*****Review*****
Silent Hill 4: The Room is the fourth and last instalment in the Silent Hill series made by Team Silent, which has since disbanded. In regards from the original Silent Hill to Silent Hill 4, Silent Hill 4: The Room is (or should I say was) the least favourable in the series. As years past away, Climax Group and Double Helix brought us two more games into the series, that made Silent Hill 4: The Room, not the worst in the series anymore.
Silent Hill 4: The Room is an all-new story (much like Silent Hill 2) that brings other characters into the world of Silent Hill. You play Henry Townshend who compared to the previous Silent Hill characters is the worst one. Henry has no emotions and is hard to believe or even accept at a main character in a Silent Hill game, and lacks the sense of emotional realism as the pervious characters did.
The story revolves more around "the room" not the main character like previous Silent Hill's. Two years ago Henry Townshend moved into Room 302 of South Ashfield Heights, an unassuming apartment building in the city of Ashfield. The story revolves around the room in Ashfield so you're not in the town of Silent Hill. Henry was happy and enjoying his new life. Unlike the previous Silent Hill's Henry is the only character that could have easily been replaced by another character. In the original Silent Hill, Harry was the father of Cheryl so he was a big key role in the Silent Hill world. Silent Hill 2, the story was about James Sunderland and his wife; not part of the original story of Silent Hill, but still interesting. Silent Hill 3 was about Heather and who she really is. Silent Hill 4: is about the room, and Henry has no significance with Silent Hill whatsoever. Think of "The Room" as being the main playable character, and Henry is just a side character. That's what he felt like. Henry was just any unlucky guy to have lived in the room. There is nothing really special about Henry, which make him not really that interesting. All that is known about Henry is that he's in his late 20's and he lived in room 302 of South Ashfield Height for the last two years.
Five day ago, something strange happened. Henry started to be plagued by a recurring nightmare. Even more disturbingly, he found himself trapped inside room 302. After waking up one morning, Henry discovered something quite bizarre. His apartment front door was inexplicably sealed and barred with heavy chains and locks, but what makes it even more bizarre is that it's done on the inside. If he didn't do it then who did? And how did they get into his apartment? For five days Henry as been trapped in his apartment but as you play, you quickly forget that he's been in there for five days because it feels like you've just wake up and found out about the nightmare at soon at the game starts. If he really has been in there for five days, what has he been doing? Why are we playing the game from five days ago? The front door is blocked of, the windows are held shut by some strange force. There is no way out of the apartment… except for a strange hole on the bathroom wall. This hole could be Henry's only way out. The hole sends Henry to different locations, and he must find the meaning behind them. As you play through Silent Hill 4 you'll discover mysterious deaths that later lead you to Silent Hill.
The story starts of really well but looses it momentum as you get further into the game. There are new characters you'll meet as you play.
Eileen Galvin is a very attractive young woman who lives in the apartment next door to Henry. She is Henry's neighbour. She knows Henry's name and face, but they're only passing acquaintances. Through the game you'll only see Eileen through the peephole of your front door, at brief moments, but she ends up being an important role in the story of Silent Hill 4.
Frank Sunderland is a brief character in Silent Hill 4. Frank is the long-time superintendent of South Ashfield Heights and has seen a great many disturbing things in his time here, many of them involving room 302. You'll only see Frank for brief moment through the front door peephole. What makes Frank Sunderland so interesting is that he is the father of the hero in Silent Hill 2… James Sunderland.
Cynthia Velasquez is a character you'll encounter very early in the game and she's only in Silent Hill 4 for a brief moment. You find Cynthia wondering around a train station. Your first meeting is not like any normal meeting (this "is" Silent Hill after all). Cynthia apparently thinks that she's in a dream. Cynthia makes a pass at Henry thinking he is in her dream as well. She says to Henry that if he can find the exit to her awful dream, she would do a special favor for him later before her dream ends. Your moment with Cynthia is short but meeting her is probably one of the most memorable moments in Silent Hill 4, essentially with her last meeting.
Jasper Gein is obsessed by the Occult. He seems confused and troubled, always rambling about a mysterious cult, which once struck terror in the hearts of the townsfolk of Silent Hill. To cut the matter short, he's annoying.
There are a few other character that you will run into but most all the character in Silent Hill 4, you'll only see for brief moments making them not really interesting in knowing they're back story.
The game-play has slightly changed. Much like previous Silent Hill's, Silent Hill 4 is a survival horror game that revolves around you using melee weapons. There are also standard guns in the game, a handgun, shotgun and so on but ammo is quite rare in Silent Hill 4. Using a gun on normal enemies is a waste because they can't die. Once an enemy takes a certain amount of hits, they fall to the flour but in time they get back up. To really kill and enemy you'll have to knock it down and stab it in the chest with a Sword of Obedience. If you remove the sword, the creature (or ghost) will get back up. Some of the enemies in the game drain your life just by being near them, which can be quite annoying. Boss fights are good but nothing like the previous Silent Hill's. You can dodge enemy attack, which is new to Silent Hill. Other than that, the game-play is quite good, but not better than the previous.
Your room is something you'll need to look after. Every time you go through the hole in your bathroom, you've basically opened a door into your apartment so if your not careful, the evil will spreads into your room. If the evil spreads into your apartment room, your life will slowly drain making it hard to stay in your room and to save. In order to protect your room from the evil, you'll need to place a Holy Candle in front of the hole in the wall to keep the evil from entering, which probably did sound like a good idea at the time, but it's just turned out annoying.
The sound-effect and soundtrack are once again done by Akira Yamaoko, and once again it's just amazing. I would say the soundtrack is the best thing about Silent Hill 4.
Overall Silent Hill 4: The Room is a good game, but nothing great compared to its predecessors. If it didn't bear the name Silent Hill, I probably wouldn't look at it twice (kind of like the Silent Hill movie). The visual design is amazing. The sound-effects and soundtrack are just a great as before. The story is quite interesting and started of really well, but it just didn't feel like the previous Silent Hill's. The game-play was up and down but I will say this, Silent Hill 4: The Room is by far the most disturbing.
So in the end, Silent Hill 4: The Room is a good game, but I could have lived without it.
*****FINAL OVERALL SCORE*****
- Story – 8/10
- Life Value – 6/10
- My Thought Score – 8/10
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- Presentation – 6/10
- Graphics – 10/10
- Game-Play – 7/10
- Sound Design – 8/10
- Originality – 6/10
*****EDITOR'S OVERALL THOUGHT SCORE – 7/10 *****
Silent Hill 4: The Room Review by Simon a.k.a. [TheDevilDweller]