Silent Hill 4 Isn't That Bad...

[Seil]

So I lucked out when going to EB to get into Silent Hill again, and picked up a used copy for $4.00 - yeah, someone dropped off 2, 3, and 4 and they sold them all that day for $4. Awesome. But why in the crap would you sell 2 and 3, arguably the best games from the original Silent Hill team? Oh well. I had some good fortune, and picked up Silent Hill 4.

Now I like Silent Hill 4 - I know it wasn't originally going to be a Silent Hill video game, but they got a lot of things right. The environments are there, the music is as awesome as it ever was, the enemies are trademark Silent Hill, though not as psychologically interesting as they were in 2. Also, I concede that SH4 has one of my top five Silent Hill deaths - Cynthia Velasquez. It struck a chord with me.

Now, it's criticized for having a few design flaws. Instead of the box/color health system, you've got an actual health meter. The inventory system is different, too - you can only carry a certain amount of items, and bullets don't stack. You've also got an attack meter, which allows you to do a quick light attack, or a strong heavy attack. The biggest change, though, is in the game play - instead of a puzzle solving focus, the game is more on a hole focus. At the beginning of the game - A well-done introduction, I think, it sets the scene pretty well - you're locked in your apartment room, and the only way out is through a hole in your bathroom. In order to store items and save, you need to return to your apartment periodically through holes scattered through an area.

Now, while most games in the SH series have you using a wide assortment of items in order to make a key for a door, such as the Tarot puzzle in Silent Hill 3, or using an item, like a camera, or finding a memo containing a password to a door. Silent Hill 4 still has the puzzle solving aspect of "take item A to place B, use A to collect C." That's still there - but the focus is more on the story - and Silent Hill games can do story.

As Henry Townshend, you're locked in your apartment. It's been days, and you can't get out. A hole appears in your bathroom, and traveling through it you meet a girl named Cynthia Velasquez in some strange subway station. Cynthia's convinced it's a dream, but Henry isn't sure. It becomes apparent that there's something wrong when Cynthia runs into the girl's bathroom, then, out of the men's room, come strange dogs who quickly attack Henry.

It's different than then the first three, that's for sure. But it's more Silent Hill than Origins or Homecoming. I like Henry because he's very relatable; we're both filled in, brown haired introverts, we wear a white collared shirt and jeans everywhere, and the only real terrible deed we've done in our past is move into the wrong apartment. Walter Sullivan, the antagonist, is genuinely creepy - another innovation in SH4 is that you can look through the peephole and see other tenants - and sometimes Sullivan will walk into view and stand there watching you watch him through the peephole.

The game is awesome, and though it doesn't completely follow the Silent Hill format, it's still a fantastic Silent Hill game. Silent Hill 1 set the bar, 2 is one of the best games of all time, 3 continued the tradition with some great moments and 4, well, see above. The originals are still the best.

[MSperoni]

This was actually the only one I didn't play through, 3 was my favorite of 'em though.

If I could find it for 4$ I'd probably get it though, just to say I played 'em all.

I'm not counting that one on the Wii though..

[Seil]

I don't think anyone counts that one.

[Kim]

SH4 was pretty awesome. The backtracking through all the levels at the end was fucking STUPID, but everything else was pretty great, assuming you're a fan of the SH formula to begin with. When your house starts getting haunted like crazy near the end, that is freaky as shit . Enemy design was really lacking, though.

[MSperoni]

Was enemy design a bunch of naked zombie people over and over?

[Seil]

In shattered memories? Pretty much - also, the endings are pretty arse.

I think I agree with what Yahtzee from ZP has been saying about the latest Silent Hill games - that if they didn't bear the SH moniker, we would be kinder to it. As such, Silent Hill nerds have been raised on the early games and expect the bar to be set somewhere in the stratosphere.

[Mirai Gen]

I honestly don't think a title with a kind face could save any game from repeating the same levels in reverse order in any game.

[MSperoni]

I never really felt Silent Hill was THAT beloved of a franchise to warrant bias one way or the other tho. Not like, say, Final Fantasy. Yeah they made a movie on it, but they also made ones on "Alone in the Dark" and "Farcry" :p

Based on what I read at the awesome review site for awesome people who review things awesomely and are awesome with an awesome banner (Gamepad Dojo) I don't think Shattered Memories would win much approval, Silent Hill or no Silent Hill slapped in front of it. Unless NonCon's a bitter little liar and was spinning his review toward the negative for entertainment purposes but why would he do that? This is the internet! All things are true. (tho honestly, I do figure he was genuinely serious about its suckitude)

That being said, and speaking of Final Fantasy, would Crystal Bearers have been "better" had "Final Fantasy" not been in front of it and raised those subconscious expectations? (I've never played it but I heard it sucked/was mediocre)

[Mirai Gen]

Yeah MemorWiis was pretty terrible. I think the whole 'being nicer to Silent Hill' applied to 4 and Homecoming.

[phil_]

Originally Posted by MSperoni

That being said, and speaking of Final Fantasy, would Crystal Bearers have been "better" had "Final Fantasy" not been in front of it and raised those subconscious expectations? (I've never played it but I heard it sucked/was mediocre)

Crystal Bearers would have been better if it was easier to use something other than throwing in battle. For example, you can grab a tonberry and stab the heck out of things, but to do that first you have to knock him off his feet, then pick him up, and then you get one (super powerful) stab before throwing him away. There are swords lying around on the ground. Why can't I stab up guys with those?

Also, maybe removing the time-limits from fights and making them dangerous instead. I can think of two non-optional fights where surviving is more of a concern than just not getting a time-out. If all the fights were closer to that but without a time-limit, then not only would the challenge remain, but it would be a more satisfying challenge.

Giving Belle even one redeeming quality could also help.

This has been your "phil_ popping in to talk about a game mentioned in periphery that has nothing to do with the subject of the thread" moment of the day.