Silent hill 4: the Room was the fourth game in the silent hill franchise and is the last game in the series to be developed and created by Konami. Released in June of 2004 in japan and September 2004 worldwide, Silent Hill 4 was originally in development as completely different game however early in development the developers Team Silent decided to tie the game in with the Silent Hill franchise considering that the themes and style of the game were a congenial setting for a Silent Hill sequel.

The game takes place in the room of an apartment building in the town of Ashfield a town a few miles away from silent hill.  The player assumes the character Henry Townshend a resident of South Ashfield Heights Apartment Building for five years coming, living a seemingly quotidian lifestyle in the room 302. However this lull of mundanity is quickly challenged when Henry becomes victim to   strange phenomena. Beginning with vividly graphic nightmares, Henry slowly discovers that  connection to the outside world is cut; the phones do not work, windows are sealed and most notably the front door is held in place by a set of sturdy chains from the inside of the room.   No explanation is given to how this happened, yet marked on the front door are the words “Do not go out – Walter”. A lingering reminder than someone or something besides Henry has access to the room.

There are elements of the game that are executed fairly well most noteworthy would be the room itself that serves as a sort of Hub in the game for Henry to stockpile healing items and weapons. The room itself is a  large component of Henry’s torment.

Delivery of atmosphere of the room itself is effectively executed in the game, in a manner where the room is personified as it own living entity.  As you start the game, the stillness instilled by the room is quite unnerving, where the absence of an immediate or tangible threat only plays with the anticipation of something worse being at play.  You can see the world naturally pass by through glass windows and the front door peep hole yet are unable to interactive with the outside world. Shouting to passers-by outside  does little to attract attention and any banging or movement inside the room does not seem be noticed at all also, almost as if it doesn’t occur by the perception of outside onlookers; As if the room itself is trapped in another world or dimension.

In small subtle ways the room begins to change and are slowly discovered by Henry. Excepts of a diary find its way into the room, items start to appear randomly, and most notably  a hole in the wall inexplicably appears in the bathroom. It’s these incremental changes that forced upon  to the player, as a force beyond Henry’s control creeps into the room, with no method of escape or help from others.  Henry’s home, naturally seen as a safe and comforting environment instead becomes an oppressive and intimidating element.

The story is also one of the strongest elements of game, which is neatly incorporated from the newspaper excerpt of the Walter Sullivan case in silent hill 2, into its very own game. The news clipping in Silent Hill 2 simply served as a horror device to depict the influence Silent Hill has on others.   However the developers expanded on this premise very effectively and as the player progresses further into Silent Hill 4, we discover a more sinister plot at hand beyond the news story which on the surface appears to be a wanton act.  For a premise that branches out from the ingrained Silent Hill lore, it is still in-keeping with the Silent hill universe and for the most part is still able to portray a deep and unsettling plot.  It manages to be well told and tells a complex narrative of how a victim of circumstance, an orphan taken in and cared for by the wrong people who is exposed to the ugliest parts of humanity, can warp them as an adult.

The music and overall sound production is also really good for the most part and becomes a key element of the games horror factor.  Sound effects are very pronounced and act as a signifier to changing events within the room and at times in the otherworld itself.

Once certain objectives are met, players will eventually have access to the otherworld. .  The otherworld takes place as a separate dimension only accessed by the hole in the wall in the bathroom. These worlds serve as alternative instances of the real world, self-contained in small areas such as a train, station, an orphanage, a prison cell and in a way serve as small mental vignettes of the main antagonist created as its own world. In this world lurks strange deformed creatures that attempt to hunt and kill Henry. The most frightening however are the ghost entities that take residence there. These are victims whose sprits are now trapped in the other world, and tenaciously close in on Henry when he is near, causing damage simply by proximity to the ghost. While knocking them down with melee weapons will slow them down, after a few seconds they will rise up again to continue pursuit. These ghosts are probably the foremost immediate threat you will encounter in the other world.  The only way to keep them away is through obtaining a sword of obedience which can be used to pin them to the ground preventing them from following you throughout a level.

In addition to this you will also find residents from your apartment building also in the otherworld and begin to discover that each individual has a purpose to being there; which leads to a harrowing outcome.

The crux of the games flaws however is in the execution of the otherworld, which unfortunately makes up most of the game. These small areas are intimating to begin with  however are littered with monster encounters.  After the initial scare from their grotesque features, their frequent appearances familiarize the player with the threat at hand acclimating them to the point of becoming desensitized and blasé. The only time that atmosphere and horror is maintained is in the room itself.

Melee proficiency of Henry is very effective as he is able to cull through threats easily using his devastating charge attack, despite the fact that he is a civilian. One of the stables of Silent Hill is that the protagonists do not have combat experience, which in effect makes the hostile enemies a more threatening presence. This encouraged players to run away from encounters, and accentuated the feeling of helplessness and fear of a seemingly hopeless situation.  However in silent hill 4 most of the threat aside from the ghosts can easily be dispatched with Henry’s melee moves and diminish a core element of horror displayed in prior instalments.

The point of Silent Hill is to create tension through atmosphere and absence, where the environment itself becomes the hostile presence by creating feelings of loneliness and isolation.  In the Otherworld there is very little atmosphere created besides the unsettling music and bizarre sounds from a distance, and becomes way to action orientated.

Also,while the sound design is good for the most part, the enemy noises and grunts are quite stock. One enemy in particular makes burping noises which when hit, while indicating the gastric release from having a hole in their stomach, becomes unintentionally humorous.

One of the most noteworthy criticisms however is while the protagonist Henry Townshend is likeable, without a definite history or background to tie him to the franchise; he becomes something of a blank slate.  His only real connection to Silent Hill is that of tourism, however without any familial ties or expanded backstory to the town, his inclusion feels slightly shoehorned and as a plot device to tell a bigger story that he is not quite apart of.

Out of the first four games Silent Hill 4 is probably the weakest out of the series, deviating from the original set up of the first three games. It experiments with the formula in ways that show creativity and imagination however needed more time in development to fully realise the concept with more depth. Silent Hill 4 shows itself to be an ambitious concept, however with game ideas that were very difficult to sustain.  The designers Team Silent seem to have lost a lot of objectivity with some of the game elements, as outside the room itself, there was very little substance in the other world.  There is a sense that the developers wanted the majority of the game’s horror element to take place within the room, however could not find a suitable manner to keep the progression of the game within this room interesting or with any effective longevity to the gameplay.  The game is still worth a single playthrough however, as the narrative elements are still as strong as the prior instalments and experience of being trapped in room 302 is still a memorable one.

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M.U.S.H.A (also known as Musha Aleste: Full Metal Fighter Ellenor in japan) is a vertical Shoot em Up (SHMUP) made by Compile for the Sega Mega Drive and is the eighth game in the Aleste series (ninth if you count Zanac as the spiritual predecessor to the first Aleste). It is the second game in the series to deviate from controlling a small space ship and instead control a slightly larger mechanical mech stylized with a feudal Japanese ninja/samurai motif.

The game takes place in an alternative epoch of the tenryaku era of japan( or 2290AD in western versions), where research in the field of robotics has exponentially grown allowing computers, sentient AI, and colonial expansion to space, possible; Anachronistically fusing feudal architectures and designs with mechanised weapons. However a new space colony project goes horribly awry when the colony’s Ai, known as Dire51, becomes self-aware and decides to eliminate its creators, mankind itself. A squad sent to counter this attack is sent to thwart this strike, however all fall from the powerful wave motion cannon blasts inexplicably from a unknown source. However a solitary survivor takes the fight to the rouge AI, as the Pilot Ellenor (Terri in western versions) finishes the assault, alone.

While the cliques from well-known sci-fi franchises tepidly tie a narrative to the gameplay and does little to bolster M.U.S.H.A’s most prominent features, the presentation that derives from the bizarre alternative japan narrative gives the game a very unique aesthetic. This is a feature that is outstanding from the typical gritty industrial presentation of SHMUPS, influenced by Syd Meid and in some levels. H.R Giger.

The aesthetic of M.U.S.H.A fuses the industrial du jour of SHMUPs in the early nineties with oriental landscapes and structures, as well as enemy craft and bosses adapting the sensibilities of the tenryaku period to their designs. As you progress through the game, you will be treated to a landscape rich with steel plated pagodas mounted with turrets and missile platforms, as well as enemy mechs with armour mirroring Samurai Domaru (armour) and Ninja Garbs; one of the more infamous bosses in the game even resembles a mask from Noh theatre. A very appealing visual design that could compete with the SHMUP counterparts seen in the arcade.

While difficult to discern, the progressive scales used in the soundtrack seem to attempt to emulate a sort of synthesised rock/metal type score. Not fully realised due to the soundcard limitations of the Mega Drive’s (genesis) FM synthesis chip, however this does not hold the soundtrack’s quality back at all. The soundtrack is very memorable, with its frantic synthesised chords roaring through the speakers of the Mega Drive itself. The sound effects from weapons and explosions are very pronounced reflecting the strength of the respective weapon or severity of a ship or mech’s destruction. The game makes effective use of the sound design, on a console known for having a not so great soundcard installed.

The weapon system is nicely integrated into the game as well, allowing flexibility and customisation for personal preference or for situational use. There is rarely a moment on screen where upgrades are not available to the player, where the game is generous in dropping caches of projectile power ups and upgrades, even before/after the most dire of situations.
The first notable power up comes in the form of capsules known as P-chips, whose function is twofold. Collecting these capsules through shooting it’s container will not only increase the amount of projectiles (resembling Shurikens) up to four shots, but will also provide you with little drones that appear next to your mech. These drones can be stockpiled to a maximum of ninety nine. This helps the player significantly as these drones will regularly be hit by enemy fire, and can be used to shield the player from damage if need be. The drones can also change their formation at the players command into six different forms. These forms consist of Forward Form where drones fire forward, 3-Way where drones fire diagonally, Back aiming the drones backwards, Reverse that direct the drones to perpendicularly align themselves with your mech, Roll that causes the drones to rotate clockwise around your mech, and finally Free Form that allows the drone to roam free around the screen.

The game not only utilizes P-chips as the Players form of attack, but also three different upgrade caches that appear on the screen and are transported by friendly aircraft. These upgrades match the elements of Fire, Water and Thunder and alter the appearance of your mech depending on which you equip.. Fire allows the player to deploy bomb clusters, Water provides a circling energy shield around your mech, and Thunder equips your mech with cannons that fire wave motion energy beams. You can collective these upgrades up to four times, with each successive collection increasing the power of the upgrade equipped. Once you get hit the upgrade will become removed; acting ostensibly as a one hit shield. With this level of customization, a tactful player can exploit these power ups to utilize as shield at certain points of the game, making recovery from a stray bullet possible. With the amount of upgrades that appear on screen the player can switch from upgrade to upgrade when they are defenceless until a favourable upgrade appears. This is one of the most useful, potentially unintentional mechanics of the game, and be utilized by players who may not be experienced enough to hold on to one upgrade for long.

It has to be said that M.U.S.H.A as a whole is not as hard as other SHMUP counterparts, having many options at a players disposable to recover from a hit. Even when the player is killed, they do not restart the level but simply respawn on the same spot, though with the drawback of having to level up all upgrades and abilities from scratch. With that in mind the game, while reasonably forgiving, can still be difficult on the later levels and in places has some small flaws.

When equipping a fully upgraded weapon, the projectiles can obscure a part of the screen, making evading a hail of bullets heading in your direction difficult. This is particularly notable with the fourth Thunder upgrade that while transparent can still obfuscate enemy projectiles. In addition to this, when sequences of the game require you to evade parts of the environment, your drones may collide with these obstructions; causing unsuspecting players to quickly deplete their drone stockpile rather quickly. There are moments where changing the drone’s form to something such as Reverse or Back may be preferable. However these obstructions scroll on screen so suddenly that changing to a required form can at times be more detrimental than productive, and require the player to be very attentive.

In addition to this as stated previously the last few levels can be slightly difficult. The end boss in particular has a pattern that requires tightly packed evasive manoeuvres and due to the confined space, requires a lot of trial and error. The difficulty of some specific parts of the game in itself can be symmetrical in places to tougher SHMUPs, however this does not become too much of a problem. As you progress through the game’s earlier levels, the game will generously hand out a plethora of one ups (extra lives). You will notice how frequently you will earn extra lives and continues due to the relatively smooth learning curve of the earlier levels. This gives you enough leeway to learn the layout of a particular level quite quickly and even if you experience some trouble and require a game restart, most players may still see completion in as little as three hours to maybe under a week of practise.

This perhaps leads to the greatest flaws of the game in that it can be a little too generous with power up drops and extra lives, rendering it too easy. Experienced SHMUP players can effectively finish the game without losing a life in less than an hour. Where SHMUPS are usually a long travail of practise that can take weeks for veterans to perfect, this game can be completed by beginners in just a few days. This gives the game a very short lifespan in comparison to other SHMUPS.

While the game maybe too lenient and veteran SHMUP players searching for a challenge may be disappointed in its difficulty, M.U.S.H.A’s presentation, memorable levels, gritty music and profuse amount of enjoyment to be had, are more than enough to cause these complaints to fall by the wayside. A very fun and accessible title for veterans and beginners alike.

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Alien: Colonial marines was released at the start of this year in February 2013 by the developer Gearbox and published by Sega. . The game is notorious for having a  tumultuous development history, originally set to be released as a PlayStation 2 title in 2001 by Fox Interactive, only to be abruptly cancelled.  After Sega purchased the rights to the Alien franchise from Fox Interactive at the end of 2006, Sega appropriated the remnants of the orginal project which in turn lead to a permutation in keeping with todays generation of games.

The game takes place on the USS Sephora military vessel, where the marines receive a distress call from the USS Sulaco, in orbit of the planet LV426. The player assumes the role of Christopher T. Winter along with a team of marines to investigate the beacon. However upon boarding the Sulaco, they discover the ship is completely desolate, setting the tone for a sinister plot orchestrated by a familiar antagonist.

A positive aspect of the game is how the environments are nicely realized with set pieces for the game taken from the second Alien movie. This includes most of the Sulaco, parts of LV426 including Hadley’s Hope and the extra-terrestrial ship containing the memorable Space Jockey from the first movie. Despite the low resolution of the graphics, players are given a nice vista of the environments, further expanding the setting of the movie franchise. The weapons are also decently designed and accurately replicate the movie’s props, including the iconic M41A pulse rifle, the M56 smart gun (heavy machine gun) and even obscure weapons such as the M240 incinerator.

The AI is probably the major fault in the game, where your comrade in arms and even the alien xenomorphs themselves become stuck in a frame of animation, behind walls, or glitched into weird contortions of their original designs. The mission objectives given to the player are quite unrealistic, as well as the narrative removing any suspension of disbelief from the player by including some questionable additions to the original continuity. The game itself attempts to become canon, existing between Aliens and Alien 3, but instead leaves more questions in the plot than providing answers. Despite broadening the settings, the game’s progression is very linear and contained, making very little use of the foreboding milieu available.

The appearance of fellow marines look awkward, presented with a rubber like texture. In addition to this, battles against bosses are very anticlimactic, where dispatching bosses surmounts to simply pressing a button for a crane or other macguffin to eliminate a seemingly imposing foe.

Weapon sounds are not accurate and reuse the M41A pulse rifle sound bite for nearly every weapon available. This reduces a recognizably stylish sound effect to a monotonous tinny crackle.

Universally panned by credited gaming magazine outlets, it’s obvious that Aliens: Colonial Marines was rushed to meet a deadline in an attempt to appease fans. There is very little content available for Alien fans to invest their time in. what is available does little to expand the alien continuity and instead convolutes the franchise as a whole. Not recommended.

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The original Ninja Gaiden was released in 1988 by Tecmo and is commonly associated with the most prominent yet challenging platforming titles the Nintendo Entertainment System had to offer.

The game included several innovations for the time, most notably the inclusion of anime inspired cutscenes in-between each stage and is one of the first narrative devices to be seen on the Nintendo console itself.

The cutscenes depict a simple tale of revenge and follows Ryu Hayabusa’s journey to exact vengeance for his father’s death. His journey to find his father’s murderer leads him to a man called Jaquio who plans to release an ancient demon with the aid of two rare demonic statues; a plan which Ryu must prevent. The plot is synonymous with the low-budget ninja movies of the 1980s, however maintains a level of charm in its simplicity.

What gives the game the most substance however is the solid gameplay. On the surface the game looks like your average platformer, however quickly stands out from the others, by its frantic gameplay, unique wall jumping mechanics, as well as a selection of ninja tools and weapons at your disposal. All of these aspects give a decent 8-bit approximation of what playing a movie inspired ninja would feel like.

The tools available to Ryu come in the form of throwing stars, windmill throwing stars that work in a similar fashion to boomerangs and fire wheels that give you invincibility for a few seconds. You can also obtain lamps that replenish your spiritual power, hourglasses that freezes time and on rare occasions potions that heal Ryu’s life bar.

The main core mechanic of the game however is the wall jump. This is an essential trick to learn and is imperative to master in order to overcome some difficult obstacles, access particular pathways, as well as passing through a set of difficult angled jumps to mount awkwardly placed platforms.

NES aficionados will not be a stranger to the unforgiving difficulty presented by the early 8-bit systems, and Ninja Gaiden is no exception. The Ninja Gaiden series is arguably the hardest trilogy for the system.

One of the biggest elements that that makes the game so difficult is if Ryu gets hit, the damage pushes him backwards, meaning any holes behind him while in this stunned state causes him to fall and die.

In addition to this, specific enemies in the game respawn in set places, which can be hard to pass. They can also obstruct platforms, fire a barrage of projectiles with little space to manoeuvre, or move in erratic patterns that makes avoiding them very problematic. Memorisation unfortunately is the only viable method to overcome these uncompromising scenarios, as well as learning hitbox exploitation, how to outrun enemies, and the provocations that causes such enemies to spawn.

While the game has a very steep learning curve, Ninja Gaiden maintains the entertainment factor to enthrall players to press on, despite offering little in the means of recourse from even the smallest of mistakes.

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Arguably the best game on the Super Nintendo, Super Metroid is one of the benchmarks of the 2D platforming genre, through its fluidity of gameplay, intuitive controls, epic boss battles and a non-linear map system that is ripe for exploration.

The story takes place after the events of Metroid 2, where Samus has defeated the Metroid queen of SR388 and returns with a Metroid hatchling that confuses Samus with its mother. Samus entrusts the hatchling to scientists of the Ceres Space Colony to research it, only to be attacked by the space pirates who again wish to harness the Metroid’s power.

The game’s most celebrated strength is in the control scheme and is one of the most intuitive of the Super Nintendo. Your character can aim and fire in 8 axis, as well as holding the shoulder buttons to hold your aim diagonally to allow for evasive movement while firing. A neatly executed control scheme that was scarcely replicated on the console or later platforming titles.

Weapons selection is varied for particular situations which include collecting more upgrades to enhance your suits functionality. Such upgrades can increase damage resistance, environment immunity, your speed, jump height, and even help procure items. Certain segments of the planet are shut off from Samus until a specific upgrade is obtained, yet fortunately this aspect does not completely restrict the player to a linear path.

The music is very decent and accompanies the setting of the game very well. The foreboding tribal-like drums and electronic samples accentuates the dark and desolate cavernous backdrop, giving a sense of dread of the unknown.

The alien species encountered in the game are also very diverse. Not only do you have the space pirates to contend with, but also indigenous fauna to the planet that interact with the environment in a specific way and act as a hazardous obstacle.

Another great feature is how the beam weapons do not become replaced by the next type of beam upgrade, and once collected are permanently added to your arsenal; a massive improvement over earlier installments that required backtracking to re-equip beams.

The boss designs are excellent, with some specifically designed with their own atypical platforming challenge. Each fight is distinct and creative, lending to some very memorable encounters. The battles do demand some initiative in places, yet feel rewarding to overcome.

The most apparent criticism however is how easy it is to get lost in the game. While the inclusion of a map feature improves over prior installments, there is little indication of the next logical area to go to, demanding the player to search every nook and cranny in order to progress. The platforming while mostly decent can be very unforgiving at times and can halt the gameplay in order to overcome some awkward platforming segments.

Serving as one of the longest games on the system, Super Metroid shows the full potential of the Super Nintendo, and serves as the yardstick to which other 2-D platforming games are compared.

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