[Intrepid Homoludens]

The gameplay in Silent Hill 4 seems to be on par with the previous games. The control mechanics are basically the same, with the notable addition of being able to charge up your attack for greater power. The game's basic structure appears to be pretty linear at the moment--you'll have to deal with one incident at a time, which provides you information about the next, and so on. There are now two distinct perspectives based on where you are: The game will use a first-person view when you're in your room and a third-person camera when you're exploring toilet land.

Gamespot hands-on preview

Included in this preview is a little movie of a first person walkthrough in the main character's apartment.

[SamandMax]

In case the preview wasn't enough, here are some reviews for the imported version of the game (taken from www.silenthillforum.co.uk) :

So I turned on the PS2 yesterday night 10 p.m and I turned it off today 3 p.m...I'm a bit tired now but too excited not to share that!
You have to know I loved Silent Hill 1 & 2 but not that much 3.
I can tell you that the game is just great!

Where should I start? By the end :
First thing, the game is much longer than Silent Hill 3 and I think a little longer than Silent Hill 2 (from what I remember). In the end my savegame said something like 10 hours of play but the fact is I played longer than that...

Before I played the game, I was a little annoied by all these new features, thinkin it would ruin the famous Silent Hill mood. It's true that we've come to a new era of this series, but I think it's in a very good way : all the essential elements are still here, even better than ever.

So there's no flashlight. But you have to know that it didn't really change anything in my mind, since I never really turned it off in the other games. I think that Konami did this in order to minimize the CPU needs and it works well : the graphics are great and the loading times are no more a problem (it was a problem in SH3, wasn't it?)

The music is really good too but I must say I was a little disappointed : I listened to all the previews available, and they all sounded great to me. But in the game, they are in fact too discrete, and I think it would have add more power to it with better mixing ingame.

The game is not scarry as it was in the other games...it's more like a permanent stress, and that's where I think the game goes great : I read Yamaoka said some time in an interview "the game is about turning your safe place into something you fear", and after playing the game I perfectly understand what he meant. Little by little, there's this insecurity feeling growing in you, and you feel more and more IN DANGER! The difficulty level is well balanced, and evolves in a good way. I was really in front of something new to me, and I can say Konami made it concerning the "sensitivity" of it all.

I won't tell you anything about the plot except that it's unexpected and never done before in the movies industry. The cast is more important than in any other SH game anf that's an excelent point. It is a totaly new storyline, even if it takes some elements from ALL the other games, which gives at last something fresh!
I personnaly really liked the story, very strange and at the same time "beautiful". There's still a lot of misteries running in my head and I'll just never forget some of the characters. Team Silent = Alchemists of emotion !

To those who thought that nothing else than "blood like rust" and "blueish tears concrete" was possible, expect good surprises!

I'm sincerely convinced that everyone here will get used to the new features as easily as I did. But to the reluctants, you can switch off the lifegauge whenever you want.

Last thing : I REALLY advise you to keep yourself unspoilt if you want to enjoy the game as much as I did. You won't regret the unbearable wait, I can assure you!

(I can't help telling that the new hospital, though a little short, is one piece of art that you won't forget...)

Enjoy!!!

......SICKEST SH EVER! I LOVE IT!!! I dunno why some people say it's not as scary evenat the begining I find it scary and highly disturbing, those ghosts and the sounds that acompany them are simply insane.

I haven't felt this way since the first SH, my head hurts a bit, I feel like I have high tempreature and, there's chaos in my mind now, if you don't ffind SH4 scary or disturbing try playing it with Headphone cause that's how you should be playing all SH games.

[Jakek]

I absolutely love these games; all of them are in my favorite games list. But I have two questions I was hoping someone could answer. The first is fairly simple, does anyone know if the environments when you are in first person are prerendered (FMV) or done ingame? I can't for the life of me tell. The second is a bit more indepth, does anyone know how the game is played in the apartment? Is it full of puzzles? What?

[Intrepid Homoludens]

You didn't read the Gamespot review apparently, silly boy. Yes, it will be in playable real time when you're in first person view (think first person shooter). That's obviously shown in the little in-game movie at Gamespot. Your view during your times in the apartment are all in first person. Once you 'crawl' out of the apartment the view switches to third person.

[Jakek]

Originally Posted by Intrepid Homoludens

You didn't read the Gamespot review apparently, silly boy. Yes, it will be in playable real time when you're in first person view (think first person shooter). That's obviously shown in the little in-game movie at Gamespot. Your view during your times in the apartment are all in first person. Once you 'crawl' out of the apartment the view switches to third person.

No no, I meant pre-rendered backgrounds or video backrounds that you could walk around, like in Resident Evil.