Silent Hill: Origins

"Is there more questions for Silent Hill fans to figure out?"

Silent Hill has finally made its way onto the PSP. While the console Silent Hill games have been known to freak those who have played the games and some games left us with weird memories of the game(s). Although this game was originally going to go in the direction of Resident Evil 4, and if this game had gone that direction the fans might have been disappointed that the game didn't keep true to the series. Then the game was handed to another department of the developer whom done the game the way that the series is supposed to be. Unlike other Silent Hill games that had let's say never used a continuing story line with any the previous with Silent Hill 3 the only exception being a direct sequel to the first.

Now there's Silent Hill Origins a game that takes place before any of the Silent Hill games takes place, particularly before the events of the first game. Why is this game taking place before the first game some ask? It may have to do with some unanswered questions and try to explain them to get them cleared up but is it enough to answer everything about Silent Hill? No, I firmly believe that while it takes place before Silent Hill [1], that not everything you'll want to know will be answered. How can I say this some things are better left unexplained, and the town of Silent Hill is sure is one of those things maybe left unexplained.

The plot of Silent Hill Origins takes place around a trucker named Travis Grady whom is making a late night run and decides to cut through Silent Hill as a shortcut on his run. Not the best of choice for to take this way to get to where he's going. Little does he know what lies ahead on his “shortcut” through Silent Hill? While taking these shortcut mysterious figure steps out in front of him forcing him to quickly put on the brakes. While going to see if this person needs any help the person runs off and follows where the person goes then following “mysterious person” to a burning fire to where he hears a child inside screaming for help. After rescuing the child from the burning house Travis passes out and wakes up in Silent Hill where everything that will eventually go down the drain.

When playing Silent Hill Origins you can expect nothing major to be changed in terms of controls. Unlike with previous Silent Hill games in the past when you run throughout the town nor in any building that you enter that you can run like forever in the game. This game on the other hand if you run for a certain amount of time will be a little wore out after running which you will have to either walk or stop for a few seconds. Other controls are around the same as previous with triangle bringing up the map, select for the inventory, x for the action button, etc., so fans of the series should be able to pick this game up and play it without much trouble. The only concern is that a couple boss fights seem a little too easy to do while others may seem to be a little better in terms of length of the fight.

After you put this game into your PSP and start playing you may wonder if this is meant for the PSP. How this game is presented in terms of graphics makes it almost like you're playing this game on the PlayStation2 and blew me away how close this game looked to be a PlayStation2 game not a PSP game. In my opinion this game almost reminds me of the first Silent Hill game with updated graphics but it's no Silent Hill [1] with updated graphics, it's only a prequel to the game. Everything that you would expect to see in Silent Hill from the trademark fog to the nurses even the most disturbing enemies that might just give you nightmares for the rest of your life. When I played the other Silent Hill games there is one thing that I noticed with this game that I didn't really see nor even noticed while playing them. That is the noise effect while playing through the game giving it that atmosphere to keep you on the edge of the seat.

When you think that this game can't look any freakier, the alternate world also known as “the otherworld” gives some people a reason to get freaked out or feel uneasy playing a game like this. Make you feel that you're playing a interactive horror film the way that they should be done with trying to get to your mind, let alone any other aspects of the atmosphere.

The sound has always been good if not great with the Silent Hill games. One thing that always caught my attention with the sound was the soundtrack of the games that composer Akira Yamaoka does another fantastic job with the soundtrack of Origins. Silent Hill series haven't been all that known for the voice acting provided in the games but always to me have been decent enough for me to listen while playing any of them. Like any Silent Hill fan will tell you for the best experience to play with the lights out but one thing that they will tell you to play with headphones for better sound experience of playing any Silent Hill game.

As for the final word of Silent Hill Origins, while it's only available for Sony's PSP, but if you have a PSP I would suggest that you give this game a try. If you're a die-hard Silent Hill fan that just happen to have a PSP and I suggest that you go about buying this game, I bought it; enjoyed every second of the game. The game does feature three endings to it not only that but also costumes and other things that you can try to accomplish while playing through the game. These extras include doing accolades, which are something like little tasks that you can try to do through just one playthrough of Silent Hill Origins such as not using your flashlight much to knowing where to go without hardly looking at the map.

Things like that will take some time of knowing where to go throughout your playthrough you're doing. Some say that this game isn't that long and it can be expected for a handheld such as the PSP, so this game may take you between 3 – 5 hours. It may be longer than that depending on how fast you play through the game, in my opinion it may be like 4 – 6 hours first playthrough.

Reviewer's Score: 8/10, Originally Posted: 12/12/07

Game Release: Silent Hill: Origins (US, 11/06/07)