The knife I was using got wet, it's completely useless now.

The one thing with the DJ that spooked me was was how, later after he is fired by the monsters, you can hear his voice garbled on a radio or two in the town late in the game.

A fallen tree. Huh. The main character must have seen Anaconda 4 and thought "Yep better not do that either..."

My interpretation of the vortex (note I'm by no means a Silent Hill expert), it's a police siren, it's the red light you see looking over your shoulder when you're on the run, reflecting from behind street corners and over alleyways. It's the dread of being caught and something law enforcement can use to instill fear in a running criminal.

It seems like a huge missed opportunity that the game does not make use of themes of imprisonment and punishment. Though I guess that would turn it into The Suffering. This game gives me an idea: Al Pacino's character from Insomnia seems like it would make for a good Silent Hill protagonist. He is a police officer who previously investigated the murder of a child. He believed a pedophile to be guilty, but he could not prove it, so he fabricated the evidence.

Oh c'mon , I can totally see Silent Hill's hideous psychological horrors speeding down the road in a squad car all crammed in with some of them hanging out of the car crazily waving their nightsticks and guns barely missing falling out as they hit sharp corners. (yeah it's stupid)

To think Downpour is the last official Silent Hill game from Konami ; since they denied PT and Silent Hills... #FucKonami

One thing I'd love to do sometime if I could would be to make an homage game to silent hill, specifically the fog of it, use it to limit draw distance a ton and then see what kind of insane levels you can put into the graphics and still run on mid range computers.

I said the same thing when that part of a tree fell down and he's all like " nope can't go that way!" why Murphy!? why can't you go that way?!

How much you want to bet that there's going to be a Silent Hills spiritual successor on Kickstarter in the next year or so?

When the case on the right moves at 16:53... That was creepy.

16:50 Silent Hill 4: The Room in the background does not agree ;D

This actually looks a LOT like The Suffering...and the idea of playing in someone else's Silent Hill Nightmare is an intriguing idea for sure.

10:08 Looks like this is a video that was a victim of KZfaq removing annotations

I feel like yours is the only review that mentions the framerate issues and ridiculous load screens. This was one of the biggest problems I had with this game and it took me out of what little mood it was trying to create, or killed me because of the stupid red light thingy.

Wait... Aren't all the monsters in Silent Hill representations of your past sins? Don't the cops make sense in this game? BAD PHELAN!

at 16:50 the silent hill 4 case moves by itself. O.O screepy

Origins had destructible objects. BUT, Since you could carry several weapons, you carried around about 20 toasters in your back pocket.

10:08 There was a button gag here. It's gone now.

Interesting thing is Murphy Pendleton is honestly my favorite character out of the whole Silent Hill series.

You know a game I enjoyed playing back in the original X-Box days? The Suffering. You should think about reviewing that game some time.

How to make the DJ more eerie: In the Otherworld, string his lower body out so that the ligaments and sinew are like a harpsichord. Mix the upper body with a speaker setup. Then have the arms attached to something mechanical, and spinning records...then have his normal voice whisper and crackle over the speakers... Then have the above guy...except bound to a wheelchair... Yes, that is cheesy...and more Hellraiser than Silent Hill...but there is at least some concept of suffering there...

You know Phelous, I'm surprised you didn't get the DJ. He, like everyone else the town dragged in, had personal demons to confront. Thing is, he didn't confront them. He pushed them off and holed up in the radio station, refusing to learn his lesson. Murphy's arrival forced him to finally confront the issue. Basically, he trapped himself in the town or went "Full circle," to go off one of the games endings.

NGL, as much as I like Downpour, I can't find much fault in your review. You made your case and I respect that~

by the way Phelan, what's your thought's on Konami and there cancellation of Silent Hills? I'm so upset about it, but I have hopes that a good publisher will hire Kojima, Toro, & Redus and have them make there SH game just under a different name.

Bit late but I did some research. The release date of this game got changed and the Director quit as a result. Seemingly pushed back because of content change which makes sense why they'd quit according to what I did find. Some of the endings, S.H ability to change time/space outside of itself with the Bad and Reverse Ending. Conflicting notes saying Napier assaulted Charlie then drowned him, another saying he was just drowned. Murphy looking for Charlie and happened across where he was seemingly not knowing something was wrong prior. Murphy's implied killing of Napier and a note but later Sewell is referenced as having killed him. These conflicting things seem to suggest we got a different version of D.P than what was intended or it could be a lack of proper direction. I will say some of the Side quests have far more scary content than the main plot either way.

Trouble in Therapist Town: Downpour.

While I don't necessarily agree with everything you said, this was a really excellent review. I'd love to see you do more stuff in this style again, where you're more serious and less intentionally dopey. Not that I hate the latter, it's just that your serious stuff tends to be such good quality, it almost feels like a shame when you don't let yourself go in to it. Either way, keep up the good work (and thanks for putting it on KZfaq. I can't always get The Blip App to work for your older videos).

imagining the silent hill monsters carpooling killed me

Damn it! I clicked the end video "button" only to be reprimanded seconds later.. argh.. you got me! Did you ever accidentally fling a fire axe into the abyss?

Bought this about a year back and I still haven't finished it because everytime I start a new game (which I've tried about three times now) I just kept... getting... lost and annoyed in the first three or four hours. I'd finally get to Silent Hill, and just like the review said, 90% of the time, I'd just missing something small for silly reasons like the camera angle or the fact that certain things blend into the background too much. Or I just couldn't figure out where to go. ("Oh look, a sewer! Let's explore that... oh, it's just 30 minutes of running in the dark to find a painting. Oh, look, let's explore this area! Oh, there's nothing there. How about this area? Great, 20 minutes of searching and another painting I have no clue what to do with.") As much as I don't like hand-holding in games, there should be at least some subtle indication of what to do. It's a shame. I truly want to play through the game (and I'd rather not have to resort to walkthroughs), but it's hard for me to play through so many stretches of blind exploration with no clear goal, outside of random "Oh crap, a police car, better run!" instances.

what happen, i remember that time of thinking "should i continue or end" had the buttons on the air. and now it doesnt. It is because now you count with the technology of interacting with the video but you wouldnt want to be a lier?

I think the cages slow the enemy down because it has to stop and obsorve it.

Why do so many characters in Japanese games have dumb haircuts? 2:57 Why do right-handed characters in third-person games sling weapons on their back in left-handed configuration? Seriously, that happens WAY too often. It's like game developers actually want their incompetence to become a trope! 4:24 Possibly an homage to 'The Regulators'.

Monster Squad ASSEMBLEEEEEEEEEEE

I do love the metaphors and symbolism with the police sometimes, like how the screamer symbolizes a Murder victim.

Late to the party, but I had that same couch when younger.

A scary ghost @16:50, top right corner. Such spook!

Never change Phelous...

THE COPCAR IS SYMBOL THAT MARPHY IS SCARE OF POLICE!! This game is both subtle AND deep

I really hate the transition to the Other world in the latest Silent Hill games...in the original games where you couldn't see it when it happens (like how they did it in Silent Hill 1 during the school level for example)...it gives it an unpredictable nature and it screws with your mind in a better manner...seeing the transition to the other world or having it controlled by the player like in Downpour kills the unpredictable and oppressive nature the Other world is supposed to posses

To be fair, police would likely be a fear of a prison escapee. Doesn't make it less annoying, but still.

Hey phelous, not sure if youll see this comment or not. But curious what are your feelings on the Silent Hill 2 remake, are you going to review it, and overall what are your feelings about silent hills future?

What a annoying game, I'm seriously a monster police car how ridiculous!😡

Will you review origins

One of the things I enjoy from Downpour is the postman Just how long has he been there and what's his problems? Everyone in silent hill has something wrong with them So why hasn't he dealt with them yet?

16:51 the game on the top right moves on its own. I think he is angering the Silent Hill evil spirits

Ummm u said the silent hill monsters had no relation to the main character but then Misrepresent the squad car as an actual monster car instead of a manifestation of his fear of being caught by the police which is why if you get caught more monsters spawn

Holy shit, I never knew you did game vids man. That's awesome, I just started making those less than a week ago :D

So it's one of those games where it's worth it for the story, but the actual game part is a pain in the ass.

I yell at my games too.... 😓

Here's my theory. It's not silent hill for Murphy. It's for Ann. Murphy just got dragged in.

I kinda thought the shitty controls with regards to the weapons was considered to be a "feature", in that it was almost attempting to simulate panic for the character when sometimes forget that the most commonly used button for attacking in video games is utilized to throw your weapon away. So in those moments when you are startled and your video game instincts kick in, you ultimately disarm yourself and make the moment that much more frantic. Sort of like the opposite of what they did in Homecoming.

oh boy, i still remember the fuckin issue i had with this game where it broke sequence entirely *all because my save storage wasnt on my internal hard drive* i had many times where i started over after already having a save file, just to have the ONE interaction button stopped working AT THE BEGINNING. i made jokes about how my punishment was to just stand and do spins infront of sewell, because i couldnt open the fucking door to the shower. i called xbox support several times, and finally they stated, "move the save file onto the internal hard drive" suddenly it fucking worked

For the most part I did enjoy the game, I won't deny that. But it's like you said... Wtf is up with the enemies in this game? Uninspired, boring lame ass monsters. Only one part of the game stood out to me. The murder scene with the ghosts. That felt more like silent hill to me than anything else. The weapons dropping really annoyed the hell out of me haha. I also wanted to explore the other world more. That stupid light... Thing was extremely annoying.

after reading Anne's Story graphic novel I can confirm Sewell doesn't get away with it 😉

Wait... Konami did games!? I though that they only fired well know Video Game designers for not switching to mobile...

The wrost thing about this game is the save icon means shit all , It only saves when it feels like it so a lot of the time you end up having to redo stuff even when it said saving. Also if you do get close killing a full mob are stay for to long in one spot a one hit kill monster you can not kill comes! Also even if your weapon does not brake it does make you leave it .

Berry visits silent hill.

Murphy looks like a hipster Ted Danson.

Yea the game had some issues but I reached a part where a monster was supposed to appear . After I got a gate up due to a glitch a prevented the monster from appearing . The game saved there so I couldn't restart that part. If I wanted to get passed that part I would have to restart game . It was my first time I had a game breaking moment . Yea I really like Silent Hill like Resident Evil games I really enjoyed survival horror games. Great review , I like your shot gun , I couldn't have a real gun I wouldn't know how to reload it if it wasn't square to reload :D but seriously great review made my day!

The evil police car is the dumbest thing I've ever seen in any game

You bothered to put the annotations but you didn't make the quit video button take you to KZfaq's main page. 10/10

I feel like they could make a comeback with a first person style game with otherworld transitions akin to 1 & 3. Make it like clock tower where you can't fight back and must run/hide. Put it on PlayStation VR and I feel like there's some potential in there.

I like to think the mailman IS silent hill. Atleast it gives him a point.

Thankfully, Silent Hills will retcon this mistake OH WAIT!

Maybe it was good that Silent Hill stopped coming out, because ones that out after the first few are far distance from the originals. I doubt we'll get a come back, like Resident Evil 7, *that at least came down in the middle,* because it was far closer to the first three games than 5-6. 4 is in the middle, though. PT almost did a come back like that, but Konami happened.

I'm really enjoying watching these game reviews. I skipped over them when they were originally released, but I decided to give them a try now and I'm glad I did. Have you considered doing a Let's Play of any of the "Silent Hill" games? Or have you already and I just missed it?

how bout the fact that murphy is actually paul from that soap opera As The World Turns. no joke

I actually think this is one of the worst stories of the series, in that the multiple endings imply different things Murphy may or may not have done. Maybe Murphy killed Napier. Maybe he didn't. Maybe he killed his son, maybe he didn't. Maybe maybe maybe. I dislike it when a game's ending changes what a character does, and not what a character does changing the ending. Especially if certain scenes in the game don't change. Like when Murphy talked about how what he did to Napier wouldn't get his son back, despite the chance that Murphy may have not actually did anything to him.

I honestly didn't have a problem with this game I mean sure it's not a masterpiece like the original three but I never thought it would be it actually an alright game.

There is no reason that a game that came out 13 years after the original should have such terrible loading times. I'm currently playing through the original silent hill and the loading times only last a little bit. I remember playing this game and waiting like 2 minutes for 1 screen to load.

I'd have given you major props if clicking the End Video button took people to the end of the video. XD

Love these reviews!

Hey phelous what is your favorite silent hill game and your least favorite silent hill game?

Um...I clicked the annotations out of curiosity. I thought they might have been links to other videos, like "Option 1: link to the same video with a three second later timestamp" or "Option 2: link to the home page."

I hate weapon durability with a passion it’s a stupid system to begin with it only makes sense in survival games like stranded deep or Minecraft cause you made them from scratch or cobbled it together from what ever was around

Weapon durability be hella lame. Most of the games I've played that included that as a game mechanic suffered because of it.

"Lacks the same sense of dread just form opening a door." I agree but to be fair how would you accomplish that in a game these days when we're pretty used to Silent Hill by now?

The first time I played this game I got a massive headache because I got stuck for over an hour. I coudn't find the clothes you were supposed to put on to replace the prison outfit. I completely agree that the monsters in this one were really uncreative. I mean, you were basically fighting normal people with rust and mud on them the majority of the game! Speaking of fighting it is just bad. I hated the "one melee weapon at a time" aspect. Actually, that reminds me of a game breaking glitch that occured to me. There's a point fairly early in the part where you get in to Silent Hill and you have to get a ladder down to get past a giant gap on the ground. The way to do this is by using a harpoon located near the ladder but it didn't spawn. Thankfully after rebooting the save it appered. But yeah, it's kinda weird that you have weapons that function like items that you need in order to proceed in the game yet you can only carry one of them at a time.

What's Homecoming?

Yeah, something I also found disappointing in this game was the apparent lack of symbolism to the monsters, though I found a video here on YT where someone theorizes that the Screamers might symbolize Murphy's ex-wife and her pretty much blaming Murphy for Charlie's death. I think this theory might actually have some ground to it, not just because the Screamers are aggressive and shit, but because sometimes, if you see one of them in the distance before they notice you, they just sorta stand there, moving their arms in a rocking motion, as if to soothe a baby... I dunno, but I like to believe that theory is actually true.

but I loved the graphics, like the houses and scenery and stuff, they did a good job, although I agree I wish he commented more on the weird shit that he saw. like " a wheelchair in a school, what's that doing here?! " lol love that :-P

Not gonna lie, I moused over the Continue button, assuming that it was an annotated link to a Part 2 video.

So silent hill downpour is like dead rising? Is that cool?

ahahaha! that tree! he could STEP OVER IT!!! They could've had fog or something!

10:18 HE GOT ME!!!

Another great video, Phelan. Review Silent Hill 2.

I'm one of the few people that enjoyed Homecoming more so than Downpour.

What happened to the homecoming review? :confused:

10:08 the joke would have probly worked better if the yes/no things were still there.

3:20 ah I see you use the same caliber of bullets in your guns as Dante uses...

Downpour was pretty terrible and made loads of strange and questionable decisions.

10:20 Well I did, so there.

I put you on my Top 5 KZfaq Video Game Reviewers: kzfaq.info/get/bejne/Y7OHo7GAs8_Wqps.html I love your movie reviews, but how I found you was through your video game reviews on the Silent Hill series on Channel Awesome way back when. Really just wanted to say thank you for the content you provide man!

Huh I didn't know you reviewed video games.

isn't downpour the one where pyramid head cuts a cake?

man you do game reviews too? sheeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeet

Downpour was such a disappointment. You know you've done something wrong when the damn sidequests was more interesting then the main plot!

and I fucking HATED that stupid fucking vortex!!! fuck that thing to hell!! I agree that's not the kind of fear you want in the other world, it's just panic the whole time!! it sucks :-/