Silent Hill: Origins

"Welcome to the birth of fear"

Truckers like their shortcuts - their work is so boring and redundant that they try their best to shorten the lengths of their loneliness; and shortcuts can take on many forms, from picking along hitchhikers to cutting distances through routes across long-abandoned areas, and that's why our friend Travis decided to cut lengths by taking a detour through Silent Hill - what he didn't know, though, was that this is going to be one hell (in every sense of the word) of a shortcut.

Survival horror fans all around never really got their fix of jolly scares on a hand-held, mainly because small screens never got you engrossed in the experience, and partially because audio wasn't that advanced. On PSP, things are about to change for the survival horror head that's bowling about screaming for a fix: Silent Hill has the graphics and the audio that will have your eyes gazed on nothing but the PSP screen. However, you do have to aid the experience a bit by playing in a dark room and plugging your headphones in: but I'm sure scare fans already have the other side of their headphones dangling waiting to pop the game into their PSPs.

Like every Silent Hill game before it, this new hill relies on radio static, dark areas, and mist to wet pants aplenty. Travis carries a flashlight along with him to shed light into dark areas - just like this Hill story sheds lights unto the origins of it all. The flashlight has two sides to it however - just as it can brighten things up for you, it brightens yourself for enemies, so keeping in the dark doesn't sound so bad after all. Speaking of these enemies, you've probably seen most of them, or what looks like them, before: deformed creatures with misplaced organs that lead to disfigured animation - it all strikes fear like an axe unto the observer. The camera, too, has two faces to it: one that serves it purpose, that of running scares through fear of the unknown, and another annoying face, that of treading back and forth between the same two areas due to wholly different camera angles.

The game might seem like an exact copy paste of its previous incarnations if it weren't for some new additions, mainly throw-able items, ranging from radios to televisions, and they carry quite the punch - some throwables can down most enemies with one fling, a nice sight seeing how these creatures swarm both game's normal and other world. The tradition of these worlds is carried about through a mirror that transports you between both, from finely textured buildings to rotten surfaces and doors. The game has gun basics, ranging from your trusty old handgun to your not-so-traditional AK47. They all pack a punch and they all have plenty of ammo to go about, so feel free to not be so discreet about it.

Yes, you will encounter plenty of locked doors, which might make the game seem like a one-lane experience, but some locales are large enough to have you dazed just looking at their maps. You will visit the hospital once again, hit the morgue, and visit some new places never before visited in your previous vacations to Silent Hill. And they all have beautiful puzzles that will get you thinking: I especially enjoyed the one at the Cedar Grove Sanatorium, a puzzle that will have you seeing off all the petty details of the game in its brilliance. Clues to the puzzles are all throughout: you have to check your surroundings, take notes, and read through lines to figure out some of their solutions - a pretty enjoyable experience.

The Hills have always been about conveying great experiences, and there is no difference concerning this Hill - Konami has taken greatly to the strengths of the PSP and struck adrenaline with the survival horror masses. The extras are fun and the game rankings and attached extras according to these will have you making plenty of runs. Have fun and be scared!

If you like this, you'll also probably like:

Silent Hill 1 through 4
Fatal Frame 1 through 3

Pros

+ Great graphics
+ Lovely chilly audio
+ Story sheds light on previous incarnations
+ AMAZING puzzles
+ Nice extras that will have you hitting the Hill more than once

Cons

- Annoying camera at times
- The game might be over far too quickly
- A bit of a one-lane experience
- Similar to previous hills - not really that bad of a con

Story - 8
Visuals - 10
Audio - 10

Gameplay - 9
-Scare Factor - 9
-Controls - 7
-Difficulty - Normal

Lifespan - 8
Pretty short first run. Plenty of extras to keep coming back.

Overall - 9
A great survival horror game deserving of its Silent Hill lineage and of any hand-held aficionado's money.

Reviewer's Score: 9/10, Originally Posted: 04/23/08

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