Game #3: Siren

Kirrah hasn't reviewed this one either.

Silent Hill is famous for it's twisted monsters. Resident Evil is famous for it's flesh eating zombies. And what is Siren famous for? A combination of both twisted monsters and zombies into one.

 

You start the game as Kyoya Suda, a young teen residing in the mountain village of Hanuda. It's dark and creepy outside, and his bike just broke down. What's he to do? Well, he's just about to leave for help when he spots a group of people within the mountains. Hey look! There's his help! Of course, Kyoya is a little shy, so he decided to spy on them from the bushes.

 

And thats where he goes wrong.

 

It turns out that the group of people are performing a sacred ritual--and Kyoya just interrupted it. "Who's there?" the priest calls, and our dear friend runs away. Wow. What a man.

 

Anyways, Kyoya starts running along the nighttime path when he bumps into a strange officer. His words are slurred, his face is green, and he can't seem to stay still. Is he drunk? Well, if he is, he's an angry drunk. He pulls a gun out on Kyoya and starts laughing. Freaked out, Kyoya runs away and steals a white truck. Using this white truck he speeds away into the night, not looking back once--oh wait. That would be the smart thing to do. So obviously he didn't do that. Instead, he runs the officer over. And get this, Kyoya comes out of the truck--and tried to help the officer out! He starts to go call an ambulance when the ground starts shaking. As if things couldn't be weirder, an ear piercing warning siren sings into the air. Kyoya tries to cover his ears. Little did he know that he turned his back on our "drunk" policeman. The officer (fully recovered) stands up and shoots Kyoya in the arm. As Kyoya falls over a ledge, the officer proceeds to laugh stupidly.

 

Um...alright.

 

Kyoya wakes up in a soft flowing river full of nice clean--red water?! "Blood?" Kyoya asks before standing up and doing what he does best--running and screaming. Fortunately, Kyoya runs into a woman named Hisako Yao who offers to give him all the answers if he comes with her. It turns out that the whole mountain village has turned into this things called "Shibito". And what do the Shibito want? To kill you!!

 

Siren starts out really scary, but then looses its scare factor as the game goes on. The Shibito are no longer something to fear. They become something to laugh at. And sometimes, you aren't laughing at how stupid the Shibito act. Sometimes you're laughing at the fact that Siren is trying to be scary.

 

Siren has one pretty neat feature, though--"Sightjack". Using your Sightjack ability, you can look through the eyes of friend and foe alike. Using this, you can map out what Shibito walks where and when. You can also use it to locate a lost commrade. However, Sightjack is completely useless on two ocassions: when you've knocked out a Shibito or if you're traveling with Miyako.

 

Oh yeah, did I mention that you don't play as one character? You play as 10 different ones. These characters span from a wimpy grade schooler to an emotional old man. And Miyako, one of the 10, is blind. So when traveling with her (no matter who you are), you can't Sightjack her. Well, you could, but you'll get nothing but black. And that gets annoying. Like, really annoying.

 

To some, being 10 different people can be cool. Sadly, it doesn't work out in Siren. If you play as one person, you'll switch to another, and from there another, and so on. The storyline gets hazy, and sometimes you don't even know what's going on. The only cardinal rule seems to be "fight Shibito, get to the exit". Nothimg more, nothing less, and that takes away from what little epic-ness the game has.

Oh, and here's another curveball! You don't play the stage once, but twice! TWICE! And if you complete the 2nd half of the stage, you'll be thrown onto another already played stage. And then you go this way and that. You'll get really frustrated. Siren's gameplay is all over the place, thus giving players a major headache.

 

I can't say I hated Siren, but I can't say I loved it either. The blood is scarce, the gore is scarce, the weapons are scarce, and the fun is scarce. You'll spend more time pulling your hair out than actually enjoying the game. Of course, when you actually DO get your head wrapped around the concepts, it can actually be fun. It's a game to play if you like piecing very small puzzle pieces together. Maybe it's the fact that I'm impatient, but this game could take WEEKS to understand alone. Not a game for anyone who likes smooth gameplay. It deserves a spot in a game collector's shelf, but now it makes sense why I bought my copy "hardly used."

 

KODA'S RATING:

 

GRAPHICS: 710

 

ORIGINALITY: 610

 

GAMEPLAY: 210

 

OVERALL RATING: 510

Author's Note