Silent Hill 4
The Room (M) (3.5 stars)
Konami
Xbox, PlayStation 2
Henry Townshend seems to be under house arrest. Awakening to find his windows sealed and door chained from the inside, he's inexplicably trapped in his cramped apartment. While a mellow guy like Henry might enjoy some quiet alone-time, he's plagued by bizarre nightmares, there's an ever-widening portal to hell in his bathroom, and the TV doesn't work.
The Room boldly steps outside many of the conventions of the Silent Hill franchise. The central story takes place outside the town of Silent Hill, a claustrophobic first-person perspective has been added, and the concept is so original, you can hardly tell what's happening now, let alone next. Unfortunately, the control scheme is still the most frustrating in the survival-horror genre, which is saying a lot. When venturing into the nightmarish levels, players should be terrified because monstrous, two-headed babies are charging at them, not over the thought of contending with another awkward battle.
Nevertheless, Silent Hill 4's mind-blowing plot twists and relentless, psychological creepiness make its room worth renting.
Pokemon
FireRed version & Leafgreen version (E) (4 stars)
Nintendo
GameBoy Advance
Back in 1999, when portable game graphics were black and white with a sickly green tint, and adults didn't yet know what it meant to hate Pikachu, a game called Pokemon was first released in Red and Blue versions. But before they exploded into a loathsomely cute, unending franchise, they were regarded as superb RPGs. The remakes, FireRed and LeafGreen (identical but for selections of tradeable critters), are here to remind us that the depth of play and battle options deserve that revered status now as much as ever.
Either of the $34.99 titles are worth the expense simply because each game comes with a wireless adapter. I've been a strong opponent to Nintendo's much-hyped "connectivity" because of the absurdity of buying peripherals to awkwardly tether myself to another player. But with a wireless adapter effectively ending the tug-of-war, I'm enthusiastically tossing my pokeball into the multiplayer ring.
The Guy Game (M) (2.5 stars)
Gathering
Xbox, PlayStation 2
At last, a game for all of us who stay up late watching Girls Gone Wild ads! This spring-break-themed quiz rewards players with bare-breasted full-motion video. Nudity is unlocked by guessing which wrong answer belongs to the bouncing bimbo. And since scoring points depends on dumb luck, you may have to replay the round and listen to the annoying commentary several times. If seeing breasts were this hard in real life, less guys would bother.
Matthew Scott Hunter has been known to mumble, "Up, up, down, down, left, right, left, right, B, A, start" in his sleep. E-mail him at
[email protected].