While far from perfect, SIREN for the PS2 was a pretty frightening entry to the survival horror genre, offering up some authentically harrowing moments and chilling sense of ambience. Now, Sony is revisiting the SIREN universe with a new PS3 entry, SIREN: Blood Curse. This time around, Sony is taking a somewhat different approach, releasing the game via downloadable episode packs on PlayStation Network.
The game does a good job of taking advantage of the episodic system, dividing the experience between seven different characters experiencing the events of the first game. While the narrative works well, there are a few issues with the gameplay including some overly linear moments, a lot of handholding from the game’s mission structure, and some generally weak dialogue. Still, the game does provide some exceptionally frightening moments, and is worth a look from survival horror fans looking for something scary for their PS3.
SIREN: Blood Curse takes place during the events in the original game, only this time you’ll play as seven different characters at certain points as you investigate and try to survive in Habuta, the vanished Japanese village where sacrifices where once held. You’ll be attacked by the Shibito, who are essentially powerful zombies who stalk your character and can kill you quite easily should you be without a powerful weapon like a metal pipe or a gun.
One important element of the gameplay is sightjacking. Sightjacking allows you to see what other characters see through a split-screen mode, allowing you to get a better view of certain areas or determine what their path is. The addition of split-screen to the sightjacking system is a nice touch, letting you still play the game normally while seeing through someone else’s eyes.
Unfortunately, the game is not without some flaws. The campaign is extremely linear, requiring you to follow the game’s specific instructions to the note, to the point of forcing you to go back and repeat sections in order to elicit the given outcome. The game doesn’t exactly foster exploration, meaning that there are very few ways to approach each the game’s situations. This linear structure will turn off some gamers, who prefer to drum out their own solutions to problems.
Another thing that is a bit lackluster in the game is the overall story. While the game does a fine job of setting up ambiance and creating a terrifying atmosphere, the actual story and dialogue is pretty cheesy and doesn’t really do much to pull you into the game.
In order to fully appreciate SIREN: Blood Curse, you’ll definitely have to download the full package, which gives you all twelve episodes for $39.99. The game is also available in a la carte form, letting you download four-packs of episodes for $14.99 each. The episodes vary in length, clocking in at between 30 minutes to an hour each, and the whole experience should take between 10-12 hours to complete.
However, the main caveat with downloading the whole game is the space it consumes on your hard drive. Each episode weighs in between 600MB and a gig, and the whole thing will eat up about 9 gigs of space. This can be a problem for gamers with smaller PS3 hard drives, especially with the increasing number of disc-based games that require hard drive installs like Devil May Cry 4 or Metal Gear Solid 4.
Graphically, SIREN: Blood Curse looks pretty good in some ways, but leaves something to be desired in others. The playable character models each look pretty good and are well animated, and the special film grain effects give the game a creepy quality. The lighting on the other hand is a bit too dark, and while it was surely an artistic decision, it can be pretty frustrating when trying to navigate your way through the game. Also, the Shibito look a bit too simplistic, almost as though the character models were recycled from the PS2 game. The sound effects are also a bit of a mixed bag. While the sound and music are generally very atmospheric, the voice work leaves a bit to be desired, as do the aforementioned dialogue and script.
While not without some problems, SIREN: Blood Curse still succeeds in being a fun and compelling survival horror game with an excellent sense of atmosphere and some truly terrifying moments.
| Review Scoring Details for SIREN: Blood Curse |
Gameplay: 7.5
Although the gameplay is extremely linear and doesn’t leave any room for exploration, there are still some very chilling moments throughout.
Graphics: 8.0
The main character models look pretty good and the special effects are impressive for a downloadable title, but the whole affair looks a bit too dark.
Sound: 8.0
The sound effects and music are both very well done and atmospheric, but the voice acting and dialog are both a little corny.
Difficulty: Medium
Concept: 8.0
The story is a bit underwhelming, but the game’s sense of ambiance is great.
Overall: 8.0
SIREN: Blood Curse has a few problems with the gameplay, but is generally better than its predecessor and is a pretty chilling experience.
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