Silent Hill 4: The Room Critic Reviews

In my honest humble opinion Silent Hill 4: The Room is by far the best of the Silent Hill series.

Just be warned when I say it’s violent. It’s insanely violent. There’s blood everywhere. Literally. There’s blood that will make you wonder how it got there. Oh, and corpses, in varying degrees of decay.

Another deliriously creepy adventure.

Takes the best of the first two games, skips that crapper of a third game, adds to the series ten-fold and once again threatens to turn your head into a nightmare hotel.

While not stunningly different, the new combat system, improved controls, and unique pacing in the game make this one fresh and involving.

You really do need to care what is going on, and take an active interest in the story, rather than just seeing this as a room clearing zombie fest.

It knows where you work, so you can't run. It knows where you live, so you can't hide. So open up your room already and say, "Ahhhh!" Or would you rather they do it for you, sissy?

The game's disarming voyeurism, bizarre camera angles, and exceptionally well-placed tension is what the series has been trying to do all along, but The Room is the first entry to do it right.

The large number of cut scenes seems a little distracting at first, but once you get used to them, they add a lot of depth to the game.

9 / 8 / 8 / 8 - 33 gold

Dedicated followers of the Silent Hill mythology will find plenty to sink their teeth into with a solid eight-hour adventure and multiple endings, and the new “Room” mechanics and intriguing plot might even snare a few newcomers.

It's the details that we love in this game...Graphics are wonderful, too...Just dont play it in the dark.

This focus on combat isn't always helped by the game's dodgy targeting and suspect collision detection... An uneven, but satisfying, psycho romp for series fans.

A lot of the setpiece "dungeons" are smaller and more limited; when combined with the lack of an "overworld" to explore along the lines of the Silent Hill streets, The Room is much more linear and less exploratory than any of the previous games.

Unlike Hollywood horror movies that often get worse with each new sequel ("Friday the 13th Part VIII: Jason Takes Manhattan," for example), Konami's scary Silent Hill series gets better -- and creepier -- with age.

The eeriness of the environments, even your room feels dingy, is captured brilliantly, and the tunnel effect is awesome.

The Room is definitely smaller and more sparsely appointed digs than its predecessors... but it's still in one hell of a neighborhood.

While fleeing from ghosts may seem like a small issue, it really does drag down an otherwise brilliant game.

Overall I enjoyed Silent Hill 4 just as much as the previous games. Although the initially slower pace and more non-conventional puzzles might annoy some gamers, those who hang in there are in for a hellish treat well worthy of the creepy Silent Hill brand.

It's not as scary as other games in the series. In all, as a survival-horror game, it's a solid fight-fest that newbies and diehard fans will enjoy. Or at least some will.