Silent Hill: Origins

 PlayStation 2
  • Publisher: Konami
  • Release Date: Mar 4, 2008
User Score
7.4

Mixed or average reviews- based on 124 Ratings

User score distribution:
  1. Positive: 75 out of 124
  2. Mixed: 34 out of 124
  3. Negative: 15 out of 124
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  1. crazydangerous
    May 21, 2012
    4
    This game has the same problem as sh4 for me it's tedious rather than fun and the story although okay does nothing to hook me. The enemies respawn on the streets rapidly in a attempt to waste your ammo, objects are hard too see especially weapons and energy drinks which is frustrating (I swear in the older games items glinted or sparkled oh so slightly). The weapon system was the onlyThis game has the same problem as sh4 for me it's tedious rather than fun and the story although okay does nothing to hook me. The enemies respawn on the streets rapidly in a attempt to waste your ammo, objects are hard too see especially weapons and energy drinks which is frustrating (I swear in the older games items glinted or sparkled oh so slightly). The weapon system was the only thing that brought me some entertainment as I beat enemy's to death with toasters and typewriters like I was in some sort of comedy sketch. Buy this for like $10 or just watch the game cut-scenes on youtube if you need to know what happens in this game.… Expand
  2. Rem
    Jan 22, 2017
    4
    Silent Hill: Origins is a testament to how fantastic Team Silent was in crafting the first few games in this series, because this entry has almost nothing of the same level of quality. Being a port of the PSP, Origins on the PS2 fails on key aspects on both being a Silent Hill game and as a survival horror game in its own right.

    To begin, Silent Hill: Origins falls short in visual    Silent Hill: Origins is a testament to how fantastic Team Silent was in crafting the first few games in this series, because this entry has almost nothing of the same level of quality. Being a port of the PSP, Origins on the PS2 fails on key aspects on both being a Silent Hill game and as a survival horror game in its own right.

    To begin, Silent Hill: Origins falls short in visual design. Being a port of the PSP hurt enough, but Origins also lacks creativity in creating an appealing art style. The Team Silent games, despite the limitations of the PS2, found ways to make the game great-looking on the artistic scale. The Silent Hill portrayed here lacks grit and visual cues to draw in players. The various levels and their Otherworld counterparts lack terror or nuance for them to be any excitement to trod through. Textures are visibly low res, and the character models are undoubtedly below average looking. To top it off, there's an unbearably distracting film grain that covers the screen throughout and the inability to disable it is a big fat minus. It's far from the worst game from a visual standpoint, but it's barely average.

    This same mediocrity carries over into the gameplay, where enemies are either stupidly blind or easy to dispose of. The fact that you can walk by most enemies in the game in addition to their lackluster encounters doesn't help. Because of this, much of the survival element is lost. But how do the puzzles fare? They are slightly better than the combat, but that wouldn't be saying much. They're decent, but shockingly easy to figure out, it's only the cleverness of the puzzles that carry it along at a ho-hum rate. The best aspect of the gameplay is the exploration, which is largely the same with the exception of uninteresting level design, which brings down the whole aspect to an average feeling. This is further marred by the level design, which lacks any genuine surprises, even in the Otherworld, which only serves to pad the game because there is almost no difference in design and quality of the levels. Combine all this together and you get a painfully boring ride through the once terrifying Silent Hill.

    The story this time centers around Travis, a trucker who serves as the catalyst for the series events given that this is an origin story and how that came about is the driving force of the story. Because of this, most of the characters from the first Silent Hill make a return, but for the worse. Their encounters are brief, but so out of character that it betrays their essence and makes me wonder if they were the same characters at all. So the falling point of this plot is Travis's backstory, which makes a valiant effort in getting the player invested, to which I did for the most part, but nowhere close to same level I had for the first few games. It's not bad by any means, just hardly as compelling considering it copies Silent Hill 2's backstory. The events that lead to the first game is quite frankly stupid and has little emotional connection to the character/player experiencing it and feels disjointed. Much of the subtle nuances are absent in favor of completely conventional storytelling and a lack of surprises or things that we already didn't know. There is a clear plot, but also a severe lack of heart or even logic. Near the end, you'll be unsatisfied and wishing it would finish sooner.

    Silent Hill: Origins, above all else, isn't scary and isn't even remotely close. This is because of the lack of emotional connection to the events at hand as well as the lackluster enemy design which range from meh to just downright stupid. Absolutely nothing will scare you in this game, if you can see anything because this game is too dark to even know where to go. The audio design from Akira Yamaoka isn't as good, because of a lack of ambient sound design to make you at unease. The musical score, however, is quite good and reflects some of the great work that he's produced in the past.

    Silent Hill: Origins won't win fans or newcomers over at all. It's flaws are too obvious too ignore, but it's the severe lack of what made the previous games special is its greatest downfall. It all too much feels like Origins is filling a checkbox on the mechanical aspect of what comprises the Silent Hill name without adding the more thematic nuances or smart use of them in conjunction with the game design. It lacks heart and creativity and you'll be wishing it's over before it actually is.    … Expand
  3. Chaosritter
    Mar 5, 2009
    2
    Silent Hill Origins is nothing but a poorly made wanna-be action-adventure who only lives of the big name. The combat system fails hard since the weapons break after 2 -3 monsters and you can't block nor parry, there are also way too many monster who are too fast and too strong that you could defeat them in CC without getting hit from every side, the balky camera and laggy controlsSilent Hill Origins is nothing but a poorly made wanna-be action-adventure who only lives of the big name. The combat system fails hard since the weapons break after 2 -3 monsters and you can't block nor parry, there are also way too many monster who are too fast and too strong that you could defeat them in CC without getting hit from every side, the balky camera and laggy controls make it almost impossible to attack first.It seems like the NPC's are only there because you also met them in the predecessor and Travis isn't able to show any kind of emotion. The story is quite interesting but pointless in the end and almost unrelated to the mainplot. It's also the shortest game in the series (~8 hours). Since it's a prequel i don't care about the lack of new content, but they also fucked up the good things: there are just a few humanoid monster left, the rest looks like badly mutated animals and stuff you put in a microwave for too long. The NPC's have nothing to say at all, everytime you meet them you'll hear nothing but "GTFO! NOW!", the promoted prehistory is nothing but a selling point. The possibility to switch between the normal and alternative world is quite interesting, but pointless since nothing you do affects the other side, you have to play the straight-line way all time long. They also overused the rust-effect in the alternative world and forgot almost everything else, soon you don't mind if you're in the normal or alternative world.

    This game's nothing but a steamy pile of fail who was only made to boost the PSP sales and badly ported after the goal was reached. Save your money, pirate it if you're a masochistic hardcore fan or watch the story sequences on YouTube and save time. It wasn't even made by Team Silent, so it isn't a real SH at all.

    Thanks for reading and excuse my syntax, english isn't my native language.    … Expand
  4. AzathothWakesUp
    Sep 8, 2020
    1
    NOT A TRUE SILENT HILL GAME, WITH NOTHING TO DO THE WITH OTHER TIE-INS TO SH1, IE SH3
    CONS
    to dark to see anything even with brightness cranked up to maximum get tired from running, with enemies faster than you, you will stop to catch your breath occasionally no difficulty settings all melee weapons break after a few swings, changing the entire combat system enemies now respawn when    NOT A TRUE SILENT HILL GAME, WITH NOTHING TO DO THE WITH OTHER TIE-INS TO SH1, IE SH3
    CONS
    to dark to see anything even with brightness cranked up to maximum
    get tired from running, with enemies faster than you, you will stop to catch your breath occasionally
    no difficulty settings
    all melee weapons break after a few swings, changing the entire combat system
    enemies now respawn when leaving and entering a room
    runs poorly on emulators!!!!
    mist world and nightmare world look too similar, hard to tell apart
    interactable objects are no longer brightly colored
    familiar enemy attack power significantly increased from past games
    story contradictions between Origins/SH1 and SH3/SH1
    lack of a comprehensive written strategy guide
    brand new camera system hides enemies who are right in front of you
    brand new controls, again, with about a 2 second delay before run kicks in (with controller latency under 10 ms)
    every save point is dangerouly close to an enemy filled doorway

    PROS
    the mirror trick    … Expand

Awards & Rankings

20
#20 Best PS2 Game of 2008
5
#5 Most Discussed PS2 Game of 2008
9
#9 Most Shared PS2 Game of 2008

Critic Reviews

All reviews »
Metascore
69

Mixed or average reviews - based on 21 Critic Reviews

Critic score distribution:
  1. Positive: 6 out of 21
  2. Mixed: 15 out of 21
  3. Negative: 0 out of 21
  1. GameZone
    78
    Silent Hill Origins might be the weakest installment in the series, but it’s a testament to the quality of the franchise when the weakest entry is still this good.
    Read full review
  2. Play Magazine
    70
    For 30 bucks, the capable haunts here are worth this house of horrors. [May 2008, p.60]
  3. Official Playstation 2 Magazine UK
    70
    There are moments that'll have you on the edge of your seat, but unwieldy combat and easy enemies takes away the fear. [May 2008, p.70]
See all critic reviews »