While Silent Hill 4 is Definately not the best in the series, it absolutley has one of the most interesting and engaging concepts and approaches to story telling. while SH2 and SH3 have a lot of optional story telling in notes and photos, 4 Dials it up to 11, with optional interactions through the peephole and hole in the wall, allong with many strewn about notes. A supprisingly overlooked aspect of Silent Hill 4 is how it is a pseudo sequel to SH2, touching on similar themes, as well as elaborating on background details, such as the island on Tolluca Lake, or the crimes and history of Walter Sullivan. While many consider the combat system unneccisarily complicated and overly clunky, i feel the odd and confusing systems to add to the stress of combat situations, as well as detering the player from attempting fights they dont have the skill or resources to take on. The most infamous and unique trait of the game, which many talk about and compliment, is the haunting system, where many ghosts and spirits start messing with Henry in his appartment. Neddless to say, i love this approach to horror, as for a large chunk of the game the appartment is a safe haven where the player can take a break, heal up, deposite items and save their game. The hauntings rob you of such security, while only temporarily, the only way to remove them is by exorciseing them with a candle. However, these candles can be rather hard to find at times, forcing you to pick and choose which ghosts are most important to be rid of. Finally, GOG have recently enhanced this version of the game, as the original PC port of the PS2 original game was incomplete, due to the original finnished build being lost, Classic Konami move. these enhancement namely return the missing hauntings from the PS2 version, return the wide screen features, although unfortunately most of the HUD elements and title screen text seemingly havent been given the same treatment. 4/5 stars good port, minor complaints.
