|
|
Silent Hill: Origins
|
|
|
|
|
|
Graphics & Sound:
The graphics is Silent Hill Origins are on par with the PS2 iterations that we've seen in the past - spooky, eerie, and appropriately terrifying. The world of Silent Hill, at least the outdoor world, is filled with a sweeping fog that shrouds horrifying creatures of all kinds. Travis Grady, the protagonist, will meet up with a myriad of characters and creatures, including familiar folks such as Nurse Lisa Garland, Dahlia Gillespie and Alessa Gillespie. The attacking nurses are back as well, still frighteningly disgusting. I don't remember them attacking with hypodermic needles in the past, but they do now. Additionally, you'll meet Straight-Jackets, which appear to be faceless patients from a mental hospital; Carrion, basically roadkill beasts; Remnants, light-fearing ghosts; Ariels, puppet-like spirits that crawl on their hands or hang from ceilings; Calibans, part-man, part-beast and finally, Two-Backs, which you can picture on your own. Although the town of Silent Hill is nicely rendered, because you are constantly being chased by one creature or another, its really difficult to do much searching and exploring, but more on that later.
As is typical to the series, you have your radio whose static sounds alert you to approaching enemies. That noise will be an occasional constant. Aside from that, you'll experience the groans and grunts of enemies, the appropriate clangs and such of your weapons, makeshift and otherwise, and sometimes, the creepy silence of it all. As always, the strains of familiar sounding Silent Hill tunes play in the background. There's not a whole lot of dialogue in the game, but what's there works well. Some characters sound a little stiff, but perhaps that is a side effect of living in hell. But anyway... |
|
|
Gameplay:
The gameplay is Silent Hill Origins is pretty much what you'd expect from a Silent Hill game, with a few new twists thrown into the mix. You'll play as Travis Grady, a lonesome trucker who rolls into the area around Silent Hill one day. He happens upon a young girl, Alessa Gillespie, and soon his world turns upside down. He runs into a burning house to rescue her and then blacks out, awakening in Silent Hill. The girl he rescues looked burned to a crisp, but the few people he runs across in the hospital claim she died. What really happened? He finds himself unable to leave until he knows the truth.
His questions lead him to Alchemilla Hospital, Cedar Grove Sanitarium, the Artaud Theater and finally the Riverside Motel, along with several stops in between. As Travis meets enemies, which will be plentiful in the streets of Silent Hill, he'll have several ways to kill them. Not only will he be able to battle them with the knife he is equipped with, but he can also pick up a multitude of things as he explores. Jagged pieces of wood, wrenches, even a drip stand or a portable TV can serve as weapons. There are also power weapons, like something akin to a Molotov Cocktail, which have one very powerful hit and then they are no longer usable. These are good for very tough enemies that need to be dispatched quickly. Your standard weapons, the various items that you will acquire along the way, will degrade over time. You'll need to closely watch your weapon's status so it doesn't die while you are in the middle of a battle.
The most interesting change in this iteration is the use of mirrors. When Travis goes into a room and touches a mirror, he is transported to the alternate version of wherever he is. We've seen this plenty in Silent Hill, but the use of the mirror sort of makes sense, as opposed to just being randomly transported into the "Otherworld". Things Travis interacts with in one world may have an affect when he goes to that same spot in the alternate world, so its interesting to see how this all plays out. |
|
|
Difficulty:
Silent Hill Origins is tough. Period. It's not that the enemies are all that much more difficult, although some are. It's just that there are so many of them! There are some enemies that you can sneak by when your flashlight is off, and then others seem to spot you no matter what. Still others fill the foggy streets of Silent Hill and will relentlessly pursue you until you enter a building, allowing no time for exploring. I found myself racing from one place to the next, often jumping into the map just to get a breather. Also, the world seems far more closed off than in the past, with only a scant few places able to be entered. In the past, I spent so much time just walking around the town looking for funny little things the developers may have thrown in. I didn't do any of that in Silent Hill Origins because I was always being pursued by something. It was more than a litttle unnerving.
I am all for challenge, but I do like some exploration time as well and I didn't feel like I had much of that, at least outdoors anyway. While inside of buildings, there was more time to explore, but with only four locations to visit. Basically, I felt more bored than anything.
|
|
|
Game Mechanics:
Grappling is a new mechanic introduced in Silent Hill Origins. Sometimes, you'll be attacked by an enemy and they'll grapple you, forcing you to rapidly press a button as instructed on the screen to release yourself from their grasp. Fail and your health suffers greatly.
To enter into combat, you'll press the Right Shoulder Button, then pressing (X) will cause you to attack. If you press forward, then (X) or hold the (X) prior to attack, you can perform a stronger attack, knocking enemies back to give yourself a tad of breathing room.
Once you have beaten an enemy to the ground, its necessary to finish them by pressing (X) while not holding (R) to stomp them and make sure that they are dead.
I wasn't sure how Silent Hill would translate to a portable system and the good news is that the control is fairly intuitive and feels pretty good on the mini-PlayStation. You'll use the analog nub to get around and the camera controls itself. While not perfect, it doesn't leave you in situations where you can't see anything helpful too often.
As always, you have your flashlight and radio to assist you and there's no reason to ever turn off your radio. The monsters can't hear it and it can only help you. Your flashlight, on the other hand, is best left off most of the time. While it helps you to see where you are going, it also alerts monsters to your presence and since some of these guys are hella fast, moving around in the dark is advisable. Sure, you might miss things, but Travis glances towards important things, so you'll just have to watch for his queues.
I did find the game really, really dark, however. Yes, I am telling you to play it in the dark, but even with the lights/flashlight on, I found I missed important things and had to go back frequently. I also found the map difficult to manuever around due to the constraints of the small screen.
In general, I am a big fan of the Silent Hill series and I always have been. While I will always consider the first and second iterations to be the best, I applaud the series for going in new directions. The developers tried some new things in Silent Hill Origins and they were cool, but I just didn't feel the impetus to unravel the story like I have in some of the past games. I felt unable to explore because of the massive amounts of enemies roaming the streets and I constantly felt rushed, running from one building to the next in order to survive. Silent Hill Origins isn't a bad game by any means. It just didn't blow my mind. If you are jonesing for some psychological and survival horror on a portable scale, this is your best bet. I've heard its being ported to the PS2, so we'll have to see what happens with that translation. |
|
|
-Psibabe, GameVortex Communications AKA Ashley Perkins |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
