Origins refined gameplay balances with the simple story, to create a worthwhile game.
GRAPHICS:
The game looks fantastic, with great lightning effects and detail on the enviroments. There are also some cutscenes in the game which also look really good. 5/5
SOUND:
As you would expect, the music in the game is fantastic also. The atmosphere in game is haunting, and the pieces of music are reallly good too. Voice acting wise though, it's anothert story. While the main character is handled well, most others are too over the top, and do not fit with the game. 4/5
STORY:
This game is a prequel to the series, taking place 7 years before the original Silent Hill. You play as Travis Grady, a trucker drawn into Silent Hill, and finds himself into the plans of the Order to revive their good though a girl named Alessa. Now, anyone who has played the first game will find this extremely similar to the plot of the first game, and it is, but with different characters and shows a bit of what led the cult to do what they did in the first game. But as a story, and most important, a prequel, it falls kinda flat. There are no major revelations to the overall arc, minus some stuff about what happend before Harry's adventures, and as a standalone story, it is really simple and has a hard time on its own feet. Though, it can be a rather interesting story. Of course, like all the games in the series, it is full of symbolisms and I could monolougue for hours about it, and it is nice to have that, but still feels like just trying to cash in. Fans of the series will note some stuff, but nothing major is revealed. 2.5/5
GAMEPLAY:
The game is a survival horror. As Travis, you venture into Silent Hill, going though dungeons, getting items and fighting bosses. As you would expect, ammo and health stuff is scarse so you have to take care. But as a first for the franchise, this game lets you fight enemies with your own fists and expand's the concept of breakable weapons of SH4. While it is a nice addition and kind of makes fire weapons useless and fighting enemies much easier, it also takes some of what made the genre so special, of having to conserve every bullet and be on your toes all the time. The gameplay is still solid though, and those additions make killing enemies more fun. Boss battles are constant and are very fun and rather chalenging, and you still have the classic flashlight and radio on your inventory. One other addition is that you can enter the alternate reality of the game, the Otherworld, whenever you want, by touching mirrors. It is a nice effect in the game and is well implemented.
When it comes to controls, it is better controled than 4, as turning around is faster and more responsive, but the camera is much worse. It shifts too often the camera angles, and your controls do not acomodate to that, but it is bearable.
In terms of the scare factor, the game is less scary than any of its predecessors, but still is very eerie when playing it alone at night, and there are some scary scenes defnitely.
The main problmem of the game is that it is unbeliveavly short. It can be easily finished under 4 hours. There is even an unlockable for finishing the game in under 2 hours. Still, the length make the game fun to speed run. There are also only 3 endings, the same as SH3, but the game has the same (if not more) amout of extras in the game, which make it fun to just get everything. Also in a negative note is that the game rehashes a lot of common elements from the franchise, such as the "sexy" nurses, which are used basicaly for fan service, and the character of the Butcher, which feels like a dumped down version of Pyramid Head.
4.5/5
OVERALL:
Silent Hill Origins is a short, simple adventure, but one that any fan of the franchise can enjoy, due to its forgetable but intriguing story and gameplay refinements, which ultimate make it very fun to play.
The good:
-Fantastic graphics and sound
-Great gameplay refinements
-Solid controls
The bad:
-Very short
-Story does not give any big revelations
-Camera can be a pain
-Rehashes a lot of common elemets of the franchise