Gaming Trend

Gaming Trend Review

by Mike Repella

Silent Hill: Origins tells the story of a trucker named Travis who just happens to be traveling near the town of Silent Hill when he spots a little girl on the highway and slams on his breaks. When the little girl runs off into the fog, Travis decides to do what we all would do in that situation and investigates. This leads Travis to unquestionably battle zombie nurses and huge scary guys with pyramids on their heads rather than run back to his truck. It also sets off the so called Origin of the Silent Hill games.

Since its release on the original Playstation, the Silent Hill series has seen several sequels across multiple platforms and has even seen a feature film adaptation. In 2007 Konami released the first PSP Silent Hill game with Silent Hill Origins. The PSP version received moderate reviews and for many people it went down as just another entry in the Silent Hill franchise.

Much like other recent titles Konami has decided to port this PSP game over to the Playstation 2. Does the PS2 version of Silent Hill Origins suffer from the same problems as other PSP ports, such as sub par graphics and terrible play control/camera control?  And more importantly is Silent Hill Origins worth playing on the PS2?

Most PSP to PS2 ports suffer from poor graphics and look considerably worse than similar games designed for the PS2 from the beginning. In this case Konami has gone out of their way to try and make Silent Hill Origins look like a PS2 game. The character models were all given graphical upgrades and show more detail than their PSP counterparts. 

The overall look of the game has a very grainy 1950’s film look about it which helps to setup the horror atmosphere. The backgrounds are all rendered in 3d, however the game uses a fixed point camera system similar to all previous Silent Hill games. Also, as is the case with all previous games in the series, this version features heavy fog in the outdoor environments that masks the draw distance. The fog in this version is not distracting as it is usually far enough away from the player that it doesn't paint you into a small box.

The indoor environments tend to be very dark. This is because the game was designed to make the use of a flashlight necessary. I assume the developers did this to limit the player’s vision and create suspense. Whatever the reason though, it limits the amount of on screen graphics and makes the game hard to see if you are playing in a well lit room.

The game does support standard or widescreen displays. Overall Silent Hill Origins for the PS2 looks better than the PSP version but it isn’t quite up to the level of detail seen in Silent Hill 2 and 3 on the PS2, as is often the case in handheld to console translations.

The sound in Silent Hill Origins is standard for the series. There is a near constant soft background sound track which helps set up the spooky atmosphere. The usual screeches and startling sound effects are present and they further help to set the mood.

The characters in the game are all voiced by competent voice actors who don’t distract from the plot. Overall however, there really aren’t that many lines of dialogue in the game, likely due to the small storage capacity of the original PSP medium.  

Much like the graphics, the in game sound is sufficient but not ground breaking or excellent in any way.

The main character is controlled by the analog stick and is rather responsive. He can sprint for a limited time by holding down the square button. The rest of the time he walks fairly slowly. This adds suspense to the game, but most of the time I found myself simply holding down the sqaure button to move quicker.

As I said earlier in the review you have to use a flashlight for almost all of the inside environments. This is handled fairly well by just the push of a button. Once the flashlight is out you are free to use weapons and other items. This is nice since you don’t have to keep constantly switching the flashlight in and out of your hand, a marked improvement over a certain Space Marine who can't seem to hold a flashlight and shoot zombies at the same time.

At its core Silent Hill Origins is an adventure game that also includes combat. In this case the combat is rather clumsy. There is no lock on feature or other aiming mechanic. Instead you have to face the enemy and hope that you hit him with your weapon. This can often lead to misses which will result in your character getting hit by the enemy.

Most of the enemies also require you to finish them off after they have been knocked down. Theoretically this is done by standing over them with your weapon and hitting the attack button. Unfortunately, most of the time you will miss and either be attacked by another nearby enemy or the enemy you are trying to finish off will rise back to its feet. Needless to say this is very frustrating and I only pray that Konami fixes this issue with the next Silent Hill game.

I had a hard time being objective while reviewing Silent Hill Origins, I found that by the time I got to the second main area I realized that I really couldn’t stand the gameplay in the game. Does that make it a bad game? No. I just don’t like Silent Hill’s adventure style of gameplay. The fact that the game offers up a fairly big town with plenty of large buildings to explore means that those people who love PC adventure games will most likely love Silent Hill Origins gameplay.

The game is essentially a horror themed adventure game that requires the player to navigate the town of Silent Hill and its various buildings, while trying to figure out how to unlock doors, safes, sinks, chests, etc. I found my self lost as to how to proceed on many occasions. I simply couldn’t figure out that in order to enter the Sanitarium Director’s office on the first floor I first had to travel to the third floor and investigate a sink and drain it, then travel to the second floor and flush a toilet, then travel back through an inter-dimensional plane to the basement and collect the key in the sewer, only to find that the key leads to the women’s locker room, which holds a pipe, etc, etc, etc, repeat. This may sound like an exaggeration but you literally have to solve illogical puzzle after illogical puzzle in order to progress in the game. Thank god for cheat guides, because without them I would have never gotten past the first building. 

Another huge disappointment with the gameplay is the fact that you can literally run past most enemies without having to fight them. The only time you ever have to fight an enemy in this game is when you come up against a boss. The main character does have a stamina meter which limits the amount of time that you can sprint from an enemy, but by and large I never had a problem avoiding the enemies when I wanted to.

The one innovation that Silent Hill Origins has over its predecessors is the ability to use almost any in game item as a weapon. You can pick up and put into your inventory almost every moveable object in the game and then use it as a weapon. At one point in the game I was carrying around a television, a microwave, a wood plank, an I.V. stand, and several guns. The items all wear out with use and will eventually break. Still it was slightly fun beating on a zombie with an I.V. stand.

The game tells the origin of the Silent Hill universe and for that reason alone most Silent Hill fans will want to play all the way through the game. Silent Hill Origins retails for $29.99 so it isn't going to hurt your pocket book. If you're a fan of Silent Hill and you haven't played the PSP version yet then this PS2 version is the one to get. I don't see too many people playing through this one more than one time though. Adventure fans and fans of past Silent Hill games will find a lot to enjoy with Silent Hill Origins for the PS2. The game's graphics have been improved over the PSP version and the rest of the game is classic Silent Hill. However, those gamers who can’t understand why you need to flush a toilet and traverse inter-dimensional gateways to simply open a door will want to steer clear of this one. If I were Travis I would have gotten back in my truck the minute the clichéd scary girl ran into the fog.

Gaming Trend Score

73

1. Graphics: 75
2. Audio: 75
3. Controls: 70
4. Gameplay: 70
5. Value/Replay: 75
6. OVERALL:73