Why all the hate?

[eeks]

Just speaking as someone who followed all that pre-release hype (my first mistake!), quite a lot of the promotional material set the game up to be a very claustrophobic, frightening and intense experience. If I recall, the official site they had up also provided a ton of backstory which you can read here and here, which implied a fairly character driven narrative.

The story wound up not being as character driven as hoped (Walter had quite a bit of backstory, but the other characters weren't as detailed in my opinion), and instead of the intense atmosphere shown by the trailers, the atmosphere of the actual game wound up being very surreal and almost tranquil for a Silent Hill game.

I think you can blame us, the fans, for getting caught in the wheels of the hype machine and assuming we'd be getting another Silent Hill 2 at the time.

Personally, I hated being spoon fed the story by Joseph's ghost in that ridiculously dull five minute cutscene. I did like the atmosphere of the game however, despite what I said.

Also, whatever happened to that wacky victim ghost ceiling orgy?!

[leftshoe18]

The game controls terribly. There are several boring levels. The game feels repetitive thanks to the big backtracking trip that is the second half. I could go on, but I won't.

[Ravager]

The only thing that really annoyed the hell out of me were the ghosts. They're everywhere, you're always on the move, no time to explore the area and the headache stuff is lame. Well that and I hated the Wallmen at the subway escalator part.

But besides that, I can't come up with anything else that I didn't like that's worth mentioning.
It think it's a good game.

[Mr.FLOOT]

I don't hate SH4 as such. Personally I think it has the best story in the entire series! And the graphics are pretty nice too! My only gripe is the gameplay. It's just not that great, and repeating the areas was a bit annoying, but other than that I really like it. I just have to be in the right mood to play it.
Although Henry really needs a personality.

[Rayder]

I'm currently playing SH4 now. It's the second time I've attempted to play it. Last time I played it I got stuck in water world (wasted all my health items before I realized that "the room" healed you. It seems much easier this time around for some reason. I just finished.....apartment world, I guess.....the hole changed locations, whatever that means. It's in that closet instead of the bathroom now. I saw that peephole girl, what's her name....Eileen die. Does that mean I'm about to start that second run through all the same areas again?

I don't like those floating ghosts. I would have rather had them be shambling, rotting corpses that only hurt you when they actually got a hold of you, not cause damage just by being near you. I don't like how they float around like parade balloons...it just looks lame. They should have came out of the walls, fell to the ground, got up, then ambled towards you, maybe even with flesh dripping off of them. That would have been far more creepy, I think.

Other than that annoying Waterworld puzzles (and that bit with the subway cars early on), the game, so far, is far too linear. As long as you are methodical in your exploration, the game pretty much just walks you through it. It just tells you everything in a very straight forward manner (through notes and memos) without much vagueness like previous games. I guess that was why the ghosts are so annoying, to hinder your exploration and discovery.

The game does seem more coherent than I remember it being the last time I played it, but much of it just seems like....I don't know.....a chore....going through the motions, boring, instead of interesting and intriguing. I don't know how to explain it better, but this game is nowhere near the caliber of the previous 3 games as far as making you want to see what happens next. At least it isn't to me. I guess I just miss running through the actual Silent Hill town, running through that fog, you know what I mean? The game feels too far removed from the first 3 games for my taste.

Once I beat this game, I don't plan to play it again like I will SH2 and 3, that's for sure.

[KageReneko]

Again I wonder what's the damn problem about the game controls... The controls of Eternal Darkness are so much worse and everybody praises that game...

[Rayder]

Other than the first-person perspective in "the room", which seems to work well enough I guess, I don't see what's really all that different about the controls.....the third person control seems basically the same as SH1, 2 and 3 to me, except for that weapon charging element, which is more of a simple tweak than any kind of drastic change. I consider any of the slight differences in the control scheme quite insignificant and they don't really affect the core gameplay at all in any of the first 4 SH games. At least not for me.

I guess the lack of a setting to have the tank-like control is what people are complaining about? I suppose I could see that as a problem if I preferred to control the game that way, but I don't. I prefer the more direct walking controls myself (2D?, 3D? I always get that term confused), so it's sort of a non-issue for me.

Maybe it's got something to do with what system and/or what controller you're using? I'm playing on a PC and using a Logitech Rumble pad that essentially looks and acts like a Playstation dual analog controller.

If there is anything I don't like about the way SH4 controls, it's how your character always walks another step or two after you meant to stop. That can be a little annoying when you're right on top of an object, but the game is being picky about your position before you can interact with it and you move farther than the pixel or two that you intended because the game floats your character too much. But that has little to do with the controller setup and more of a transition problem between walking and standing.

I've also encountered a weird issue where your character will not control correctly after a camera change sometimes and I have to let go of the directional for a second to get him to go where I'm telling him to go. Not just the disorientation of suddenly having to push the controller in a different direction after a camera change, but like he'll move left when I said right, down when I said up....it's hard to explain. But when it happens I have to let go of the stick for a split second, then it corrects itself. Again though, it's not a controller setup issue, just a minor interface bug in the game.

In reality, all of the first 4 SH games had kinda clunky controls, but they all still basically control the same way. The differences they do have seem very minor to me at best. Certainly not really enough for me to complain about.

[SHACKled89451]

I'm playing through SH4 again right now and I still love it to death!

I must be the only one who didn't mind the backtracking or the 2nd half repeats all that much. Usually I am so involved and engrossed in the story and atmosphere, that those things don't seem to bother me. Escorting Eileen, Ok.. a little on the irritating side, but the good far outweighs that bad IMO. It's like a playable version of 1408 haha.

[PuppetDoctor]

I enjoyed Silent Hill 4 a lot. Its probably my fourth favorite game in the series overall behind Silent Hill 2, Shattered Memories and Silent Hill 1.

I loved the story and the atmosphere of the room. While there was some annoying aspects in the game i.e. the Ghosts and the back tracking I still enjoyed the game a ton.

[Kenji]

Other than the first-person perspective in "the room", which seems to work well enough I guess, I don't see what's really all that different about the controls.....the third person control seems basically the same as SH1, 2 and 3 to me, except for that weapon charging element, which is more of a simple tweak than any kind of drastic change.

Some of us liked those old tank controls and don't like being forced to use another control scheme that we knowingly chose not to use in SH2 and 3. Not giving us an option to use tank controls is a big change for players like me.

It's not simply a matter of liking things "just so" (except, I'm paying, so I can damn well prefer things "just so"), but the alternate control method is just that much more imprecise.

I'm getting déjà vu, here. I know I've answered this before. Why do some people insist that "push up to go forward, left and right to turn" is somehow identical to "push stick in direction you want character to move?" Is it because both methods use a stick?

[stopped_clock]

I'm getting déjà vu, here. I know I've answered this before. Why do some people insist that "push up to go forward, left and right to turn" is somehow identical to "push stick in direction you want character to move?" Is it because both methods use a stick?

Rayder did say in his next paragraph that he can see why people who preferred tank controls would be annoyed by it's absence. So he clearly makes a distinction between the two types of controls.

[Kenji]

Huh, how did I miss out on that?

[The SH Champion]

Silent Hill 4 is unique. Just because it is different than the past three doesn't mean anything. They tried to do things differently and it worked.

[pink_isnt_well000]

Whenever someone tells me they dislike SH4 they always follow that statement by saying it was the ghosts that made them hate the game so much. I love 4...I didn't mind the ghosts so I kinda don't get it.

[Kenji]

I actually thought that, conceptually, the ghosts were awesome. I think the game would've been substantially improved had the fifteen-plus ghosts been the only enemies of the game.

However, that would've required a significantly different game design. We have the standard Silent Hill adventure game structure that rewards meticulous investigation alongside an enemy type that encourages running away as fast as possible (after all, they can hurt you without touching you). It doesn't match up, and it makes frustration easy.

[Tabris]

I never understood all the actual hate for the ghosts. Don't get me wrong here, they're frickin annoying in their own right.

But, I never found them to be so annoying or bad it'd turn me off from the game. I never had a problem running from them. That little tiny ass tick of health they can take from you by being near them is hardly noticeable. Honestly, they could done more with the ghosts, but I just find them mildly annoying. It's like oh, a ghost, hi bud (keep running).

Though that's just me. A lot of people don't have the patience for things like that~

There's far more annoying shit in this game. Like the escalator monsters. Now that's rage. Or Walter's ability to use wall hacks and aimbot to nail you the very moment he sees you. But I guess he is kind've a god in his own realm. Asshole ~ ~

My only major gripe was the build up and hype with what the time was an amazingly badass 9 minute + trailer. It was so cool I watched it religiously. Even my maid thought it was amazing. So the game itself was quite a let down. Though, I still love the hell out of it.

[pink_isnt_well000]

Yeah, I gotta admit the escalator monsters just about brought tears to my eyes out of pure frustration. They are without a doubt something I truly hated about that game.

[Kenji]

My only major gripe was the build up and hype with what the time was an amazingly badass 9 minute + trailer. It was so cool I watched it religiously.

"I wish I was playing the trailer, instead." That's pretty much my thoughts on The Room. On reflection, it might not have been so bad if that trailer never existed (of course, it might not have been so bad had the first three games never existed).

Also, meido?

[EmilietheStrange]

I find it interesting when people bitch about how you don't actually visit Silent Hill in this game. Silent Hill isn't an enormous town, and though there are parts we haven't seen yet, we can only explore the same areas and run around the same streets so many times before we get bored. Honestly, if we ever have to visit Alchemilla again in a future Silent Hill game, I'll smash my controller in annoyance.

[TANK]

I just finished the game again late last night/early morning, i started it a few months ago, but I stopped playing it in the subway world second time through with eileen because i fugging HATE THE SUBWAY WORLD! to me the subway is by far the most repetative level in the game. but i champed my through it because i love the rest of the game. i can deal with all the other backtracking levels because to me, the environments are so much better. The forest is my favorite, the way all 4 areas had something to hide, with all of walters writings, the wells, and the Wish House...

I hadn't played through sh4 from start to end in about 5 years, and i didn't remember half the hauntings in the room like

PRIME_BBCODE_SPOILER_SHOW PRIME_BBCODE_SPOILER:

when walter's shadow is standing in the closet reaching out for something

That was very unsettling. but i took my time (7hrs) and looked at all the little details of every area many things i hadnt found/noticed before. I had always loved this game, but i RESENT the subway which is why i havent played it as much as the other entries in the series.

But in conclusion, sh4 is behind(in order) sh2, sh3, sh1. but ahead of(in order)shattered memories, homecoming, and origins.