At this years Leipzig Games Convention, Silent Hill: Origins was shown in both trailer, and playable form for the second year running. However, this year the game has changed vastly from a Resident Evil 4 style to the real Silent Hill style we all know and love.
We got a chance at this years Leipzig Game Convention to play that newly designed (as of April 07, see the development page for more information) build. The build we played was at 70% completion, which is probably not the percentage of the games completion to date.
The 70% complete mark was obvious and it’s not likely that this demo will see a public release. It contained numerous bugs, which didn’t hinder the game play really but were just small glitches that will obviously be changed. For example; I killed a nurse with the Sledgehammer and she fell into a table. Her head went right through the table and then her body jumped to the ceiling as she collided with the model of the wall. It made me laugh and wasn’t much of a big deal, but it was worth noting small occurrences like that which happened now and then during the ~20 minute demo. As well as this, the demo froze on one of the loading screens. While I was impressed that the loading screen was the Flauros I didn’t want to watch it spinning infinitely. The only other real glitch I experienced was a sound repeating one. I walked through a door and when I got to the other side the noise of the door opening repeated about 3 times before stopping. This is why the demo is not publicly available. However, don’t go thinking Silent Hill: Origins is all buggy and unplayable because Kitmitsu played over it and he didn’t see one glitch at all. I also replayed it (not to the end, though) for about 10 minutes until I got the plastic heart and there was no sign of any glitch.
After seeing what Silent Hill: Origins looked like in 2006, I was a bit sceptical. I then saw in April 07 the overhaul that it had undergone and I needed to play it. I was so excited when I finally ran to the Konami booth as soon as I got onto the show floor, and when I finally got to play it, it was everything I had thought it would be. As a Silent Hill fan, a horror fan and a gamer I have to say it was a stunning demo. Every aspect that makes a Silent Hill game a Silent Hill game was there, from the static and music to transition to the alternate world and the nurses that lurked the corridors. The sounds and music were very creepy and well used, even down to the overly loud, dramatic and worrying music when you saw the most basic of monsters made more than their appearance scary.
When I heard about the breakable weapons and on-screen weapon selection, I instantly thought “Oh god, Silent Hill 4 all over again”, but this was simply not the case. You had the choice of either pressing select and scrolling through your weapons and choosing the one you wanted or just simply pressing one of the D-Pad buttons (left or right) and selecting the weapon that way. I found this useful when the little green “+” turned red, meaning my weapon was about to shatter. The destructible weapons were a good thing. It certainly made things tenser. My sledgehammer didn’t break for a little while, but while I was fighting the monster at the end of the demo it smashed and I quickly paused as soon as I could to decide what I was going to do next. I chose the typewriter. Very effective.
I have played many games on my PSP, including Killzone: Liberation. Liberation was a pretty good game, but the only thing that let it down was the controls. I found my thumb slipping off the analogue stick now and then and I had to reposition it. Yes, I do wash and no my analogue stick wasn’t all dirty or greasy, you just had to push so hard that you ended up sliding after 10 minutes of gameplay. Silent Hill: Origins was no the case. The use of the analogue stick was perfect, 100%, no complaints there. There was no need for a second one either since you can centre the camera with the “L” button. I found myself doing this now and then because the camera would sometimes fix meaning I couldn’t see infront of me, but it was hardly much effort just to tap the L button to get the angle right. Also, there were a few sequences were the “free” camera would just not work on such a small screen, like going downstairs, that has never done the camera angle any favours on any Silent Hill, so Climax have fixed the camera for fights of stairs and other places such as lifts and certain rooms of interest.
I had only one problem with the controls which only troubled me for about 2 nurse kills and that was the “finisher” move you can do on them when they’re on the ground. Silent Hill: Origins makes kicking the enemy to death far more exciting. Depending on the weapon you are holding (or not as the case may be) Travis will finish off the monster in question accordingly. You can stomp on their heads when you’re unarmed, or you can stab them with the scalpel if you have it equipped and stuff like that. It worked very well but my problem was actually doing the move itself. The first few tries I couldn’t get it right and the Nurse kept getting up again. I eventually realised that you had to be standing right over them for it to work, not at their legs or too far away from them in general. It was about a 2 try learning curve and anyone could figure it out.
Lots of people have been saying that “Portable games can’t be scary”. They are right to a certain degree. Playing the demo in the loud, bright, busy, hot, sweaty Konami booth taught me that you can’t play it on the bus or while you’re walking down the street because it just doesn’t work. However, in a quiet environment with headphones and preferably in the dark, it is perhaps scarier than the other Silent Hills, or at least on par. The music, sound effects, groans from the monsters and even the excellently detailed graphics make it all the kind of horror you would expect from a Silent Hill. There isn’t much more to say other than you just can’t walk down the street and play Silent Hill in any shape or form. You need your full attention, nice loud sound and the darkness to really scare you. So you ask, why on PSP? I found it more “personal” to have headphones in and play it in the dark. 100% of your attention is focused on the game and 100% of your hearing is as well which is very important. As long as they get the atmosphere right, which they have, you’ll be frightened, trust me.
Overall I found the demo to be a success. The graphics, both pre-rendered CG and real time game play, were both perhaps the best I’ve seen on the PSP. The gameplay itself was solid; it took new ideas and used them well as well as keeping to the original gameplay style. Monsters, atmosphere, characters even voice actors were all perfect in my opinion and matched the situation and the style of Silent Hill perfectly. The reason I wont give it a 10/10 is because of the few bugs present including the fact that the first PSP I walked up to in the Silent Hill: Origins corner was stuck in a load screen, but these will obviously be changed and after playing the demo twice as well as getting it cross checked by someone else these problems only appeared once each. Keep in mind this was a DEMO and not a final release.
Scores:
Graphics – Both CG and real-time were extremely impressive and show off the power of the PSP, however edges were jagged at times and the “TV static” transition between worlds is clearly a hardware restraint.
Sound – Akira Yamaoka never ceases to amaze me with his musical talent. The music played in the demo is very “Silent Hill”, in terms of the fear it brings and the drum and bass mixed in with a scene of just two people talking that somehow works so well.
Gameplay – Silent Hill: Origins adds a new fresh feel while keeping the old style alive which works very well on the PSP, camera angles and combat included.
Long Term appeal – Not much to say here since we only played a demo, but Oretel has said that there will be unlockables “some helpful, some funny like other Silent Hill’s” so we’re looking forward to seeing what! You can also expect multiple endings.
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