[Jony]

Has anyone played the game yet? I know I am a couple of months late, but I recently played the demo for it on my PS2 and I liked it. The first person thing in the room was very nice indeed. I saw reviews of the game and the one thing that kinda "scared" me away from the game was the lack of puzzles. Does anyone know if in fact the game lacks puzzles? Or for that matter which is the best Silent Hill game puzzle wise?

[Intrepid Homoludens]

All I've read about SH4 is that it ultimately hasn't done anything differently from before. It's more combat focused and the puzzles aren't as challenging, and really the only thing new is the setting (um, not in the town of Silent Hill). One thing people are complaining about is the respawning of enemies, a big minus IMO. It got relatively good scores, there are the usual glitches (controls, camera, etc.), and there isn't much of a dramatic graphical difference b/t the console and the PC version (although it's much better on Xbox compared to the weaker PS2, of course). I haven't got it yet (I have all 3 previous SH games), but I'm torn b/t getting the Xbox version and the PC version, considering the pros and cons.

There are excellent puzzles in all three previous SH games, especially the first one and SH3 (the poetry puzzles are particularly good). If you haven't already done so, play SH2 more for the poignant story and the beautiful visuals, as it's stronger in those departments (be prepared to cry in the ending). SH1, IMO, is the freakiest one out of all of them and easily the most disturbing, partly because you have no idea WTF is going on and because of the incredible 'raw' psychological atmosphere. SH3 is more simplified in terms of story and general unfolding of things, more straightforward in the horror department, but the main character is worth rooting for (she's young and vulnerable but precocious and very strong willed). Hope that helps.

[Jony]

I've heard that you could choose and Adventure mode (more puzzles) and an action mode (more action) in Silent Hill 2. Is that true? If it is, does Silent Hill 3 have the same option?

[Intrepid Homoludens]

All the SH games thus far have a mix-n-match feature in terms of puzzle and combat difficulty. So: easy puzzle + hard combat, hard puzzle + beginner combat, hard puzzle + hard combat, etc. For SH2, I recommend hard puzzle + beginner combat if you want to focus on story and exploration, i.e. experience it more as an adventure game.

[Henke]

I haven't finished SH4 yet but I thought that it had more puzzles then the previous games, but I don't really know if they are better. For me SH2 is the best game followed by SH4 and SH3 in that order (although as I said, I haven't finished SH4 yet).

[Intrepid Homoludens]

I think SH2 is the best one in terms of its narrative, but SH1 is the best one for its sheer impact in terror and psychological edginess. Nothing in SH2, SH3, and afaik SH4 can even come close to matching that very first scene in SH1 where Harry Mason strikes that match and goes into that darkened alley, the wailing air raid siren in the back. :eek: That was brilliant!! Talk about a game f#&king with you the moment you start playing it!

[Bastich]

Originally Posted by Intrepid Homoludens

One thing people are complaining about is the respawning of enemies, a big minus IMO.

The enemies respawned in all the games. I assume it is just much worse or something?

[RemiO]

There are probably more puzzles in SH4 than the previous games, but they're all rather easy, so it all depends on your point of view I guess.

Personally I find SH4 to be the second best game in the series (I'm one of the few), mostly because of the feeling you have that somebody's watching you all throught the game (which is kind of the theme anyway). The story is excellent too, though perhaps not quite as accessible as it could have been.

[Intrepid Homoludens]

Originally Posted by Bastich

The enemies respawned in all the games. I assume it is just much worse or something?

No, they didn't. At least not in the interior levels. Like the school in SH1, once you kill off all the roaches and skinless babies that's it, no more.

[SamandMax]

Yeah, SH4 seems to have gotten a mixed reaction from a lot of people, and I can't understand why. I love this game. I was really disappointed by SH3, so it's good to play a Silent Hill game that's actually scary again.

[fahrenheit 541]

just started this game, not new to any previous sh games! any help would be appreciated in starting sh4, thanks

[squarejawhero]

I'm now of the opinion SH4 is better than the third, which felt messy. SH4 seems to have more cohesion... plus I like the fact that the dogs early on can be walked past as they're deaf. Killing one makes the other two (usually groups of three) walk up to the corpse and suck out its juices.

Nice!

Go for the PC version, Trep. Nice high-res textures, although not quite as good looking as the last one as the conversion isn't quite as well done.

[Intrepid Homoludens]

Originally Posted by squarejawhero

Go for the PC version, Trep. Nice high-res textures, although not quite as good looking as the last one as the conversion isn't quite as well done.

If it's not as nice as the PC SH3 I'll just get it for Xbox. I'm not that demanding. Actually, I should d/l the SH4 demo just to compare, then make my mind up from there. Thanks. 8-)

The graphics in SH3 was INCREDIBLE. Man, what a fukcing waste that adventure developers can't take advantage of these kinds of engines.

[Jayel]

SH4 for PC has terrible controls! Forget mouse + keyboard. You'd be MUCH better off with a gamepad.
I don't know how they managed to mess it up because the demo of SH3 for PC had decent controls (or so I remember).