User Reviews (1 - 11 of 34)

Show these reviews first:

Highest Rated
Lowest Rated Newest
Oldest Most Helpful
Least Helpful

A great chapter, though porting could've been better

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 0 / 0
Date: March 11, 2008
Author: Amazon User

Silent Hill: Origins is essentially a prequel to the orginal Silent Hill game. I'll attempt to speak in vague enough terms so those who haven't played a single installment won't have the experience ruined. You play Travis, a truck driver with a vaguely trouble past, who makes the mistake of chasing a girl he believes he hit with his truck into the titular town of Silent Hill, where he rescues a girl who nearly burned to death in a fire. Following the girl to a nearby hospital, he is suddenly plunged into a world of cult rituals and demonic forces.

Graphics: think Silent Hill 1. As this game was based on the PSP, the gameplay graphics a rather blocky, but still manage to create a feeling of unease and general creepiness. I'm a hard sell on this though. I haven't seen anything so far as skin crawling as the general setup of the original. The cutscenes are much better, and were scaled up well, but don't expect anything earth shattering. The combat graphics are also well done, though they can get a touch annoying. The screen darkens and begins to spot out like a very old movie reel.

The only downside is brightness, which you cannot control in game. While the game is supposed to be dark, not being able to see you hand in front of your face defeats some of the purpose.

Sound: The sound is overblown during the combat scenes, but the death metal is definitely in line with what you'd expect, though the score wasn't expanded much in the port, and could've been redone for the PS2 version with relative ease. While annoying in the extreme, it isn't bad, but nothing stands out as being overly good either.

Gameplay: The puzzles so far have reached a happy medium. They aren't spelled out for you, but neither do you need a doctorate degree or be an expert riddler to solve them either. The beginning ones are find and place items, but several are information hunting for combinations and the like, and have a good chunk of general horror.

Combat finally begins to make sense. Not only do you have the ability to block some attacks, but you have fists! I never knew you could you those in self-defense! What a concept! In all seriousness, that's been a grip for me from the beginning. Stomping on monsters to kill them though is infuriating, and nearly impossible for a relatively simple command. Weapons finally break, and are inventive, like toaster ovens and TV's, though many weapons do not do a realistic amount of damage given their one shot nature.

Story: The character is belivable and well played, though the story needed to be expanded significantly for the PS2, and wasn't. Theres no comments on the fact taht the town is essentially abandonded and overrun with monsters, not to mention the classic clefts in the roadways blocking the easy route from point A to B.

All told, this is a nice addition, and barely warrants a 4th star, as it does have some nice creepy added in, but should've been worked more before it was released.

Silent Hill really good recomended

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 0 / 0
Date: April 05, 2008
Author: Amazon User

I have collected all Silent Hill series, but this one is unique lot of puzzles that will keep your mind busy, I love the fact that you can fight
punching your enemies and use of different weapons, graphics are pretty decent, in overall I give the score of 4.

Doesn't rank up there with the other games

3 Rating: 3, Useful: 0 / 0
Date: April 05, 2008
Author: Amazon User

I know, this review is quite different from the others claiming this game is awsome. Well, sorry to say this, but I would have to disagree. Don't get me wrong, I love the Silent Hill series! I was super excited when this game came to PS2. I bought it right away, and started playing it. At first it was cool, but then I realized that the melee weapons always broke! I frankly, do not like that one bit. No longer did I have a trusty weapon with me.

At first that didn't seem to bad, there were plently of weapons lying around. Then I ventured outside. I was praying for a decent weapon as I explored the town. The combat system is terrible with some creatures! I was getting jumped on before I could even defend myself! Health is scarce, so I found myself running through the town rather the fighting. I wanted so bad to have the old combat system back. Ya, it wasn't the greatest combat system, but it was better then in this game.

I quit about halfway through this game, frustrated.

I suppose there are a few pros in the game. The graphics are really good, and it has a creepy feel to it. Plus the story line seems good. I wouldn't recomend the game to newbies, go get Silent Hill 2 if you want an awsome game. However, for die hard fans I would suggest it if you have to have it. Just be prepaired for disapointment.

An Above Average Port Of A Great Game

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 0 / 0
Date: April 13, 2008
Author: Amazon User

Fans of the series should obviously pick this up just for the whole history of Silent Hill thing. Konami has always had great graphics in the series, and while these are not as good as say Silent Hill 3, they are certainly decent and sufficiently creepy. This is a better looking port than say Liberty City Stories....The controls are about the same as the previous PS2 games, but do require a little more patience to get used to. I got some good scares and plenty of chills from this game, and some interesting plot points are revealed. Many people don't want to go back to PS2 now that everything is Next Gen; But I have to say for fans especially, it's worth dusting off that old console and popping this in. And yes, there's fog!

Silent Hill Origins

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 0 / 0
Date: April 14, 2008
Author: Amazon User

This was my first Silent Hill game and I am glad it was this one. I just played through Silent Hill 2 and can definitely say Origins was much more fun and exciting. The only negative opinions I have are there are not enough save points at crucial places and the load time when he goes through doors and the time it took to save were horrendous. My game had some bugs/glitches (especially a freeze-up at the very end-errrr!) so that may have been part of that, not sure! Also, I found the inventory very stiff and time consuming. I am a veteran Tomb Raider player and the set-up with inventories on those games are what I'm used to and they are very smooth. Last gripe - Straightjackets were an ongoing menace - there were too many of them and they did not add to the scariness of the game, they were very tiresome and annoying instead. I loved Travis' fighting skills - found it great that you could just punch away if you didn't feel like fooling around with an object or a gun. I would like to add that I am not a really big gamer so take my opinions for what they are worth! All in all, a fun but suspenseful game - worth buying, especially for the multiple endings.

Harder than it looks

3 Rating: 3, Useful: 0 / 0
Date: April 17, 2008
Author: Amazon User

I was led to believe this game would be like the others. Its not. The graphics are like SH2 and the game play is rough at best, the "fixed" camera is tricky to work with and you stand a minimal chance against creatures as a result of it. I died a few times from those stupid acid vomit creatures.

There is no difficulty setting in the game so that will make it difficult for first timers and interesting for people used to change the setting incrementally as they work their way through the game.

Anyway, I would say it is not as good as the 4 leading up to it

Review from a non-fan

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 0 / 0
Date: May 08, 2008
Author: Amazon User

I love the survival horror genre, but I'm not particularly a Silent Hill fan. How can this be? I don't know for sure, but after playing others like the Fatal Frames, Resident Evils, Clocktowers and others, the SH series has always seemed to lack substance for me. All atmosphere, very little pay off. However, SH: Origins was a nice surprise given the lack of good survival horror games available right now on PS2. The graphics are grainy like the Blair Witch, the monsters creepy, and the settings even creepier. Great soundtrack. I had trouble with the controls at times: there seems to be a delay somewhere in there. The puzzles are not that hard but I appreciate a game that makes you think a little. The best part for me was the changeover from the REAL world to the OTHER world (nightmare) which added a dimension to this game the others lack. On top of that, it's scary.

A Great Game for the Die Hard Silent Hill Fan

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 0 / 0
Date: April 22, 2008
Author: Amazon User

The title explains it all. Silent Hill Origins is a prequel to Silent Hill 1 and 3. It explains a great deal of things that were left unanswered. For 30 dollars this is definitely a good thing to pick up, if you played the others. There are some cons, but the pros definitely outweigh them.

The graphics overall are probably the biggest con. This is a PSP game that has been converted to the PS2. It definitely shows, the graphics are slightly worse than Silent Hill 2. I really did not mind it though. People who get caught up in shiny graphics, will be very disappointed. It is sad to see the progression of the games drop from 3 and 4 to this one. All that being said it does not take away from the game.

The music, as always, is outstanding. It adds so much to the game. It will sometimes freak you out, without anything happening at all. Your imagination does all the work.

The story is what shines through here. You have basically two stories being told throughout the game. Both of which are very good. Sadly even combined this game is VERY short. I beat it in just under six hours, my first time through. All subsequent times I played it took under four hours. There are 3 endings and accolades to unlock. It is worth the time to get the endings, two of them are very good. The accolades are fourteen achievements that you can try to get in later ventures.

The gameplay is pretty good, but there is one annoying aspect. There are hundreds of melee weapons around the Silent Hill. They range from hammers
to portable televisions. The problem is they each have their own health. So, you will break them all with relative ease. Many fights are better to just avoid than waste the good weapons anyway. You will probably do most of the fighting with fists. Your character also has extremely low stamina. You will be running and then instantly panting. It gets very annoying after awhile. Camera angles at times are atrocious. It adds to the scares at times. Mostly it leads to getting hit by something you can't see. Veterans of the series can deal with it. Riddles are very easy. I do not remember being completely lost with any of them. Which may not be a great thing for those who want a challenge.

Overall, I loved this game. My review is definitely skewed by my love of the series. Most likely only fans with an equal love, will want it. Otherwise I would give it a rent, if you want a scare.

Great Game For Silent Hill Fans

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 0 / 0
Date: May 20, 2008
Author: Amazon User

To sum it up, Silent Hill Origins is a fantastic game for the hardcore fan, but not very good for someone new to the series.

Akira Yamaoka's music soundtrack is absolutely amazing as usual. The graphics are nicely detailed with that classic gritty Silent Hill style (I was surprised how good it looked for being a PSP port). Now the story: Without spoiling anything, the hardcore fan such as me will enjoy the different perspective put into the story, with some of the past silent hill happenings given new light. As far as adding something new to the series, this game falls flat on its face. SH Origins pretty much piggy backs on the past Silent Hill history, but brings nothing new to the table.

So if you're a Silent Hill fan and wish to dive back into all of the Silent Hill creepy goodness just for fun, definitely pick this title up (but don't expect anything new). If you're new to the series, definitely don't start with this title!

Creepy! Scary! Horrorific!

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 0 / 0
Date: May 27, 2008
Author: Amazon User

Well-done, and well-fun. I was scared to the end. A very scary game. Nothing like it. I've not played the prequels, but very scary.

Review Page: 1 2 3 4 Next 

Actions