A good game in my view
In Silent Hill 4, Konami have made the agreeable decision to craft a self-contained story ala Silent Hill 2 and one of the most intriguing things about the context of this game is its focus on a story that is only very briefly alluded to in the second installment of the series. It is just this kind of attention to detail and contextual consistency that acts as a hook into the sinister world of Silent Hill and its surrounding burgs.
In fact it is the context of Silent Hill 4 that will act as a current against some of the stodgier segments of the game, pulling you along despite yourself and despite some gameplay contrivances that act to suck any enthusiasm one might have for the game itself.
The story of a man trapped in his room as it degrades into a bloody rust nightmare is intriguing enough, but is made all the more compulsive by your ability to look out to the world outside, going about its business as normal, or your ability to spy on the neighbour next door and look out the spyglass in the front door. A narrative is developed through your actions in the Room, through snatches of dialogue caught in front of your door or through the wall next door. This method of forwarding the story and adding depth to the narrative is hugely compelling and makes your (very) regular trips back to the room actually rather exciting, rather than the repetitive irritant it could well have been.
The gameplay itself will be familiar enough to any Silent Hill officianado while simultaneously being rather different. The camera problems remain (though in a different form thanks to the new analogue movement of the protagonist); you'll often find yourself running one direction only to find, with a swift swing of the camera, to find you'll have magically turned around and be heading righ back to where you started. The combat is hugely improved, which is a relief as avoiding combat is far less of an option in this game, you are now able to power up your melee attacks while you move around, which makes the combat far more accessible and entertaining.
But Silent Hill 4 doesnt just derivate from its predecessors with its story and combat, Konami have introduced in this game the absolutely loathsome contrivance of 'item management', perhaps as a way to bring you back to your Room more often, you will now often have to dump your things in the chest in your apartment. This does nothing to further the game in anyway and is flimsily justified with one very measly puzzle early on in the game.
Along as the dump for your unneeded items, the Room will also serve to heal any damage you take in the other dimensions. This mechanic makes the early part of the game excessively easy and, along with the item-management, fools you out of any conservative instinct the other SH games might have burned into you; Medikits become throwaway time-savers when your too far away from a portal back to the Room, until the second half of the game when the Room suddenly loses its healing properties and you realise that all those medikits you wasted were very bloody important!
The second half of the game is a shock and a half after the breeze that is the first. You are knocked for six by the introduction of the punitive combo of a constantly stalking aggressor, an almost completely vulnerable (and irritatingly stupid) partner, a painful backtrack through every environ you just explored and the demonic take-over of your Room, now, not only is the game itself a lot harder, you have no safe comfy Hub to rest in. This combination of gameplay mechanics is severely punitive, and completely out of kilter with the first half of the game, more a learning right-angle, than a learning curve. It will serve to either knock the wind completely out of your sails and stop you playing, or make you lick your lips in relish as you finally get to the meat of the game. Unfortunately I fell into the former camp.
Despite the flaws presented, the game is hugely compulsive, the graphics seem less impressive than those in Silent Hill 3 but still serve to disturb and impress. The sound and music is phenomenal and superbly evocative of the demonically twisted Americana of Silent Hill.
I recommend.