A very freaky game that had me scared to pick up my PSP, but not that much of a psychological thriller as first 2 games
This game, otherwise known as Silent Hill Zero, acts as a prequel to the series's first game and tells the story of Travis Grady, a trucker going down a long lonely road. He see's what looks like a little girl run out in front of his truck and it forces him to have to skid his rig to a stop. He gets out, wondering if the little girl is ok and see's her run off into the darkness of the night. He runs after her and soon enough, he see's the sign "Welcome to Silent Hill".
This is my first initiation into the series as I have never played any of the playstation games since I never owned a playstation until relatively recently.....and I was already pretty scared of what I was going to have to deal with past that sign knowing the reputation the series seemed to have. Based off of what small bits I've seen of the first game in the series, I probably would have been better off playing that game first before this one so I have some context to go with, but in another way it was good that I never played the first game because then I can go into it with as much of a clue as Travis Grady as to what is going on, none.
Music:
Not anything your going to put into your MP3 player, but it fits the mood and intention of the game. To make you scared to go down that dark corridor. The Music is purely for environmental reasons as it should be for a Survival Horror game.
Controls:
Intuitive, to an extent. You see a monster, you look at it, bring up your gun with the R button, shoot with X. Melee is maybe the only thing I'd complain about. You use 2 different kinds of weapons, hand based weapons and things that you can throw at a monster. Hand based weapons you use by bringing it up as if you were getting ready to aim the gun, then you tap the X button to hit the monster or hold it to charge up an attack and deal more damage. You switch between these items by going into the item select menu to pick one and reload your gun weapons as well as check how much ammo you have while your there. The controls never get in the way of what you have to do.
Story:
It's a bit lackadaisical. You get the idea of what is going on with Travis Grady and how the town is bringing horrible moments from his past to life. Reading notes left behind by building staff members, police, the odd person or two as well as Travis' mother and father is how most of the holes in the story are filled. The over arching story behind Elessa, the parts your collecting after each boss fight, and the cult are only really partially filled out near the end of the game with it becoming very obvious near the end that the game is done and it's rushing you to the end just to end the story. The story is never really fully explained though as you play and if you want to know the complete gravity of what you just played through, you have to go online and read a plot description.
Gameplay:
The game mostly takes place within a few of the many major buildings of Silent Hill, a Hospital, an Insane Asylum, Theater and Motel with you running around in the town just to find your way to the next building. You'll spend most of your time wandering through the light and dark world versions of the buildings, which are accessible via mirrors that Travis touches in different rooms, searching for clues, solving puzzles that at times can be a bit mind bending or require you to take out some paper to write your ideas down. The very last puzzle of the game is the only one I'd say is horribly done as it would require you to be constantly aware of 3 different numbers in your surroundings which if your like most anyone and your playing this game on and off, your not going to get it easily or at all and will have to look it up in a guide. None of the notes you pick up in the game even suggest what you should do and you're really just left by yourself to wander around wondering where you should go even after you've been everywhere already. One thing that will never happen is that you'll get lost in the buildings since, once you find it on it's easily spot-able places on walls, Travis will mark closed doors, obstacles, locations of puzzles, and mirrors on it. Travis even helps a bit with item finding as he will turn his head toward items in the world that you can pick up or things that you can interact with. Enemies litter each area, with more appearing in the dark world and when you defeat them with your weapons, you must finish them off by stepping on them otherwise they'll get back up and continue to menace you. Each "level" has a boss that while freaky to look at can generally be taken down with no major problems as long as you keep your wits about you and use the button to place the camera behind Travis to see what you want to shoot. The only time I died in this game was with the Butcher where I was stupid and he caught me, held me up to do a quick time sequence and pressed the wrong button on the first prompt. If you liked playing, the game has awards and other endings you can view once certain conditions are met.
Score: 8.5
A very freaky game that had me scared to pick up my PSP, but not as much of a psychological thriller as I've seen from videos of the first 2 games. If you've played the first 2 games before and your used to something more nightmare inducing and pants wetting, take off 2 points from score.