Back!

I'm back!
As you can see I've returned from my vacation and I'll start working on my next review as soon as possible, but don't expect it until the weekend. I would like to write it sooner but with classes starting and all, I'm going to be really busy and I don't want to make a bad review. Especially because the next review will be about a film from one of my favorite directors Akira Kurosawa, more specifically, Nora Inu a.k.a Stray Dog. So, I really hope I do well on the next review and hopefully it will dignify Akira Kurosawa's movie.

Nora Inu

In the meanwhile, and since I won't be writing a review for the next few days, I'd like to recommend a great review I read on one of my favorite blogs, Production Blog, and that's about a really cool movie, Clerks II. The review can be found here and I thought it really shows what kind of movie Clerks II really is...in other words, it's a well written review.

See ya.

Lord of the Rings: Battle for Middle Earth II - Game(PC)

Once again, I must apologize for taking this long to post this review.
It should have been posted on Sunday, but I've been really busy. So, let's just begin, shall we?

- First Look -

The 2006 game Lord of the Rings: Battle for Middle Earth 2 (BME2) brings us, the long awaited sequel to the 2004 hit game and it looks like it won't disappoint all the fans of the first game.
First of all, the look and feel of the game is very, very similar to the previous title, except some minor changes to the interface, which, to me, isn't a bad thing. Why mess with "perfection", right?
So, what changes in BME2?
Well, even though the two are very similar, there are some major changes. In this game we can control a lot more characters from he Tolkien universe. Characters that didn't even appear in the Lord of the Rings films, appear in this game, for example, Tom Bombadil, Glóin and many, many others from both sides.
Another change is the addition of a new game mode, War of the Ring, where you can battle it out on a game board...something very Risk style. The ultimate objective is to conquer all of Middle Earth, one province at a time. Like I said, something very Risk style. The only difference from Risk is that when two armies collide you can choose between fighting yourself in real time or just let the computer automatically generate the outcome of the battle. Anybody who's played Shogun: Total War or some of the sequels should know what to expect.

The Multiplayer mode, to me, is the best thing in BME2, not because it's original, but just because it's really fun and it's much more challenging to play against a real person.

So, basically, these were the majors changes from BME toBME2.

- Plot/Storyline -

The story in BME2 swirls around events that weren't portrayed in the films. The main action is spent in the northern lands of Middle Earth, with Dwarves and Elves battling Goblins. This goes on during all the Lord of the Rings events you've seen in the films and books. It completely steers away from the Fellowship of the Ring and their adventures, and focus only on those events that nobody ever saw, which is good and a logical step from the EA team behind the game, but, I rather preferred playing the original storyline of the first BME.

So, basically, this is it. Not much to talk about story wise in BME2, not because it's bad, it's just that this is a RTS game, and like any RTS, the story although important, it's not the main aspect of the game.

- Graphics -

In the graphics department BME2 doesn't disappoint either. Of course there's the expected and "traditional" cool looking initial FMV that greet you to the game. After that there's the awesome main menu where a scene from the Fellowship of the Ring is depicted, more precisely, the part where the fellowship reaches and sees the Argonath in all its splendor. What a great way to start a game!

So, regarding the in-game graphics, all I can say is that they're great, something that shouldn't surprise anyone if you think that the this big budget production is only 1 year old.
The scenarios and characters are really detailed and polished, and, regarding the characters that appear in the films, it's really easy to recognize them. In the above picture you can clearly see that it's Elrond (by the way, you can control him too) in the front.

Concluding, there's no real big surprise regarding the graphics in BME2. The graphics were already good in the first game, and in this second installment, the crew at EA really just upgraded and accompanied the video cards technology improvements from 2004 to 2006.

- Music/Sound Effects -

This, to me, is one of the strongest aspects of the game. Why? Well, just because, if you're like me, you're a fan of the OST of the films.
And that's what you mostly get, with some "minor"alterations, in BME2. That's all that is to it.
It's really cool playing the game listening to the movie soundtrack and, in my opinion, really helps the overall gaming experience.

Lord of the Rings: Battle for Middle Earth 2 is, fortunately, one of those games where the soundtrack really fits, even though I don't think the EA crew should be given all the credit. And I say this just because the music and most sound effects really come from the movie. But with this, don't think that I don't give credit to the team behind, far from it. Since this game shows us everything that the movies didn't show, there's a lot of things that the EA crew had to "create" from scratch and, to me, they did a good. One good example of this is Tom Bombadil.
Tom Bombadil is a character that you summon to help you, just like the Balrog, and, not only does it look like him but it's also really cool and fun listening to him singing in the middle of a fierce battle.
Again, no big surprise in the music department too.

- Overview -

What else to say about BME2? Not much really...
It's cool to play and has made some improvements from the first game, not to mention the fact that it gives the player the possibility to control every creature and race from the Tolkien universe.
If you've played the first game, sometimes, you may get the feeling that there's no real originality in it, that apart from the new races and stuff there's no real innovation, and, unfortunately I have to agree. At some point you may find yourself getting quite bored, just because there's not anything REALLY new in the game itself, after the "Wow...cool! New Races!" effect wears off.
It's not uncommon to end up just playing the multiplayer mode of the game or the War of the Ring mode.

So, in conclusion, BME2 is a great game...no doubt about it. The EA crew did a good job trying not to make this game an exact copy of the first BME. The graphics are, as expected, much better than BME, the music and sounds effects, fortunately, don't stray too far from the movie soundtrack and they weren't supposed and the storyline, being the biggest change from the BME to BME2, is actually pretty cool.

- Rating -

So, having all I've said in mind, and even counting with the fact that, after you've played the game there's only the multiplayer mode to pull you back in and not forgetting that EA really just took the original BME one step ahead, something expected if you ask me, I give Lord of the Rings: Battle for Middle Earth 2 a good and very solid 8.

So, once again, let me apologize for the extreme delay posting this review, but like I've said I've been really busy specially because I'm going on vacation in the next few days and as usual there's a lot of packing to do.
Another reason I should be apologizing for is the poor, poor review I wrote today (lack of talent to write them showing up I think). I had to decide if I would be posting this review ten days from now (when I get back) and thus almost "abandoning" the blog for that amount of time or trying to do my best and write a review. As you can see, the latter was chosen...

So, for the next ten days or so I won't be posting anything here and if any of you are interested in knowing when I post my next review, you can leave a comment with your e-mail and I can contact you as soon as I post anything. And yes...before I even post anything, the first I'll do when I arrive is installing a mailing list.

See ya (in ten days).

Paprika - Movie (2006)

Welcome once more! As you can see, today we a Japanese movie review, Paprika. But before I start, I have to make an important announcement regarding one of the movie categories, more specifically, the CGI category. As of today, the CGI category will be named Visual Effects/Photography. I decided to do this, because I felt that, with just a CGI category I couldn't grasp all of the visual aspects of the film. So, with this "new" category I hope to talk about all of the visual aspects of a film, CGI related or not.

- First Look -

If you've never seen an anime (Japanese animation, for those that are wondering what anime is), TV series or movie, when you first look at Paprika you can only say..."What the...???". On the other hand, if you're not a new to the anime universe, you may find yourself saying..."HOLY SH#T!!!". It's that mind blowing to look at!
This movie is unlike anything you've ever seen in a animation movie. I guarantee it.



The hero of this story is Paprika, a female therapist that cures people's traumas by entering their dreams. This is possible thanks to a small machine called DC Mini, that enables the user to enter a person's dream and change it, but when someone steals one of the DC Mini prototypes then everything starts going downhill.
So, Paprika brings us the story of Paprika and her co-workers trying to find the stolen DC Mini and who stole it, all the while, trying to prevent any more "insanity attacks", caused by the machine, on innocent people.

- Plot/Storyline -

At first sight, the kind of story that we find in Paprika isn't something extremely original but, like I said in a previous review, that doesn't mean it's not good. In this case it's even better than good...it's great.
Paprika and her co-workers try to find the person behind the disappearance of one of the prototypes of the DC Mini. The disappearance itself is bad, but things go from bad to worse when employees of the company behind the DC Mini's development, start to get targeted by the culprit and start to have "insanity attacks"caused by the missing DC Mini.
If you don't think about the fact that the DC Mini is a machine that enables a person to enter another person's dream and change it, you might think that the story isn't all that great, but, trust me, that's a BIG misconception.
Imagine it this way, try to think of one those old, 1940's detective stories(the good ones, of course) and add it a great, and sometimes difficult to accompany it you're not paying attention, metaphysical question accompanying the main action and a nice plot twist, and there you have it...Paprika's storyline.

Now, about the metaphysical question that I just mentioned , that's something you see in many, if not all, animes. And, in Paprika's case, the main question revolves around dreams and our perceptions of them, a ever growing lack of privacy in a near future society (where the dream world is our last true "sanctuary") and science meddling in places it shouldn't be.

In conclusion, it all comes down to something I said a little while ago...Paprika's storyline is great and don't be fooled by an apparent simple main action. There's a lot going on behind it, a lot indeed.

- Visual Effects/Photography -

Where to begin? The animation in Paprika is out of this world.
The fact that Paprika is, apart from some CGI animated sequences, still hand drawn is, after you see the movie, almost unbelievable.
Visually, everything is perfect in Paprika, the surreal animation sequences, the rich and vibrant colors, the elaborate and carefully drawn background, everything...

Even the most "quiet" sequences are great providing the viewer with fluid and natural character animations. But it's when you enter in the "dream world", when Satoshi Kon (Paprika's director) shifts into 5th gear, that your eyes and your mind enter in an "overdrive mode".

Believe me that I'm not exaggerating when I say that you're literally bombarded at high-speed with amazing, surreal and breathtaking animation sequences, most of them, worthy of a Salvador Dali painting.

- Soundtrack -

In Paprika, the soundtrack is like everything else in the movie...beautifully strange. Most of the times there's no music at all in the film which gives it a tense and quiet vibe that matches perfectly with the overall ambiance of the film during it's "quiet scenes". But when the "action" starts the soundtrack follows it flawlessly.

Even though it's great and it shows up in all the right places, I fear that, sometimes, the soundtrack can be caught in the shadow of the colossus that is the animation in this film and not have the amount of attention it deserves.
However, I also believe that it's unlikely to happen.

- Overview -

After all this, what's left to say about Paprika? Not much. It's just a really awesome movie.
You've got a great story , with a surreal god-like art and animation and, last but not least, a matching and opportunistic soundtrack. What more would you want from an animation movie? Or any movie at all?

It's incredible how Paprika can be, at the same time, a lot of things depending on the "angle" you're looking at it.It's almost like the Mona Lisa, she looks and smiles at you from wherever you look at her. It can be a detective story, it can be a Sci-fi "thriller"/suspense story, it can even be a love story and it can be much more. It has all these elements and they blend together so perfectly. This is how good the movie, and more precisely, the story really is.

Well, actually, there's one thing I'm certain that this movie isn't, and that is, a children's movie. Don't make the mistake of confusing an animation film with a children's film, specially, regarding Japanese animation. Not only is the story quite "heavy" for a children's mind but the movie also has some situations that maybe aren't very suitable for younger audiences.

Paprika messes, in a very good way, with the viewers head so much that at a certain point, you'll have difficulty in distinguishing dreams from reality yourself. And, actually, watching Paprika it's like watching a dream, it's so surreal that will really feel like a dream.

- Rating -

So, after all I've said I think the rating that I'll give Paprika is quite obvious...or maybe not.
The only "negative thing" that I can think of that this film has is the "complexity" of the story that might confuse or even bore some people who watch it and are not used to watch these kind of movies or even, the fact that some people might not like animation films, especially, Japanese animation which is completely different from the mainstream Hollywood animation that most people is used to.

So, without any further delays...for all I've said the only rating I can think of for a movie like Paprika is a more than deserved 9.





Before I go I'll leave the photos of the four Gods of Japanese animation.

Hayo Miyazaki
(My Neighbor Totoro, Mononoke Hime, etc...)




Katsuhiro Otomo
(Akira, Memories, etc...)



Mamoru Oshii
(Ghost in the Shel, etc...)




Satoshi Kon
(Perfect Blue, Tokyo Godfathers, Millennium Actress, etc...)

See ya.

Apologies

Hi, I'm just writing this to apologize for the delay of the new review, but I've been unable to stop for a minute to start writing it. However I'm starting it today, so by tomorrow night (GMT time) I should have it ready to be posted.
If you're wondering what is the subject of my next review all I can say is that it's a movie. To give you a little help in finding out which movie it is, I'll leave a picture so it should be easier to identify.

As you can see, it's an anime.

So, once again let me apologize for the 3 days without a review, with the promise that by tomorrow night a new review will be posted.

See ya.

Sunshine - Movie (2007)

Hey everybody, welcome to my second review!

As you can see, today's review is about the movie, Sunshine. It's a recent film and since I saw it a few days ago, I thought it would make a good review subject.
So..here goes.

- First Look -

Sunshine brings us the story of Icarus II and its crew. In the year 2057 they're sent on a mission to save our dying Sun and thus saving all of Mankind along the way. They do this by traveling all the way to the Sun and then releasing a huge nuclear device that is supposed to revive it.
Of course, by now, you must be thinking one thing: if there's a Icarus II that means that there was a Icarus I at some point, right? Right! Icarus I was the predecessor of the Icarus II, with the exact same mission, but that mysteriously disappeared without a trace 7 years before the Icarus II mission.

So, as Icarus II approaches the Sun and radio contact with Earth starts disappearing, the crew discover a distress beacon that is identified as being from the Icarus I. Ignoring their primary mission objective they set out on trying to salvage what they can from the dead vessel and look for possible survivors. From there on, the crew and the ship itself are victim to a series of unfortunate accidents leading them to believe that not everything is a coincidence.

- Plot/Storyline -

Well, this save the world from a natural disaster or apocalyptic event isn't something new in Hollywood, so, having an original storyline with this kind of premise is quite hard, if not impossible at all and I say this because all these kind of films are all very similar. If it's not a comet then it's a meteorological catastrophe wiping out Mankind but basically the way the story is told and even certain events are all very similar (and sometimes equal) in all, or most of, these kind of movies. Unfortunately it isn't Sunshine that's going to break this trend but, from what it looks like, it tries.

There's also one thing that, in my point of view, shreds away all the efforts of breaking the trend like I said before. It's the fact that, as a Sci-fi thriller Sunshine looks too much like Event Horizon (a 1997 Sci-fi thriller). Even though Sunshine doesn't show a big "horror streak" as Event Horizon does, the similarities between the two movies, and more particularly, between the two stories are enormous and undeniable. A lot of things you see in Event Horizon you also see in Sunshine like the dead vessel floating in space and the villain in Sunshine looks and acts like the villain in Event Horizon. And there's a lot more examples like these.

Even if we turn a blind eye to the similarities between the two movies, we can find the story to be very predictable. Nothing surprising if you remember what I said earlier about Sunshine not breaking the trend. And trust me when I say it's predictable, anybody who's seen one or two movies in the same genre will now everything that'll happen in Sunshine.

Sunshine tries to show the psychological charge the crew members are under and it wouldn't be a bad idea but, unfortunately, it isn't done very well.

So, basically, it all comes down to something I've saying from the beginning, the lack of originality plagues Sunshine's story.

- CGI -

As one would expect in this kind of movie, the CGI's something extremely important to the movie.
All I can say about the CGI in this film is that it's good, it does its job perfectly and provides this film with beautiful images, like the images of the Sun.
Even so, there's nothing really outstanding about the CGI in Sunshine as far as I know, so, there's not much else to say.

- Soundtrack -

For me, the soundtrack, is one of the best things this movie has to offer to anyone who sees it. Sometimes you don't even notice it, which can be a good thing, but when you notice it you'll see that is actually pretty good. And it does was it was made for, helps setting in the mood and, it creates an atmosphere needed not only by the fact that all the action goes on in deep space but also by the fact that this movie is, and let's not forget, a thriller.

I think the music it really fits the kind of movie Sunshine is. I can't really explain it with words, and probably a lot of people will disagree with me, but I think it really fits the movie.

- Overview -

So, what to make of this movie? Let's see what we've got. We have a unoriginal story backed up by some cool CGI and a good soundtrack. Can I consider this a good movie? No, not really.
Even though special effects and soundtrack are two important aspects of a movie, for me, a story is the backbone of it all. And that's exactly what this movie lacks...a story. All Sunshine has is a bad and slightly altered copy of Event Horizon's story.

It's not only story that Sunshine lacks there's also the "little" things that, for me, sometimes differentiates a good movie from a great movie. In this case it it differentiates a good movie from a average movie, and that's what Sunshine is...average.

I'd like to mention the controversial space jump that 3 crew members make, where two of them have no suit on and one of them survives.
From what I've read, it looks like it's not really impossible to survive, it's just improbable since you only have a window of few seconds to reach safety and survive. There's also some mistakes with that sequence, but I'm not even going into that because I'm no scientist.

The thing that really bothers me in this film, almost as much as the lack of original story, is the fact that in this movie, at some point, you get the feeling that dying from extreme sunburns is something beautiful and almost poetic. And this is caused by the obsessions that some crew members have about the Sun and theories that relate the Sun with God and that being engulfed in pure light is a kind of an outer body experience (even though, to me, being engulfed in direct sunlight at a "few" hundreds of thousands of kilometers from the Sun itself shouldn't be called an outer body experience...it should be called a barbecue instead). And trust me when I that there's a lot of blatant examples of this during the movie.

In conclusion, Sunshine is the kind of film that's worth seeing if you don't have anything better to do or to see.
In other words, it's good to pass the time and nothing else.

- Rating -

Ironically, this movie is similar to the Sun...it's kinda cool to look at it but don't stare for too long or you'll get permanent damage.
Sunshine will have two different values regarding two different ratings. One is my rating if I pretend I never saw Event Horizon and the other is my rating regarding the fact that I did saw it.
So, if I pretend I never saw Event Horizon, I give Sunshine a 6.
If I'm honest with myself and admit that I did saw Event Horizon, well, I give Sunshine a mere 5.

Before I go, I'd like to apologize for taking this long to write this second review, but I've been sort of busy these past few days.And, for the time being, I work alone so I can only expect to write 2, 3...maybe 4 (if I'm lucky) reviews a week. So I hope you'll all understand.


See ya.

Silent Hill 4: The Room - Game (PC)

Finally...here it is, my first review! It will be about the PC version of Silent Hill 4 because that's the one I played, but I believe that, with the exception of the Graphics category, everything else is applicable to the PS2 and XBOX versions of the game.
I know that it's an "old" game, but since this is my first review I think it's a good way to start.
So let's begin...

- First Look -

Silent Hill 4, the most "recent" installment of a widely acclaimed series, brings all the horror that fans of the previous games, such as myself, are expecting with some changes and/or additions.
The game begins when Henry Townshend, a man living in South Ashfield, one day finds the door of his own apartment chained down. All the while, Henry is haunted by strange nightmares. To add to the strangeness of the situation Henry can't get help since the phone doesn't work and nobody can see or hear him. This situation goes on until one day a hole opens up in his bathroom and he soon finds out that hole is actually a portal to another world.

The first thing that somebody that played the previous games might notice, even without touching the game itself, is that, unlike all the previous Silent Hill games, the action in Silent Hill 4 doesn't take place in or around the mysterious city of Silent Hill. Actually most of the action takes place in a small apartment in South Ashfield, a neighbouring city of Silent Hill.
Another thing that people who've played the previous will notice once they start playing the game is the first-person view inside the apartment. This is also something completely new in the Silent Hill universe since in all previous games, the third-person view was king. And, in a way, it still is...let's just say, that now, it shares the throne with the first-person view.
Another thing that everybody who's played a Silent Hill game before should be surprised to find out is the fact that in this adventure there's no need for the traditional flashlight to light our way in the typical Silent Hill darkness and the radio, so useful in telling us when monsters were near.

So, differences aside from its predecessors, it looks like Silent Hill 4 has all the right ingredients to be a great game. But let's take a more in depth look.

- Plot/Storyline -

Like I said before, the game begins with Henry Townshend locked in his own apartment with no means of getting help since the phone's dead and none of his neighbours can hear Henry crying for help. And the horrible nightmares that Henry has, where he sees his apartment in a grimy, run-down version and where a ghost comes out of the wall, don't help him to figure a way out of that situation. Some days after all these mysterious events started happening Henry finds a hole in his bathroom and finds that the hole is actually a portal to another world.

It's with these portals that Henry will be able to travel between his apartment and the various worlds that Silent Hill 4 has to offers us and, it will be trough these constant travels between worlds and apartment that Henry will find out the reason the strange happenings in his apartment.

The story itself has everything one can expect from a Silent Hill game and the way that it unfolds is, in my point of view, something unique to this game also.
It's through Henry's experiences and discoveries in each of the worlds that, in our constant returns to the apartment, we will find that our previous actions could've triggered a change in the apartment itself. A crack on wall, a piece of furniture out of place and, most commonly, notes under the door are some of the the changes that the apartment will suffer throughout the game.
It's all these things that, together, will ultimately allow Henry to find the reason behind the strange occurrences in his apartment. And as one would expect, although the actions happens mainly in South Ashfield, the story itself is intimately connected to the city of Silent Hill and its cult. Though, sometimes, the story, or the way it's shown to the player as he progresses, is rather confusing but, fortunately, in the end, everything will be "thoroughly" explained.

As the story unfolds and Henry travels through the different worlds, he'll meet several characters with more or less importance in the story, but there are some that are a constant presence throughout the game like Henrys next-door neighbour, the creepy kid who insists on running around the various worlds and the weird man dressed in a raincoat.
About the dialogs between the characters and Henry all I can say is that they're your typical Silent Hill dialogs, and with this I mean...unemotional, strange and creepy. Anyone who's played a Silent Hill should have a general idea of what they can expect.

So, in general, the story doesn't stray too far from the other Silent Hill games, which doesn't mean that it's not good or original, quite the contrary actually. The fact that the main action in the game changed from Silent Hill to South Ashfield shows exactly that. It shows that it's possible to create a story with all the traditional Silent Hill quality and elements without it happening specifically in Silent Hill.
In my point of view it was a bold move but a necessary move to make in order to bring a breath of fresh air to the Silent Hill series.

- Graphics -

Like I said in the beginning of the post, this review has the PC version of the game as its basis, which means that in this Graphics category, unlike the other categories, it can't be applicable to the PS2 or XBOX versions or, at least, not fully applicable.

So, even not playing with the graphics at "full blast" (since I didn't play at the highest resolution but had most graphical options on or at their maximum setting) all I can say is that the graphics in Silent Hill 4 are great, nothing groundbreaking but, in my opinion, graphics don't need to groundbreaking to be great.
Actually the graphics were something that I knew, even before I played the game, that were going to be good. I knew that because in all previous Silent Hill titles, even with all technological limitations of their time by todays standards, the graphics were good. It's something the Konami team behind Silent Hill has always been able to deliver flawlessly.

And the graphics are something extremely in the "Silent Hill experience". How so? Well, for me, Silent Hill is great for one reason, it's the best and first real horror game. Silent Hill is so great just because it delivers the player true horror and suspense, and graphics have a big part in that.
From the strategically placed camera, to the grimy, bloody look of everything in the Silent Hill world and not forgetting the extremely detailed and creepy-looking monsters, all this helps to create a true horror experience so typical of Silent Hill.

It's good to see that the graphics in Silent Hill 4, a game with almost 3 years, don't look outdated at all, in fact, they look like they could go against the graphics of some of todays games.

- Music/Sound Effects -

If graphics take a big part in creating the typical horror experience of Silent Hill, music and sounds effects take an equally big part in creating that terrifying ambiance.
In any game, music has an extremely import role in creating an ambiance suitable for the game, in horror games this is even truer. And in this field, as in many others, the Konami team is superb.

And all starts with the main theme, a eerie tune called "Room of Angel" with some suggestive lyrics. Even the music in the start menu is a proud representative of what a musical score for a horror game should be. It's incredible how with just these two tunes it's possible to embed in the player some inexplicable uneasiness, a great starting point for every horror fan out there. The good thing is that from "starting point to finish line" the music does its job. And what a job!

Like I said music and sounds effects have an extremely important role in the ambiance of a game. And regarding sound effects in particular, they also do their job perfectly. The sounds made by the monsters are great and really boost the tension felt by the player while playing, especially in those situations when you can hear the monster but you can't really see him and that's something that's bound to happen often.
Another great example of Silent Hill 4's superbly used sounds effects, is the portal in Henrys bathroom. Whenever you're near the portal (specially when you're look right into it) you'll be able to hear creepy things like women or children crying. In my opinion these "little things", sometimes, make all the difference int the world.

All in all, the music and sound effects do their job flawlessly and provide an ambiance that all Silent Hill fans should know very well and that every horror fan that's new to Silent Hill series will be sure to love.

- Overview -

Well, before I make the overview of the game there's still some aspects of the game that I didn't mention before and, that I believe, made some difference in the overall gaming experience.

First aspect I'd like to mention is the absence of the flashlight and radio in this game. Well, for me, the lack of the radio didn't make any real difference or I didn't think the game was more difficult just because I didn't have the static noise of the radio warning me of nearby monsters. I thought that the noise made by the monsters in the distance were enough to, not only warn me, but also to make me jumpy whenever I heard them.
Now regarding the flashlight, well, the difference isn't less important like the radio was. And this is because if there's no need of a flashlight then it can only mean one thing, there's enough light in the game and this is, to me, something makes a lot of difference. The fact that some of the parts in the previous games were spent in complete darkness and the flashlight was almost like a life buoy for us and, at the same time, it helped greatly to immerse the player in a state of constant tension and fear.
With this I don't mean that Silent Hill 4 doesn't do that, actually the game itself goes on always in a lot of obscure and shadowy places, but I think it could've done much more if it went on in utterly dark places with only a small flashlight lighting the way. Obscure and shadowy places aren't exactly the same thing as a pitch black surrounding.

The second, and final, aspect I found to be influent in the gaming experience is the item system in Silent Hill 4. In this game, unlike the previous ones, our hero can only carry a limited number of items at a time and uses a inventory system where it's possible to store an unlimited number of items in the apartment. It's easy to guess that this isn't a very good system and it's also easy to see why. During the game I often found myself eagerly looking for a portal back to the apartment so I could pick up a necessary item to solve a puzzle, something I had to leave in the apartment due to lack of space to carry it with me. This is...well, annoying just because it directly influences the flow of the game. And, unfortunately, it's not uncommon to leave important items, like ammo or medkits, behind just because there's not enough room to carry them and you're too far away from any portal to drop something off at the apartment. This is particularly bad and frustrating when your life bar is almost empty and you can't pick a nutrition drink that can save your life.

Regarding weaponry, Silent Hill 4, follows in the footsteps of the series and doesn't have a lot of firearms available, even though there's seem to be quite a few ammo pickups along the game. Aside from firearms there's a lot to be found from innumerate golf clubs, to a steel pipe, baseball bat, knife, shuffle not to mention the ridiculously powerful Pickaxe of Despair and many other things. As expected each weapon has it's advantages and disadvantages regarding power and speed.
And to say the truth I found myself using a lot less weapons that I thought I'd use initially, alternating between two or three personal favorites and only using firearms when I was low on energy or when the situation required one (which doesn't happen often). Actually in this game, it's possible to complete it without using a firearm once...not even in the battle with the final boss of the game, which is a stupidly easy battle once you figure out what to do.

Just to finish I'd like to speak a little about the puzzles the game has to offer us. In general all of them are pretty basic and just require the player to run around and look for a certain key item or solving some weird riddle, but, of course, there are exceptions. They're nothing out of the ordinary in the Silent Hill series and anybody who's played a Silent Hill game, or any survival horror game for that matter, should know what to expect.

A quick word about the controls which I found pretty easy to use since I was using a gamepad, if I used the keyboard I'd doubt it would be that easy or intuitive but like everything in life..sometimes it just takes a little practice and a little getting used to. I assume that in the PS2 and XBOX versions the controls are just as simple.

So, in conclusion, Silent Hill 4 has everything you could expect from a Silent Hill game, the horror, the tension, the great story and it delivers all this in a "new package". With this I mean the fact that it changed it main action from Silent Hill along with some other changes like the absence of the flashlight and radio and the frustrating inventory system.
Basically, it's a Silent Hill game and that's saying it all. If you're a fan, like me, you won't be disappointed, even though there are some things that, in my opinion, should have been done differently or not done at all actually.
Those who've never played have, in Silent Hill 4, a good way to be introduced to this particular universe of horror games, but I think starting from the first game is better, that is, if you can overcome the fact that the original Silent Hill game is quite old, but still very worthy of playing.

Summing it all up I think "Silent Hill 4: The Room" is, overall, a great game suffering from some minor setbacks, maybe due to the weight brought on by the fact that this is the fourth of a line of greatly successful games.

- Rating -

So, after all I've said I can't ignore that, although this is a great game, it's not greater than any of the previous games but, regarding the fact the pros are far superior of the cons of this game, I give it a solid 8.



So, finally, this has been my very first review. First I must apologize for the poor/below average quality of the review, but, remember this is my first review so, hopefully, I'll get better along the way. Another thing I'd like to say is that as soon as possible I'll try to find something nice for my ratings(like animated gifs or something like that), but until now I've come up with nothing (if any you out there want to help me out on this one you're more than welcome).

One last thing I'd like to remember you all is that all suggestions and comments are most welcome(and before I go I'll leave you two pictures of one of the most charismatic monsters in the Silent Hill series).

See ya.

Event in Japan to promote the new Silent Hill title, Silent Hill Complete Set, a compilation of all the Silent Hill titles in one box set.



Picture from the nurses in the Silent Hill movie.