Silent Hill: Origins (Zero)

December 28, 2007 | 9 Comments

Silent Hill: Origins trailer (Gametrailers, various format including downloads)
Mary Elizabeth McGlynn - Hole in the Sky (Soundtrack, YouTube video)
Mary Elizabeth McGlynn - Shot Down In Flames (Soundtrack, YouTube video)

I just finished this game, which turns out to be much better than Silent Hill 4: The Room. Despite the game format, I'm surprised at how effectively creepy the game can be when played in a dark room and with the headphone on. One thing that I love about this series is its ability to make me apprehensive at exploring the areas. There's always that sense of dread that makes me tense, as well as glad, that I'm not really there inside that disturbing world. I think most of that was missing in Silent Hill 4 so to see it back in this prequel is a definite welcome. Graphic-wise, this is one of those showcase pieces for the PSP. Although the polygons are not as smooth as I'd like it to be, the texture work displayed here is amazing. It's hard to believe that the programmers manage to squeeze so much details into a handheld game. I'd talk about the plot next but if you haven't played the game and plan to do so then I'd recommend that you don't read further. Be aware that the following paragraphs contain spoilers.

Silent Hill: Origins (or Silent Hill: Zero in Japan) is basically a prequel to the story that transpires in Silent Hill 1. It shows situations that lead Harry and his wife finding baby Cheryl on the road. Despite this, the game doesn't actually focus on Alessa, Dahlia and Dr.Kauffman. They are shown in this game but only as background characters. I assume this is because we can find out their story by playing Silent Hill 1. Instead, the focus of the story is on Travis Grady, a trucker who saved Alessa when she was about to be burned in a ritual. Travis' visit to Silent Hill basically opens up a lot of childhood memories that he'd rather bury. As it turns out, Travis parents passed away when he was a kid and the circumstances in which they died seem to be the reasons as to why Travis is reluctant to be in any kind of relationship. As far as characters go, Travis is definitely one of those unfortunate ones with traumatic past. I'm actually surprised that he turns out to be a relatively kind and stable human being despite his childhood trauma. As a result, I end up feeling protective of the character and want to see Travis getting out of the town unscathed. Although I generally don't get attached to video game characters, Silent Hill manage to do this most of the time.

I think the reason is because the series always does a good job of telling background story for the characters. The storyline in Silent Hill is usually the strong point of the game. As a result, it's easy to either relate to the character or at least sympathize with their plight. This is true not only for Travis but also for Harry, Heather, and Henry. The only exception to this is James from Silent Hill 2. Maybe the game purposely creates a sense of disconnection between the players and James, or maybe I felt that there's something off with James. Either way, when I was playing Silent Hill 2, I didn't really care about his character. That's probably why I wasn't as terrified whilst playing the game. When James' backstory was revealed, I understood the tragedy but at the same time, it's hard to sympathize with him. It's also weird because the revelation validated the weird, disconnected feeling that I had with the character. At any rate, Silent Hill always does a good job of bringing up social interaction issues into each game. This includes relationships between parents and children (the main theme of some of the games), husband and wife, and neighbors. This prequel focuses on the parents and children relationship, which is fitting considering Travis and Alessa's backstory.

The monsters/freaks in the game are pretty good and they are either by-product of Travis' tortured mind or the creatures that Alessa fear the most. The nurses, straight-jackets, and Ariels seem to be the kind of things that Alessa fear. They represent the nurses in the hospital, the crazy mental patients in the sanitarium, and the creepy wooden doll in the theater. On the other hand, the Carrions and Twobacks seem to be coming from Travis' mind. The Carrions apparently represent the dead animals that Travis accidentally kill while driving his truck while Twobacks seem to be a sexual allegory to what truckers do when the only company that they have are other truckers. The bosses are also split equally from Travis' traumatic past and Alessa's nightmare. I do wonder where the Butcher comes from though. It's not really clear if Travis or Alessa was the one who produce this monstrosity. Having said that, the bosses are actually easy to defeat. I actually had more difficulty evading the general monsters on the street since there are quite a lot of them out there. I'm just glad that Climax UK improved the monster design after they took it over. When the game was in the hand of Climax US, the monsters looked like something that come out of Resident Evil game instead of a Silent Hill game.

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