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Survival Horror Done Well

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 0 / 0
Date: November 13, 2007
Author: Amazon User

This game reminds me of Silent Hill 2 in its graphic presentation and gameplay, and that's a good thing. The sound and other assorted atmospherics are eerie and unnerving. Movement is smooth and fluid. The combat system is pretty easy to pick up. The thing that's really different about this game is the ability to move back and forth between dimensions (the creepy Silent Hill and the regular Silent Hill) by touching mirrors. If you've seen the movie (or played the other games)then this certainly adds to the back story. If you're a survival horror fan, you can't go wrong with this title. It's one of the better PSP games out there.

SH: O

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 0 / 0
Date: November 24, 2007
Author: Amazon User

This game offers an interesting view on events taking place before the first game on PSone. The graphics are very nice, comparable to PS2 graphics. The sound effects are a little on the cheesey side, but real enough to creep you out. The music is beautifully written, again, by the same composer who did the other games. My biggest issues were the camera angles and controls. They're too shifty and it's hard to see around you. I've had to fight several bosses without ever seeing the boss through the entire fight, just letting Travis auto-aim and fire.

It's decent enough if you can stomach it.

try playing it in the dark

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 0 / 0
Date: December 03, 2007
Author: Amazon User

without a doubt the creepiest most atmospheric game I've played since the old Amiga top down shooter Alien.
The way the soundtrack enhances the experience has to be heard to be truly appreciated.
I defy anyone to complete the game without several changes of underwear.

Real Horror Show!

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 0 / 0
Date: December 19, 2007
Author: Amazon User

Very impressive for a PSP game when it comes to sound and graphics. The music in this game is wonderfully put together when it comes to setting up a scene. Definitely play in the dark and plug your headphones on or you will miss out. Silent Hill Origins is one of the best and sets a new standard in handheld horror games.

If you haven't played Silent Hill before don't let this be your first...

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 0 / 0
Date: December 29, 2007
Author: Amazon User

I can't say I was disappointed, but I wasn't overly pleased. Silent Hill is a very fun survival/horror game series, and if you haven't played it before don't start with this one (start with Silent Hill 2, or 3 for the PS2). It almost seemed as though Konami was just fishing for money with this one.

I felt the game was lacking in originality, it seemed the plot was a rip off of the movie they made about a year back... going so far as to have the characters in the game mirror the actors in the movie. Even the monsters were ripped from the movie, and they just repeat the same ones (for the most part) throughout. However, the back story of the main character (Travis Grady) was original, and well written. They also replaced Pyramid Head with some guy called The Butcher (ugh...).

Another thing lacking in this game: it wasn't scary. I followed the "instructions" (lights off, earphones on), just didn't do it for me. It was because the game was too easy, it wasn't really a "survival". All of the monsters can be easily run past, or killed with your fists, and supplies are so abundant that you never really have to worry about your health. The horror genre usually needs to be paired with survival for it to work. The cheap thrills only go so far, and if your character doesn't have any chance of dying the game isn't going to do much. Even the "mirror world" doesn't hold much water (it's only saving grace being Akira Yamaoka, and he did one hell of a job with this soundtrack). Part of what made the "darker worlds" in the SH series scary was that you worked your way up (the worlds getting more disturbing the further you progressed). In this one you just flip back between the mirror world, and the normal world, and I felt it detracted from the scare factor.

You'll beat the game in under 5 hours, which is pretty good timing, considering that's about the time the lack of diversity and originality in the game will start to bore you.

PROS:
Akira Yamaoka's soundtrack.
Travis Grady's backgroud story.

CONS:
Lack of originallity/diversity.
Gameplay is too easy.
Who the H*** is The Butcher?

Even with its flaws this is still my favorite game that has come out for the PSP. If you're a fan you're going to like it. If you haven't played before, start elsewhere and then come play this one.

GREAT!!!

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 0 / 0
Date: January 02, 2008
Author: Amazon User

PSP has the best games and this one proves it. Scare the hell out of you tension, great graphics, good controls and great story line.

Prequel. Silent Hill 0.

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 0 / 0
Date: January 26, 2008
Author: Amazon User

This game is awesome! I just got my PSP and this is the third UMD I purchased. This takes place before Silent Hill for the PSX or Playstation One. It is fun, scary, and exciting! If you are a fan of Silent Hill and don't own a PSP, this will be out for PS2 (Playstation 2) in March of 2008.
:D

Portable Spook!

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 0 / 0
Date: February 04, 2008
Author: Amazon User

I've always been quite the fan of Silent Hill ever since the first game came out. I was very excited to see one come out on the PSP finally. This game is very interesting to play, as the story goes through and explains the prequal to the first game. You get to see Pyramid Head, and how he came about. You get to see the origins of the source of the evil.
It gets very scary once you enter the Sanitarium. The Sanitarium is a huge complex with multiple rooms and plenty of surprises. If you've played the previous Silent Hill games roaming through the evil hospitals, then you haven't seen nothing yet. This is quite the spook!
One thing I don't like though is that Silent Hill still doesn't come with cheats. I mean come on people! You've got to let us press a few buttons here and there to open up some cheats like unlimited ammo or something to make this game more fun! But then again, if they did that, then it would take away from the eeriness of it. Without the cheats you're always worried about the health of your character. I certainly recommend this game, but I want cheats!

Back to Silent Hill...finally!

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 0 / 0
Date: February 10, 2008
Author: Amazon User

When you're talking about a place like Silent Hill, where nightmares and monsters walk in the light of day, you wouldn't think it would ever be a relief to get back there. And yet, after Silent Hill 4 managed to avoid going to the actual town at all, it's actually good to see a new story told in that famously scary place. And in typical Silent Hill fashion, that story is disturbing to the core.

Silent Hill: Origins takes a jump back in time, to before the events of the original Silent Hill. Travis Grady, a lonesome trucker on the road, takes an unexpected detour and finds himself lost in Silent Hill as the fog descends. His exploration of the streets of the town is also an exploration of his past, into the depths of his own psychosis that he hints at even as the game begins. As the story progresses, we learn more about Alessa and Dahlia Gillespie and the history of the cult of Silent Hill, but we also learn about what in Travis' dark past has drawn him to this place, at this time. It begins when he saves a young girl, badly burned and unrecognizable, from a building in flames. He just wants to see how she is...then he just wants to get out, away, far away from Silent Hill and the memories he has.

The gameplay in Origins is pretty much on par with the rest of the series, you play in third person perspective as you explore each area, solving puzzles and riddles and fighting the creatures that come out of the dark. Camera control and combat are somewhat clunky, but unlike most people I appreciate that. The characters of Silent Hill are not heroes or combat veterans, so they shouldn't be really skilled or have lots of amazing moves. The camera angles are there to enhance the overall effect of fear, and they do that job well, even (maybe especially) when it means you can't see what's coming up behind you.

Origins' graphics are impressive, especially considering this is the PSP we're talking about. The graphics are roughly similar to those of Silent Hill 2, not quite as amazing as 3 and 4, but quite good, and certainly detailed enough to create an atmosphere of fear and creeping dread. The audio of Silent Hill is also right up there among the best in gaming, with another soundtrack provided by Akira Yamaoka -- this one may actually be his best yet!

Origins brings a few new features to the table as well. Melee weapons are now breakable, meaning you'll usually only get a few good whacks out of a knife or tire iron before it is useless. There are also some weapons (including televisions and file cabinets) that you can throw at an opponent from a distance for a quick damage. And in a surprising move, Travis is the first character to be able to move between the "normal" world of Silent Hill and the shadowy, dark world at will, using mirrors to transition from one to the other. Many of the game's puzzles use this feature cleverly, actually requiring you to do something in one world that affects the other. And there is an Accolade rewards feature that encourages multiple plays through the game to get multiple endings, new weapons, and as many as 13 different costumes.

There's a few innovations in Silent Hill: Origins that keep it fresh and interesting, but what's more important is that the core of the Silent Hill experience is here. The things that keep fans like me returning again and again -- deep psychological horror, an engaging and rich and disturbing story, interesting characters, moody music, incredibly creepy graphics, and a layer of pure fear covering it all like a dark shroud. It's all here, and I'm inexplicably glad to see it.

Come back to Silent Hill. Come see what happened before it all began. If you dare.

Portable Survival Horror....

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 0 / 0
Date: February 17, 2008
Author: Amazon User

Great graphics, Spooky game play. Made to be played with the lights out and headphones all. An enjoyable experience...

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