To call my “Silent Hill” playtime on the PlayStation Portable (PSP) a ‘psychotic thriller’ is an understatement. The psychological terror and survival of the perpetually fog-shrouded Silent Hill stand out among other survival horror genres till this day.

 

“Silent Hill Origins” for the PSP tells the tale of the beginnings of the horror which will engulf the sleepy town in years to come – the death of a little girl by the name of Alessa Gillespie…

The protagonist of “Silent Hill Origins” is Travis, a truck driver who almost has an accident when taking a shortcut through Silent Hill.

A small silhouette of a person suddenly runs onto the road and stumble causing him to apply emergency brakes. Things get bizarre after that, from seeing a reflection of a little girl in the freight’s mirror, to the burning house in which he hears cries and finds a little girl whose body had been burnt very badly. He saves her, but collapses outside the lawn…

The game starts when Travis (you) wakes up on a bench in Silent Hill. He will have to make his way to the hospital, to find out what happened to the little girl he saved.

I found it very exhilarating playing “Silent Hill” on the PSP rather than on the PS2. It’s probably because you’re totally immersed in the world of Silent Hill – your eyes, ears and senses are transfixed on the handheld unit and subsequently shutting out outside elements. As you start the game, the game recommends that you play with the room light switched off and earphones plugged in. No kidding.

The graphics in “Silent Hill Origins” are quite good; every-day things are easily recognised and you can even tell apart the monstrosities that inhabit the world of Silent Hill. Monsters that roam the streets, hallways and rooms have distinctive characteristics and agility. Fighting the first few monsters is like a combat tutorial; harder enemies will appear after ‘completing’ the scene at the hospital. At certain times, you will be ‘caught’ or locked in mid-combat: during these times, you will have to pay attention to the button. Remember to read the “Tips” section before starting your game or any time you wish: it’s a tutorial on the basic survival of “Silent Hill Origins”.

There’s no absolute chapter ‘completion’ as you would sometimes need to retrace your steps to ‘continue’ your quest to escape the town, i.e. opening certain doors with keys you found elsewhere.

Combats aside, Silent Hill is also known for its puzzle-solving sequences, which can be very mild to highly twisted. This game is NOT for the faint-hearted, so do keep in mind to read the warning on the game package.

New to the franchise is the protagonist’s use of bare hands for combat. You will get to pick up an arsenal of weapons along the way, some of which you can throw at enemies, but most of these armaments will break after a certain amount of usage. Use them sparingly and wisely…

Another newly-added mechanism is the use of mirrors for transition from Silent Hill’s Misty World to the Other World. Yes, there is a world crazier than Silent Hill, if that’s possible.

The sound and background music is beautiful composed; at certain times, you’ll be accompanied by music that plays up an atmosphere of ominous dread. At other times, you’ll be blasted with the deathly silence of a one-man city. A sporadic noise or two – equipment dropping to the ground, a sudden knock on the wall, or a grunt which seemed out of place – will sound off in the distance, upstairs, downstairs, and even the next room. Pay attention to your pocket radio too: whenever monsters are nearby, the radio goes all static.

Controlling Travis with all the designated buttons is as good as you can expect, but unfortunately there’s no option for you to pan the camera around. This created a problem when I have multiple enemies coming at me from different directions, and I could not gauge which way I should run to have a better position for attack and defence. The only help you’ll get is the left shoulder button which will try to reset the view to what Travis is looking at. This does not always succeed, especially when you’re in a tight corridor or corner.

The level of immersion is fantastic, try it out and you’ll see what I mean. Till I see you next, I’m off to a dark corner to continue playing Silent Hill with earphones at generous volume…