Ok, so I could not believe in the bad press until I played through this game myself. This is the first SH game I didn't really enjoy. There is so much that is just wrong with it that it starts to overtake that which is new or innovative. Basically you play through 5 generic levels.......then you get to struggle through the same identical 5 levels with a limping companion who gets injured easily and who gravitates into conflicts with invincible enemies (I am not kidding). Some of the monsters/ghosts are creepy the first time you see them (which is saying something seeing how you don't encounter them in the dark with a flashlight) but lack the originality of SH2 or SH3 and have seemingly nothing to do with the storyline. The story is a re-hash of "Seven" morphed with "Nightmare on Elm Street" with a main villain who is about as scary as some trendy 20-something actor playing a serial killer in any boring 20-something neo-horror flick (not to mention Henry). Your room is an interesting and engaging concept but doesn't equate to what the spralling town of Silent Hill did for SH1 & SH2. Lastly, there is the soundtrack. Whoever thought to put a weak neo-metal ballad vocalist and a Peter Murphy wanna-be singing the lamest lyrics ever over the soundtrack needs to seriously explore another direction. On the SH3 soundtrack it was annoying and embarrassing, now it just sucks. Konami needs to put "quality" back into this series (no repeating levels, no RE item system) and seriously reconsider the nuances between scary and annoying game play. … Expand

Now here's a game I waited for like a maniac. The previous SH-games are awesome games with nice, weird storylines and the storyline doesn't make exception with this one either. Sadly, the rest does. I bet every hardcore Silent Hill fan loves the puzzles in previous games, right? Well, sorry to say but you won't be seeing such a things in this game, only a few sad "turn this wheel twice and you're good to go" things that tries to be a 'puzzles'. So, forget the brainwork. Ok, as everyone probably know, when you're in your own apartment, in the room, the camera is in first person. Well, this is just plain awful. The character turns slowly, is clumsy and I personally think that the field of view is just wrong. It's like walking with a magnifying glass. And well, I have never been a fan of the combination of first person games and a gamepad. Anyway, rest of the game is the good old third person. Except the main character feels more clumsy than in previous games, especially when it comes to the fighting. It's hard to see, if you're close enough to hit the monster with your weapon and usually you're not. Which takes me to the camera. Well, camera has been always a problem in this kinda of games and still is. Except more annoying than in previous SH-games. The camera angles are just plain awful and usually you cannot change the angle and many times you bump into a monster because of the annoying camera. Well, you got a few nice extra moves when fighting, but you really cannot enjoy them because of the stupid camera. Well, atleast the story saves this game a bit. It's nice and weird as always and you get a few "what the f***" thought during the game. Sadly, rest of the game is just plain and boring "run from point a to point b and avoid or kill the monsters on the way". I won't spoil anything, but you'll get the idea after a few hours of playing. Soundtrack and sounds are the usual nice creepy stuff and graphics have improved a bit and the game looks pretty good on the good old ps2. But that doesn't save this being a bad game. They shouldn't have released this. This game will be remembered as a big let down and the death of Silent Hill series.… Expand

People say that this is a let-down to all the SH-fans, but I beg to differ. This game is amazing in just about every aspect. The only thing that's not great are the sound effects, which will become quite repetitive after a while. I would've given it a 8, but the extra 2 points are given because team Silent had the guts to do such a different game.

Best silent hill game yet.

This is the best game i have played in my whole life. It has the best graphics next to resident evil outbreak. I hope they come out with a silent hill 5.

By far the worst of the Silent Hill series: they use ghosts for the most part, and the few original monsters are lame, especially the one that makes a farting sound when you kill it...the SH series was great because of the creepy monsters, like the deadbabies and crippled zombie nurses and whatever that scary Pyramidhead thing was from SH2...bummer.

Silent Hill 4 is easily superior compared to previous installment for several reasons. First, the concept is more original. SH 3 did almost exactly the same thing than it's predecessors, and was a bit of a letdown for that. Second, the story is better and more interesting and serious by miles. I think that the humour in SH 3 was really out of place. It is not as mature and intelligent as SH 2's story, though. And finally, it's scary as hell and diffilculty has been raised too. The immortal ghost enemies were the most horrible enemies in the series, and felt fresh too. I know that many of you so called "fans" would like to play a game with the same enviroment, same enemies and same atmosphere (as SH 1) time after time, but i prefer variety. SH 4 is absolutely essential for all horror fans.… Expand

This game is really cool! I have played it about 4 times!

It is what I was waiting for, it really scares me, so if you want to feel the fear in your flesh stop playing resident evil and come to play this one. the most creepy survival horror.

Great game. I think this is the creepiest SH I have played. There are a lot of changes to the Previous SH games but it still feels like SH. Really cool story, a little improvement in the combat system and great graphics. I would give this game a 10 if it wasn't for the missing flashlight. It would have made this game way better.

I went into this game expecting to be terrified. But...all I got was alot of tedious backtracking. Repeating levels? That's just sloppy and lazy game design. And to top it all off...I didn't get scared. Silent Hill 3 still remains my fave entry in the series.

Good overall, with some elements that are fantastic and would get the game and 10 were they not balanced by some overuse of backtracking (which fits with story but would have been better minimised or if the levels had been further altered). To give some context I'd give SH2 a 9 and SH 3 an 8 also. SH 1 was an 8.5 at the time. Of course, if you've never liked previous SH games, prefer outright action and can't tolerate the at times iffy control scheme then you might want to avoid.… Expand

Looking at my score many of you will call me an idiot. I'm no idiot, i love this series, and this game was a letdown, no part of it felt like Silent Hill. Your enemies were ghosts. GHOSTS? They wouldn't die, you got two guns, and the supporting cast was too large. FP parts ruined it even more, and the stalker, so stolen from Haunting Ground. Basically they tried to revitalise this, and crapped it up. The best part was the last battle, it was epic. And the story was okay i guess.… Expand

As MAJOR fan of the survival horror genre i was very impressed with silent hill 4.. The dark enviroments plagued with monsters, screams, ambient noises, and general evilness was very fun :D. For fans of Silent Hill this game is a MUST HAVE!! It also has many links to the previous games that the true fan will notice which certainly pleases the S.H. buffs like myself. The game itself is divided into 2 major modes of play. The 1st person mode when in 'the room' is very atmospheric (especially later in the game but i'm saying nothing hehe) and the 3rd person mode when everywhere else which is more akin to SH3.. Fantastic Buy it at once!! Blood Emperor… Expand

It baffles me that Konami still cannot find even moderately decent voice talent for one of its A-list titles. the voice acting for every silent hill game has been wretched, and this one follows suit. i'm sorry, but that totally pulls me out of the creepy movie vibe and hurts the overall experience - with these crazy stories you NEED to be convinced.

I am still playing this game, and the only thing that really bothers me is having to drag eileen's crippled ass around through out half the game... however, the demonic puzzles and horrifying sound effects slightly make up for the constant redundancy of traveling back and forth to pick up "lynch" coins. IF YOU REALLY WANT TO HAVE DISGUSTING AND BRILLIANT GAMEPLAY PICK UP MANHUNT! ITS WON MY HEART...… Expand

Definitely not the best Silent Hill. I wonder who these people are that say it is a straight 10. No way this game is a 10. I give it a 7 just because it's innovative in terms of Silent Hill games. Has a lot of new stuff, and a lot of old stuff. The unkillable ghosts add to the frightening factor. I find this SH the hardest out of the 4 games. Not the scariest. Not the best, but a pretty decent game.… Expand

How the hell people keep saying that this is the best of the series and giving it 10 points? Are they totally blind? This is just repetitive crap with very lazy and boring leveldesign and overall design. Scary? Hell not! More like tiring! Open your eyes, don't go for the "IT'S SILENT HILL, IT HAS TO BE GOOD!!1". This is not Silent Hill, this is probably just abandoned leftovers from previous SH Games. Get your act together Konami, no more this kinda of flops. Zero pointer.… Expand

I must say overall liked it.Why?Because they tried out something new and I saw that they tried.I think the best advice I can give to anybody is not to regard it as a silent hill game.It's much different and if you take it as it's own game it's much better to enjoy.The story was interesting even had some comparison to silent hill 2.I liked about the gameplay was that it had a first-person and third-person mode and the idea that you go though portals to change it was awesome.But the game also has flaws.I find the most retarded thing in this game the second half.Where you needed to go through all of the levels you just went through in the first half... ou and also you wont be going alone,there will accompany you your next door neighbour who's slower than you and makes the game overall annoying,because you need to take very good care of her if you want the good ending.I found some of the enemies not scary.Especially the ghosts who were just overall annoying,because killing them is vay to much trouble and they drain your health by just looking at them.But the most annoying has to be Walter,who is like pyramid head from silent hill 2.He's an interesting character and all but he just isn't scary and the AI that was made for him makes him a retard.But though these flaws I still liked it and i give credit that they tried out something new.If your a silent hill fan try it out but don't expect it to be as the same or even better than the previous games.… Expand

Although it technically plays the same (and that's a bad thing in this series) as the older silent hill game, tonally - this game is a different beast. It wandered off in it's own directions and explored new and somewhat more psychological territory. It's also the most frustrating of the series play-wise. The most-interesting-story of all the silent hill games. Although not quite as much saturated mystery silent hill 2.… Expand

This game employees too many annoying tactics to be enjoyable, invincible enemies that can constantly follow you and hurt you just by being near you wore away at my enthusiasm quickly any ways, puzzles were rare and disappointingly easy. The story line was decent and it's nice that you can experience all the endings on the first play-through. It's a okay game, just okay.

Not as scary or psychologically-intense as its predecessors, I must admit, although Silent Hill 4: The Room does offer a decent story and music by Akira Yamaoka to help set the mood. Not a whole lot of puzzles either. But the visuals were very impressive for their time. Controls were also pretty solid. Worth a rent anyway.

People bashing The Room love to mention it wasn't even meant to be a SH and make it sound like the name was just slapped onto it last minute in order to raise sales. This is not true and I don't even see their point as with or without the name, this shares a lot of what is great in the series, so in spirit, it's a Silent Hill game no matter what it's called. Another popular complaint is about ghosts chasing you around everywhere. This is also not true. They aren't ghosts to begin with and they also can only appear in certain areas. You don't have to like the idea of undefeatable enemies preventing you from lingering in a location for too long, but they are NOT everywhere, not even close. People also frown upon having to visit the dreamworlds (levels, if you like) a second time, but I don't see the problem there, either. Survival horror games always made you run to and fro a location, what's the big difference now just because you go somewhere else in the meantime? The second time, the levels will have changed a little as well. Enough addressing popular attacks towards the game, what do I personally think about it? Overall, I really love it. Graphics on PS2 are pretty good, though slightly worse than SH3 with the characters. On PC, sadly, the graphics look kind of pale and blurry in a lot of places. Sound is top notch as usual for this series. Combat is very interesting. Enemies behave differently and must be approached differently and some weapons are suited better for certain situations than others. The limited inventory gained a lot of hatred, but given the context of the game, namely making you return to the apartment regularly, it makes sense. I had no problem with it being limited, but I think it shouldn't have been „real time“ but pausing the game when accessed. Monster design in this one is pretty good and interesting except for the infamous belch sound of the Patients - especially when they fall down stairs, that's so ridiculous, not healthy for a horror game. Even though some of the characters are a bit over the top, the story is great and completely unreal with a sad background, also has a lot of depth to explore on consequent playthroughs. Very bizarre and this is also reflected in the gameworld which is so full of details and interesting links to the narrative – this concept is SH standard, but it has never been done that well and richly before or after 4. Other than the prequels, the Otherworld never even pretends it's the real world (the locations there always pretty much start as deserted, normal buildings ect.), it's completely surrealistic from start to finish. Now the approach to horror is a bit different than in the previous Shs. It's not as dark and intimidating but rather confusing and outlandish, focusing more on making you feel uneasy instead of directly scared. (Though it also has kind of scary sections, but never as strong as in the previous ones.) The big idea, is, of course, the apartment, and I don't think I'm spoiling too much when I say that since Henry is being locked in there, it plays a huge role in the game. The developers said they wanted to make people feel like losing the comfort and security of their homes and when I first played the game, I understood what they meant. Now I know a lot of fans hated this one, some because they think it's really a bad game, some just because it's not SH2-II, but if you are interested in this sort of game, you should give it a chance. There are actually a lot of people loving it, for me, it's the second best in the series after SH2.… Expand