Shade's Review of Silent Hill: Downpour

The last Silent Hill console release made by a western developer was Silent Hill: Downpour.

It was developed by Vatra Games, and released for the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 in 2012.

There was one last Western Silent Hill game that came out after Downpour called Silent Hill: Book of Memories.

Book of Memories was made by WayForward Technologies for the PlayStation Vita.

It was released in 2012, months after Downpour.

I don't currently own Book of Memories so I can't review it.

Downpour's development members involved Devin Shatsky (producer), Tomm Hulett (senior associate producer), Brian Gomez (design director), and Daniel Licht (music).

The story of Downpour was written by Hulett, Shatsky, and Tom Waltz.

This was the first Silent Hill without Akira Yamaoka as the music composer.

Shorty after the North American release of Silent Hill: Shattered Memories in December 2009, Yamaoka left Konami, and began working at Grasshopper Manufacture in early 2010.

Licht, most known as the music composer for the Showtime TV series Dexter, was Yamaoka's replacement for Downpour.

The main character of Downpour is Murphy Pendleton, an escaped prisoner.

He was being transferred to another prison when the transport bus crashed in Silent Hill, and his past comes back to haunt him as he tries to escape the town.

Controlling Murphy has some similarities with Silent Hill: Homecoming's controls.

The left analog stick moves Murphy, right analog stick moves the camera, L2/L trigger (PS3/Xbox 360) makes him go into combat mode, and X/A attacks enemies.

The Triangle/Y button blocks enemy attacks, pressing R1/R bumper makes him run, and L1/L bumper to look behind him.

The camera usually stays behind Murphy, although there are times when the camera angles change.

It's great that they were trying to bring back switching camera angles, but it's not as well done as it was in earlier games.

The camera would change in the original Silent Hill games to give a cinematic feeling, to show an important item to pick up, to go through a certain door, etc.

There isn't much of that in Downpour.

Most camera angles seem to be there just to switch camera angles.

There are times when the angle changes when Murphy is turning a valve or some other object to show what action it's doing such as opening a gate.

That does help in seeing what it's doing while you're doing it.

Other than that, however, the switching camera angles don't really serve much of a purpose in this game.

There are a few things about Downpour's controls that can accidentally make Murphy do something that players don't want him to do.

One is throwing an equipped weapon.

R2/R trigger has Murphy throw the weapon he has in his hand, and it's usually lost forever.

It's so easy to accidentally throw a weapon especially on the PS3 controller.

The L2 and R2 buttons on the PS3 controller are very sensitive, and they can be slightly pressed to perform an unwanted action in any game.

In Downpour, it's one of the many ways to lose your weapon.

Another one is the fact that the right button on the d-pad heals Murphy by using a health item in the inventory.

Quick healing him can be nice so players don't have to scroll through the many items in the inventory.

The problem, once again, is that it's not hard to mistakenly press the button, and use a health item when he doesn't need one.

This is especially true when the left button switches weapons, and players can accidentally press the right button thinking it will switch them back.

But, it uses a health item instead.

The last issue of performing unwanted actions is due to Murphy automatically implementing certain movements such climbing up and down a ladder when he's near it, or ducking under an opening when he's close enough.

In preceding games, players had to press the action button to climb up or down a ladder, duck under or over something, etc.

In Downpour, you can be walking towards an certain area, and Murphy climbs up a ladder just because you were walking passed it and got close to it.

Before talking about the combat, I would like to briefly explain the inventory system.

The inventory is similar to Silent Hill 4's inventory.

It appears at the top of the screen when the up button on the d-pad is pressed, and it does not pause the game.

Murphy is limited to only holding one melee weapon and one firearm at the same time.

Unlike Silent Hill 4, Murphy can hold an unlimited number of any other items.

There is nothing wrong with limiting the number of items the main character can carry.

This is usually done by limiting the inventory space making players decide which weapons and other items they want to carry.

It's a little strange that the number of weapons Murphy can have is limited, but other items he can carry are not restricted.

It's also a pain when all weapons are breakable.

Combat in Downpour is very frustrating.

All weapons are breakable including firearms.

This is a lot like Silent Hill: Origins where players can pick up many objects to use as weapons most of which are breakable.

The difference in Origins is that firearms are not fragile, and that game has unlimited space for weapons.

Breakable weapons are more annoying than scary.

In games like Resident Evil, players rely on firearms to defeat enemies, but you're always worried about running out of ammo.

The same is true for older Silent Hill games especially on harder modes.
And, if players use melee weapons to fight enemies then they are taking a chance of acquiring damage by getting close to them.

Breakable weapons do not make me worry about surviving.
It just makes me want to avoid combat as much as possible because I don't want to deal with them especially when enemies in this game are very good at testing your patience.

Like Homecoming, there are some doors where you must use a weapon to open a door such as a wrench to break a lock, or an axe to chop wooden planks.

With breakables weapons, though, it's common for the weapon you're using to open the door to shatter before the lock breaks, or all the wood is chopped.
Then you have to search for another weapon.

There are also parts of the game when Murphy loses his weapons.

This usually happens when Murphy is walking across a bridge, it breaks apart, and the weapons fall off of him.

Yet again, you have to search for more weapons.

Speaking of enemies testing your patience, the enemies in this game are not scary.

They piss me off.

In past games, the monsters' primary purpose is to put fear in the player.

Yes, monsters can harm the main character, but they are more about being frightening and disturbing.

Monsters nearby are often heard through radio static, and the noises they make as they come closer to the main character.
Many times you hear the monsters before you can see them, and you either avoid to them or attack them before they get too close.

Just hearing that the monsters are close by is very frightening.

In Downpour, they come running at Murphy, sometimes out of nowhere, and start beating the hell out of him.

It even happens once or twice when you're trying to solve a puzzle.

Enemies running up to Murphy and beating him doesn't make me afraid of them.

It makes me angry.

I also have to say that Downpour's enemies are poorly designed.

In previous games, particularly Silent Hill 1-4, the monsters are ambiguous and disturbing.

The monsters in Downpour look kind of silly, and do not compare to the monsters of the originals.

The nightmare is not scary either.

In Downpour, water causes the nightmare shift, which makes sense with Murphy's background.

The problem is that the nightmare itself is not disturbing or frightening at all.

For one, there are similarities with the nightmares of past games such as a red light chasing Murphy through most the game's nightmare.

Silent Hill 3 has a small part where a red light chases Heather, and she must run away from it or it will drain her health.

Since the red light chases Murphy through most of the time the nightmare takes over, there isn't much exploring in the nightmare a lot like the ice world in Shattered Memories.

There are parts where Murphy must balance on narrow objects like a tree, which reminds me of Assassin's Creed and Uncharted.

A couple times, he has to turn an object to open a gate, and run through it before it closes.

I've only ever had to do this in platforming games like Prince of Persia.

A few times, Murphy gets on a water slide, and players move him from side to side to avoid objects.

I've seen something like this in action games like Binary Domain.

I don't understand how the developers thought they were scaring players.

Reusing nightmare elements from past Silent Hill games is not scary to those of us who have played the older games.

It's also not scary to use gameplay aspects of games that are not even a part of the horror genre.

There are also a lot of prison cages, clocks and monsters in cages.

It's a very obvious reference to Murphy being in prison, and it's not disturbing in any way.

Downpour's nightmare is more like a Halloween amusement park than it is a nightmare.

Something else that makes Downpour not scary is autosaves and checkpoints.

I have no problem with autosaves and checkpoints in any other game.

In a horror game, however, saving manually is part of making players worry about surviving.

I'm guessing the Downpour developing team was thinking more about having modern video game elements like autosaves and checkpoints.

In making a horror game, on the other hand, they should understand why it's necessary to require players to save manually.

The good thing about autosaves and checkpoints is that there are many glitches in this game, and you don't lose a lot of progress if you have to restart it.

Downpour has freezing, stuttering, one of Murphy's arms can disappear at certain points, opening a door and another is in its place, and many more.

The game loads a lot, and it stutters almost every time it's loading.

The loading icon is exactly the same as the saving icon.

It even says saving when it's actually loading so you're never sure if it's saving or loading.

There is something that I like about Downpour.

In Homecoming and Shattered Memories, there are button prompts to indicate actions to perform such as opening a door, and objects to pick up are highlighted by making them flash or having arrows point at them.

Again, button prompts and object highlighting is fine for any other game.

I just always liked how Silent Hill 1-4 made it obvious about which door to go through or which objects to pick through camera angles, and having objects stand out in the environment somehow.

Downpour has button prompts and shiny objects, but they can be turned off in the options menu.

This game is the only one that I know of that has the option of turning off button prompts and highlighted objects.

Objects do flash a little bit when Murphy is close enough to them even if the object highlighting is turned off.
It could have something to do with how the game is programmed.

The option to turn these indicators off is definitely a positive for Downpour.
If only the game didn't have so many other issues.

Downpour's replayability is decent.

Action and riddle difficulties are brought back from Silent Hill 2 & 3, and each has three difficulty levels: easy, normal, and hard.

The puzzles are not bad, but there is really only one that requires players to solve a riddle to find the answer similar to the riddles of Silent Hill 1-3.

There are six endings, and several objects for players to collect.

The game introduces sidequests, but there is not a lot to be gained by completing them.

Sidequests in Silent Hill is a decent idea, but good sidequests would be to add to the story, history of the town, character background, etc.

Sidequests in Downpour are mostly ghost stories, finding ammo and health items, rewarding players with drawings of the characters, and gaining a trophy/achievement.

For me, that's not much motivation to complete sidequests.

In my reviews of Silent Hill 1-4, I said that the complicated storylines added to the replayability because it makes players replay them many times to piece the stories together.

In recent games, the stories are not very complicated, and not very good quality like the originals.

Sometimes they don't make sense with the storylines established by the first four games.

Downpour continues this problem except this time the story tries to be intricate like originals, but there are no answers unlike Silent Hill 1-4.

The big issue is Downpour's endings.

In previous games in the series, the story plays out, and each ending shows a possible outcome of that story.

In Downpour, each ending can change the story itself.

The original games always had specific answers with certain aspects that can be left to the players' imaginations.
The specific answers had to be figured out through character dialogue, memos, and images within the game.

Downpour has players pick the ending they want, and find their answers based on that ending.

That would be fine if the developers did that with any other game, but it doesn't make sense to do that with a Silent Hill game.

Out of all the games in the series, Downpour has the most issues.

I can see why it was one of the last Silent Hill games that Konami outsourced to another developer.

If you want to play the game, I would highly suggest to rent it even if you're a big Silent Hill fan.

Both PS3 and Xbox 360 versions are currently available through GameFly if you have a membership.

I would only recommend buying it if you rented it and like it, or if you're a collector of horror video games.

If you're a collector, I would advise to buy it for around five dollars or less.

Shade's Review of Silent Hill: Shattered Memories

Climax Studios, developer of Silent Hill: Origins, created the next game in the Silent Hill series: Silent Hill: Shattered Memories.

The game was released in North America on December 8, 2009 for Nintendo Wii.

It was released in Europe, Australia, and Japan in early 2010, and ported to PlayStation 2 and PlayStation Portable.

Returning development members include Tomm Hulett (producer), Mark Simmons (director), Sam Barlow (writer), and Akira Yamaoka (music).

Shattered Memories was the last Silent Hill game that Yamaoka had involvement.

I'm reviewing the Wii version of this game.

I have yet to play the PS2 and PSP versions.

Shattered Memories is a good Wii game.

It has good graphics for the system it was primarily made for, it controls well, and it has no loading screens.

Like every video game, though, it's also not without its issues.

Shattered Memories was created as a re-imagining of the first Silent Hill.

Players control Harry Mason once again.
Like the original, he is searching for his missing daughter Cheryl in Silent Hill after a car crash.

The analog stick on the nunchuck moves Harry, the Z button makes him run, and motioning the Wii remote moves the flashlight and camera at the same time.

Once more, there are no switching camera angles like the older Silent Hill games.

The camera always stays behind Harry unless the down button on the d-pad is pressed to look behind him.

There are therapy sessions at certain points in the game.
During this time, the game switches to first person mode, and only the Wii remote is used.

The motion control is used to move the camera, and to move objects.

These sessions are part of what effects the game.

The game utilizes the Wii's motion controls wonderfully.

This includes opening doors, moving objects, and many more actions.

Motion control is definitely the focus of Shattered Memories.

The problem with Shattered Memories is that it's classified as survival horror, but it's not really a scary game.

Throughout Shattered Memories, a bad snowstorm is occurring in Silent Hill, and the nightmare takes over by freezing the entire area that Harry is in.

Changing from snow to ice is a cool effect in the game, and it's a shifting nightmare similar to Silent Hill 1.

One problem is that the ice world isn't scary.

It's a cool idea for this game, but, if the creators wanted to scare players with the ice world, it's not very effective.

The monsters are not scary either.

They start out as featureless human shaped creatures, and later change shapes depending on the actions of the player.

Monsters changing shape based on the player's actions is really cool, but the monsters themselves just aren't scary.

Harry has no away of fighting the monsters.

There is no combat whatsoever in Shattered Memories.

I personally don't mind no combat in a horror game.

The problem with no combat in Shattered Memories is that it makes dealing with the monsters more frustrating than anything.

When the ice world takes over and the monsters come out, players must hightail it to the exit back to the normal snowy Silent Hill.

The monsters will constantly grab Harry, and players have to perform the actions shown on-screen with the Wii remote.

It's gets very annoying.

Harry can hide inside or under something, but the monsters always find him and drag him out.

It's best to just keep running until you reach the exit.

Flares do help in keeping the monsters away from Harry when they're lit.

Another problem with the nightmare (ice world and monsters), is that it's predictable and a little dull.

The monsters only attack when the ice world takes over making the normal world boring at times.

There is also nothing to do in the ice world except to run to the exit.

I think there are one or two parts where a puzzle has to be solved in the ice world, but that's about it.

You can explore as much as you want in the normal world, but there are very few chances to explore in the ice world.

Predictability and dullness take away a big part of what makes a horror game scary.

VHS static on the screen indicates that Harry is taking damage from the monsters.

The more static on the screen the closer Harry is to dying.

Radio static also plays when the monsters are close.

There is no inventory, no health items to heal Harry, and, of course, no weapons.

Harry's phone is used to have access to the map, save the game, take pictures, etc.

One issue is the map.

The game never has a map that shows the inside layout of the building you're in.

It only shows the town's map, and marks outside doorways of buildings.

There are some puzzles in Shattered Memories, but I didn't find them very difficult.

Only a couple require some thinking.

There are objects to collect called mementos.

As far as I know, they don't effect the outcome of the game in any way.

They're just collectibles.

Lastly, like Homecoming, Shattered Memories has on-screen button prompts as well as white arrows to point out objects that Harry can use or pick up.

I understand the need to show on-screen actions that players need to perform to push enemies off of Harry.

On the other hand, having a button prompt to open a door, or a white arrow above an object to perform an action is a little aggravating since they are obvious actions that Harry needs to do.

I understand that developers most likely want button prompts, objects to be pointed out, and directions for people who don't play video games often.

It would just be nice if they would have the option to turn off these indicators for those of us who don't need them.

Replayability in Shattered Memories is a little low.

The only incentive to replay the game is for the five endings.

There are also three possible conversations Harry can have with a character at the end of the game.

There are no difficulty levels, no extra gameplay modes, or anything like that.

The game says that it keeps a psychological profile on the player, and it changes the game based on the player's actions.

When I first read about this gameplay mechanic in previews of the game, it sounded complicated, and that it would give me a reason to play the game over and over to see the many different ways the game changes.

I read about the characters' looks changing and monsters changing shapes, but I also imagined many different ways the game could have changes such as meeting different characters each time.
Or, the nightmare would take over a certain point in one playthrough, but not take over at that same point in another playthrough.

Maybe the environments could change more somehow besides just snowing outside and turning into an ice world.

Things like that.
Once I played the game, it was obvious that it's not as complicated as it was advertised, and the game doesn't change that much.

Players' actions that determine the outcome of the game are the choices made in therapy sessions, what you look at while playing Harry, and instances of going inside one of two possible places.

For example, in the beginning of the game, Harry can either go into the diner or the bar.

Going into the diner or the bar can be a factor in determining the outcome of the game.

These actions determine how the characters look and how they talk to you, the shape of the monsters, and the ending.

I think the phone messages received are effected too.

Everything else remains the same.

It's simple to figure out how the game changes by finding out the requirements for each ending.

Shattered Memories makes for a very good Wii game.

I would recommend it to gamers who own a Wii.

It isn't scary, and the replayability is low.

But, it utilizes the motion control well, and some players will find that it has an interesting story.

As for Silent Hill fans, I would say to judge the game for yourselves.

Some fans debate about whether or not it's truly a re-imagining of Silent Hill 1.

I see most of the characters, some places, and few story elements in Shattered Memories as a reminisce of Silent Hill 1.

Other than that, I think of it as an entirely different game.

I can't recommend the PS2 or PSP versions since I haven't played them, and I don't know how well the game controls on those systems.

The Wii and PSP versions should not be hard to find for around $10-20.

The PS2 version looks to be more expensive at around $30 or higher.

Shade's Review of Silent Hill: Homecoming

Silent Hill: Homecoming was released on September 30, 2008 in North America on PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360.

The European and Australian versions were released in early 2009, but the Japanese version was canceled.

North America, Europe, and Australia also got PC releases.

Some of the graphic scenes in Homecoming were censored in some countries including Australia and Germany.

Homecoming was developed by the American studio Double Helix Games.

Members of the development team include William Oertel (producer), Tomm Hulett (associate producer), Cordy Rierson (director), Patrick J. Doody and Chris Valenziano (writers), and Akira Yamaoka (music).

Once again, Yamaoka was the only Team Silent member that had involvement in the game.

One of the first things players will notice when playing Homecoming is how different the controls are.

It's basically first person controls in the third person similar to Resident Evil 4.

The left stick moves Alex, the main character, and the right stick moves the camera.

There are no switching camera angles in this one.

The camera always stays behind Alex unless he goes into combat mode.

In past games, different camera angles would not only give players a cinematic view, but they were also an artistic way of showing players which door to go through, important items to pick up, etc.

Homecoming, on the other hand, has on-screen button prompts to let players know when an action needs to be performed.

I don't like button prompts, and I'm sure they're in Homecoming due to its common practice in current video games.

I wish the game provided the option of turning them off.

I definitely prefer the different camera angles to indicate an action needs to be performed over button prompts.

Combat is still the usual shooting enemies with firearms, or hitting them with melee weapons as in past games.
Once again, though, the controls are different.

I will give the controller layouts for both PS3 and Xbox 360 versions.

To shoot enemies, players press L2/L trigger (PS3/360) to draw the firearm equipped at which time the camera switches to an over-the-shoulder view to aim at enemies, and R2/R trigger fires the gun.

The ammo count of the gun equipped appears at the button right of the screen while the firearm is drawn, and the gun can be reloaded during this time by pressing Square/X.

For melee weapons, L2/L trigger makes Alex go into combat stance, and the camera switches to a side view of him and the enemy.

Players press X/A for fast attack, Square/X for strong attack, and Circle/B to block enemy attacks.

Combat is pretty good in Homecoming.

I like the over-the-shoulder shooting for horror games.

It makes players aim at enemies, which can be nerve-wrecking.

For me, I can get nervous when an enemy is running towards me, and I have to quickly aim and shoot it.

The side view during melee combat is decent.

It gives players a better angle while attacking enemies.

Weapons are also used to open doorways such as using a knife to tear a hole through a sheet for Alex to squeeze through it, using a steal pipe or crowbar to force a door open, etc.

There are also a lot of jumping across platforms, hopping over and ducking under things, climbing up and down ledges, and squeezing through tight openings.

I'm not really sure the point of these actions.

Maybe to break from running around and fighting enemies.

In past games, there were more exploring environments, reading memos, and solving puzzles to break from running and fighting.

There is not much exploring or reading memos in Homecoming.

There are some memos in this game, but not as much as the originals.

I also don't feel compelled to explore the environments like I do in Silent Hill 1-4.

Part of that is because the nightmare isn't unique.
It's taken directly from the Silent Hill movie.

There also isn't a lot of detail or many disturbing things to look at in the environments like the first four games.

There are puzzles in Homecoming, but, like Origins, they're not very challenging except for the one at the very end.

There isn't much riddle solving like the first three games, which is why I don't find them very challenging.

Enemies are a little tough this time around.

Each enemy is best fought with a certain weapon with a particular strategy.

For example, nurses are usually best fought with a knife using fast attacks, and firearms are best on the smog monster especially when its lungs are exposed.

Sometimes its better just to run from enemies if you can.

There are four bosses, and they also have certain weaknesses.

Each one has two phases, and each phase will require a different type of attack.

I have no problem with challenging enemies especially for a survival horror game.

The designs of the enemies, however, aren't as good as the first four games.

Maybe it's just me, but Homecoming's enemies don't seem as ambiguous as the enemies of the originals.

Like the nightmare, a few of Homecoming's enemies were taken directly from the Silent Hill movie such as the nurses, bugs, cult members in miner's uniforms, and Pyramid Head's design.

I didn't care for enemies being reused in Homecoming.

Like Silent Hill 4, surviving in Homecoming is more of a concern than Silent Hill 1-3.

Health drinks and first aid kits are more scarce than previous games, and enemies can cause plenty of damage if you don't know how to fight them.

The first time I played Homecoming, I had to use a lot of health supplies due to all the damage Alex was taking because I wasn't very good at fighting the enemies.

Plus, I would accidentally use health items, which I will explain soon.

It was such a relief when I did find a health drink or a first aid kit.

Even ammunition is not easy to come by.

During later playthroughs, I got better at fighting enemies, and I was able to conserve health supplies and ammunition better.

I like the fact that surviving is not easy in Homecoming.

Combat and surviving is mainly what the game does best.

One issue is that Homecoming really isn't psychological horror like the originals.

Silent Hill 1-3 were more focused on psychological horror.
Silent Hill 4 was a mix of psychological horror and survival horror.

Origins tried to be more like the first three games, but I never got much of a sense of either psychological horror or survival horror while playing it.

Homecoming is mostly about surviving, and graphic blood and gore horror.

I will describe the horror in Homecoming a little more later in the review.

The inventory in this game is completely different.

Silent Hill 1-3 had a pause menu inventory mapped to the select button on the PlayStation controller (start button by default in Silent Hill 2).

The inventory in those games had everything players needed, an infinite space for all weapons and items, health status, etc.

Silent Hill 4 took away the pause menu inventory, and had a limited inventory of ten slots with an item chest to store leftover items and weapons.

A health meter appeared on screen in Silent Hill 4 when the main character was in attack stance and/or attacked by enemies.

Homecoming has the pause menu inventory with no limited space, but this time there are two inventories each mapped on a different button.

L1/L bumper opens the inventory for items, and the R1/R bumper opens the inventory for weapons.

The weapon inventory also has the flashlight and radio, and they can be turned on and off by the Square/X button (flashlight) and Triangle/Y button (radio) while that inventory is open.

The same is true for health drinks and first aid kits in the item inventory.

Health status appears in both inventories as a meter.

The health meter also appears on screen when Alex takes damage.

There are problems with the inventories.

There is nothing wrong with dividing the inventory by items and weapons.

Silent Hill 3's inventory was divided like that, and it made it more organized.

Having two separate inventories mapped to two separate buttons, on the other hand, is confusing.

There were many times when I wanted to open the item inventory, but I opened the weapon one instead and vice versa.

Since health drinks and first aid kits are mapped to Square/X and Triangle/Y respectively in the item inventory, there have been several times when I accidentally used a health item when going through it.

The map can be accessed by pressing the Triangle/Y button, which is typical for a Silent Hill game.

What is not typical is an objective screen.

To bring up the objective screen, press Triangle/Y for the map then press Square/X for the list of objectives.

In the preceding games, players figured out what to do and where to go next by exploring and finding clues within the game.

There is some of that in Homecoming, but an objective screen makes it a little obvious.

At the beginning of the game in the hospital, the objective screen says, "Escape the hospital."

I would think that would be self-explanatory while playing.

I'm the type that likes to figure it out myself from the clues provided.

The good news is that the objective screen can be easily ignored by just looking at the map and not the objectives.

A new gameplay element introduced is dialogue options during some character interactions.

It's not a bad idea, but it's not well implemented.

Characters will give different responses with each dialogue option, although most of them do not effect the outcome of the story.

There are only three instances where the dialogue selected determines the ending.

There are also times when Alex is speaking to a character, and all the dialogue options can be selected making it seem pointless.

Before moving on, I must warn that Homecoming is known to have several glitches.

Every time I've played and reach the cemetery a second time, a certain area will not load.

It sometimes loads if I leave and come back.
Other times, I have to restart from where I last saved.

I've also experienced a glitch where an enemy is suspended a few inches off the ground after its dead.

I've read that some players have problems with the game freezing in certain areas, character models disappearing in cutscenes if certain actions are performed, and many more.

If you play Homecoming, beware of glitches.
Some of them are funny.

Others may force you to restart from your last save, or you may have to avoid certain areas all together.

Homecoming's replayability is ok, but it's not as high as the original games.

There is only one set of two difficulty levels: normal and hard.

The game has five endings, and each ending achieved unlocks a new costume for Alex.

One costume is unlock by using the Konami code at the main menu.

There are two extra weapons: circular saw and laser pistol.

One becomes available after beating the game once, and the other is gained after achieving a certain ending.

All typical Silent Hill characteristics, nothing new added, and nothing difficult to achieve.

Unfortunately, a great puzzle-like storyline typical of Silent Hill 1-4 is not present in Homecoming.

Like Origins, the story and nightmare in Homecoming are my biggest criticisms.

Homecoming is about Alex Shepherd returning from the military to his family's house in Shepherd's Glen.

His father and brother have disappeared, and his mother is in a catatonic state.

He finds out that other people in the town have disappeared as well.

Alex has a bad feeling that something has happened to his brother, and goes in search of him.

The premise isn't bad.

The quality of the story, and the way it's presented isn't so good.

In Silent Hill 1-4, pieces of information about the story is given throughout the games through character dialogue, memos, and images.

Players take all the information, and put everything together to understand the story.

Homecoming has little information through most the game, and everything is made obvious towards the end.

One character tells Alex much of what happened in the events prior to the start of the game, and then there is a big reveal right before the final boss.

Moreover, in the originals, the disappearance of Silent Hill residents was always left a mystery.

In Homecoming, it becomes clear what happened to Shepherd's Glen residents in the latter half of the game.

As for the nightmare, it's pretty much taken straight from movie like I said previously.

It isn't unique and detailed like the originals.

Even some of the enemies are taken from the movies, and they're really not disturbing like the monsters in Silent Hill 1-4 due to lack of ambiguity.

In addition, Homecoming has graphic blood and gore like most modern American horror films whereas the first four games had suggested images such as a human shaped body in a certain pose that makes players use their imaginations.

I know some people like graphic blood and gore horror, but I personally prefer the horror of Silent Hill 1-4.

Homecoming is a mediocre game on its own merit.

As a Silent Hill game, it has many issues.

Combat and surviving are the good points of the game.
Everything else: story, nightmare, inventory, etc. is not so good.

I want to mention that even though I think that combat in Homecoming is good, I don't think it's better or worse than the combat in Silent Hill 1-3.

Some people seem to think that combat in the first three games is bad, and that it's because the main characters are ordinary people.

On the contrary, the combat in the originals is not bad, and I'm sure the combat has nothing to do with the characters.

Combat is the way it is in those games because that was the standard set by the first Resident Evil.

In some ways, Silent Hill 1-3's combat improved on Resident Evil's combat particularly with melee weapons.

I've heard similar remarks that Homecoming's combat method is due to Alex being a soldier.

That may have effected the American team's decision, but Homecoming's combat may have something to do with the new gameplay standard set by Resident Evil 4.

Resident Evil 4 influenced the gameplay in many modern video games, and Homecoming may be one of them.

Would I recommend Homecoming to anyone?
Probably not because it's not for everyone.

If a person loves survival horror, but is not a huge Silent Hill fan then I might suggest that he or she give it a try.

For anyone that loves the original Silent Hill games, judge the game for yourself, but, like Origins, don't be surprised if you have problems with it.

GameFly currently has Homecoming available to rent for both PS3 and Xbox 360 if you have a membership.

If you don't have a GameFly membership, I would recommend buying it used for $10 or less if you want to try it.

Shade's Review of Silent Hill: Origins

I've decided to go ahead and review the recent Silent Hill games: Origins, Homecoming, Shattered Memories, and Downpour.
I admit that I do not care for these games.
I don't think they measure up to the original four games for several reasons, but I will do the best that I can to be objective in reviewing them.

Silent Hill: Origins was released on the PlayStation Portable in North America, Europe, and Japan in late 2007.

It was ported to PlayStation 2 in spring 2008.

Origins was developed by Climax Studios making it the first Silent Hill game not made by Team Silent.

The Origins development team included William Oertel (producer), Tomm Hulett (associate producer), Mark Simmons (director), Sam Barlow (writer), and Akira Yamaoka (music).

Yamaoka is the only Team Silent member that had a role in making Origins.

The gameplay style is very similar to Silent Hill 1-3.

R trigger (combat stance) plus X to attack enemies, L trigger to move camera, analog stick to move the main character Travis, etc.

The only control issue is that there are no tank controls.

No tank controls can be a problem when the camera angles changes.

It is easy to accidentally have Travis go in the opposite direction when the camera angle changes.

It may be due to people complaining that they don't like tank controls.

Like Silent Hill 4, Origins also demonstrates that tank controls are needed in a game that changes angles.

The flashlight button is mapped to the circle button like the first three games, though whether or not having the flashlight on in Origins is not as much of a dilemma as in past games.
In Silent Hill 1-3, the flashlight attracted enemies, but the main character could not see in the dark with the flashlight off.

I always just keep the flashlight on, and take my chances with enemies.

In Origins, Travis can somehow see without the flashlight in the dark so it's much easier to run around with the flashlight off.
In fact, there is an accolade in the game for only having the flashlight turned on for a certain amount of time.

Sometimes, however, enemies will still attack Travis in the dark with the flashlight off.

When an enemy grabs Travis, quick time button presses will appear on screen.

Hit the right button at the right time, and Travis will push the enemy off.

Fail to do so, however, and the enemy will hit Travis.

It's a little odd to have quick time events (QTE) in a Silent Hill game.

I couldn't find any interviews from Origins development members on why QTE was added, but I presume it's due to the popularity of games like God of War and Resident Evil 4 where QTE is common.
 

There isn't a lot to say about the enemies in the game.

They're not difficult to fight.

They're more annoying to deal with especially since QTE is used when they grab Travis, and most weapons are breakable.

Their designs are not disturbing like in the monsters in Silent Hill 1-4.

Part of what made the monsters in the originals disturbing was their ambiguity.

It takes awhile to figure out how each monster is disturbing.

I don't see ambiguity in Origins' monsters.

To attack enemies, Travis has many items he can use as weapons.

He can uses TVs, knives, shovels, wrenches, etc. etc.

All melee weapons, except extra weapons, are breakable.

There are firearms as well, but they are sturdy.

I'm not a big fan of breakable weapons.

I find them to make a horror game more frustrating than frightening.

Every time I've played a new game from scratch in Origins, I avoid combat unless I have to engage in it such as boss fights because of the breakable weapons I didn't want to deal with.

In subsequent playthroughs, I used the extra weapons to fight enemies.

Travis carries weapons and other items in the pause menu inventory like the first three games.

Players can access the inventory by pressing the select button.

The D-pad can also be used to scroll through weapons without pausing the game.

Among the items that can be collected are energy drinks for Travis' stamina, but players don't need to worry too much about collecting them.

The reason is because when Travis is running, he will get tired and slow down after a few minutes, but he'll run like normal again a few seconds later.

One last thing I'll say about the gameplay is the puzzles.

The puzzles aren't bad, but I didn't find them to be as challenging as the puzzles in the original three games.

I think it's most likely due to the fact that most puzzles in Silent Hill 1-3 are solved by figuring out riddles in the games.
There isn't much riddle solving in Origins, which may be why I didn't find them very challenging.

The puzzles in Origins can be fun, but not quite a challenging as past games.

As for replayability, Origins has a few reasons to replay it.

There are no difficulty levels, but there are three endings.

The game also has accolades that can be achieved through players' actions.

Each accolade achieved rewards players with a costume or an extra weapon.

The replayability in Origins is decent, but I do think it's hindered by the lack of difficulty levels.

In my reviews of Silent Hill 1-4, I said that the storylines contribute to their replayability because they are presented like a puzzle, and it takes multiple playthroughs of each game to understand them.

That is not quite so true with Origins.

In fact, the story and nightmare presentation of Origins are my biggest criticisms of the game.

I'll try to keep this spoiler free.

The story of Origins takes place seven years before the first game.

A truck driver named Travis Grady is dragged into the events of the town when he drives through Silent Hill.

Origins acts as a prequel to Silent Hill 1, but there are a lot of things about the story of Origins that doesn't make sense with the story of Silent Hill 1.

I also don't find the story of Origins to be presented like a puzzle like the first four games.

The nightmare consists of switching between the normal version of an area to the scary version of the same area by Travis touching mirrors.

Mirrors are kind of  a neat concept for a horror game.

For Silent Hill, however, giving players the ability to switch between normal and nightmare versions of the area they're in takes away some of the horror.

The idea of mirrors in Origins also does not make sense with the nightmare of Silent Hill 1-4.

For anyone who understands and likes the storylines of Silent Hill 1-4, the story and nightmare of Origins may be problematic for you.

Silent Hill: Origins is not a bad horror game for PSP especially when there are really no other horror games for the system.

If you love the story and nightmare of the original four games then you might have some issues with Origins.

A used copy of the PSP version can be found for around $10 or less.

The PS2 version may be a little higher though.

It also was released on the PlayStation Store for PS3 exclusively in Europe.

I would recommend Origins for anyone who has a PSP, and would like a horror game for it.

For fans of the original Silent Hill games who have not played Origins, I would suggest to judge the game for yourselves, but don't be surprise if you think that it doesn't measure up to its predecessors.

What Happened to Team Silent's Silent Hill 5?

In a 2004 Boomtown interview on Silent Hill 4: The Room with Masashi Tsuboyama (director of SH2 & art director of SH4) and Akira Yamaoka (series sound director & producer of SH3 & SH4) are asked about the future of the series.

One of them responds, "A fifth game is being planned but it will not be for this generation, although we do not know for what formats exactly. We have seen the rumours that the next game will be called Silent Hill 5: Shadows, but we can say that this is not true, we have no idea where this rumour came from!"

When asked about the next Silent Hill game in another interview with Game World in 2005, Akihiro Imamura (producer of SH2 & sub-producer of SH4) says, "Maybe I'll get in trouble for this, so Konami Japan don't fire me, but we are interested in playing with the idea of 'light'... as in 'daylight' and shadows. Ever since the pre-production of SH2, we wanted to start a SH in a normal environment- daylight, people going about their business, just normality. What happens when you make that normality rot all around you? It is possible to make a normal sunny day really creepy. Just look at films like the original Texas Chainsaw Massacre or even one of our favorites, Jacobs Ladder."

I don't how, but I actually remember reading these interviews after finishing Silent Hill 4 for the first time.
I was so excited that they were making another game.

I love all four games, and I could not wait for a fifth.
The concept of light and shadows sound very interesting for a Silent Hill game.
I'd love to see how Team Silent could make daylight creepy.

One possibility for Silent Hill 5's storyline could have been the original Silent Hill 3 story.

The original Silent Hill 3 story was much different than the story in the final product.

Fans were begging for a direct continuation of Silent Hill 1 so Team Silent set aside the original story to satisfy fans' pleas.

In the same interview with Game World, Imamura and Yamaoka were asked if they could say what the original Silent Hill 3 story was about.

Yamaoka responds, "Unfortunately no, since we plan on using it for a future game. (laughing) It was much more along the lines of the second, where the main character was a damaged human being, summoned to the town for a very specific reason. It was, or should say is, the darkest story we have come up with."

Imamura goes on to say that "I'm sure a lot would have to be cut. Just the preliminary scenario had elements that would most likely not be approved by the ratings boards. Another thing is we really didn't want to use a similar template as SH2 for the game that followed it. That was another deciding factor in changing SH3."

Could this have been used for the story of Silent Hill 5?

We really have no way of knowing.

We just know what Imamura and Yamaoka said in this interview.

I'm happy with how Silent Hill 3 & 4 turned out, however it's also frustrating that we never got to see this story as well as their concept of light and shadows.

The fact that they said that it's the "darkest story" they've made, and some things may "not be approved by the ratings board" makes me wonder what this story was about.

After these interviews, there was virtually no word on Silent Hill 5.

Silent Hill: Origins was announced at E3 2006 for the PSP, and confirmed that it was in development by the Western developer Climax Studios.

I will admit that I have issues with Origins especially the story, but it's not a surprise that it was made by another developer.

It is not uncommon for a handheld installment of a video game series to be made by a different developer.

For example, the God of War series is made by SCE Santa Monica, but the two PSP entries (Chains of Olympus & Ghost of Sparta) were made by Ready at Dawn.

At least for me, the fact that Origins was confirmed that it was being made by a different developer didn't entirely indicate that Team Silent was no longer making Silent Hill games.

Then at E3 2007, another Silent Hill was announced as Silent Hill V, and that it was being developed by the American studio The Collective.
The Collective later became Double Helix Games, and Silent Hill V was renamed Silent Hill: Homecoming before its released in 2008.

At this point, I had been waiting for Silent Hill 5 for two years.

I was a little disappointed that Silent Hill V being made by a completely different developer was announced instead.

I had the same concerns that some other fans had about the new game including an American developer would not understand the story and horror of Silent Hill 1-4.
I was afraid that the game would mostly be jump scares and a slaughterfest like most modern American horror movies.

That's pretty much how Homecoming turned out.

I got both Origins and Homecoming soon after they were released.

I had some hope that these games would be good, and that they could carry on what Team Silent did with the original four games.

I did find some enjoyment in playing them.

I didn't have a very good understanding of Silent Hill 1-4 at that time, but I knew that Origins and Homecoming didn't feel like Silent Hill games.
I just couldn't put my finger on it.

The more I began to understand the original four games, the more problems I had with the new games.

The same thing happened with the next two games: Shattered Memories and Downpour.

I know Shattered Memories is supposed to be a re-imagining of Silent Hill 1, but I think it's debatable about whether or not it's truly a re-imagining of the first game.

I gave each Western Silent Hill game a chance, and each time I was disappointed.

Since Konami began outsourcing Silent Hill, I've been asking two questions.

What the hell happened to Silent Hill?

And, where is Team Silent?

There has been no official information on what happened to Team Silent.

There are only rumors.

One rumor is that Konami disbanded Team Silent due to the mixed reaction and lower sales of Silent Hill 4.

Another one is that the team was done with Silent Hill, and Konami wants to milk the series to death by having other developers make sequels.

An artist on the Homecoming developing team, Kenzie LaMar, seems to have confirmed the first rumor.

The Escapist quotes LaMar's comments on his DeviantArt page, "Just remember and never forget that if you don't like the direction of where Silent Hill went the only people you can blame are Konami themselves. They are the ones who canned team Silent and wanted someone else to make the games."

I went to LaMar's DeviantArt page, and I couldn't find this exact quote.

I did, however, find a very interesting comment on his Smog 3D artwork.

LaMar responded to a person saying that they had wished Silent Hill 5 was made by Team Silent when he wrote, "Most people just assume the American team was to blame for all the changes when the reality is that it was Konami that wanted the changes. Team Silent was making a Silent Hill 5 and it got canned in favor of what ended up being done. They didn't want more of the same."

Of course, the validity of his statements can be questioned.

At the same time, it would not surprise me if Konami broke up Team Silent in favor of taking the series in a different direction.

I know there are individuals at Konami that make the decisions on Silent Hill games, but we don't know who exactly at Konami made these decisions.

That is why is I say Konami did this or that despite the fact that it was probably a small group of individuals within Konami that made these decisions.

Some fans believe that Team Silent wanted the series to end with Silent Hill 3, and I think it's partly due to comments made by Masahiro Ito, creature designer of Silent Hill 1-3.

In Part 3 of Twin Perfect's The Real Silent Hill Experience video series, Rosseter says that an administer of silenthill5.net forums traded emails with Ito, and Ito's response was "My real intention is SH is over."

The website silenthill5.net seems to be no longer active so I can't find this particular quote.

If Ito thinks that Silent Hill should end, I understand where he is coming from.

On the other hand, he is the only Team Silent member that I know of that has expressed that the series is done.

That does not mean that other Team Silent members that were still working at Konami Computer Entertainment Tokyo (KCET) after Silent Hill 3 & 4 were done with the series as well.

If Team Silent was done with the series then why were Tsuboyma, Imamura, and Yamaoka talking about making Silent Hill 5 in interviews?

Plus, they planned on making the original Silent Hill 3 story into a future game.

Of course, it is also true that the Silent Hill decision makers at Konami probably wanted the series to continue for business reasons, and they are the main people who decide if the series should keep going.

Meanwhile the remaining Team Silent members were still willing to make another Silent Hill game as indicated in the interviews.

We obviously don't know for certain, but it is possible that Konami took the series away from Team Silent and gave it to Western developers.

I've read some arguments by Silent Hill fans that they thought Silent Hill 4 was the weakest of the four games, and say that the series probably would've still gone downhill if it had stayed with Team Silent.

It is a possibility that if Silent Hill 5 and any more sequels made by Team Silent would not have been as good as the first few games.

On the contrary, what about Imamura and Yamaoka in the Game World interview stating that they had been listening to fans' criticisms of Silent Hill 4, and wanted to improve the next game?

In that interview, Imamura says "After the underwhelming response SH4 got, we've been gathering opinions from everywhere to make sure we come back strong with the next installment."

When asked if there would be no Otherworld in Silent Hill 5, Imamura responds, "I'm not saying that. In fact, the lack of a more dramatic 'otherworld' in SH4 bothered a lot of fans, so we intend to have a very impressive 'otherworld' with the next generation power."

By taking these statements into consideration, it's also possible that Team Silent's Silent Hill 5 could've been a good entry in the series.

Weeks before this interview with Game World was published in April 2005, KCET along with three other Konami studios merged to form Kojima Productions.

As we all know, Kojima Productions is making the new Silent Hill.

Looking at it that way, it seems the series is back with the developer that made the original four games, although we don't know which Team Silent members are currently working at Kojima Productions.

Wikipedia's page on Team Silent says that Suguru Murakoshi (drama director of SH2; writer & director of SH4) and Kazuhide Nakazawa (director of SH3) are working with Kojima Productions.

Unfortunately, I can't find other sources to verify this information.

Hopefully, Team Silent members working at Kojima Productions have roles in the new game.

It would be great if Kojima would get the team back together, but that seems too much to hope for.

In my PT demo impressions post, I wrote that I hope that Silent Hills is the Silent Hill 5 I've been waiting for.

That would be awesome, but now I have a hard time believing that will actually happen.

Silent Hills does make me nervous with the hype surrounding it, the disappointment of recent Silent Hill games, involvement of Norman Reedus and Guillermo Del Toro, and the fact that there is very little information about the game.

At the Tokyo Game Show 2014, Kojima said that they're looking into using an episodic format for Silent Hills.

I hope not.

I'm not a big fan of video games being divided into episodes.

Silent Hills may not be Silent Hill 5, but I hope it ends up being a good game.

Who knows if any official information on why Team Silent's Silent Hill 5 was never finished and released.

All we know is that they were making a fifth game, but Konami hired other developers to make Silent Hill games before they finished it.

I think it's unfortunate that we never got to play Team Silent"s Silent Hill 5.

Like I said, I would've liked to see their ideas of making daylight creepy, and their original Silent Hill 3 story come to fruition.

That seems to be very unlikely to happen, however.

Each of us has our own hopes for the new game.

All I can hope for is that the team making Silent Hills at Kojima Productions learns from the criticisms of recent Silent Hill games, and make a great new horror game in a similar spirit of Team Silent's Silent Hill.

Sources

Tsuboyama and Yamaoka Interview with Boomtown (Apr. 31, 2004)
http://www.silenthillmemories.net/creators/interviews/2004.08.31_tsuboyama_yamaoka_boomtown_en.htm

Konami Absorbs its Studios (Dec. 16, 2004)
http://www.gamespot.com/articles/konami-absorbing-its-studios/1100-6115221/

Imamura and Yamaoka Interview with Game World (Apr. 23, 2005)
http://www.silenthillmemories.net/creators/interviews/2005.04.23_imamura_yamaoka_gameworld_en.htm

Hideo Kojima Exclusive Q&A (May 20, 2005)
http://www.gamespot.com/articles/hideo-kojima-exclusive-qanda/1100-6126180/

Kenzie LaMar's DeviantArt - Konami wanted the changes (June 22, 2010)
http://hedrus.deviantart.com/art/Smog-3D-Silent-Hill-5-101371201?offset=130#comments

Twin Perfect: The Real Silent Hill Experience Part 3 - Silent Hill 3 (Oct. 30, 2010)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1lFiAkjaFSo&index=4&list=PL87676CF7D0B816B4

Silent Hill Artist Claims Konami Disbanded Team Silent (Jan. 18, 2011)
http://www.escapistmagazine.com/news/view/107042-Silent-Hill-Artist-Claims-Konami-Disbanded-Team-Silent

New Silent Hill Game May Be Released in Episodic Format (Sept. 18, 2014)
http://www.gamespot.com/articles/new-silent-hill-game-may-be-released-in-episodic-f/1100-6422395/

Shade's Review of Silent Hill 4: The Room

One year after the release of Silent Hill 3 in 2003, Silent Hill 4: The Room hit the PlayStation 2, Xbox, and PC.

During the development of Silent Hill 3, Team Silent split in two teams.

The first team including Hiroyuki Owaku and Masahiro Ito created Silent Hill 3.

The second team involved Suguru Murakoshi (writer & director), Kosuke Iwakura (program director), Masashi Tsuboyama (art director & creature designer), Akira Yamaoka (sound director & producer), and Akihiro Imamura (sub-producer) developed what came to be known as Silent Hill 4: The Room.

I am including several quotes from Team Silent members Masashi Tsuboyama, Akira Yamaoka, and Akihiro Imamura from interviews around the time that Silent Hill 4 was released (2004-2005).

Silent Hill 4 has a lot of changes in gameplay making it different from the first three games.

Some fans like the game, and some don't.

These quotes are from the team members explaining why the game is the way it is.

Whether these changes are liked or not, it's good to know why the creators made the decisions for the changes.

The links for the interviews I use are pasted at the end.

For years, it has been claimed by many fans that Silent Hill 4 was not originally suppose to be a Silent Hill game.

In an interview in April 2005, Akihiro Imamura states "Well, keep in mind SH4 was not originally suppose to be a Silent Hill."

Masashi Tsuboyama and Akira Yamaoka said in an interview, "In a sense this is true because the game began life as simply Room 302. However, it was always at least a spin-off of Silent Hill and the most important thing was simply that it be different to the previous games. Certainly if Silent Hill had not existed we would not have gotten the idea for The Room, so in that sense they have always been together."

Unfortunately, the Boomtown interview with Tsuboyama and Yamaoka does not list who gave each answer.
Due to this, I don't if Tsuboyama or Yamaoka said the latter quote.

Despite this fact, both quotes prove that Silent Hill 4 started out as a game with a connection to Silent Hill with the working title Room 302, and later called Silent Hill 4: The Room.

Some Silent Hill fans claim that Silent Hill 4 is a Silent Hill game in name only because Konami thought it would make more money with a Silent Hill title.

It is possible that Room 302 became Silent Hill 4 partly due to a business decision.

Business decisions play a big role on how video games turn out.

Whether Room 302 became Silent Hill 4 due to a business decision or a creative decision (maybe both played a role), Silent Hill 4 has everything to do with its predecessors.
Yes, it is quite different from the previous games, but it makes a good Silent Hill game even with its changes and its flaws.

The protagonist of Silent Hill 4 is Henry Townsend.

He lives in a city called South Ashfield, and he has been living in his apartment room 302 of South Ashfield Heights for two years.

One day he began having a strange dream every night, and he became trapped in his room.

The door is chained on the inside, he can't open the windows, he can't make phone calls to anyone, and no one outside his apartment can hear him no matter how much noise he makes.

After five days of being confined in his room, a large hole appears in the wall of his bathroom, and his only choice is to crawl through it with the hopes of escaping.

The first thought that comes to someone's mind might be, "if it doesn't take place in Silent Hill then what does this game have to do with Silent Hill?"

I can't answer this question without giving too much of the plot away.

I will say that Henry visits different dream worlds when he goes through the hole in his bathroom wall.

Two of these dream worlds take place in or near Silent Hill.

Also keep in mind that part of Silent Hill 3 does not take place in the town itself.

Just because the game does not entirely take place in Silent Hill does not mean that it has nothing to do with the town.

The game has two different play styles.

Henry's room is always in first person mode, and all exploration outside of Henry's room is in third person mode.

This is the first Silent Hill to have first person mode.

Some people don't seem to like first person in Silent Hill 4.

I have no problems with first person in the game, and it controls just fine.

The buttons are mapped the same in first person as it is in third person.
The only difference is that there is no fighting while you're in the room (all fighting take place outside the room in third person), and the left analog stick is used to walk while the right analog stick moves the camera.

In the Boomtown interview with Tsuboyama and Yamaoka, they're asked about using first person for the room, and one of them responds, "We wanted to bring another kind of atmosphere to the game, as if you really were in the room."

When asked about the game's setting in the same interview, "The idea for The Room is that we wanted to show somewhere that should be the safest place in the world. But turning this assumption on its head we hope to generate the fear you feel in the game."

It definitely worked for me.

Being in first person in Henry's room makes me feel like I'm really in that room, and I feel safe in there.

The room even heals Henry's health, but that changes later in the game when Henry's room is not a very safe place to be anymore.

When I first played Silent Hill 4 and I got to this point in the game, I had to quit playing for a while.

The fact that the room was no longer safe made me feel very uncomfortable.

The room also serves as a hub.

You save your game in the room, and there is no other place to save.

The pause inventory screen with infinite space in Silent Hill 1-3 is not in Silent Hill 4.

Instead, the inventory is limited to ten slots.

Players access the inventory by pressing the square button (PS2 version), and the items in the inventory appear at the bottom of the screen.

The d-pad scrolls through the items, and pressing square will equip a weapon or use an item.

The game does not pause when the inventory items are on the screen.

I think the game pauses when you examine an item in the inventory though, and players do this by pressing the select button.

Unneeded items can be storied in a chest in Henry's room, which does have infinite space.

Understandably, some fans do not like this kind of inventory.

One criticism I have is that it is easy to accidentally press square, and use an item like a health drink when you don't need it.

I do wish Silent Hill 4 had the pause inventory screen like the previous games except with just ten slots to hold items.

Limiting item inventory is not well liked by some fans either especially when items like health drinks, ammunition, etc. will go in each slot one at a time.

For example, if you want to take two health drinks then one will go in one slot and the other will go in the next slot.

Limiting inventory space, how many items each slot can carry, and how often you can save your game are among the main characteristics of survival horror.

Silent Hill has always been categorized as survival horror since that it is how all horror video games are known.

In Silent Hill 1-3, players do have to worry about surviving to a certain extent especially on harder difficulties, but they're more focused on psychological horror.
Silent Hill 4 is more of a mix of psychological horror and survival horror.

Surviving is more of a worry in Silent Hill 4.

One tip I have for surviving in the game is to take advantage of the room healing Henry's health in the first half of the game, and save as many health items as you can for later in the game when the room no longer heals him.

The inventory is not as good as Silent Hill 1-3, but it is not bad either.

I just have the one criticism of how easy it is to use a health item when you don't need it.

Speaking of Henry's health.

Since there is no inventory pause screen, a meter for Henry's health appears on the upper left corner of the screen when he takes damage and/or when he is fighting enemies.

I've heard an argument that the on-screen health meter is a distraction while you're playing.
That is true in a way.
The good thing is that the health meter is not on screen when Henry is not taking damage or fighting enemies.
Thus, it is not a distraction throughout the game.

I could not find any interviews of the team explaining why they changed the inventory.

I'm guessing it's partly because they wanted the room to be the place players spend a lot of time in, and it is place that you spend a lot of time in.

You will go to the room to heal Henry's health (part of the game), save your game, and store items in the chest.

Most memos in the game are found at the front door of the room as if they were pushed under it from the outside.

You can look through the peephole of the front door to see characters walking outside.

There are some scenes with these characters through the peephole.

You can also look through Henry's window, and see everything going on outside including what tenets are doing on the other side of the building.

The room is kind of fun namely since this is the only Silent Hill game that has such a concept.

Something else to note is that there is more fighting and less puzzles than past games.

Akihiro Imamura explains in an interview with Game World why Silent Hill 4 has more fighting, "Sometimes the most vocal opinions, for example the desire for more battles, are not always the best ones, especially for a series like this. We wanted more melee combat in SH4, but realized from fan reaction that there was just too much action, regardless of it being melee or not. That kind of action doesn't make the atmosphere creepy anymore, but kind of obnoxious."

Were there people asking for more fighting in Silent Hill?

This quote makes it sound like it.

Team Silent seemed to be good about listening to their fans.

Silent Hill 3 was originally suppose to have a completely different story, but fans wanted a continuation of Silent Hill 1.

Due to fans' requests, Silent Hill 3 was made show the outcome of the characters' stories from the first game.

Increasing combat and decreasing puzzles may have been due to some fan requests.

This got a mixed reaction, and Team Silent was going to correct it with the next game that unfortunately never happened.

I admit that it is too bad that Silent Hill 4 does not have puzzles like the first three games, but it doesn't take away from the game being good.

Like Imamura said, there is more melee combat this time.

There are two firearms in game: pistol and revolver.

I use melee weapons throughout most of the game such as the steel pipe, baseball bat, shovel, and axe.

I save the pistol or revolver for certain parts of the game.

There are several golf clubs that can be used as weapons, but I don't pick them up because they're breakable.

I find breakable weapons to be frustrating.

Enemies in the game are a little difficult to fight at times.

Their difficulty could be a way of making the game more action based and/or make it more difficult to survive.

Another change is that the game doesn't have tank controls like its ancestors, which makes it difficult to control Henry when the camera goes to a different angle.

Again, I can't find any information on why they did this.
My guess is that it could be due to people complaining that they don't like tank controls.

Silent Hill 4 shows that tank controls are needed in a game where the camera is not behind the main character at all times.

One last change that I must list is that Henry never gets a flashlight or a radio.

The flashlight and radio played a role in the horror in the preceding games.

The flashlight allows the player (and the character) to see better in the darkness, but having the flashlight on can also attract enemies to attack the character.

The radio emits static when enemies are nearby, which in itself can be frightening when you can't see enemies in the fog or dark.

In Silent Hill 4, all the areas are well-light, and the flashlight is not needed.

There is a radio, but it stays in the room.

In the first half of the game, you can listen to some radio messages every so often.

It is more useful later in the game.

The fact that the flashlight is not needed and the radio stays in the room may be due to the game having less fog and darkness.

Tsuboyama and Yamaoka explain why the game is more well-light in the Boomtown interview, "The brightness of the game, the lack of fog and darkness, is to ensure that combat is fair but it could affect the atmosphere negatively. We didn’t want it that way. This time we wanted to do more obvious horror – to make the question for the player what to do about a monster rather than wondering what or where it is."

I agree that less fog and darkness (as well no flashlight and no radio with Henry) does hurt the atmosphere a little bit.

At the same time, I do think more about what to do when I see enemies.
It makes me contemplate whether I should try to fight them or run.

It may not be as scary, but it does work the way that they wanted it to.

Before I move on to explain the replayability, I must give a little word of caution.

There are three things about Silent Hill 4 that some fans have a lot of dislike for: revisiting the dream worlds, the escort mission, and Henry's personality.

By revisiting dream worlds, I mean that in the first half of the game you play through five different worlds.

After playing through the hospital (which is the midpoint of the game), you play through the same five worlds for the second half of the game.

Of course, there is a reason why Team Silent chose to organize the game this way.

Tsuboyama and Yamaoka explain this in the Boomtown interview, "In regards revisiting the different worlds in the game, we wanted to introduce the various characters in the first half of the game, then show them again later to see how they had changed. To us it was more important to see the psychological horror of the characters."

If you've played the game or will play the game, this will make a lot more sense.

It is actually not uncommon in Silent Hill to revisit an area.

At least once or twice in Silent Hill 1-3, you play through an area such as the school or hospital while it's normal.

Then something triggers the nightmare to take over changing the environment, and you explore the same area again this time in its hellish form.

The entire second half of Silent Hill 4 is revisiting areas except the environments don't change much.

I definitely understand that revisiting all the worlds a second time is to see how the characters you meet in the first half have changed, but it does feel a little repetitive.

Maybe it would have helped if the environments had changed a lot more the second time around.

Revisiting the worlds with much different environments could make it feel less repetitive.

Something else about the second half of the game is that Henry has to escort another character.

Yes, he must escort someone else throughout the latter half of the game.

The other character is also injured so Henry must wait on this person to go though a door, or the character will be left behind.

You can equip the escort character with a weapon, which can help in fighting enemies.

The problem is that if you want to run from enemies, the other character will be too busy hitting enemies to follow Henry.

Furthermore, when the other character fights enemies then that person is more likely to take damage.

The character doesn't die while following Henry.

The amount of damage this person has, however, can effect the ending.

Once again, I have yet to find information on why the creators decided on an escort mission.

I understand that whether or not this person is saved is one of the conditions for the endings.

I do think, however, that saving this character could've been done differently than having an injured companion through half of the game.

One last thing that I must mention is that Henry does not have much of a personality, and that bothers some players.

Tsuboyama and Yamaoka explain Henry's character, "It is true that Henry does not change much as a character, but rather things change around him. Henry is supposed to be the player so we wanted it to be possible for you to impose your own feelings of the game onto him, without him contradicting you. Also if the character is too heroic, this might be unrealistic. We wanted him to react to everything just as an ordinary person would."

Henry's personality does not bother me.
In fact, it makes sense that he doesn't have much of a personality because the story has very little focus on him, and he does not impose feelings on the player like Tsuboyama and Yamaoka said.

Much of the thoughts and feelings from the game will come from the other characters, reading memos, the disturbing images, and the seclusion of the room with one way out.

Now for the replayability.

I've heard some fans say that Silent Hill 4 does not have good replayability like the first three games.
That depends on how one looks at it.

I look at all four games, and see that each one has its own elements of replayability with two things that are common among all of them.

It doesn't have fourteen difficulties like Silent Hill 3, nor are there two sets of difficulty levels for action and riddles like Silent Hill 2 & 3.

It has one set of three difficulty levels: easy, normal and hard.

When the game is beaten once, save after the results screen, and Brand New Fear can be played during the second playthrough.

There is an extra weapon when playing Brand New Fear: the chainsaw.

If a player scores 90 points, an unlimited sub-machine gun will be available for the escort character during the next game.

The two female characters can wear sexy costumes, but players must fulfill certain conditions for each woman to wear them.

There are also two in-game challenges.

Beat the game with a perfect score to unlock one weapon mode.

In one weapon mode, players choose one melee weapon to use during the entire game.

Then beat one weapon mode with a perfect score to unlock all weapon mode.

The two common replayability elements in all four games are multiple endings and the intricate storylines.

Silent Hill 4 has four endings, and which ending a player gets depends on two factors.

As for the storyline, some fans say that the quality of Silent Hill 4's story is not as good as past games.

A few others say that it has nothing to do with Silent Hill.

I respectfully disagree with both statements.

Like Silent Hill 1-3, the story of Silent Hill 4 is not straightforward, and requires multiple playthroughs to better understand it.

Silent Hill 4's connection with the first three games is not obvious, and it takes good comprehension of all four games to see the connection.

The nightmare in Silent Hill 4 also has everything to do with the nightmares in the previous games.

The nightmare and the trigger for the nightmare is different in each game, and that includes Silent Hill 4.

I love Silent Hill 4 just as much as the first three games.

I would love to recommend Silent Hill 4 to anyone that likes Silent Hill 1-3, but I know it's not a game for every Silent Hill fan.

The gameplay in Silent Hill 4 isn't quite as good as the previous games, but I still enjoy it very much.

If you have not played the game, and there things that I wrote about it that you are not sure about then I would recommend watching some gameplay footage on YouTube, Twitch or Hitbox.

It's always best to play the game yourself to see if it's for you, but seeing the gameplay footage can show how the game is played before deciding to buy it.

For anyone who plays some of the game and decides that you don't like it, I would suggest to give it another chance after some time has passed.

Honestly, I did not like Silent Hill 4 when I first got it, and played the beginning of it.

A few months later, I gave it a second try, and I really liked it

Tsuboyama in the Kizio interview comments on the concept of Silent Hill 4, "We wanted to make a sequel after Silent Hill 3 and you could say that was the initial concept, but upon that we needed to implement a lot of new flavour to the sequel, otherwise it would have been the same old Silent Hill."

Silent Hill 4 does bring something new to the series, but it is a big change from the first three games.

It's common for people to have a hard time accepting big changes.

If you love Silent Hill 1-3, and you think that story along with the nightmare is more important than gameplay then I say give Silent Hill 4 a shot.

It shouldn't be hard find on PS2 and Xbox, although the PC version seems to be a different story.
Silent Hill 4 is the most under-appreciated game in series, and sometimes the most misunderstood.

Akihiro Imamura and Akira Yamaoka Interview with Game World (Apr. 23, 2005)
http://www.silenthillmemories.net/creators/interviews/2005.04.23_imamura_yamaoka_gameworld_en.htm

Mashashi Tsuboyama and Akira Yamaoka Interview with Boomtown (Aug. 31, 2004)
http://www.silenthillmemories.net/creators/interviews/2004.08.31_tsuboyama_yamaoka_boomtown_en.htm

Mashashi Tsuboyama and Akira Yamaoka Interview with Kikizo (Sept. 6, 2004)
http://www.silenthillmemories.net/creators/interviews/2004.09.06_yamaoka_tsuboyama_kikizo_en.htm