Common Sense Note
Parents need to know the game is violent, scary, and gory. Players can smash a creature over the head with blunt instruments, shoot them, light them on fire, or punch them. Blood comes out of the fallen baddies, and also appears on walls and items. These monsters will grab and hold onto you, spit out fluid, or slash at your character's face. The imagery is also very creepy and involves a young girl, which some might find disturbing. In one of the first scenes in the game, your character must carry a charred body of the young girl out of a burning house. Then he sees a bloody figure of her throughout the game. You will also see mutated people, such as faceless nurses.
Families can talk about how a game can evoke different emotions in a player. Have games reached the point where the suspension of disbelief is strong enough to evoke fear? Even in a portable game?
Common Sense Review
Reviewed By: Marc Saltzman
Fans of horror movies will likely want to explore the creepy SILENT HILL ORIGINS from Konami, which deliver chills and thrills while gaming on the go with a PSP. Silent Hill Origins serves as a prequel to the 8-year-old franchise, where the game's protagonist, a truck driver named Travis Grady, steps into the mysterious town of Silent Hill in pursuit of a little girl wandering around the freeway. Grady's nightmare begins after he awakens from a blackout and visits the local hospital, only to find he's been locked in and forced to ward off nightmarish creatures, struggle with disturbing hallucinations, and solve puzzles to find a way out. Played from a cinematic third-person perspective, the goal of the game is to unravel the mystery surrounding this town, figure out Grady's connection to it, and leave the city limits alive.
If you are familiar with earlier Silent Hill games, you will recognize most of the enemies and amazingly, they look just as good -- and as scary -- on the PSP as they did on TV-based consoles. This includes the twisted bodies and faceless beasts that look like they've been wrapped in bloody cellophane.
Extraordinary graphics and a fantastic music soundtrack add to the immersive, albeit scary and creepy experience. This is not a game for the faint-hearted.
Adult fans of this game might want to check out the film version of Silent Hill. For a less scary but still creepy video game for the PSP, check out Castlevania: The Dracula X Chronicles.
Rate It!
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Sexual ContentSome light kissing in a flashback, some seductively dressed characters. |
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ViolenceThis game is best explained as an interactive horror flick, so there's plenty of violence (shooting monsters or whacking them with objects) and blood (which appears after killing an enemy or on some of the hospital equipment and walls). One of the first scenes in the game has your character carrying a charred body of the young girl out of a burning house. Then he sees a bloody figure of her throughout the game. The other creatures though are either monster-like or are appear as mutated people, such as faceless nurses. |
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LanguagePlayers will hear words some might consider cursing, such as "s--t," "hell" and "damn." |
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