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said_scarlett) wrote2008-03-20 01:39 pm
said_scarlett) wrote2008-03-20 01:39 pm
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Silent Hill 4: An Informal Review
This is going to be full of spoilers for probably all the Silent Hill Games that I've played - 1 - 4. Be warned!
The cut-tag is the often-muttered 'catch phrase' of our main protagonist, Henry Townshend. Now, I've read a lot of complaints about Henry. That he's 'underdeveloped' and 'boring'. Hell, I just spent like an hour reading people arguing back and forth over whether or not he's a sociopath.
I liked Henry. I found him to be one of the most believable Silent Hill 'heroes' so far. Maybe just because even at the end he's still shocked and horrified at what he discovers. He never becomes accustomed to these bizarre events. That rings very true to me.
I liked all of the characters, in fact. I found Walter to be a fascinating villain, despite a few minor nitpicks. Which is pure personal preference and nothing else. Even the side characters were interesting to me. Despite them being only around for a short time - for the most part - they had distinct personalities and left an impact on me as a player.
I have one quibble when it comes to Eileen. I like Eileen, a lot. Unlike nearly every Silent Hill female side characters, she finally breaks the stereotype of victim. She can fight alongside Henry, and can actually do some serious damage. She's not just a female who needs protecting or rescuing.
But. The more she fights, the more she asserts herself as a character equal to the male character...she's marching ever closer to the role of ultimate victim. This bothers me a lot. I'll spare you all the feminist meta-babble, but I'm sure everyone else can see the issues I have.
That aside, I found the cast of characters to be wonderful. Each and every one of them. I loved traveling through Apartment world and learning little factoids about them all.
Another massive complaint I've seen often repeated is the gameplay and controls. I will admit, they took a little while to get used to. Especially the first person controls. But honestly, they weren't that bad. Henry goes where you tell him, hits when you tell him, runs when you tell him, you can adjust the camera angle... My only issue was in first person mode, I would sometimes get stuck on things when backing up after putting down a holy candle to cleanse a haunting. But other than that, I didn't have any problem with the controls and I didn't find them difficult to adjust to.
Since I've brought up the first person aspects... another complaint is the entire first person apartment sections. I've heard everything from 'it's stupid' to 'it's just not scary enough for Silent Hill'. I can't speak on the latter in personal terms because I just don't find the Silent Hill games scary anymore, but from an abstract perspective....
It's your own home. Your one sanctuary. There are few places more intimate to a person than their home. And now it's been taken over by hellish forces. How can that not fit in with a horror theme? And I liked all the little factoids all over the apartment, and the peepholes, and everything else. And it certainly did give a more intimate connection to Henry.
Now on to the horror! Once again we've stepped up in aspects of gore and shocking random imagery from the previous installment. In some cases I think it was a touch too random. Especially in the spiral staircases used to re-visit worlds. But the overall atmosphere and design were beautifully creepy. The prison sticks out in my mind as particularly horrific, not only with the scenery, but the memos found. In this bloodstained, dank and dirty hell you discover children were kept there. And mentally and physically tortured until they died, and then were casually disposed of like garbage.
And of course, the hospital. While much shorter and arguably easier than any other hospital level in the SH series, I enjoyed it quite a bit. The glimpses into Walter's subconscious we see are terrifying and enlightening. I wish I had spent more time there, because I didn't entirely grasp everything there was to see. And it wasn't until I'd started down the spiral and realized we were traveling into Walter's nightmare that it hit me that those rooms had extreme importance.
Though I do have to say, I expected Henry to have a reaction to the giant Eileen head. He has comments for nearly everything else, but not that. Maybe he couldn't see it, I'm not sure, but I was a bit distressed that we didn't even get a '...what...the hell?'.
The first half of the game does go a bit slowly, in terms of gameplay rather than story. Not too many monsters, short levels, it was a bit of a turn off for me. The second half does pick up more, but I personally wasn't satisfied with how it did. I'm not a fan of un-killable monsters that follow you everywhere. I think I wouldn't have minded the ghosts or Walter, but not both at once. Ah well. At that point it was the story and characters that had grabbed me.
And the myriad of references to past Silent Hill characters and events past. Easter eggs and references always make me tingly in my happy gamer spots. :D Especially as so much went back to SH2, which is still my favorite. I don't think it's been confirmed, but I am assuming that Frank is James' father, and the 'son and daughter in law' he mentions are of course, James and Mary. Which ties in beautifully with my theory that regardless of the ending you get in SH2, James is never able to fully leave Silent Hill.
Back to The Room.
I do have a few small issues with the storyline - nothing massive, and things I just affectionately poke fun at - but overall I found the game to be engrossing, entertaining, and definitely a better installment in the SH series than 3. I find the ending (not Ending ending, just the sequence before the final battle) to be ridiculous and laughable, rather than frightening or disturbing. In fact, on playing it through a second time, my heart and soul more resolved to horror, the only place I found frightening was the hospital. The mirror room will never fail to make me shiver.
I got the Eileen Death ending in SH4, though I almost managed to avoid it and get Escape. Walter went down a mew few seconds after Eileen was fully submerged in the blood pool. It was a satisfying enough ending, though I would have preferred the happier one. Honestly, after watching all the endings on Youtube, I think I like them all. Even the 'bad' ending is more satisfying than the 'bad' endings in the others.
I just wish it had a joke ending. Heck, Henry even mentions UFOs being sighted in Silent Hill! But I can do without.
Anyway, if I were going to use some sort of arbitrary rating system, say, 1 - 10, I'd probably rate Silent Hill 4: The Room as an 8.5.
Now that that's out of the way, maybe those of you who have been fans for far longer can shed a little light on things. I of course went looking for fic and art. And I wasn't surprised by the prevalence of Walter/Henry slash, I can easily see why the two get paired up. But... what's with all the James/Henry? I found nearly as much of that as I did Walter/Henry, and I can't wrap my brain around it other then... uh... they're two arguably attractive dudes who exist in the same canon. Arguably.
The cut-tag is the often-muttered 'catch phrase' of our main protagonist, Henry Townshend. Now, I've read a lot of complaints about Henry. That he's 'underdeveloped' and 'boring'. Hell, I just spent like an hour reading people arguing back and forth over whether or not he's a sociopath.
I liked Henry. I found him to be one of the most believable Silent Hill 'heroes' so far. Maybe just because even at the end he's still shocked and horrified at what he discovers. He never becomes accustomed to these bizarre events. That rings very true to me.
I liked all of the characters, in fact. I found Walter to be a fascinating villain, despite a few minor nitpicks. Which is pure personal preference and nothing else. Even the side characters were interesting to me. Despite them being only around for a short time - for the most part - they had distinct personalities and left an impact on me as a player.
I have one quibble when it comes to Eileen. I like Eileen, a lot. Unlike nearly every Silent Hill female side characters, she finally breaks the stereotype of victim. She can fight alongside Henry, and can actually do some serious damage. She's not just a female who needs protecting or rescuing.
But. The more she fights, the more she asserts herself as a character equal to the male character...she's marching ever closer to the role of ultimate victim. This bothers me a lot. I'll spare you all the feminist meta-babble, but I'm sure everyone else can see the issues I have.
That aside, I found the cast of characters to be wonderful. Each and every one of them. I loved traveling through Apartment world and learning little factoids about them all.
Another massive complaint I've seen often repeated is the gameplay and controls. I will admit, they took a little while to get used to. Especially the first person controls. But honestly, they weren't that bad. Henry goes where you tell him, hits when you tell him, runs when you tell him, you can adjust the camera angle... My only issue was in first person mode, I would sometimes get stuck on things when backing up after putting down a holy candle to cleanse a haunting. But other than that, I didn't have any problem with the controls and I didn't find them difficult to adjust to.
Since I've brought up the first person aspects... another complaint is the entire first person apartment sections. I've heard everything from 'it's stupid' to 'it's just not scary enough for Silent Hill'. I can't speak on the latter in personal terms because I just don't find the Silent Hill games scary anymore, but from an abstract perspective....
It's your own home. Your one sanctuary. There are few places more intimate to a person than their home. And now it's been taken over by hellish forces. How can that not fit in with a horror theme? And I liked all the little factoids all over the apartment, and the peepholes, and everything else. And it certainly did give a more intimate connection to Henry.
Now on to the horror! Once again we've stepped up in aspects of gore and shocking random imagery from the previous installment. In some cases I think it was a touch too random. Especially in the spiral staircases used to re-visit worlds. But the overall atmosphere and design were beautifully creepy. The prison sticks out in my mind as particularly horrific, not only with the scenery, but the memos found. In this bloodstained, dank and dirty hell you discover children were kept there. And mentally and physically tortured until they died, and then were casually disposed of like garbage.
And of course, the hospital. While much shorter and arguably easier than any other hospital level in the SH series, I enjoyed it quite a bit. The glimpses into Walter's subconscious we see are terrifying and enlightening. I wish I had spent more time there, because I didn't entirely grasp everything there was to see. And it wasn't until I'd started down the spiral and realized we were traveling into Walter's nightmare that it hit me that those rooms had extreme importance.
Though I do have to say, I expected Henry to have a reaction to the giant Eileen head. He has comments for nearly everything else, but not that. Maybe he couldn't see it, I'm not sure, but I was a bit distressed that we didn't even get a '...what...the hell?'.
The first half of the game does go a bit slowly, in terms of gameplay rather than story. Not too many monsters, short levels, it was a bit of a turn off for me. The second half does pick up more, but I personally wasn't satisfied with how it did. I'm not a fan of un-killable monsters that follow you everywhere. I think I wouldn't have minded the ghosts or Walter, but not both at once. Ah well. At that point it was the story and characters that had grabbed me.
And the myriad of references to past Silent Hill characters and events past. Easter eggs and references always make me tingly in my happy gamer spots. :D Especially as so much went back to SH2, which is still my favorite. I don't think it's been confirmed, but I am assuming that Frank is James' father, and the 'son and daughter in law' he mentions are of course, James and Mary. Which ties in beautifully with my theory that regardless of the ending you get in SH2, James is never able to fully leave Silent Hill.
Back to The Room.
I do have a few small issues with the storyline - nothing massive, and things I just affectionately poke fun at - but overall I found the game to be engrossing, entertaining, and definitely a better installment in the SH series than 3. I find the ending (not Ending ending, just the sequence before the final battle) to be ridiculous and laughable, rather than frightening or disturbing. In fact, on playing it through a second time, my heart and soul more resolved to horror, the only place I found frightening was the hospital. The mirror room will never fail to make me shiver.
I got the Eileen Death ending in SH4, though I almost managed to avoid it and get Escape. Walter went down a mew few seconds after Eileen was fully submerged in the blood pool. It was a satisfying enough ending, though I would have preferred the happier one. Honestly, after watching all the endings on Youtube, I think I like them all. Even the 'bad' ending is more satisfying than the 'bad' endings in the others.
I just wish it had a joke ending. Heck, Henry even mentions UFOs being sighted in Silent Hill! But I can do without.
Anyway, if I were going to use some sort of arbitrary rating system, say, 1 - 10, I'd probably rate Silent Hill 4: The Room as an 8.5.
Now that that's out of the way, maybe those of you who have been fans for far longer can shed a little light on things. I of course went looking for fic and art. And I wasn't surprised by the prevalence of Walter/Henry slash, I can easily see why the two get paired up. But... what's with all the James/Henry? I found nearly as much of that as I did Walter/Henry, and I can't wrap my brain around it other then... uh... they're two arguably attractive dudes who exist in the same canon. Arguably.
no subject
I always thought SH4 should have a golf club ending. I dutifully collected ALL of them and kept them all in good condition, yet no ending! :< Boo.
It's your own home. Your one sanctuary. There are few places more intimate to a person than their home. And now it's been taken over by hellish forces. How can that not fit in with a horror theme? I agree completely; in fact, it's one of the main reasons SH4 scared me so much. At least when the monsters are outside, elsewhere, you can put them into that "not my personal space" category. Now they're IN your personal space, and in the place you once sought refuge.
The 21 Sacraments ending is my personal favorite. It's the "worst" ending, but Walter essentially wins. It's also the one I consider canon, since I don't find it even remotely possible for Henry & Co. to win. There are larger forces at work here than just one Walter Sullivan.
SH4 is my second favorite of the whole series. I love it to bits. :3
no subject
HA! YES! I love the joke endings. Especially if they have a catchy tune to go with them....
I'm glad I'm not alone in thinking the apartment angle made it more freaky. I remember when a friend first described the game to me, when it was first released, she used the term 'it violates the sanctity of the home'. And yes, yes it does.
I...don't ever want to get that ending. I'm such a sucker for happy endings. Or, at least endings in which Henry doesn't die. :D So I like to think at the very least, Henry is able to triumph and move to a non-haunted apartment. Maybe somewhere in Canada. :D
no subject
You've played SH1 and SH3 as well, right? You should also now proceed and check out
ALSO ALSO go read