Silent Hill Origins may already sound familiar because it came out a number of months back on the PSP. Sadly, the PS2 version looks like a direct port from the PSP and that doesn't say much for the graphics. While this game looked pretty good on the PSP, it doesn't really look like the graphics were scaled up for the move to the larger screen, which is a shame. Everything is dark and dismal, at least while you are indoors. Should you choose to proceed through the areas with your flashlight off, for safety, you'll find that in many areas, you can't see anything at all. This hampers you because Travis glances at things of interest (most of the time) and if you can't see Travis, then you may miss weapons and health items.

Again, in the dark, it's somewhat hard to tell one enemy from the next, but they are all very Silent Hill in design. The Nurses are back although they sport dangerous hypodermic needles this time, along with some new creatures like Carrion (an ode to Travis being a trucker), Straight-Jackets (Travis's mom did a stint in the Cedar Grove Sanitarium), Remnants (ghosts) and Two-Backs (ahem), among others. Twisted is the name of the game here.

Music, as always, is spooky and terrific. It tinkles in the background and always keeps you on edge. Sound effects include background noises from the various ghoulies that prowl the streets and buildings of Silent Hill, along with your constant radio static sounds, plus the occasional click of your weapon. Personally, I spent most of my time running away because of the sheer number of foes.

The staple gameplay of any Silent Hill title is 3rd person survival horror tempered with a bit of exploration and Silent Hill Origins is no different. You begin the game as Travis Grady, a loner-type truck driver who happens to pass by Silent Hill. Something jumps out in front of his truck, causing him to stop, where he sees a young girl dart into a burning house. Thus begins his saga. Of course, he rushes to save her, but when he awakens in the aftermath, he finds that anyone he meets claims the girl has died. This girl is none other than Alessa Gillespie.

Since Travis needs to know what happens, he travels to Alchemilla Hospital, where he'll meet familiar folks like Nurse Lisa Garland and crazy Dahlia Gillespie. From there, his thirst for knowledge takes him to Cedar Grove Sanitarium, the Artaud Theater and eventually, Riverside Motel. Sadly, there aren't a lot of places to explore in between. The streets are filled with such an abundance of baddies who relentlessly pursue you that you barely have time to breathe, much less peruse the surroundings and search for weapons and health. I found that to be a great downfall of this iteration. I loved the exploration aspect of the past games since I always enjoyed seeing what twisted goodies the developers left for me. I didn't have time to look around here and everything seemed locked down even when I tried.

A new twist in Silent Hill Origins is the use of mirrors to travel between worlds. In the past, you've always had the real world and the "alternate" versions of wherever you were. Here, Travis simply places his hand on a mirror and is transported to the danker and dingier version of wherever he is. Things he does in one world will affect things in the other world, however, so be aware of that. Aside from that, you'll basically be avoiding enemies and fighting them when you absolutely must, while opening doors and picking up objects to solve off-the-wall puzzles. Your ultimate goal is to unravel Travis' past, which he seems to have blocked. Mommy Grady was a bit nuts, so there's probably a reason Travis blocked it out. I didn't find his story as compelling as past iterations and unfortunately, I didn't feel driven to solve the mystery of his past as I have in past versions.

While you can initially select whether you want easy, normal or hard, even on normal difficulty, the enemies are rather relentless. Yes, they can be killed, but since your weapons degrade over time and ammo is very limited and must be saved for the boss levels, you have to be very strategic and pick your battles, as they say. I found it more effective to keep my flashlight off and avoid enemies while in the dark and run away from them while outside where I could be spotted. Unfortunately, once you have triggered an event and the enemies that follow, such as locating a key piece of data, those enemies will remain there alerted to your presence. So even if you leave, explore a completely different area and come back with your flashlight off, they will jump your ass the minute you walk through the door. Ouch.

I found traversing the city of Silent Hill to be annoying. In the past, it seemed that there were multiple paths to get to where you needed to be. However, in Silent Hill Origins, there seemed to be only one path to get you were you needed to be, with plenty of enemies blocking that way. It sucked a good deal of the fun out of it, as I felt led by the nose by the developers to where they wanted me to be.

Silent Hill Origins is a psychological survival horror so that means exploration, puzzle-solving and combat. At least, it's supposed to be. I found, more often than not, that I spent the time checking locked doors, avoiding enemies and slinking around in the dark. Because it was so dark, I missed things that were left on the floor such as ammo and health drinks. Sometimes, I'd have to circle an item a few times before I was able to pick it up. Annoying!

Some new mechanics include the grapple, which is Silent Hill jumping on the twitch-based bandwagon. At times, an enemy will attack you and you must rapidly press the correct button to free yourself or suffer a large health depletion, should you fail. As always, you'll enter your combat mode by pressing the right shoulder button, then (X) to attack. As they lay dying, you'll finish them off by pressing (X). Other than that, I found myself wandering the halls continually pressing the (X) button in case I came upon an item I could pick up.

Overall, I'd have to say that I was disappointed in Silent Hill Origins. It was way too dark and although you can choose your level of brightness when you begin a game, unless you know how very dark and miserable it's going to be going in, you don't know to max out your brightness and you can't adjust this option later on it the game. If you could, it would have helped somewhat. In short, the story just isn't as compelling as part iterations and I just didn't find it too much fun. For hardcore Silent Hill fans who absolutely need to know how it all began, rent it.