E3 '07: Silent Hill Origins Hands-On Preview

Konami's E3 2007 showing had a definite Silent Hill theme running through it. First of all, the company announced that the fifth game in the series was set to make the jump to the Xbox 360 as well as the PlayStation 3. Then, at its rented hotel suite on Santa Monica beach, Konami showed off what looked like a very complete version of its PlayStation Portable game Silent Hill Origins. As the name suggests, the game is set to take the series back to the beginning, predating the first game and giving fans a glimpse at how Silent Hill started out as such a haunting venue for many of its guests. We booked some time at Konami's temporary E3 location to see whether the series' trademark horror and surrealism can be shrunk down for a portable console.

The demo starts rather abruptly, with the main character, Travis, dropped straight into a deserted school in the titular town of Silent Hill. After about five minutes of exploring and getting accustomed to the world, we had our first trip to the game's parallel world. Travis will frequently make trips between the normal world and this alternative one whenever he touches a mirror. It's unclear quite what the parallel universe is, and it could well just exist in Travis' mind, but they allow him to explore the same areas with different sets of puzzles and enemies. The normal world is characterized by a grainy, film-noir appearance, while the alternative world has a blood-red visual motif, so while you may well get lost exploring some of the corridors, you'll always know which world you're in.

These visual identities are tied into one of the most immediately impressive aspects of Silent Hill Origins, and that's just how graphically impressive the game is. The use use of lighting and shadow effects is ahead of anything else on the PSP right now, and the protagonist's torch shines a realistic-looking light around the dimly-lit corridors while shadows are cast from even the smallest objects. The game also runs at an extremely solid frame rate, with no noticeable slowdown, meaning that it's one of the most artistically and technically impressive games on the PSP.

The control system in Origins is very similar to that of the other Silent Hill games, so series veterans will find it all very intuitive from the start. The analog stick is used for movement, while holding down square allows you to run around slightly faster. X is your general action button, but hold down the right shoulder button and it can also be used for combat. It's also used to perform execution moves on the strangely deformed inhabitants of Silent Hill, because they'll slowly come back to life unless you finish them when they're down. A variety of weapons are available to the apprehensive main character, from the standard hammers to the the televisions that can be tossed at enemies from afar. There are also a few quicktime events in the game that occur when you're attacked. In one sequence a nurse managed to come at us with a syringe, and we had to rapidly tap the X button to fend off the attack.

The development team at Climax in the UK has apparently been under the watchful eye of the original Silent Hill developers in Japan while creating Origins. In terms of visual style, the Brits have undoubtedly retained the feel of the series in almost effortless fashion, but our demonstration didn't reveal any of the more surreal qualities of the series. Hopefully the all-important Silent Hill atmosphere will still make it to the PSP intact when the game is released later this year.