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

[Kenji]

The hauntings were great until you found their loop points, that small hiccup in their animations. Discovering those singlehandedly kills their mood and effectiveness.

Somehow... I don't know, but somehow, they should've put more work into the room and made the game center around it even more strongly. It was easily the best part of the whole game concept and should've been played to the hilt. It probably would've made the game even more divisive than it already is, but I think it would've been better than the half-assed third-person action sequences that, to me, were a total yawn and a huge step back from the magnificence of SH3's gameplay.

As much as I dislike playing SH4, I really am sad that it turned out the way it did. If the experiment had succeeded, we'd probably be sitting amidst an entire second run of unorthodox Silent Hill titles... but, like the backlash on G Gundam, the mother company got scared and retreated into mind-numbing orthodoxy for years...

(sigh)

[DistantJ]

The burping 'nurses' are actually patients. I always figured the burp sound was an unfortunate choice of effect, because basically the patients make a selection of 'sick' sounds, retching and gagging... It's pretty horrible actually but unfortunately they put the burp sound in a 'slot' which causes it to be overused (I figure they used that because, sorry this is disgusting, but sometimes when somebody's really sick during their vomiting they will make 'burp' sounds in their throat) and you get the burping when hit, and the stair-falling burp sounds (which are hilarious) etc. and it ends up coming out funny instead of repulsive.

[Doctor Eggnog]

^ Yeah, I haven't seen a constant string of belching that insane in a game since Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets for ps1 lol.

[Harrys_Girl]

But what about the hauntings? Do those count as monsters/enemies? I found the hauntings to be one of the most unique and creepy things about sh4, the babies in the wall haunting was pretty damn creepy. And the haunting where you here walter saying "im always watching you" was pretty creepy also.

I don't really consider the hauntings enemies because you are not forced to interact w/ them. I've gone entire playthroughs w/o ridding the apartment of any of the hauntings, just to see how bad it would get. I had this notion of the hauntings getting so bad that Joesph would eventually climb out of the wall and come after Henry. I think someone told me that it would happen, but it doesn't. Henry just walks around the apartment in agony and the constant noise effect/red tint takes over. After so long, I began to forget they were there and mentally mapped out the routes to take around the apartment to avoid them.

They could've been terrifying though, just like the Patients. Imagine if they were not bound to certain areas? Or they could be present one trip through, the next trip they are gone so you let your guard down and come back thinking they are gone and suddenly one is reaching over the bed at Henry? I mean, I understand that the specific hauntings are symbolic of certain things, I.E. the cat in the fridge or the child crying in the closet but I think that they could've take the artistic liberty to make the hauntings move. We really didn't need to see to be scared. "It is what we don't see that is really scary." right? The worse parts of SH gone-bye is that you'd often bee attacked by something you couldn't see. By making the ghosts literally visible, it took away the inherent fear that ghosts produce in people. Ghost are scary because they are invisible, they can hurt you and you can't do a damn thing about it. SH:TR gave us ghosts that were stuck in a closet or on the other side of a door and as long as we didn't get too close, we remained unharmed.

Like I said, it was like they just missed the mark on each and every monster. Which is unfortunate. I think that is one of the biggest shortcomings and causes of why I've only played it through maybe 20 or so times since 04 when it came out.

[SHF]

The burping 'nurses' are actually patients. I always figured the burp sound was an unfortunate choice of effect, because basically the patients make a selection of 'sick' sounds, retching and gagging... It's pretty horrible actually but unfortunately they put the burp sound in a 'slot' which causes it to be overused (I figure they used that because, sorry this is disgusting, but sometimes when somebody's really sick during their vomiting they will make 'burp' sounds in their throat) and you get the burping when hit, and the stair-falling burp sounds (which are hilarious) etc. and it ends up coming out funny instead of repulsive.

I always thought the " burping" was more of a death rattle:
When someone dies excess air escapes out through the throat, making a croaking noise.

[Kenji]

All the excuses in the world won't change the fact that it's still burping. You can tell yourself what it could be, but it's still a burp and it was still a terrible choice.

[ww_andi]

i felt that the burping made it kinda creepy and it does fit in with the air escaping from a corpse idea

[Kenji]

Well, I'm happy that you can find it creepy. I wish I could.

I purposefully knock them down staircases and then roflcopter for about fifteen minutes afterward. If I ever play this game again, I'll use the bat and try to knock them up the staircase, burping at double-speed, for half an hour of roflcoptering (I once did it to a gumhead, so I know it's possible).

[ww_andi]

well i suppose i am glad that you found it amusing

[ShatteredHill2010]

The best? Damn close, I think SH4 was way underrated. I loved the first persion and being able to look out of his window at the creepy town. Really some great visuals. Great monsters. Music was...ok.. The woman was involved, his apartment slowly becomes haunted, and it felt damn creepy when everytime you went in the room with the hole, it got bigger and bigger.. Awesome game. I say 8.5 out of 10

[EmilietheStrange]

I too agree that the twin victims, sniffer dogs and patients were good designs, but made noises that really fell flat. I said this once before, but I'll say it again. The twin victims should have squealed and cried like real babies. That would have been much creepier, especially if they pointed at you and said "Receiver" in a child's voice instead of the deep voice they have. It might make you not want to kill it right away. I also think that Walter should have made some other noise besides just laughing at you. I'm not talking about monster sounds, but I think he should have done something that just didn't seem right in one of the cut scenes before he attacks you. I don't mean stuff like digging around in a corpse or offering you the shabby doll, I mean something that's more subtle, yet leaves you with a "wtf? Uh...okay then..." kind of feeling. I can't explain it very well, but maybe you'll see what I mean.

[clips]

SH4 is underrated...the story and concept was unlike anything the series seen thus far...a person who thought the room was their mother?...being locked up in your room?...the dynamic between adult Walter and child Walter?....amazingly interesting...it was different from all of the other SH's yet it still felt like a SH game.

One of my favorite scenarios was after you fought the burping patients on that staircase...there was a spiral staircase that you had to walk down to go thru the duplicate levels of the game...i thought that section was done incredibly well...there was weird imagery just off to the side in those cages that you could barely see,...and off in the distance it was foggy and pitch black...it really felt like you were going deeper and deeper into madness....the story really came together beautifully in this one...

[ww_andi]

i am glad that others agree that it was a good game

[PoemOfTheLastMoment]

Thematically, it was nearly as good as Sh2...the ideas present in the game were very mature and the endings were one of my favourite parts of the game....If it had the same kindo of gameplay as the previous games..it would have been a lot better...

[wonder's boy]

Even when playing it the first time, I found it to have amazing potential that failed to fulfill itself. This hardly happens in games I play, because I'm a lot like Pops in Regular Show...everything is almost amazing to me. Yet, while playing this game, I found myself bored at times, which just does not happen in a great game. Never was I bored in SH2, unless I was playing it for the thousandth time.

The premise of being locked in a room and having a portal into a freakish Otherworld was practically ignored at some parts. Having to traverse various stages twice was amusing at best, but ended up being a pain in the arse at worse. There's a portal there in Henry's toilet room, and all they can do is give us a set of stages twice, a few spiral staircases, and then a finale? I expected more after SH2&3.

Sorry if those hopes were too high. While I enjoyed SH4 more than I should've, I find myself realizing that the game was mostly filler and less originality. Well, won't someone come along and prove me wrong, already?

[killinglice]

first time i bought the game, my hardcore sh fan bff gave negative comments about it, how the gameplay sux and how it looked nothing like the previous silent hills and that i wasted my money for buying another shit. i played it one day and got really disappointed when i saw the first part being on fps. still, i continued playing it, until i got out of the hole w/ relief and gladness that it wasnt on fps throughout the whole game. i finished it and it was great. i agree with the others on how sh4 is under rated. i love the story and the characters, and the monsters. the whole concept of the game is different w/c is good coz it makes the game more interesting.

[The SH Champion]

Silent hill 4 is defenitely in the top 4.

[Violent Corpse]

I just love SH4. I found it quite disturbing and intriguing. Brilliant atmosphere. And the fact that it is disliked by many makes it even better for me. :p