Silent Hill 4: Two Guys In A Room Comments by Kristan Reed
We sit down for a slightly disturbing chat with Silent Hill 4's chief designer Masashi Tsuboyama and producer Akira Yamaoka to find out if they're really as strange as the game suggests...
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Comments: 1-32 of 32 in total
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We hope by then the team will have learned what it was that made Silent Hill such a beloved series in the first place and reverse the peculiar decision to turn it into some sort of action hackandslash freak show.
Me too. The greater emphasis on action spoils the atmosphere somewhat. Silent Hill 2 got the balance exactly right - there were beasties but not too many, so when you ran into one it was a shock rather than 'oh, another beastie'. SH3 didn't 'build' the tension in the same way as the other games did, instead just throwing you directly into the situation. As such, quite a lot of the underlying malice was lost and it felt more 'Resident Evil shock-horror' than traditional Silent Hill 'creeping fear'. Very much looking forward to seeing what they can do with the new platforms... Silent Hill 2 and 3 are among the best-looking games on the PS2. |
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mash the x button
25/08/04 @ 10:54
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The fact that this didn't start as a Silent Hill game and became one later on solely for commercial reasons says it all really. I am a great fan of the first two, but it seems to me the Konami have lost their way with the series.
Will I pick it up? When it comes significantly down in price perhaps. |
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Having only played silent hill 3 before, and having read the rather grim reviews, I was really very pleasantly surprised by the fourth in the series.
I didnt find the gameplay dull in the least (maybe because it was my second silent hill) and although it might not be very scary, it is certainly full of atmosphere and has a great story (yes it does) . It took me about 14 and a half hours to finish it on medium difficulty (took me about 9 or so in silent hill 3) and I actually didnt mind the levels being 'redone' because I was having a wonderful time through and through and wanted to see the story resolved. I am a bit of a horror anything buff but I would say that everyone interested should atleast give it a try before completely writing it off. I did and really loved it. |
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el_pollo_diablo
25/08/04 @ 12:17
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"Obviously the movie industry is a lot bigger than the games industry..."
Really? I thought the games industry had overtaken movies, profit wise at least, a couple of years ago. |
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Remakes are evil!
Not necessarily. The Resident Evil remake on the Cube is worth its weight in gold... although I'm glad that mini-DVDs don't weigh much. Come to think of it, a Silent Hill 1 remake with proper graphics is an excellent idea! It still is the scariest game in the series in my opinion. |
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mash the x button
25/08/04 @ 12:35
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What would be the point of a remake? Didn't you appreciate SH1 as it was? That game proves that you do not need state of the art graphics to have atmosphere.
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I've got the REmake but I just can't get up the enthusiasm to actually play it. Every time I'm about to start a new game I look at it and think 'I've played that before' and play something else instead.
The trend for remaking old (and not-so-old) stuff is getting a bit annoying. I'd much rather they put their time and effort into new titles which are as good as the old ones rather than just rehashing the old ones with new graphics. All IMHO, of course.
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most recently on 25/08/04 @ 13:37
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So your saying that you never go back and play old games? like with MAME or simply with the original hardware, because you appreaciated them back then so you never play them again? bullsh*t.
I didn't say that at all - nor did I say that Silent Hill wasn't 'state of the art' at the time. I do go back and play my old favourites from time to time. And that's just the point - if I've played and can still play the original, why would I ever want a 'new' version with 'better graphics'? Forget rehashing, make a new one that's just as good as the old one! If I want to play the old one, I'll play the old one! |
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Silent Hill 3 is the first one I played in the series, and I think it has tainted me against all this survival horror stuff. I mean...
You have to open a nut using a VICE? A vice in a SPORTS SHOP?? You have to use nutcrackers to open a fucking LOCK? No trains come for half an hour, but the moment you step on the tracks, it's all "BAM! PANZER DEAD AHEAD!" and you're fucked! At that point, I took the game back. |
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mash the x button
25/08/04 @ 14:06
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Yes, SH1 graphics were good for the time, and as far as I'm concerned are fine enough now. If the game is good enough...
"The trend for remaking old (and not-so-old) stuff is getting a bit annoying. I'd much rather they put their time and effort into new titles which are as good as the old ones rather than just rehashing the old ones with new graphics". This could easily be levelled at the cinema industry! Same old crap with unconvincing CGI. "At that point, I took the game back" Well, it is the worst of the series despite (ahem) the rather nice graphics :-) |
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mash the x button
25/08/04 @ 14:33
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I hear that Peter Jackson is to remake King Kong. Hopefully not, because what's wrong with the 1933 original? Absolute classic!
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mash the x button
25/08/04 @ 15:34
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And that probably means another shyte console game tie-in, groan. Please tell me it is not so!
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mash the x button
25/08/04 @ 16:02
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So the Americans save the world again eh?
No doubt there will be a game, so.... War of the Worlds King Kong The Matrix Catwoman Shrek 2 And the list goes on and on. I call on all gamers to boycott such products! |
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The thing that annoys me most in the demo is how enemies jerk backwards when melee attacked so you can't continuously whack away at them like before. It makes you move about a bit more and learn how the tongue dogs' attack pattern works but against the floating puppets it's just a pain in the arse... and they come back to life. Gits.
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mash the x button
25/08/04 @ 17:42
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Up until recently SH1 was still available on Platinum in some stores and is easily available second hand. There is no need for a remake.
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I hear what you're all saying about "no need for a remake" but if any of you saw how bad PSone games look on a big (wide) screen, you might see the benefits of such an idea. Even current gen stuff looks bad a lot of the time; HDTV stuff is going to make such a big difference once those big plasmas and LCDs start coming down to mass market prices in a few years. Honestly, it has to be seen to be believed. The difference is huge.
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Blerk - give Resident Evil GC a go. I felt the same before I played it, but actually it works wonderfully. There's definitely enough new stuff not to feel that you're just rehashing old ground, and the production values are superb - still one of the best looking games I've ever played. Sure, a lot will be familiar from the original, but it's actually a warm feeling of "oh, I remember that" rather than "not that again". And they continually play with the fact you remember it - you never know whether a familiar sequence will turn out the same, or whether they're leading you into a sneaky trap.
Stuff like Twin Snakes, where they just haven't added anything new, just doesn't compare. |
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mash the x button
25/08/04 @ 23:27
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But surely it's more about what you remember it to be the first time round? That old magic, the strings, sparklers for engines (I'm showing my age) ets etc? Why play a remake game with improved graphics when you know what exactly is coming next?
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most recently on 26/08/04 @ 00:28
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dumb asses.. the point of remakes is so that people who havent played the first one can play it again. i know for a fact that theres not a lot of people out there that hasnt played the first SH.
There's nothing to stop you picking up the original. Dumb ass. tiddles: I will give it a go at some point. I did spend money on it after all! :-) kruds: My heart bleeds for you. Oh the irony of buying a vastly expensive you obviously get paid too much telly only to discover that everything looks terrible on it. ;-) |
Comments: 1-32 of 32 in total
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