In this day and age of next-gen thrillers, Silent Hill on the PSP no longer seems to cut it
Prejudice aside, Silent Hill is a game good enough to explore, but I wouldn't know if you'd feel compelled enough to finish it. The visuals seem dated, the character animations poor and repetitive. What works though is that the ingame environment is eerie; nicely done with the fog effects and somesuch. Camera angles at times though are a bit difficult to orient with, but these are few and far between.
Silent Hill comes with nice sound effects and chilling music to set the tone. The story, on the other hand, leaves a lot to be desired. Its hard to relate to a truck driver who just happened upon a burning house and who decided to save a stranger from a fiery death.
Despite the shortcomings, there are spots of brilliance here and there. For me, what can keep you going (as in my case) are the different puzzles you will encounter. These are intriguing enough to pique interest and can help prod you to continue playing the game.
Once you've finished the game, there seems nothing else to do. Its hard enough getting yourself to finish it, much more replay it at all.
At the end of the day however, this game suffers a lot from production quality and a lack of a good, compelling storyline. Usually the lack of story is forgivable in games, for as long as the other elements COMPEL you to start playing immediately (like gameplay and graphics -- i.e. DOOM 3). In this game, these elements aren't good enough, and as a result the player will look for something solid to hold on to. Its just not immersive or inspired enough.