to the fact it's different to 1-3.

[clips]

I agree with most of what skele and supperhater mentioned. It may not be the best in the series, but it's close...for me it came down to the story and i just loved the overall concept. Being trapped in your room with no access to the outside world, yet you can still see everybody living out their lives through your window/peephole etc...and the stuff that went on in your room was creepy...it was a slow decent into madness. One of the best moments for me was when you was walking down that spiral staircase after the hospital (you could barely see the weird imagery in those cages)...it's just something about that small area that i just liked.


There was only one level in the game that i didn't particularly care for and that was the forest level...it just didn't feel like a forest to me and the design was very lackluster. The ghosts got on my nerves every now and then as well, but not to the point to where it was detrimental to the overall gameplay mechanics. I just felt the story was truly unique and it was unlike anything i've heard of and it was a refreshing new take on the series......the whole experience was just surreal.

[Uyrikeustek]

The plot was pretty interesting, and I was always looking forward to seeing Walter in various scenes. However, I still didn't like the game very much. For me, the environments weren't creepy enough and the enemies were far too annoying. Oh, and Henry. I don't really know what to say except that he is just...fail.

[Doctor Eggnog]

The game is my second least favorite (Homecoming barely felt like SH to me). I feel like with quite a bit of work it could have been one of the better games, at least better than SH3 (though not as good as the first two).

[DavTheProtagonist]

Well, I may say this a lot. Silent Hill 4 the room is my least favorite Silent Hill game. But I still played it. And its still a good game. I don't say its bad, its just my least favorite in the series. I liked the fact that it was what it was. It was a different approach to silent hill, and I appreciate them trying something new. Thanks for posting the forum. I like the fact that its your favorite. Mine is SH 2 .

[Agent of God]

If the gameplay & camera were in the style of the previous games, It may have been my second favorite.
After SH1 that is.

[Tabris]

SH4 had a pretty big love/hate affair. The trailer made it out to be a lot better than it was. So when it came out it was a pretty big disappointment.

But there was still a lot to love about the game. The OST is fantastic. The storyline is pretty out there and creative. I love how the game progresses too. The apartment was such a cool concept too.

Sadly, SH4 is still my second least favorite SH. It had so much more potential. If they had made the game like it was shown in the trailer it could have been easily the best.

[Agent of God]

But there was still a lot to love about the game. The OST is fantastic. The storyline is pretty out there and creative. I love how the game progresses too. The apartment was such a cool concept too.

Exactly those are the pros for me too.
The apartment was really awesome for me, 'cause one of my favorite things about Silent Hill is the exploration.

[KiramidHead]

I find the apartment to be similar to the mansion from Fatal Frame 1. s the game progresses, it changes. That way I'm never bored for long with the location.

[Doctor Eggnog]

also i admit the area's could have differed a little more the second go, but come on in every game we go through most locations twice

That's true but the Otherworlds oftentimes look and feel very different from the normal versions and even sometimes have different enemies. Think of how dramatically the Hospital changed in the first game, or the Office Building from 3, and for me at least the Motel in Origins changed a lot.

[shaka]

It had the most interesting story but everything else was good but not as good as say Silent Hill 2 or Silent Hill 3.

This is my top 4 from best to worst.

1.Silent Hill 2
2.Silent Hill
3.Silent Hill 3
4.Silent Hill 4

[ss4gogeta0]

my list
1 SH2
2 sh4
3 sh1
4 sh 3

[SPRINGS02]

SH3 is number 1 then SH2, and SH4 is really close behind SH2, so close it's butt fucking SH2.

SH4 continued one of my favorite things from the silent hill series, the abstract disturbing atmosphere, and creating tension and unease without even putting the player in danger. An example of this is when you look through the peephole in your apartment and walter is just standing there staring at you with that creepy look. Or the room with Eilleen's distorted giant head, creepy as hell, and very abstract. It's atmosphere was weirder than the other silent hill games, but at the same time it could still manage to be pretty disturbing too, especially some of the hauntings(babies in the wall anyone?) It was the last silent hill game to frighten me any.

I don't see why people think it's so bad. I always hear people say the gameplay mechanics or controls sucked, but the controls are pretty similar to the other silent hill games. I really don't think 4 is nearly as bad as people say, i don't see how people can say sh origins or the abomination that was homecoming are better than 4. Shattered memories did some unique things but it forgot it was supposed to be scary so i still consider it worse than 4. I guess i hold the actual horror factor of silent hill games higher than some others do.

[DistantJ]

I find the whole game has a very strange atmosphere though... It's a bit more 'weird' kind of surreal than the previous games in the series since everything is bathed in light, even the outdoor areas at night time like the forest world are bright, and there's no flashlight, as a result you get the really weird monster designs, crawling maggot-like walls etc. without the darkness and it all comes across as a very weird Dali painting moreso than terrifying nightmare to me. Some of the designs in the game however, if they were in darkness with a flashlight I think they'd be some of the freakiest in the series.

that's exactly how i feel, and it's one of the things i loved about the game. although, i didn't care for a few of the monster designs, and locations. SH4 did feel a bit more surreal than the others. one of my favorite parts/scenes in the game is towards the end, and the dark shadowy guy hangs upside down from the cieling and starts talking to you.

i disagree about it being the best game in the series, but i agree that it could've been. there's a few things that hold it back imo. the controls were bad, some locations were lame, and a few of the monster designs/sounds were horrible.

Yeah, I agree. I think that if SH4 was judged as a sum of all of it's ideas, it'd be the best game in the series, but the actual execution of them, gameplay wise, just doesn't stand up, it just doesn't feel natural to play, and combat feels more awkward than intense.



Hey, am I alone in thinking Walter Sullivan kind of reminds me of BOB from Twin Peaks?

[EmilietheStrange]

I'm not sure where I'd put SH4. I really like this game, but I love the others too. My favorite is SH2, but I might have 4 as my second favorite one day, and 3 the next day. I really can't decide.

There are just a couple things preventing this from being my favorite SH game.

1. Make the environments darker, thus bringing back the flashlight and maybe the radio. (I say maybe because the radio is practically useless in 3 and Homecoming)
2. Change the worlds just a bit more on the second visit through. They are slightly different the second time through, but I would have liked to see more changes in each of them.
3. Replace most of the monsters with new ones. The ghosts, twin victims and sniffer dogs can stay, but for the most part, the other monsters in this game fail. Especially the nuisance enemies like hummers and toadstools. Although, I guess the tremers could stay, because it's fun to squash them.
4. Add a couple mind bending puzzles.
5. Lastly, have the twin victims make that crying baby/pig squealing sound they made in the trailer.

If those five changes were made, I'm pretty sure this would be my favorite Silent Hill game. The item limit doesn't bother me, as I see a valid point for it. The controls don't bother me either. They took a bit of getting used to at first, but now whenever I play this one or Origins, I simply remind myself that the controls aren't the same as the first 3. To be truthful, I don't understand why so many people appear to have issues with the controls in this game.

[Doctor Eggnog]

^ Actually, one of the things that really disappointed me the first time I put in SH4 was the replacement of the tank controls. When I was little, it was one of the main things I noticed that set Silent Hill apart from other games and I kept searching for the option for it. The controls aren't awful, but having to do everything in-game is really annoying, especially planting the really hard ghosts with swords (damn you forever Cynthia).

As for combat, I think it's sometimes fun, and not too difficult for the most part, even Walter's not TOO much of a b*tch if you get used to ditching Eileen.

[Agent of God]

As for combat, I think it's sometimes fun, and not too difficult for the most part, even Walter's not TOO much of a b*tch if you get used to ditching Eileen.

Walter was annoying only when he had those twin pistols.

[Harrys_Girl]

Walter was a monster-douche the entire game through. Especially when coming out of the elevator on the roof of the Cylindrical Prison. I am just chugging along through my game, thinking lovely thoughts and--OMFG! WHAT THE FU--WHO IS SHOTING ME-WHERE ARE THEY SHOOTING ME FRO-GOOD LORD.... annnnnn~d I am dead.









... Monster-douche. : /