Siren: Blood Curse

A SH game that is good with out Silent or Evil in the title

Posted 4 years ago By - Brian Edey

It has been a very long time but we finally have a survival horror game worthy of being called a survival horror game. In a pedigree group of games with names like Silent Hill and Resident Evil we have shiny star clawing its way to the top of the heap.

Episodic gaming is nothing new and in fact Siren Blood Curse is not the first console “Episodic” title, there are a few other titles that we have seen first in Episodic format on consoles, the latest being Alone in the Dark. But what makes Siren special in its own right is the fact it is entirely downloadable from the PSN (Playstation Network) and not available in stores. Something fairly new to most gamers in the console world and a welcome way to get quality games. You can purchase the title entirely or split it up across three packs of four episodes each and unlike many other episode games you get the entire thing now.

Siren Blood Curse takes place in the Japanese village of Hanuda, where an American TV crew arrive to research the Vanishing Village legend where thirty years ago or so a cult performed human sacrifice. Great start to any survival horror in my opinion and to top off the in the game you use several different characters through each episode just trying to survive, the game switches back and forth between them as you try to find other people and solve the mystery before you are killed, which will happen often. Luckily it has one of the most generous save systems I have seen and you are never more then 20 seconds from where you were it seems.


Being a full game, similar to a game you would buy in a normal store, I will talk about the delivery system and pricing since this is possibly a new concept to many gamers, especially console gamers. First off the game is split into 12 episodes, like a TV show. You can purchase the entire game, all 12 episodes for $39.99 or split up the cost by just purchasing episode pack containing episodes 1-4, 5-8 or 9-12 for $14.99. No matter how you buy the game, you must download each individual episode one by one and install them one by one. Basically this is much more work then it should be and while not difficult it was a real pain because I did not want to get into the game and wait for more episodes to download and install, patience is not a virtue I and many gamers have. In the end though after a few hours you have the game downloaded and installed and can start your adventure.

Gameplay
Like so many survival horror video games, this one suffers from poor camera and control design issues that in any other game genre would hamper the game overall, but just like the older and original survival horror games on the PS1 you adapt to the controls and camera. My biggest complaint about the controls are the SIXAXIS in general being too touchy making it almost too difficult to perform quickly when needed. Not a big deal once you have played for an hour and are used to the controls, but if you put the game down for a couple of days and come back, there is a minor but required learning curve again.

During Siren you control many characters through different scenes, almost like a television show and that fits with the games episodic release format. Some of the characters end their play experience on a climatic moment, you think they are dead, but it then switches to the next character in a very nice way that does not distract you from the actual game and you continue on, only to find out 20 minutes later the character who you thought was dead in a zombies belly was actually lucky enough to live and you continue on.

Overall gameplay mechanics are not any different in this game then any other Survival Horror game, with action button presses for opening doors, swinging weapons and the like, everything we have seen before and will see again and in the end it actually was nice to play a game that was simple to play, but still offered a challenge and had some genuine scares. There is one excellent gameplay addition that needs to be talked about though and that is the brilliant and fun Sight-Jack system where you literally split the screen and see through the eyes of your character and the eyes of what is out there hunting you. This adds so much to the actual game you must use it to survive to plan out how you will move around the evil which is everywhere. Along with yelling and some interesting weapons and hiding spots this is a fun title to play, especially during those moments when you just get away and you can see what is coming towards your hiding spot.

Many episodic games have failed due to the fact they never release their content quick enough, who wants to wait months or even weeks between episodes, I for one do not and hated the idea of it and like so many others got burnt on games that we bought and never saw the episodes continue. Yes I am looking at you Ritual and SiN. Siren: Blood Curse has gone the right way, releasing every episode all at once, all 12 of them for purchase on the PSN (Playstation Network). So as you narrowly escape a maniac with a gun, you do not have to wait months to see how you actually deal with the situation and have forgotten if the game was good in the first place.


Graphics
For a PS3 game the graphics of Siren: Blood Curse are almost disappointing because the visuals are so dark and yes, while they are supposed to be dark their overall quality does not come out and grab you, only the characters look well done in the light, but at times even they could be better and the use of low and bad lighting mixed with some extremely bad level design at times pull the graphical score down. Also what is sad is there were times that graphically it was hard to say if I was playing a PS3 or PS2 game, but because the game is designed the way it is, the overall game is not effected by its graphics like most games, you are required to use your imagination to see and fear what lurks in the dark, around the corner, in the basement when your only sense telling you something is near is what you hear.

Audio
Simply amazing audio in the game, from the music which ranges from the terrifying to adrenaline pumping in every way, sound effects which fit perfectly from the scrapping of feet to the sound of someone terrified while they are hiding in an oven, both the sound effects and music are simply great and sound even better then expected through a great sound system.

The voice over work is solid and extremely well done, with every actor hitting the right cue and emotional level, bringing their fear and terror to you, making you part of their experience and that is simply why we play video games. Some of the voice acting was so well done I almost can imagine a deranged video game producer locking them in a haunted insane asylum and scaring them all night just to get the right emotion cues.


Value
There is not much actual replay value with the game, other then trying the harder difficulty levels and seeing if you can unlock everything, but the price is low enough to make this game worth picking up, even spreading the sticker shock across a few weeks if you want to.

Bottom Line
Buy it. The game offers plenty to those survival horror fans and to those adventure fans you will have a game to play as well. It is no Silent Hill 1 or 2 but is well worth the ride.

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