Silent Hill 4: The Review
Well, life can resume as normal, now that I've finally completed Silent Hill 4 (although Mortal Kombat Deception comes out next week, so this is just a short lived break). So with that game behind me, it's time for a quick review.
Unlike the previous games where you're exploring Silent Hill or it's amusement park, Silent Hill 4 has you traped in your apartment where you travel to alternate locations\realities via a sewer pipe. Yes, it sounds lame, but it was acutally pretty well thought out so it didn't seem cheesy. For the good stuff: Great story, good characters (no whiney teenage girl as the main character this time), several possible endings depending on how well (or poorly) you played, lots of unlockable features (after playing once), and tough enough "puzzles" that made you stop and think, but not so hard you had to resort to cheats. For the bad stuff: I found some of the points of view really crappy - there's nothing like trying to kick a monster's ass and you've got a concrete baracade in your way (fortunately this didn't happend too often, just enough to deplete your health drinks a couple times) and the monsters and bosses seemed pretty easy to kill (perhaps I'm just that skillful!). Overall, I would give this game an 8.75 out of 10 (only because Silent Hill 2 is my favorite).
As a side note, for those of you who are Silent Hill Fans and who already don't know.... Roger Avery is writing a screenplay based on the game. I'm anxious to see what he does with this.
Unlike the previous games where you're exploring Silent Hill or it's amusement park, Silent Hill 4 has you traped in your apartment where you travel to alternate locations\realities via a sewer pipe. Yes, it sounds lame, but it was acutally pretty well thought out so it didn't seem cheesy. For the good stuff: Great story, good characters (no whiney teenage girl as the main character this time), several possible endings depending on how well (or poorly) you played, lots of unlockable features (after playing once), and tough enough "puzzles" that made you stop and think, but not so hard you had to resort to cheats. For the bad stuff: I found some of the points of view really crappy - there's nothing like trying to kick a monster's ass and you've got a concrete baracade in your way (fortunately this didn't happend too often, just enough to deplete your health drinks a couple times) and the monsters and bosses seemed pretty easy to kill (perhaps I'm just that skillful!). Overall, I would give this game an 8.75 out of 10 (only because Silent Hill 2 is my favorite).
As a side note, for those of you who are Silent Hill Fans and who already don't know.... Roger Avery is writing a screenplay based on the game. I'm anxious to see what he does with this.
# | September 29, 2004