Silent Hill Origins (PSP)

Anyone who remembers the first silent hill on the playstation 1 and silent hill 2 on the playstation 2 will be right at home with this new title in the great franchise. To me this feels like the ospring of the two games porting both the good and bad features to the PSP. Of course Origins brings along a few new features which really improve the game.

The first thing that i really like about this game, is its fresh, much like the other fantastic playstation 1 game emerging on PSP, syphon filter. You'll feel releaved that you dont already own a console version with better graphics and more features and for the Psp this is really something new and much needed.

The graphic quality is impressive, from the Fmv intro to the actual game and it really captures the grittiness and feel of the past titles without any loss.It feels sharper and smoother than most psp games and seems that the develops have put some real effort in to polish it for the Psp and not just ported an old copy from a previous title, for that they deserve credit.

The story is another thing that stands out for me, its an original, intreguing story with well developed characters but i wont ruin it for any would be buyers. Aparently it has a number of endings in line with the other games from the series.

For the first time on the PSP i found that the sound quality was amazing (for the psp) and was pleased to find that the guy who has done previous games made a welcomed return and too deserves all whole heap of credit for the eeriely crisp ,rich and disturbing soundtrack. A great example would be when i was in the hospital (what is it about silent hill games and hospitals?)i could hear banging pipes as well as the sound of a ventilator unit. This really added to the fear.

The contols are a bit of a let down as sometimes the dodgy camera angles from the first game make a return and this sometimes make movement and fighting a little more difficult than it should. Althought there is a camera reset button it still feels awkward. Combat to is sometimes difficult, allthough you can punch, therefore always have a emergancy weapon the actual weapons you get in game degrade over time and eventually break. You can amas a cracking arsnal of varied weapons from guns, scalpals, hammers to tv's which you can store away for later use. Another great feature is using mirrors to travel back between the normal and evil worlds.

The puzzles are sometimes challenging but i found never too difficult and the key collecting concept might be getting old but not off putting.

What i did like was that a the beginning of the game was this cool note that says that the game is best played in the dark and with headphones. Thinking this was all nonsense i gave it a go and found that it actually enhances the gameplay elements by upping the scare factor and it really improves the sound. I really recommend this for when you play, pitch balck thoughno wimps!

Overall i give this game top marks as it has more than met the standards of the original (playstation 1) version and will not disapoint any long or short term fans of the game while been a great start for any newcomers to the franchise.

With top notch graphics, sound and story this really does stand out from the crowd of dull, i already completed it on my console, PSP games and not even the bad camera angles and controls stop it from been the best game i have played on the PSP and i think it will be a long while before anything can knock it off its spot.

With christmas coming this makes an excellent choice of gift for the PSP gamer, just remember parents as with all the silent hill games "this game contains graphic scenes of violence and some scenes which people may find disterbing". One word about that 'Brilliant'.

Oh, and welcome to Silent Hill...

Having recently aquired a PSP 3000 (Cheers wife!) I find myself for possibly the first time having a well established piece of hardware, with a large back catologue of games. Being a gamer since the early 80s I have usually aquired consoles as they are released and then pick and chose games as they come out, paying full price.
Thanks to never getting around to purchasing the PSP first time, I am now in a nice position where I can pick and choose from a vast selection of games, the majority of which are at a fraction of their original price.
Silent Hill is my first foray into the realms of survival horror/adult gaming on the PSP.

The game starts with a rendered cut scene which is well animated, giving you an introduction to your character and the town. The cut scene then changes to one which is rendered using the in game engine, which while not as pretty as the first cut scene, is still decent for the PSPs graphical limitations.
Your character (Mr Ten-four buddy trucker) then gets his chance to wander about a bit, to the sounds of some Dido-esque intro song.
He eventually reaches the town and it all goes bent from there.

I will not go into the story line but say that the game is divided into two parts, the streets and the buildings. The streets are dividers for the levels which take place in large buildings which act as the 'levels' themselves.
The first 'level' is a hospital. You walk around, solve puzzles, open locked doors until you have a certain item. You then exit and walk the streets to the next 'level' which is an asylum.

While in the buildings you meet ghoulish enemies which are easy to kill at first but then get harder the more you progress, you can slap them about using your hands but a more effective way is using the melee weapons which are scattered around and plentiful.
As you progress you can also pick up guns and ammo which is more effective but less fun than lobbing a bottle of alcohol at a zombie nurse thing and knocking her sparko.

If you are low on health (which is in the usual form of medikits or food) you can just circumnavigate most enemies and run around like a wuss but remember to turn your torch off as it makes you less visible.

So far this is a fun game and has bags of atmosphere, you should be able to pick it up for well under £15 these days to there is no excuse (unless the excuse is you have no money after the credit crunch, and if that is the case, stop reading reviews of psp games and get back to work)

...and turn off the lights while you play it with the headphones on.

Silent Hill - back to how it should be; not locked in some room, but wandering around the misty town wondering what the hell is going on. Yes, in places it is more style than substance, but when the style is this good, you can make allowances.

By and large, this is familiar, above all else - the controls, the look, the feel, the types of location. There are some nice twists - the fact that melee weapons are destroyed by use, for example - often half way through a scrap - stop it from being too comfortable.

Although this is not a huge game (about the same length as the first one), there are some really cool bits about it that only come out on replaying. Yes, there are the 'bad' and 'UFO' endings to find, but the real fun is in the accolades. These force you to play the game differently - one involves, for example, no shooting, while to gain another, you have to shoot everything. This adds an impetus to replaying the game - trying to see if you can take out the bosses with only your fists.

Quite a lot of fun.