ou know you’re going to be in Silent Hill when a game opens up with a warning screen that says, “Some parts of this game may be considered cruel and violent.” Uh-huh. It’s Silent Hill! I think that’s a little obvious! We recently had the opportunity to get a hands-on look at Silent Hill Origins for the PSP. From what we’ve witnessed so far, even though the horrific style of game is shrunken down to the PSP, it’s going to still creep you out.

While Konami isn’t at the helm of development, they’ve entrusted Climax with the task of creating Origins. However, rest assured that from what we’ve been told, Konami is still keeping a close eye on making sure that Climax stays true to the series. And of course series musical mastermind and Producer of Silent Hill 3 and Silent Hill 4: The Room Akira Yamaoka will be providing an all-new eerie soundtrack. Silent Hill Origins is staged to give players an insight into the events that took place prior to the original Silent Hill – but don’t expect to get all the answers you’re searching for. While Origins will contain some elements seen in previous Silent Hill titles, the majority of the game is completely new for this PSP version.

Gamers take the role of Travis O’Grady, a trucker who finds himself stranded in Silent Hill after he rescues a young girl – Alessa – from a fire. Travis doesn’t quite know what happened to the girl he saved. In the demo we played, he locates the hospital in Silent Hill where he assumes is where the girl is, and this is where the game begins. Upon entering the hospital, he meets a strange doctor who he asks about Alessa. The doctor blows him off and tells Travis he has more important things to attend to, then disappears down an elevator. Instead of doing the sane thing and getting the hell out of there, Travis follows down the elevator where the demented adventure continues.

As Travis explored the hospital to find any clues as to what was going on, we encountered the trademark twitching nurse flipping out. Here is where you’re introduced to combat. By holding R you initiate combat mode with whatever weapon you have (default weapons are fists), and by holding R and pressing X you attack. You can charge your attacks by holding down X for a longer time, and by pressing square you can block. After pounding the nurse down to the ground, we walked up to the twitching body and pressed X to perform a finishing move – which was basically a head stomp.

Combat was quite easy, and not only can you attack while moving, Travis has the ability to lock on to targets and cycle among them. There will also be context sensitive moments where you’ll be attacked by an enemy and jam on the button to break free. Weapons are standard fare for Silent Hill, and you’ll have access to both melee tools and firearms. Weapons will have a limited number of uses before they break. For example, with a katana, baton, and hammer you have a specific amount of swings per weapon. Obviously, with firearms you’ll be limited by ammunition.

Considering that the PSP is limited to only one analog stick, a new camera setup has been designed specifically for Origins. From our brief gameplay it worked quite well, and if it ever seemed out of place you could tap L to have it centered behind Travis.