If there is one place in the world that you really don’t want to visit, it’s the small, murky town known as Silent Hill. Unfortunately a newcomer to the series, Travis Grady, received no such advice and comes to find himself smack dab in the middle of this warped and dreadful town. Originally released for the PSP late last year, Silent Hill Origins takes players back in time before the events of the original game and gives a further in-depth look at how and why the town has become the pit of despair that it is.
Late one rainy night, trucker Travis Grady barrels down the highway in his rig only to come across a little girl in the middle of the road. Thinking he may have hit her, he gets out of his truck to look for her as she sprints away. No sooner has Travis arrived in Silent Hill that he spots a burning building and hears screams coming from within. Being the manly man he is, he rushes in to find the charred body of a little girl and rushes her outside.
Passing out after his heroic feat, he wakes up the next morning and decides to head to the hospital – a place frequent visitors know to stay away from – to see if the child is ok. From then on, the perverse atmosphere of Silent Hill become quite apparent and the two worlds of the town start to collide. As players progress through the game, they realize that not only does Travis have a connection to the town but the mysteries of his past, shown in flashes of cutscenes, all start to fall into place.
Similar to the other Silent Hill games in the series, there is the real world and there is the Other World. As ugly as the real world is with its sparse details and often boring environments, the other world continues the rust colored tradition of blood soaked walls, ceilings, floors and every other imaginable surface. Unlike previous games you can choose when to enter the Other World by touching one of the many mirrors found through out the game.
Many of the game’s puzzles require you to switch back and forth as one world may have certain hallways and doors locked - and if there is one thing about Silent Hill, there is a lot of locked doors - while the Other World will have them wide open allowing you to pass.
The previous games gave a sense of dread when you were suddenly whisked away into the Other World and Origins loses some of that threatening feeling since you can control when you go in and when you come out. Furthermore many of the same enemies are found in both worlds, so the only real creep out factor of the other world is the appearance of it.
Continuing a rather unpopular trend of the series, the games controls aren’t out to win any awards. They often have a very awkward feeling and the lack of 3D camera control can become quite frustrating in certain situations. You do have the ability to center the camera behind you and you will be tapping the L1 button quite frequently to do so. As with all smart visitors to the town, you have your trusty flashlight with you to light your way through the many dark corridors and your radio that gives off static when enemies are near by. The same heavy clanging, banging and smashing “music” plays when enemies are near and the screen turns into a grainy black and white scene which somewhat makes up for the lack of actually being able to look around properly.
