This is a "Legacy Review" of a game I just recently decided to play.
Silent Hill has long stood as one of my favorite series of games, but I've always written off the fourth installment, The Room, as an afterthought of the series. That being said: I've left playing it off for far too long.
Upon playing the game I was introduced to a first person perspective that played opposite of what I'm used to (when I play FPS, I play with reverse up and down axis, I'm'a freak, ok!?) and with poorly written controls. But I quickly found myself placed into something far more "Silent Hill" than the initial few minutes of the game.
It should be noted that this game was initially created as a new IP for the company, and not a continuation of the Silent Hill story. This is apparent in the extremely different gameplay and flow of the game. Upon playing the game I found the ebb and flow of this "non Silent Hill Silent Hill" was much better than any Silent Hill I'd played before (I've played ALL of them, including the GBA Play Novel) and found that this game's flow was more organic. It uses the character's (Henry Towmshend) apartment as a staging ground. It gives you a chest in which to keep excess inventory items, as well as a place to restore health (in the earlier parts of the game, everytime you return here, your health returns to full), as well as a way to keep an eye on your neighbors, watch the your world change and even futz around. When a hole opens up in his bathroom Henry ventures into it and it's magically Silent Hill-esque!
Once you venture into the "other world" the view changes from the broken first person view into a perfect "Survival Horror" style third person view and the accompanying controls. At this point: the game becomes natural. As with any SH game, you're in a subway, working your way through and finding out why the character was trapped in his own apartment. And this is where you start to find out why a character living in an apartment outside of Silent Hill has any connection to the world of Harry Mason (I know, I initially wrote Henry, but H-names confuse me!) and James Sunderland.
The first half of the game plays fantastically beautifully (if that's not the most broken description ever, let me know what is!) and the introduction of the apartment as a healing option allows you to play the game fairly casually. Examining the life and times of a serial killer connected to both the main character of the game and the Silent Hill universe. It's a fairly easy to play game compared to prior titles, as well as later titles, in the series. Compared to the health and weapon systems in Origins, 1, 2, 3, Homecoming and Shattered Memories, this game was easy and flowed, story wise, much better than all of them. It was almost magically well made!
Then the second half rolled around. And wow, did things go downhill. Upon entering "Hospital World" you find that you're magically attached to a female neighbor that you know nothing about and your character has no connection to at all (other than spying on her through a hole in your wall throughout the game). To top that off, your apartment becomes haunted and stops healing you when you visit it. Without the use of special objects, your apartment will essentially kill you when you visit it to save. You also visit all of the same worlds you've already visited.
It's not as bad as it sounds, since you can "cleanse your apartment." The change in game style not only includes a new "dangerous" save zone and potentially deadly "home world," but an escort mission for the rest of the game. It took me a lot of "trial and error" to figure out I could leave the "escorted" in certain areas of most worlds in order to avoid damaging her. The game quickly takes a different turn, and honestly, I stopped playing for a while once it changed.
This change is where it becomes suspiciously like a Silent Hill game. I hated the switch from a perfectly flowing and made game to one that hated you like all other games of the series, but upon taking the time to really delve into the game, I found it made sense and was completely playable. The change was abrupt and upsetting, but it was worth it.
Honestly, it fits well into the Silent Hill mythos, but isn't necessary, but it's also one of the more poorly made Silent Hill games made. It doesn't stand a chance compared to any of the other games, including Origins. It also doesn't add anything to the story, but if you haven't played it and you're a suvival horror or Silent Hill fan, it's well worth the 5 to 10 hours it takes to play.
Overall: 7/10
As a Silent Hill fan: 5/10
Pros: Good gameplay, awkward hauntings that will haunt you, adds to the story of Silent Hill, better camera than most earlier Survival Horror games
Cons: Gets too hard too fast, flow of the game gets messed up, seems superficial
Play if you like: Silent Hill games, fucked up FPS controls, a game that changes flow completely at the half way point.
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