Silent Hill 4

[Fsiphskilm]

I saw the E3 t

[Psycho Ann]

I hope this isn't considered grave-digging....

But yeah, my SH4 is now shipped!! I'll be getting it this week!!! For those wondering, I bought the original jap version cause apparently there's an english option in it as well. Hopefully, I can finish most of my workload this week to be able to complete the game the first time through and give you guys a more-or-less decent review.

Must find friends to accompany me.... I'm never brave enough to play SH alone on the first try...

[Bobtheduck]

How did I miss this? You have a PS2 that can play Japanese games (or, uh, maybe an X-box depending on which version you bought?)

I am really loving the style, but I'm not really loving the idea of "hub" style levels... If the Game is too non-linear, I think it really can detract from the story. Chrono Trigger was great, but that's because you could choose deviations from a linear path, but in SH4, all your choices are there right from the beginning apparently.

So, have you begun to play it yet? How does the story play out (don't tell me what the story is, just how it plays out... In other words, does the hub thing work or do you think it is a distraction?)

[Psycho Ann]

I got myself swap discs so I can play imported games ^^

Anyway, I played 15 minutes of it today, and I don't know... I'm actually not liking what I've seen so far. The opening fo SH4 is exactly the newest trailer shown, nothing different about it. The controls are very different, though considering the battle system is more 'real-time' now, I guess I'm not complaining much.

Graphics... is it just me or are the polygon worse than SH3? The movement of the characters are too 'smooth' as well, not like in SH3 where you can feel the weight they put in the movements. And Henry Townshend... I just realized how much he looks like Tom Cruise ^^;;; I think Konami did some referencing... The textures are very nice as usual, but I think they're overdoing the 'grunge' look. One of my biggests 'argh' in the game early on is the 'old-shaky-noise-and-grain-filled-camera-shots' they are using. They really had it right on by just making things blurred and jumpy in the previous games--this time... it's just too detached. Like you're watching a movie and aren't there yourself.

Control... smoother, but probably too smooth depending on your preferences. I had a bit trouble controling him in battle since now you use the left analog to move and the pads to select items on screen. And man, even in normal the dogs are harder to kill!! I nearly died fighting two dogs with the pipe, but you can predict their movements as long as you time your hits. Ah, and swinging the pipe needs more planning as well since Henry does 3 different types of swings that differ in time and would set him open to attack. I'll have to play more to give a better review on this.

Story... I have no idea what's going on yet. But all the references to the previous SH games are sweet! Room 302 is where Henry lives, sound familiar? And the girl next door to him, Eileen, has a large stuffed doll of the SH Amusment park killer bunny ^^ The land lord's last name is Sunderland as well ^^ Henry got a bunch of Silent Hill photos and paintings when he went there for vacation, made me nostalgic...

Characters... Henry is probably the best looking (and youngest) male lead in SH yet. Though he's a bit too calm despite being locked in his room for 5 days, it doesn't make you feel attached to him as you did with Harry desperate to look for Cheryl, or James and his confusion, and even Heather with her not-taking-crap attitude. Henry right on in the first 15 minutes said "what the he--?" three or four times but not really looking like he's taking things seriously. This time, it feels like a SH2 flashback since there's already a skimpy Maria-esque woman in the first 10 minutes promising some 'fun' if Henry helps her out of the "nightmare demension".

Argh, I don't know... and the 'zombie ala RE' people aren't helping... I really hope the game gets better when it progresses... SH has been doing so well and this is the first time I didn't like the beginning of it... >_<

[Fsiphskilm]

Thank you S

[Bobtheduck]

Man... I hope it turns out well... I allready am scared (in the bad way) by the idea of Hubs and first person action...

I gotta say, though... The Previews make it look just brilliant... I hope that the upgrade in style didn't push out the story or gameplay...

Since this is a dual system release, they may have not optimized this as well for the PS2 as they could have, and released a half-donkey PS2 game in favor of letting the X-box's extra power take the brunt of the lazy upgrades... I hope that's not the case, but it sounds like it may be... Darn X-box releases...

BTW, the room in SH2 is 312, not 302, but it was obviously a referrence anyhow... Well, 4 is probably the "death" number... Maybe SH5 will be better... If there is a 5, I mean... Too bad I'll likely miss the X-play review... They gave both SH2 and SH3 a 5 out of 5.

I will likely play and beat this regardless of what I hear about it... I mean, I'm almost obligated to... Just like the new Metal Gear game... Even MGA...

[Psycho Ann]

Played another hour of it... bottom-line is:

Forget all you known about Silent Hill and Resident evil.

It's not as scary and I really think Konami lost their touch here, you just never feel creeped out because it has more people than all the Silent Hill series combined ^^;; Not to mention you can always return to your bright and sunny room where you can look out into the bustling streets below. However, you get to know more about the cult that started the whole mess and man, I'm really loving the new weapons. >:) The melee weapons are fun now, including a bottle and a golf club, hehe...

Things that are WAY different than previous games:
- Limited inventory with only one place to store it. Not really that bad, man so far I've only found *2* health replenishers O_o;; But yeah, you heal whenever you return to your room so it's a matter of making it back to the nearest portal before you die.
- One, single, save point. Yes, there is ONLY one save point, which is back at the room.
- Enemies that won't die. Remember those floating zombie things? Nasty. You can only "kill" them temporarily and man do they lunge fast... You lost health just by going near them as well.
- Obstacle course. There's a point in the game you have to run up never-ending stairs with creatures coming out of them and smacking you down. Argh, it's harder than one would think. I sincerely hope I don't see more of those later...
- No ready map. At least I haven't found/gotten to one yet. The map you have is self-drawn by Henry as you go through.
- Bad, bad, bad camera angles. I personally think it's the worse so far. I spent more time going around confused because the camera angles were just BAD. I couldn't even feel scared because I was too busy trying to see just what's going on.

I'm still a bit disappointed with the game, but I wonder if the English release would fix some of these things... oh well. Fans should still get it regardless, we're called fans for a reason, you know

[madphilb]

Since this is a dual system release, they may have not optimized this as well for the PS2 as they could have, and released a half-donkey PS2 game in favor of letting the X-box's extra power take the brunt of the lazy upgrades... I hope that's not the case, but it sounds like it may be... Darn X-box releases...

Usually the problem is the other way around, XBox releases are not as tricked out as they could be to save the effort of a cross-release with the PS2.


Thanks for the imput Ann, keep up the updates, be nice to know how it turns out in the end (game-wise).

[Bobtheduck]

Usually the problem is the other way around, XBox releases are not as tricked out as they could be to save the effort of a cross-release with the PS2.


Thanks for the imput Ann, keep up the updates, be nice to know how it turns out in the end (game-wise).

That's USUALLY the case, I suppose, but Konami doesn't know their way around the X-box. They wrote an incredible shader for Silent Hill 3, and they took a lot of time making everything look better than most of the stuff on the X-box. Since they are going witha more powerfull system, and because their resources were split, the X-box version will likely look more like Silent Hill 3 and the PS2 version will be somewhat left in the dark. It's much easier to get that effect on the X-box, and they may not be willing to put the effort into doing it on the PS2 with the X-box release coming.

That is merely the drawback of multiple system releases... Single system releases don't have that problem...

With the shader in SH3, I don't see how much more that they could have done to "trick out" the X-box release. They would have to do a lot of study, which they've had plenty of time to do on the PS2, and they don't have time to do that on the X-box... They know their way around PS2 and know how to pull out its potential. It just sounds like they didn't do that this time...

I'm glad MGS3 isn't gonna be cross-platform, save a likely port from the PS2 to the X-box later on. They can work their magic on the PS2 and keep pushing its potential.

[Zedian]

Thanks Ann for the input..as a fan of the series I certainly am a little skeptical now but maybe I won't put as much hype on SH 4. I didn't hype up SH 3 and it turned out just fine in my eyes...though bad camera angles are a big no-no.

So the game isn't scary huh ?

[Bobtheduck]

Sorry to rant, but people constantly complain about the camera angles in SH3... That's what the shoulder button is for... (forget which one...) Almost never have a problem with angles...

[Psycho Ann]

The camera angles in SH3 were no prob to me either. But in SH4 the shoulder camera.... all you can see IS the shoulder!! O_O;;; Tap it another time and half your screen is the back of Henry's head, the other half is the ground -_-;; It does give an additional challenge of dodging enemies going by sound alone -__-

I'll try to play again soon, got much to do currently.

[Bobtheduck]

man... I know the connection with SH2... I just had it spoiled for me... Is Robbie the Bloody Bunny? That's not what was spoiled, (since that was from SH3) but I think he'll be in all the SH games from now on...

[spoiler=Big Spoiler!] I just found out that the kid is Walter Sullivan... Man... I hope that isn't the main surprise... I wonder if Heather's admirer shows up too... Stanley was it?[/spoiler]

Oh well... Even if it's not scary, it does appear to have a good story, which is all I really care about in the end.

[Bobtheduck]

Hmm... No one has talked about Sh4 since it came out... Sad... It really is a good game so far. I mean it is different, don't doubt that, but it is a solid game. Unfortunately it isn't as deeply disturbing as the second game or even the third game. It has more simple scares, and doesn't do them as well as games that were made for that, but it has a decent story and solid gameplay despite some camera problems... Like all the SH game, you should get used to it after an hour or so.. Oh, and make sure to play on hard... Easy is way too easy... I don't know about normal, maybe that's better... I'm playing on hard. That's the best way to play, but it is FRUSTRATING though... The twins scare the crapes out of me.

As for objectionable content, it seems really sexual because of cynthia, but that goes away rather quickly... There is the matter of voyeurism... The peephole into Eileen's room can be rather seductive because even though nothing otherwise suggestive happens, as a guy I am almost waiting for it to... That's really worse than cynthia's attire and offer of a "favor".

The violence in the Silent hill games has always been less than the resident evil games... The most violent scene in the first game was right at the beginning, and there is only a little spurt of blood and the "drain" effect when you fight monsters. With the exception of the ubiquitous "corpses" and bloody mannequins there was no gore in these games. For the first time in the series, however, [spoiler]you see meaningful deaths... One women covered in blood dies in your arms, one man burns to death before your eyes, one man is electrocuted... These deaths may be rather disturbing to people because this sort of thing has been mostly missing fromthe games...[/spoiler] Even a certain SH1 event didn't compare to these deaths, in my opinion... I think this is definately the most violent SH game yet.

As for religious stuff, the pseudo biblical speak that the cult uses returns, as this game is very heavily centered around the cult again... For those of us wanting another SH2, we are all disappointed on that front... We still have hope with SH5 I suppose... I haven't finished it yet, so I don't know everything... Besides that, I think you may actually have to play both the X-box and PS2 version to get the full effect of the story... There are some differences, I heard...

The game on hard mode is rediculously hard... After a while, your house doesn't replenish you, and it becomes haunted and actually hurts you... After that point in the game, you have to use healing items to heal yourself, which are few and far between...

There is the return of the escort missions... BOOO! Yeah... At least this time, however, your escortee can fight... And boy can she fight... SHe's not hurt by the ghosts' presence like you are, so she can down them faster than you.

I need to get my PS2 back so I can finish this game...

The graphics, like psycho ann said, are varied... Some of them look better than SH3, some look like PS1 days... Of course, one room that looks really bad is only that bad because they had to downgrade the texture to allow the room to "come alive" later on... It looks much better when it starts to move.