Review: Silent Hill: Origins

Survival Horror/Adventure

Konami brings the psychological horror to the PSP. No… not PES.

Rich

Whilst Capcom’s Resident Evil series is the one that really popularised the survival horror genre and, thanks to the sublime Resident Evil 4, is the one that everyone knows and loves, most of the scares in the game tend to be jumpy ‘Scream’-type affairs. Dogs jumping through windows and walkways collapsing as well as running out of ammo just as you are facing the T-Virus equivalent of Clubber Lang.

Silent Hill on the other hand has always tried to get under your skin in far more upsetting, but far less tangible, ways. Instead of throwing dogs covered in bacon at you, Silent Hill is more likely to use creepy sound effects, bad lighting and a grim sense that something bad was about to happen to your character at any time.

Yes, it's called 'Fly Fishing' by JR Hartley...

As the name suggests, Origins is set before the events of the first Silent Hill game and follows the story of Travis Grady a lorry driver who’s latest assignment has him delivering goods to a town near Silent Hill. I won’t go into the details of the plot but it follows the well-trodden path of guy driving along, nearly runs someone over, follows little girl into the alarmingly foggy Silent Hill and then spends a good few hours getting jumped by freaks and finding out details of his own life that reveal his own link to the town.

One convenient aspect of this game being a prequel to the original PS1 version is that they can get away with using even more liberal lashings of fog which does add some atmosphere but also reduces the load on the PSP’s graphics chip. The game just about gets away with this compromise outside but repeats the trick during the game’s numerous internal locations by replacing the fog with oppressive darkness.

No! It's MY box.

The old ‘gameplay by torchlight’ trick was getting old by the time that Doom 3 forced it down our throats. These days it’s just an irritation especially as the game often decides to fix and unfix the camera within the same room. Also, items don’t even have the common decency to sparkle so good luck spotting them in a tiny darkened room with an erratic camera and a mutant nurse trying to bounce a syringe off of your head.

Visibility issues aside though this game does capture the feel of the PS2 Silent Hill games perfectly and the graphics, when you get to see them, are generally clear and detailed. As with anything scary produced by the Japanese recently visual static effects are used whenever you are near any creatures and whilst I’m a little jaded after years of post-Ring creepiness, it works in Origins.

Bryan Secondary Review Graphically and atmospherically Silent Hill Origins can’t be faulted. The spectacular intro sequence builds up the eerie tension before dropping you straight into a mind warping, sicko fantasy of a game which keeps you on the edge of your seat as it slowly unfolds the origins of the Silent Hill story. Origins takes the visual style of the console titles and as you walk around Silent Hill, you’ll notice the infamous fog that is a trademark to the series. The city is detailed to an incredible extent and holds a gritty dark look that fans of the franchise will greatly appreciate. Also, Travis and enemies are loaded with detail, which helps give off the sense of horror and fear. Sounds too good to be true? Well yes, the game isn’t without it’s faults, most of which are due to the camera (I’ll come back to that in a moment) but also the weapons, as they are disposable. Every weapon breaks after about five melee attacks, even the powerful ones like ice picks, so constantly trying to remember where weapons are so you can go back and collect them is a bit of a chore (firearms help, but bullets are rare). Like most PSP titles, the real kick comes from the games camera (not having a second analogue really hinders any 3D title). Since the camera is fixed to give off the most dramatic angle, your view will be blocked at some points. The camera angle changes often and becomes a hindrance during battles when you can’t see the enemy that’s off the screen. In the end, Silent Hill on the PSP comes out with more plus points than minus. It looks great, is absorbing and keeps you playing until the end despite its annoying faults. Easily the best game of it’s kind on the system and a game I recommend to Silent Hill fans and newcomers alike! Secondary Score: 7/10

The reason it works is that Origins really isn’t trying to push the genre forwards. Clearly their agenda was just to bring the series to the PSP in a convincing way and they’ve certainly managed to do that. Whilst it acts as a prequel to the series, technically it feels like Silent Hill 1.5 which is no bad thing.

Also in the Silent Hill tradition they’ve commissioned another fantastic soundtrack from Akira Yamaoka. His trademark mix of layered synths, eerie repetition and sparse beats are designed to put you on edge for the entire game and in the best traditions of all survival games you will be dreading every change of key and dynamics.

Whilst the atmospherics are well implemented, the gameplay isn’t quite up to scratch. The combat is a button mashing hell that grows tired long before you finally dispatch your manky nurse or giant ham on legs and the puzzles are so typically ‘Resident Evil’ that you can never really give yourself to the fear in this game because there is always some obvious gaming convention there to stop you fully immersing yourself in it.

Also this game is repetive. Really repetitive. Sure, it takes place in various locations in the town but in the glare of an underpowered torch a decrepid hospital looks much like a decrepid theatre or sanitarium. Repeating the same enemies in most locations adds to the feeling of constant deja-vu. Instead, Origins only variation comes in how many times it can tell you that you can’t get past a door. ‘This door is locked’, ‘this door is barricaded’, ‘the lock is broken’, ‘it’s locked from the other side’. Yeah okay. Whatever.

As with other games in the series, the town of Silent Hill exists in another dimension. In Origins you can access this dimension by touching mirrors. A nice little ‘gloom-o-vision’ effect is applied and you now get to try all those doors again because now one of them will be unlocked. Eesh!

To add insult to injury, the game was originally going to have a barricade system to let you block up doors in order to slow down pursuing enemies. Clearly, Konami decided that the last thing this game needs is any more blocked doors.

Five years ago this would have been a stunning title, but in light of Resident Evil 4’s complete revamp of the genre this type of stilted action and formulaic puzzling doesn’t really convince. However, for any Silent Hill diehards who don’t mind looking like an utter cock on the bus this will definitely hit the spot.

Rating: 5/10