Silent Hill Origins / Silent Hill Zero (PSP) (2007)
Developer: Climax

Review by Faididi and Co.

As if the third game isn't enough

Story: Average

Apparently, everyone's favorite spooky girl, Alessa, has needed more than just Harry Mason's help in escaping the demonic grasp of Silent Hill. As this prequel soon reveals, her first recruit is Travis Grady, a big-rig driver with a heart of gold. After he stumbles across Alessa one night and rescues her from the fiery incident that burns off her face, he decides to search the town for her the next morning, because he's the caring type, and also because he can't find his way back to his truck.

Unlike the third installment, this prequel has little new to reveal, as you already know what will come to happen. Travis' own history in Silent Hill is nothing too mind-rending, and his past has only a fleeting connection to little Alessa. But, hey, at least the additional details on Nurse Garland are too juicy to pass up.

Gameplay: Above Average

Climax's Silent Hill Origins (Silent Hill Zero) is a throwback to the series' roots in terms of gameplay as well as story. Ditching all the changes from The Room, Origins resembles a compact version of the very first installment. Like Harry, Travis can carry everything he finds, and he gets to explore the streets (of Silent Hill's central district) like an overworld when he isn't running through the building dungeons.

Nevertheless, Origins has its share of gameplay differences. Most notable of these is the overhaul of the weapon system, which now features breakage for melee weapons. The wooden boards, knives, and other hand-to-hand weapons that Travis jabs into bad guys will eventually shatter. Fortunately, such weapons grow abundant after the first parts of the game, so Travis seldom lacks anything to smash into his foes. Certain weapons, such as heavy glass bottles and table lamps, can also be thrown instead, serving as makeshift projectile weapons. As for firearms (which don't break), Travis can normally find up to six of them, so gunning down the bad guys is definitely more fun than before. If Travis runs out of ammo and melee weapons, he can also rely on his mighty two-hit punching combo.

Another major change is Travis' ability to use mirrors to switch between the primary dimension and its even more terrifying, death-filled counterpart. Sure, this feature is really just a controllable take on the old light-and-dark scheme from the previous installments, but it's nicely incorporated into the puzzle design.

That Origins is one of the smallest installments in the series should be no surprise, but the layouts of its dungeons are rather imbalanced. For example, while the first dungeon is very brief, the second one contains a multitude of rooms and super-long corridors. At least the monsters keep things scary as hell. While some bad guys are the same old evil nurses, the new enemies like the sanitarium patients add a whole new dose of horror to the mix.

Controls: Average

Origins has some unexpected issues with its controls. Not only are the button configurations no longer customizable, but Travis must be standing completely still before he can perform finishing attacks against downed enemies, making the combat feel clunky compared to that of the previous games. There are also events that feature button-prompt challenges, but luckily these events aren't emphasized much, and the penalties for botching them are unusually light.

Graphics: Above Average

The visuals look like the PS2 installments' on the small screen, with characters who are rendered in very high detail and environments that are jam-packed with objects and rich textures. The new fog effects for the streets are impressive, and screen noise is added (alongside the usual radio sounds) to indicate the presence of enemies.

What's not cool, however, is the price in performance exacted by the pretty graphics. The framerate drops noticeably whenever Travis turns on his flashlight at certain areas, and a glitch that causes severe slowdown sometimes occurs when multiple enemies appear close together.

Audio: Above Average

Compared to the previous installments, Origins blends in a far greater amount of actual music with its evil ambience effects. The dialogue also flows much more naturally than before.

Overall: Above Average

Perhaps Silent Hill Origins wouldn't suffer from the semi-glitchy problems with its graphics had it been put on a real gaming platform. Still, it's a solid addition to the action adventure series that throws in relatively refreshing changes to its weapon system. Those who love the earlier installments will feel right at home here, despite the less polished points of its controls.