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| one hour into it by FABIO 09/19/2004, 12:04am PDT | ||||
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curst wrote: Yeah I think I like it better this way. The flashlight thing was great and refreshing in the first one, and 2 had the all new mindblowing shadow effects, but it's worn out its welcome since. DOWNSIDE: not that they're very interesting at first. The new favorite environment for the SH designers is apparently the subway. I'll take your word that the hospital is cool, but yeah what's up with subways? They don't seem like the same ones in 3, so I don't think it's a case of just reusing the exact same maps (like the town and hospital of 2 & 3) just to save time. DOWNSIDE: then again, the unkillable ghosts that constantly chase you everywhere make it difficult to "stop and stare" the way you could in the coolest areas of SH3. I'm always a fan of games that, once I've taken care of all the enemies in an area, allow me to settle down and soak everything in. The constant harrassment thing is one of many reasons I didn't like System Shock 2 or Siren, and it's not much fun here either. Yeah I don't think I dig them either. It took me two deaths before I figured out that they couldn't be killed. Also annoying is taking damage for simply being in the same area as them. SUPER annoying was that "riding up the escalator and dodging" sequence. but in the meantime the combat is better than the previous SH games, although still not up to the new high watermark in survival-horror games that is The Suffering. If you're just talking about pure action I guess, but the combat that strikes the best balance between fun and fitting in with the mood of the game is still by far Fatal Frame. I actually liked the combat in 3 better. They had a useful but balanced block move. Now they take out the ability to block and replace it with a side/back step that seems too slow to do you any good. UPSIDE: apparently you can get a version of the game that comes packaged with the soundtrack, and the music is always interesting if nothing else (crazy little mix of triphop, ambient and industrial). How the hell did that work? There's a display outside the local EB advertising "Free soundtrack with purchase of SH4!". I figured it came inside the case like it did with SH3, then I get back and discover it aint so. Also lost the receipt :(. Are you supposed to remember to ask for your free soundtrack at the time of purchase? While supplies last? Or was there a "collectors edition" you had to buy for $10 extra in order to get your FREE SOUNDTRACK? DOWNSIDE: WTF RESIDENT EVIL INVENTORY SYSTTEM?!?!! Silent Hill broke the genre away from the slump that Resident Evil had been in by taking an entirely new approach. Now it goes and borrows from the single worst gameplay mechanic of its rival series? Shit, even RE has ammo of one type take up only a single slot. Each and every clip is taking up extra space here. Why in the hell did they include this? Iron Rule of Survival Horror #1: INVENTORY MANAGEMENT DOES NOT MAKE YOUR GAME SCARIER. UPSIDE: Healing every time you go back to the room means you don't have to freak out about health and no longer have to reset if you fuck up and get hit a bunch of times. DOWNSIDE: Going back to heal all the time makes it feel like townportaling in Diablo. UPSIDE: I'm only down with the subway, but the pace has been pretty well done. The different areas of the other Silent Hill games always seemed to drag on about 50-100% longer than they should have (FUCKING APARTMENTS in SH2). Here I'm totally breezing through the subways with almost zero running around finding and using stupid items as keys. DOWNSIDE: The new visiual interface with inventory on the bottom and lifebar + attack gauge at the top ruins the immersion. Not pausing while you're rummaging through items makes switching weapons in combat a pain. UPSIDE: I'm really digging the Twilight Zone meets Rear Window aspect of the apartment bits. It's infinately more interesting than listen to people bitch about God and religion. DOWNSIDE: I have a sinking feeling the game is going to become more about bitching out religion. I wanted to be stumped, but I think I had the plot figured out at 10 minutes. Read on if you want to see the potentionally spoiling theory That person you controlled at the very beginning (when the room was all rusted) wasn't Henry (he didn't recognize Henry's shoes or TV). The note about the child being seperated from the mother is probably referring to Henry and/or the other guy, one or both of them are some sort of offspring of some sleeping pagan god who is waking up. The room is a sign of this, possibly this "Walter" fellow trying to keep you in to encourage/prevent the god from waking up. Then you get the note in the wall talking about giving up on escape: the other guy. Then the note under the door talking about how one person is now two. Henry and the other guy are probably going to end up being the same person, either in a form of split personality, amnesia, or reincartion like the chick from SH3. Henry was "drawn to the church in the photo" because of this connection to silent hill from a previous life, repressed memory, or whatever. Then again my Suffering guess turned out wrong. |
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