ilent Hill 4: The Room falls into that sometimes-dangerous category of "high-concept." Unfailingly, when trying to bring up an example of its genius, I feel like I’m trying to convince someone who thinks that Meg Ryan’s romantic comedies are the pinnacle of modern cinema that they really should watch Pi. It’s hard, because the whole is greater than the sum of its parts.
The series’ latest creepfest takes place in a city near Silent Hill and centers around Henry – a man who, for the last five days, hasn’t been able to leave his apartment or make any noise that can be heard outside the walls of his rented flat. Sucky. And, for the player, who is in a first-person mode while in Apt. 302, it’s creepy as hell. Your interaction in the room is minimal, but looking out the windows shows the real world outside. It’s like playing a supernatural version of Rear Window.
The game’s disarming voyeurism, bizarre camera angles, and exceptionally well-played tension is what the series has been trying to do all along, but The Room is the first entry to do it right. Being stripped almost entirely of puzzles and rarely outright forcing Henry to fight (although combat plays a larger role than in earlier entries) are not normal things for a survival horror game to do. The solitude of the apartment is also something that the series hasn’t tried before. When combined, they make for a tense ride that depends on the player’s constant uncertainty of what is to come. Enemies are faster, stronger, and more intense than ever before. To counter this, the game features a new combat mechanic (a swing power-up function) which is nice, but certainly doesn’t make this an action game.
Although I’m practically giddy about The Room’s mind-bending plot, tension, and horror, there are things that I think are less than golden about it. While some of the new foes are awesomely terrifying (twin baby-like heads strapped to a torso with no legs!), others are tedious and dumb (low-level bean sprouts that one quick whack takes care of are unnecessary). The sound design is excellent…but I swear that the dogs’ death cries are a sample from Janet Jackson’s "Black Cat." And, although I don’t really agree with the assertion, I suspect that some people will be turned off by the game’s exceptionally linear gameplay.
Still, even with these blemishes, I think that Silent Hill 4: The Room has done something important and interesting for the series and its genre – it’s distinctly its own and still scary as hell with a crazy ending that will be remembered for years. The Room is a truly smart game that skillfully plays off gamers’ deepest fears.