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Silent Hill Origins | 
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| From: Konami
Category: Video Games
List Price: $29.99
Buy New: $24.78
You Save: $5.21 (17%)
New (29) Used (8) from $19.58
Avg. Customer Rating:  35 reviews
Sales Rank: 1512
Platform: Playstation2
ESRB: Mature
Media: Video Game
Autographed: No
Memorabilia: No
Batteries Included: No
Age: 17 - 20 years
Operating System: Playstation 2
Shipping Weight (lbs): 2
Dimensions (in): 0.1 x 0.1 x 0
MPN: 20172
UPC: 083717201724
EAN: 0083717201724
ASIN: B0011BE3KA
Release Date: March 4, 2008
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
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| Features:
| • | A dark story that explores the events prior to the original Silent Hill | | • | enhanced camera system to elevate sense of fear and horror | | • | updated control for more fluid combat and detailed exploration | | • | horrific new creatures and challenging puzzles | | • | Original soundtrack by Akira Yamaoka |
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| Editorial Reviews:
Product Description
The renowned Silent Hill survival horror series makes its handheld gaming debut with a brand new adventure that reveals many of the series' most hallowed secrets. Assuming the role of a lone truck Driver, Travis Grady, trapped in Silent Hill while making a routine delivery, you must escape the city's horrific inhabitants and confront the strange hallucinations that have haunted him since childhood. Taking full advantage of the PSP system's graphics, sound, and portability, Silent Hill Origins sets a new standard in handheld gaming terror.
The PlayStation 2 version offers a visually enhanced version of the PSP game, with a host of elements that are new to the franchise and provide the player with an enhanced sensation of isolation. While the game retains the cinematic experience of the previous games, it also has an intuitive Cineractive System that allows you to face down horrifying monsters while the control scheme changes intuitively for each situation. You also have an enhanced camera system that actively tracks Travis, while fans of the series will revel in Silent Hill Origins' original soundtrack by series composer Akira Yamaoka. Encounter horrific new monsters never before seen in Silent Hill Original soundtrack by famed series composer Akira Yamaoka
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| Customer Reviews: Read 30 more reviews...
 Bravo Konami!! September 21, 2008
Great game from a great series!
Can't go wrong!
Silent Hill should be around for a long time to come, so dig in!!
 Sanitised and unoriginal, Silent Hill for beginners July 28, 2008
I was so delighted when this PS2 port was announced, it saved me from having to invest in a PSP solely for this one game: I would have, I have every other Silent Hill game and play them repeatedly, I wasn't about to let Origins pass me by on a relatively small technicality like a different platform.
And I was encouraged by the screenshots on various gaming websites; the graphics, while nowhere near the standards of SH3 or SH4, certainly looked to have been heavily enhanced... ...and the reports of faithful SH-style gameplay and plot development left me with great hopes for this title. But now that I've finished it I find I am nonplussed... ...read on.
GRAPHICS: 3/5
The renders are beautiful, the lighting is very Silent Hill, and the upgrades over the PSP version are great - but SH: Origins still takes a backseat to the seven year-old Silent Hill 2 in terms of detail and character animation. Travis moves like he's wearing a spinal brace of some sort, but the creatures in SH move as fluidly as they ever did - if somewhat less scary, which is a shame considering their design is excellent. Human character design is blocky and basic, with Lisa Garland and Michael Kauffmann sharing more with their PS1 counterparts than anything else. Travis, Dahlia and Alessa are clearly designed and well-textured, but also somewhat flat and boring-looking. Level design is clever, and there are some lovely effects here and there (particularly the Artaud Theatre and Hotel levels), but SH: Origins has none of those ultra-creepy background vignettes (think Valtiel in SH3 or the giant Eileen head from SH4) to unsettle the player, and ultimately winds up looking a little generic.
Visually, SH: Origins is a very mixed bag, but by no means unplayable or flat: the overall visual impact lacks the same melancholic punch as former PS2 releases though, and this is a real shame. But for a PSP port it's a great effort - just more of a sanitised Silent Hill than we're used to.
SOUND: 3/5
Again, not very creepy and not very engaging: the kindest thing one could say about the game's music is that it closely resembles other, better tracks from other, better Silent Hill games. The opening sequence is very engaging, with the title song playing as the player controls Travis' initial run into Silent Hill, but other than that there's no memorable tracks or noises to raise the player's hackles. Voice acting is so-so; it was more effective in SH 1.
PLAYABILITY: 3/5
Gameplay does indeed follow that tried-and-loved Silent Hill method of enter area/find clues/solve puzzle/leave area, and the controls themselves are responsive and clear. The Resident Evil-style grappling system is a nice diversion, and Travis' relatively low levels of stamina (he can't sprint for very long and often slows down to a panting crawl) adds greatly to the tension you feel when out and about on Silent Hill's monster-populated streets. Breakable weapons are a distraction: there's plenty of guns and ammo dotted about SH and the sheer volume of melee weapons left in your inventory by the game's end will make you wonder "why?". The difficulty curve is slightly easier than the latter half of SH4, so it's no pushover but certainly no Devil May Cry, either.
The major downsides of gameplay come from the camera angles (as with all games of this nature, there are times when it's incredibly poorly-implemented) and a sluggish response time when you try to load the map or inventory screen during battle. But overall, SH: Origins is fun to play: deeply unoriginal but who cares about that?
OVERALL: 2.5/5
Even if this had come out on PS1 after Silent Hill 1 it would only be a solid 3-star effort: the story is not engaging enough and the gameplay too basic to make this a firm recommendation. For Silent Hill fans it's a nice addition to the canon but not really competition for any other game in the series: it's too generic. Still, it's not a bad game, not by any manner of means - if you can get it cheaply then definitely do so.
Excellent July 11, 2008
Considering that this game came over from PSP to the PS2 it is a brilliant achievement of complete creepiness. The incorporation of the the mirrors which flip you between Normal World and Evil World is excellent. I physically felt dread as I touched that mirror in anticipation of Evil World. So dark that it is sometimes difficult to see, the strained eyes are worth it. I vastly prefer playing without the visual noise filter (which you can only turn off after beating the game). If you are a fan of these games, I consider this a must.
Silent Hill, the best in survival horror July 9, 2008
If you are a Silent Hill series fan, you shouldn't miss this title. This is a great chance to play it if you don't have the PSP version.
For both silent hill completists and fans of horror, a psp port of ps-2 quality! July 8, 2008
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
I've played every single Silent Hill. My first experience was the first game. Sadly I was not really able to appreciate its' deeper more profound symbolism when I was a younger age. Only reflecting later would I truly understand Cheryl and Alessa were the same person as well as the warped physics of the other-world. I finally realized just how brave Harry was and how much he had to lose. Truth be told Silent Hill was always more complex then Resident Evil. It focused more on the psychological and the occult then viruses and zombies.
The games that came after always either hit it big with me or had me give up. Alot of fans say "SH 2" was the best in the series. It was a good game but I could not really relate to a guy who killed his sick wife. (By now I'm sure EVERYONE knows about that. SH 2 has been out a LONG TIME.) However SH did introduce everyone's favorite geometric headed butcherer Pyramid-head as well as the possibility SH's energies are not only fueled by Alessa but rather by anyone who enters its' borders. SH 3 was a game I loved. Heather was one of my favorite protagonists and though people often critique her for being "too sassy" or "too whiney" I thought she was supposed to be a normal teenaged girl in the first place. Despite her short comings she was still brave and capable of caring for others. I get tired of people expecting their heroes to be perfect. If anything Silent Hill is about "imperfections" that come back to haunt us. SH 4 let me down completly. Once again some people thought it was awesome. I thought it was "good" for the genre yet something about it did not feel quite like "silent hill" to me. Henry was not "unlikeable" and being a bachelor I could relate to him finding comfort in solitude but all the back tracking and ending variables hinging on Eileen's health and exorcising spirits made the game more of a frusterating chore. Actually protecting Eileen would have been a reasonable task if not for those damned ghosts that can phase through walls to come after you. Walter Sullivan was one of the best antagonists in SH but the flawed gameplay broke the mold in a bad way.
Now we come up to origins. Honestly I was worried intially. Afterall I was buying a psp port to my ps-2. Would the game look like crap? Would it play like a dying mule? Would Climax seriously mess up some of my favorite characters in the SH canon? I'm happy to say "no" to each of those.
As you well know you are put in the shoes of Travis Grady, a stoic trucker who gets caught up in Alessa's life and tries to stop everyone's favorite crazies from seriously messing up conventional reality. There have already been complaints such as "Travis had no reason to be in SH." Hmmm. If you think you just clipped a little girl with your semi truck wouldn't you be just a tad concerned? If you say "no" to that question you likely need to talk to a therapist.
Anyway, Travis ends up following Alessa back to a burning house and saves her from a ritualistic sacrificial burning. After he passes out he awakes in Slent Hill. As you know once you're "in" silent hill it is hard to get out until you've conquered your inner demons. Not only does Travis stay around out of concern for Alessa but some of his own past memories are lurking the town's foggy streets. From this we are able to dispel the silly notion he has "no reason to be in silent hill."
Origins really sticks its' neck out to make new innovations. Some are great. Others are not so great. For example melee weapons break after a few uses and you can lug around tvs, toasters, and type writers to literally throw at oncoming nasties. To balance out the weapons issue Travis can go fistacuffs with opponents like a boxing champ. The only problem is when more then one monster is in the vacinity he'll often keep focusing on the baddie knocked down instead of facing the lurching one that is the bigger threat. Honestly though "Survival horror" is not about making combat perfect. If you could easily cream hordes of demons it would be more akin to an action plat-former. Travis though being the toughest protagonist is still in over his head. If you are a true SH fan you want it that way. Having a flashy pretty boy like "Dante" from DMC running around unstoppable on the streets of silent-hill with a big sword and infinite ammo would kill the atmospheric terror aspect quick.
One thing you should be aware of is this time around the creatures are faster and meaner. The first time I saw "the patient" monsters in the distance I thought I could easily out run them. Afterall the similar monsters in SH 2 were slow as a southern drawl right? Wrong. These "things" are unrelenting. They will shamble at you quickly and try to crush you with their legs or in the case of the nurses put a rusty syringe in your neck. That cannot be sanitary! This brings up another new combat mechanic. Travis can "shake off" assaults by tapping the x button really fast. I find overall this is a good feature because without it you would be even more screwed.
Instead of shifting to the other-world at random Travis acesses mirors to step between realities. Some say this kills the suspense but frankly so much is creepy about the game it is hard to say if it took the frantic edge off my nerves personally. Afterall I first encountered "the butcher" in the "normal fog world" cutting open a nurse creature with a huge cleaver. I didn't really feel safer in either dimension.
Moving along you will meet Dahlia, Kauffman, and Lisa. Though they look significally different their personalities are very much entact from the first game. Dahlia is as evil and creepy as ever so the designers did not try to make her a more sympathetic character like she was in the movie. This does stay in line with the first game though her movie counter-part had more layers. Likely that was one of the things Director Gans did well. For some reason Dahlia seems like Cruella Deville from 101 dalmations to me. Antagonists that are evil just to be evil work for cartoons but they do not do so well in a serious and frightening survival horror setting. If they portrayed Dahlia as at least having some guilt and remorse issues the end result would have been much better contrieved. What if for example you found her telling her confessions to a preacher in a church weeping? You would still not like her but she would come off as being alot more "human". Yeah she's crazy, but can't crazy people still love their children?
Kauffman is cold,aloft, cruel, and calculating living up to his usual "ice man doctor" arch type to a perfect T. Lisa is sweet, flirtatous, yet misguided which is refreshingly loyal to the ground work in the first game. For some reason people yammer about poor Lisa seeming like a "slut" but she does not seem to go about things differently in her interactions with Travis then she did with Harry. She flirted with Harry too and everyone knew she had an abusive relationship going with Kauffman. Does that coupled with being a nurse make her a tramp? For those few self annointed "elites" complaining I'd like to say "whatever prudes." You had no problem with her in the first game despite her drug addiction yet you do in origins? Bury the fan-baby angst already. It's not as if Climax tried making Lisa like Cynthia. (Not that Cynthia was a bad person either. Being a "hooker" does not make a woman automatically deserving of death or less of a person.)
Beyond this point you can guess the formula. Alessa needs your help and guides you through Silent Hill. Each time you defeat a boss you get pieces to the overall puzzle unlocking more info about the cult and your own difficult past. My only complaint is each completed area seems to get locked off. Yes, you can beat the game in 5 hours if you're good at navigation and have a faq handy to tell you where everything is but most likely if this if your first time playing it'll take you 8-10 hours.
Wrapping up I have to say this is my favorite SH game since 1 and 3. I'm surprised it looks so good on my PS-2 being that it is a psp port and equally delighted Climax handled each and every detail with loving care.
Pros
+ Loyal to the SH canon.
+ Alessa gets more love and a chance to let out more frustrations onto her tormentors.
+ Lisa is likable this time around too. I know some disagree with me over that fact but I found myself caring for her and feeling sorry for her just like I did in the first game.
+ Monsters are varied and vicious with new attacks though admittedly alot of their designs seem to be from the other games.
+ Great scares but you should play it in the dark for more jump out of your chair moments.
+Vivid and lucid sound-track.
+ Travis is a good guy. I found it easy to relate to him and liked how he took responsibility for his own actions.
Cons
- Character models were changed aesthetically a bit. I did not care so much but I know certain fans will.
- Camera angles can be really bad here and there.
- Alessa seems more "mischievous" and "dangerous" then "innocent" and "helpless". However I understand why she'd be driven insane and want to screw with people after being burnt alive. Poor kid.
-Combat can get frusterating especially when fighting multiple foes or the "biggy-beasts" in this installment. Word to the wise. Its' ok to run sometimes!
-Arguably the shortest SH if you know exactly what to do and where to go.
- The power to travel to the fog world and other-world at your own leisure may kill the suspense for you. It didn't for me though. Both places seemed equally twisted.
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