Silent Hill Origins

Developer: Climax Studios
Publisher: Konami
Released (UK): Dec '07
Released (US): Nov '07

May Contain Spoilers:After the brilliance that was Silent Hill 4, I waited for ages for a new Silent Hill game and 2007 brought that moment. However, I was quite disappointed that it was to be for the PSP and not the PS2 or the PS3.
Although the game was released in 2007, the first trailer to be released was in 2006 and that promised the game was coming "This Winter". "This Winter" however turned out to be winter 2007 instead because of deadline problems (always the case).
It was a long wait but the trailers that were released looked really good and Origins was looking like a competitor.

Silent Hill Origins is a prequel to the first Silent Hill game and is based around Travis Grady. Travis is a lorry driver who is driving through Brahms on a delivery which is halted after a girl walks onto the road causing Travis to stop.
Travis stops and despite the fact that the girl runs away, he doesn't carry on with his journey and instead takes a detour to Silent Hill.

He follows the girl to a house that is seen caught on fire, a lady is seen walking away from the place. After hearing a girls scream coming from the house, Travis being the hero he is goes in and saves her. The girl is burnt badly but he gets her out, fainting shortly afterwards.
When he wakes up, he finds himself in the town but the girl isn't there with him. The game is then based on Travis trying to find out what happened to this girl and why the residents of the town (the ones he sees anyway) are so secretive.

Travis (above) is the only new character in this game, the supporting characters being from the original Silent Hill. The characters brought over are:

Alessa Gillespie - Alessa Gillespie is the girl Travis saved from the house but we don't know if she is dead or not. It's what Travis is trying to find out throughout but, as he goes on through the game he comes across her in a live state without any burns at all. She doesn't speak throughout the whole game but tries to lead Travis in helping her.
Dahlia Gillespie - In this game she doesn't give the whole witch like vibe she does in the original. She wears what I would call normal clothing rather than the Wicca-like clothing she wore in the first game. We speak to her three or four times only.
Dr. Kauffman - We see him only three times and he's very arrogant even now. He is very secretive and tells Travis he has no idea which girl he is talking about but expresses his uneasiness of Travis' presence.
Lisa Garland - She's a trainee nurse in this game and is nothing like the nurse in Silent Hill 1. She's flirtatious and is definitely not the innocent girl you meet in the original game. She’s the friendliest character Travis comes accross.

The Monsters of this game are numerous, though some are not very imaginative at all. This game also includes many bosses - all of which are relatively easy to defeat. The monsters include some old favourites as well as some new ones:
The Nurse makes a come back although they have gone under a great deal of revamp. They now look like the nurses from the Silent Hill movie but they seem more stupid because you'll find you can sneak past them with the light off.
The Patient Demon (AKA Straight Jackets) from Silent Hill 2 also makes a comeback but they're faster and chase after you. They have the same spitting attack as before but they give greater damage than before - ignoring them is your best bet. If they get too close, they straddle you and head butt you in the face.
The Carrion monsters (below) are supposed represent the road kill that Travis, as a lorry driver has run over throughout the years. I think they look like plucked Chickens with no heads but that's just me.


The Ariel is a puppet that comes to life but they are very easy to defeat when you use a fire arm. You only come across them when you're in a specific area – the Theatre.
The Caliban is first seen as a boss to one of the levels but becomes a regular enemy after that. They come in various sizes and you'll come across some that block the roads of the town. They're very slow and easy to get past if you don't want to waste your time.
The Two-Back (below) looks like a guy riding another guy like a horse. You only come across this monster in the last area of the game but they're very powerful. What’s more is that they always appear off screen so you can't see them until you've put several bullets in them.
The Remnant is probably the only monster in this game that has any creepiness. They're basically a shadow with some kind of harness. Like the nurses you can get past them without the light on but they can whack you quite hard. They remind me a little of the Mannequins in Silent Hill 2 because they give out a masculine scream when hit.


Then we have the bosses of the game. You come across one of the bosses at the end of each area and then you have the sub-boss and main boss at the very end so there's 6 in total:

The Hospital - Our first area is the Alchemilla Hospital where Travis believes the girl is resting. The hospital is commonplace in Silent Hill games – every game in the series has had a level in a hospital. The boss isn't much of a boss because it's just a Straight-Jacket with no part in the story.
Cedar Grove Sanitarium - We find out that Travis' mother was once committed here and the boss is a monster that represents her. Apparently, people in the mirror would talk to her and asked her to kill little baby Travis. This was to make sure that he wouldn't return and stop the ritual revolving around Alessa. She was stopped though and taken into care where she eventually died.
The Artaud Theatre - This is where we find the Caliban as our boss. Apparently, it's the monster of a Shakespearean play that was once played at the theatre. A note says that the costume was so scary, a little girl ran out screaming. Tony, the actor playing Caliban died from a haemorrhage shortly afterwards - The little girl turned out to be Alessa.
The Lakeside Motel - Two boss fights take place here, the first being the Butcher (below) [There's a huge spoiler here so look away now if you don't want to know]. The Butcher represents a serial killer who would bring women to the motel in order to rape then kill them. This killer was to be known as The Butcher but he didn't look the same in reality. The second ending of the game proves that the Butcher is indeed Travis Grady.


The second boss fight in the Motel is the monster representing Travis' father. After arguing with his wife at the sanitarium, Travis' father killed himself whilst little Travis played in the motels game room.
Then we have the ultimate boss, Samael, the Cult's God. The word God isn't necessarily true as all Silent Hill fans know that the Cult actually worships a Devil and the ‘Paradise’ they seek is actually Hell.

There are several issues with this game that I’m not happy with. One of which is the breakability of the weapons Travis uses. Where you would expect things like TV sets and toasters to break when thrown, even strong weapons like pipes and sledge hammers break. What's the point? It doesn't make the game any better; to me it makes it worse. Is it just me?

The Characters weren’t exactly memorable for me. I didn't feel anything for Travis Grady at all. In Silent Hill 2 and 3, you feel for the main characters - James for losing his wife and Heather for losing her father. I didn't feel any pity for Travis and he's lost both his parents - am I just that insensitive? Maybe, but as I've already said, I felt for James and Heather and I even felt for Walter Sullivan in Silent Hill 4 so I can’t be that bad.
Lisa was a big disappointment. She had no part in the plot at all and it wasn’t necessary at all for her to be in this game. I would say that she’s been put in the game to satisfy all the fan boys out there, but they messed with her character. She was very sweet in the original Silent Hill and you really did feel sorry for her situation and the scene of her death is classed as one of Silent Hill’s greatest.
The Butcher wasn't impressive either - can anybody say "Pyramid Head knock-off"?

The levels aren't up to much either although the Motel can be quite interesting, especially since this is where the Butcher hangs out. There are a lot of peepholes in this area which did spook me out at times. As well as the main levels of the game, Travis will come across other buildings to gain access to other areas. One of these is the Butcher Shop which is the best area of the game - freaky stuff happens in this place. Watch for the Nurse.

The main drawback of this game is the medium it has been developed for. The PSP doesn't have the best sound quality or the best graphics. The shiny screen makes it hard to play on the bus or in the car (as a passenger you understand) which means you have to wait until the sun goes down to play it. The game even makes you aware of this when you turn it on, advising you that the game is best played in the dark and with headphones on.
The game has been released on the PS2 since but the graphics have basically stayed the same.
The cut scenes are appalling for this day in age, PSP or not. However, you have some occasional scenes that are fantastic - why they didn't use the same technique for all the cut scenes, I don't quite understand. The game would be so much better for it if they had. I’ve found two examples of cut scenes from YouTube to demonstrate my point:

Good Cutscene:



Bad Cutscene: (This also shows the terrible acting and lack of chemistry between Travis and Lisa)

The UFO ending returns after being left out of Silent Hill 4. The ending is pretty uneventful but you get a useful weapon out of it. The game has several Accolades to achieve where you will unlock a new item once you’ve achieve it. Accolades include such things as completing the game within a certain time scale, limiting the use of your flashlight, using your fists to attack rather than using weapons etc.
Examples of the items you unlock include new outfits, a novelty light (where the flashlight projects a smiley face, football or Peace image) and armour for your hands.
This is one of the good things about the game because these items can make the game easier for you, making the accolades easier to accomplish.

It’s not the best Silent Hill game, for me, it’s actually the worst of the series but there has been a difference of opinion.
Fans of the series that I’ve come across on forums such as http://boardsus.playstation.com/playstation/board?board.id=horror and www.play-mag.co.uk/forum seem to like this game more than Silent Hill 3 and 4. Not me though – I give it...

6/10