Welcome to a (mini) world of terror!
However, as happen in every long serie, quality can be bouncing; so after the first unforgettable Silent Hill for PSX, the lukewarm Silent Hill 2 and the exciting Silent Hill 3, we got a step back to the start of this myth.
Silent Hill Origins (or Zero if you like) will tell us the events happened first of the original Silent Hill. We'll see again some renowned characters, from Lisa the nurse to enygmatic Dr. Kaufmann, Dhalia Gillespie and, obviously, little Alessa.
Yes, because this game shall reveal once for all what went wrong during the first attempt to call "GOD" trough the little girl's body.
There's enough to make quiver every Silent Hill fan, but I warn you, the story is inviting and well told, but minimal!
This is due the greatest flaw of the game: his shorteness… but let's not so hasty.
The game calls you to wear the shoes of a mere trucker passing near Silent Hill just for case.
Unfortunately the poor man shall find himself involved in the usual paranormal mess we all know. But, did he really had no links to the little city? -quiet, no spoiler-
Starting from beginning, the game's intro is worthy of a movie. Moreover the early scenes was accompanied by a great sound compartement. This last, with a great original soundtrack, will be with us until the end of the game.
Atmosphere is also great, and yes, the entry in the city is still fearful.
Coming to the gameplay; Travis will be busy to roam from a location to another solving puzzle and fighting monsters, terrorizing in theyr look and crazy in theyr behaviours.
So far nothing new under the sun, except that this time the usual passages from normal to bloody dimension (trademark of the serie) not happen autonomously, but at player decision using a simple mirror. That is a precise game design choice, because the puzzle solving require interactions between the two worlds. Puzzles and general game progression are not to difficult, but pretty clever to result satisfacting.
Combat mechanics are, instead, pretty lame. Travys is rigid like a wood chop while enemies are pretty fast and well-trained. Here we got some little newness. In first, melee weapons breaks at worrying rates. Hammers, razors and similar can face one or two enemies until go in pieces. This will force travis to explore every inches of the city searching for every blunt instruments avaible. New is also the possibility to lauch heavy objects to enemies (hey monster, guess what is coming? right, a TV… in your face!!!) for great damage.
Speaking of artillery we'll have some nice pieces of fire, tough not so various (3 gun, 2 rifles, 1 machine gun).
However, if you choose to avoid useless combat, soon you'll find your inventory full of dangerous objects. Sparing ammos could be a good choice for the bosses, that are often huge, frightening and really hard if faced with a melee weapon, but pretty easy standing before them shooting all you have.
And now a little littly spoiler: in the game you'll finally found the real purpose of the Flauros!!!
At least… this game is a Silent Hill, no more no less.
Technic part is valuable, atmosphere is great, gameplay solid, soundtrack beautiful. If you like the saga you will (probably) love Origins, but if you are not lover… complete the sentence by yourselves.
The real flaw of this game: is SHORT!!!
You can fulfill your hellish trip in less of five hours. Yes, you can always replay the game to search the alternate endings and the special item, but… hey, a short game is a short game.
Good
It's a Silent Hill game; Great atmosphere; Story less criptic of other saga's games; Solid puzzle system; It's still fearsome; Original soundtrack is beautiful;
Bad
It's a Silent Hill game; Combat rigid and uneasy; Almost no newness to the serie; Too, too, too short;
Final votation: 7