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Silent Hill 4: The Room Review - Xbox

When a series reaches it's forth title, you know the series is getting somewhere. Unfortunately though, Silent Hill has been on a slow (and we mean very, very slow) decaying slope since Silent Hill 2. The graphics and voice acting are getting better, however the fear factor in Silent Hill 4 just isn't as strong as it is in the first two games. Silent Hill 4 follows the story of a random character, this time by the name of Henry Townsend. Henry is trapped inside his apartment which is cursed by an evil that he soon discovers to be his worst nightmare. If you're new to the series, you'll still freak out with the lights off late at night playing Silent Hill 4, so don't focus too much on the story, and remember after all it's just a game!

Gameplay

If you've played Shenmue II but are unfamiliar with the Silent Hill series, you'll be pleased to know that the system is very similar when you are in the alternate world. In your apartment, you're in first-person however when you switch to an alternate world to seek the evil that lurks within, you'll find yourself in 3rd person walking at about the same pace as Ryo from Shenmue. It's OK though, because there is a run button which is more of a jog. Jogging all the way to one end of the map to find that nothing has changed can be quite annoying though.

Change is a major part of Silent Hill 4: The Room. They say every action has an equal and opposite reaction this may not exactly apply in Silent Hill 4, but there are certain things you must do to progress the story, and more often than not these tasks involve searching around your own apartment to notice things that have changed. The apartment is average sized. You've got your store room next to the front door which has been bolted up with chains from the inside somehow, your kitchen, living room, and down the hall is your bedroom (where you begin) and your bathroom. Eileen is your sexy next-door neighbour. You almost have a kind of intimate relationship with her, looking through the peep hole in her wall and your front door's eye hole, and meeting her later on in the game when she follows you through the game. You've tried calling to her and anybody else, but nothing seems to work - it's entirely up to you to work out how to get out.

After a few days of resurrecting yourself, you hear a noise in the bathroom and upon investigating it; you notice a large hole has been made in your wall. With no other way out, you take the trip down the hole which kind of looks really bad if you have a dirty mind. Silent Hill 4 is full of mind twisting ... (continued next page)