Silent Hill Origins - No Spoiler Review
Being a diehard Silent Hill gamer and a longtime fan of the series, I had to get my hands on Origins the second it was released on the PS2. I have spent countless hours in the other Silent Hill games - immersed in their deep and involved storylines, roaming the mist covered streets, solving mind-bending puzzles, fighting ungodly monsters, unlocking secret items, achieving all the endings, and yes - even getting the elusive Dog Ending in Silent Hill 2.
If Origins turned out like the other games in the series, I knew it was going to be one hell of a great game. Well… it was. And it wasn’t. At times.
You play the game as Travis Grady, a truck driver who “accidently” ends up in Silent Hill. As the game progresses, you learn more about Travis’s past and the history of the town itself - and in true Silent Hill fashion, the real story is revealed only in small layers and little clues dropped along the way. As Travis, you’ll travel around the town of Silent Hill, visiting different areas, solving cryptic puzzles and fighting with some truly disturbing monsters.
The first 10 minutes or so into the game, it feels like a Silent Hill game should. A creepy intro, the (superior) haunting music, and gritty graphics. 25 minutes in and you hit your first clever puzzle. Everything seems eeriely similar and you feel like you are back in that “sleepy” little town once again - ready to brave it’s demons and secrets.
There were some really good parts to this game and most of the gameplay mechanics and puzzles were very well done. Using mirrors to travel back and forth to the Otherworld and Mistyworld was one of the game’s crowning achievements and a nice breath of fresh air into the series. Being able to throw objects at monsters was also a nice addition.
Despite being a great game overall, I feel the main flaw in this game is the camera. It just cannot be ignored. I’m sure if you play Origins, you’ll quickly agree it’s one of the worst cameras in any video game you’ve ever played. It would constantly switch angles on me at all the worst times. I know it was done to add suspense to the game blah blah blah, but it made it hard to see certain things like important items you’re supposed to pick up. I also died on more than one occassion because I couldn’t even see the monsters attacking me no matter how much I manuvered Travis around the room. Still, don’t let the camera keep you from enjoying this game. It’s still playable on all accounts.
One thing I just didn’t understand about the game is the complete rarity of health items and ammo. Yet, somehow, the game still manages to have five different gun types. There’s little ammo for them so why even bother putting them in the game? For example, there’s a gun called The Reedemer, but good luck finding bullets for it. A few rounds and you’re done.
The developers, again, probably did this to increase the feeling of dread by forcing the player to ration health items and ammo as they explored the town - but I think in this case it does more harm than good. The melee weapons, however, are plentiful and scattered everywhere. There’s nothing like smashing a monster with a toaster or typewriter or smacking a monster with a shovel or pool stick. This game is definitely more action oriented than the other Silent Hill games, even though there is only half as much health items and ammo.
The presence of monsters is kind of imbalanced too. At some points there are way more monsters in this game than there needs to be (and at other points not enough and you’ll go 20 minutes without a confrontation). My biggest gripe is they’re either constantly taking cheap shots by appearing right when you enter a room (you have literally no time to react) or they gang up on you in groups of 2 or 3. You will take alot of damage from these surprise attacks, yet you have to ration very little health items. It did kind of become frustrating after a while not being able to take much damage, but you’ll get used to it as you go and learn to avoid a majority of the monsters.
If you’re thinking about conserving ammo and health for boss fights, however, I wouldn’t sweat it. These were the easiest boss fights in any of the Silent Hill games and didn’t really provide any kind of substantial challenge (the end boss was the easiest one and I only fought with melee weapons). To put it bluntly, I beat every single boss on my first try without taking any damage in most cases. Way too easy.
On the bright side, these monsters and bosses are very well designed and come in many different shapes and sizes so you’ll still have that good Silent Hill scare of “What the hell is that?” everytime you enter a new area. In fact, most of this game looks great from the nicely rendered cutscenes all the way to the levels designed for perfect flow. The theatre level is absolutely beautiful and has to be played to be believed. Alot of thought went into that particular part of the game.
As a final note, one thing I noticed about this game (that might anger some veterans of the series) is that is has no difficulty settings. In games such as SH2 and SH3, you could choose Easy, Normal, or Hard for the action AND puzzles. While it was kind of sad to see this staple feature left out of this installment, Origins does have alot of unlockable special features, costumes, secret items, weapons, and 3 different endings to keep players coming back for more.
At the end of the day, Origins really captures the essence and feel of Silent Hill, and I’m glad I finally got the chance to play it on the PS2.
If you’re a fan of the series, you’ll definitely want to play this game a few times through. It has all the familiar Silent Hill elements we’ve come to know and love over the years, and at it’s core succeeds at being a fun game to play. If you’re new to the Silent Hill franchise, you’ll still be able to play and enjoy this game as a genuine survival horror game, and it might even spark your interest to play through the rest of the series.
Pick up a copy, you won’t be disappointed.
Pros: Stays true to the roots of Silent Hill. Great graphics. Levels are genuinely fun to play. Nice selection of melee weapons. Clever puzzles. Killer sound design and excellent soundtrack.
Cons: Camera is terrible. Combat is sluggish with occasional unresponsive controls. Boss fights are too easy. Not enough health items.
Final Score: 8 out of 10
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Silent Hill is gay. God of War is the real deal