Silent Hill Origins, which came late in the life of the PS2, is an “origins” story, but like most Silent Hill games, it doesn’t really fit into any sort of timeline, so basically it’s just another standalone excuse to drag us happily back into the foggy town of terror. You play as Travis, a truck driver who sees a young girl run into Silent Hill and chases her. Why bother if she’s not your daughter? Anyway, let the screaming and running begin!
Since this was such a late addition to the PS2 library, the game is enhanced for widescreen televisions, even giving you an option of either full screen or widescreen modes. Awesome. There’s no difficulty option, but I played from a cleared data save, so I guess I got through it once without a problem. Great thing about the cleared data is that it starts you off with a kick-ass power glove that pretty much lets you beat the fuck out of most enemies in the game with no problem.
The challenge here is that this was from that period when survival horror was giving up on tank controls but opting to keep the fixed camera angles, which means you often find yourself running in tight circles as the camera angle changes furiously and so does the direction you’re running despite never taking your finger off the thumbstick. Or more likely because you aren’t taking your finger off the thumbstick. You are equipped with over-the-shoulder reset of the camera with the press of a button, but it’s useless if you’re too close to a wall or in tight spaces.
Another challenge in this installment is that it annoyingly goes for the realism factor. The more you run, the quicker you run out of oxygen, which slows you down to catch your breath. Argh! Not an ideal gameplay feature when there are plenty of moments when you are swarmed by monsters on the street and simply have to run.
You have the radio as usual to warn you of incoming threats, you can turn your flashlight on and off, and there are prominent red triangles on walls that serve as save stations. You can also pick up infinite ammo for firearms and items to use as weapons. Pressing down on the d-pad picks up and immediately equips weapons, and going into your inventory to reload instead of doing it while in combat freezes the action so you won’t take damage. For melee weapons you have quick hits, or can hold X for harder hits–but melee weapons have a shelf life and eventually break. Aside from combating enemies, you will also tussle with them, which requires you to button mash X quickly to break free before they can rob you of too much of your health. Cool thing is if you knock down enemies and they’re not dead, you can just press X and stomp them to finish them off before they get back up.
And naturally, there are scavenger hunts to find items and notes that help you solve puzzles. But here is the catch in this game…you choose when to go into dark Silent Hill. To do so, simply find a room with a mirror and click on it and you’re in the dark zone. Eek! And you have no choice, because the items you need cross over the two different dimensions. That means you will most definitely need a walkthrough if you don’t want to spend hours jumping back and forth between two dimensions trying to find items and then knowing where to use them.
Another hindrance in the game is the way in which you “see” items. Nothing sparkles to let you know there is an item to pick up. Instead, your character’s head will sort of glance over to where an object is. Ugh! Items totally blend into the dark scenery, and if you move too fast through spaces you won’t even notice the character’s head turn.
One last thing to note before I cover the main areas to explore—the slow load times whenever you pass through a door really kill suspense between rooms.
HOSPITAL
You begin on the streets, but before long you’re in the hospital. The nurse character from the other games is here, and of course the killer nurses are as well. Plus you fight your first boss, one of the straitjackets, which then becomes just a normal enemy on the streets.
SANITARIUM
The second stop is a sanitarium, where you encounter shadowy, hulking figures and big sluggish creatures. This is also where you’ll discover what a pain in the ass it is to have to know when to jump through a mirror. Even using a walkthrough, at one point it sounded like I could just mosey on over to another corridor and take the stairs to my next destination. Not true. Doors were suddenly locked and I had no way forward, so I had to trial and error my way through mirrors and up and down floors in both worlds to finally reach my destination.
The boss in this section is a bitch in a bell hanging from the ceiling. If you get too close, spikes shoot out of her and stab you. She also spits poisonous gas. You can easily avoid her and keep shooting with a gun, but if you don’t reload in the inventory menu (keep track of how many shots you take), the reload animation can leave you vulnerable.
THEATER
This is a long and creepy section, especially since there are freaky puppets that hang from the ceilings and attack as you run by. They also drop to the floor and run after you on their hands. Yikes! They do, however, go from creepy to annoying, because there are more and more of them as this section progresses. The boss on the theater stage at the end totally rocks though. As big and monstrous as he is, he too becomes just another enemy on the streets once you leave the theater.
HOTEL
This is the longest section of the game, and it is crazy how much running and fetching you have to do in both worlds just to find the key to room 500 to fight a boss.
The new enemy here is a heinous creature in the motel rooms that looks like two monsters humping. That doesn’t stop them from trying to pound you when you interrupt them as if they’re forcing you into a threesome.
If you’re playing through the game a second time and you find the room 502 key on the street before arriving at the hotel (use a walkthrough), going in the room will give you an immediate alien ending, done anime style. Just make sure to save right before you go in so you can pick up where you left off and actually complete the game.
The first boss at the hotel is reminiscent of Pyramid Head. You fight him in a tight space, but there’s a kitchen island between you, so if you just circle and shoot you’ll defeat him. However, if he grabs you…QuickTime button mashing or instant death! Ugh!
The second boss after entering room 500 is attached to a wall in a tiny room with only a straight forward POV. You have to run back and forth, shoot him when you can, and avoid dropping tentacles that grab you and force you to button mash to break free and also leave you vulnerable to the boss attack.
There is also a little pyramid puzzle you would never figure out without a walkthrough. NEVER.
On the way to the final boss, you’re treated to the usual dark Silent Hill with nightmarish grids and catwalks in virtual darkness as monsters come from all sides.
The final boss is kind of fun. He’s a big red goon that reminded me of the devil in the South Park movie. The arena is big, and he hurls fireballs at you that fall down from above, so you have to watch for the shadows on the ground to know how to avoid them. Also avoid him or he’ll beat your ass. Just blast away at him with a gun and he’s done fast.
