Though Resident Evil is the game considered responsible for bringing the survival horror game into the mainstream, there are far more hardcore and graphic offerings available, just waiting to give their punters a fright. The most disturbed of which probably comes in the form of Silent Hill, a game created in the wake the Resident Evil phenomenon that quickly went on to become one of the most notoriously grisly series ever conceived. And with the franchise still very much in the limelight, Silent Hill creator Konami has unleashed a truly unsettling fourth instalment, dubbed The Room.
And The Room is exactly where things start to turn nasty for protagonist Henry Townsend as he wakes from a dream filled with grotesque goings-on. He's been locked in his room for five days now, with no way to escape to the corridors of his city building. The windows are stuck shut, the phone is playing up, and his front door is heavily chained up from the inside. And as is made apparent in the first 30 minutes of play, the only way you can solve Henry's dilemma is climb through a mysterious hole in your closet - a hole that takes you to any number of alternate realities - and investigate.
It's a compelling mystery that is truly imaginative and - to be frank - messed up. And it's within these alternate dream-like worlds that you'll be faced with an array of inhospitable zombies, killer dogs, giant worms and two-headed ghouls, most of which look like they belong to a Japanese cult horror movie. Naturally, you'll have to send them to their doom by means of a weapon of some sort. In keeping with the rest of the series, the early stages of the gore-fest see you armed with a 3-foot pipe, whereas further progress and exploration earns you a more effective arsenal, which can be accessed through intuitive inventories and shortcuts.
The second of two prolific playing styles involves investigation. Progress is a difficult thing to achieve in Silent Hill 4, and it's only through the discovery of notes, key items and interaction with other characters that you'll uncover the answers to the mysteries surrounding Henry Townsend and The Room.
On the whole, little has changed in Silent Hill 4. Gameplay is story-driven, the battle system remains the same, and the atmospheric environments are every bit as chilling as those seen in the previous games. It's a game that is distinct, has a unique cinematic quality and that is downright scary - everything a survival horror game should be.