User Review : Siren: New Translation

A good bit of horror

Siren is a horror game with gameplay that I would describe as stealth-action cinematic adventure. The story is told in episodes and chapters through different members of a group of people who find themselves trapped in a lost Japanese village filled with undead nasties called Shibitos. Playing through the game from the perspectives of different characters makes not only for interesting storytelling, but it also injects that little bit of variety to the gameplay in the sense that some characters are more action oriented while others rely almost entirely on stealth to get by.

The first thing that strikes you about the game is how atmospheric it is. Siren captures the classic Japanese horror movie atmosphere quite perfectly with the haunting music and design of the undead. The game plays on your constant anticipation that there might be something horrible lurking around every corner. This is achieved through the generally dark and claustrophobic settings your characters are placed in, and also by the control scheme which appears deliberately to limit your ability to look around through the use of the right stick. The combined effect of these factors is that in any one position, you feel terribly constrained in your awareness of your surroundings, and you just do not know what might lie up ahead. This feeling is pervasive, notwithstanding the fact that the game would normally warn you when you are actually (very) near a Shibito with a pulsing sound effect plus vibration.

However, the same factors that create this sense of fear also makes playing the game a disorientating experience. This is the first third person game that I cannot play for long durations because of the giddying perspectives, movements and camera angles, which is a real shame because that detracted from my overall enjoyment of the game.

Interactive actions in the game are somewhat limited. There are only so many things that your characters can do and most of them are context specific. Your characters can run, sneak, open/ close/ brace doors, pick up very limited items, use items in specific locations, and perform very basic attacks. You can switch on and off the torchlight, yell out loud to attract attention and where the scenario allows, also give instructions to your companions to stay, follow or hide. There is also this power of sight-jacking, which is basically the ability to see through the eyes of others in the vicinity, including Shibitos. While sometimes useful for a successful sneak mission, the split screen and sometimes strange perspectives from the Shibitos that you get from sight-jacking accentuates the degree of visual disorientation from the game.

The parts that I enjoyed most about the game are the stealth missions, which could have been enjoyed even more with a more effective implementation of sight-jacking. With certain characters, combat is not an option and you have to sneak and hide to get through the chapter. Some scenarios are quite creatively crafted and you have to properly time yourself in distracting or luring the Shibitos out and then find some way to get around them. There are scenarios where you can just hack, pummel or shoot the Shibitos (who will get up after a while), but those are not quite as satisfying as the heart-pumping experience of sneaking around the Shibitos.

The graphics of the game are, from a technical standpoint, unimpressive to say the least. The character and environmental models are blocky, the textures are lacking and lighting effects are simplistic. Most of these flaws are hidden by the general darkness found in the game, but they become apparent in the more well-lit scenes or when when you use sight-jacking. Nonetheless, the artistic style is sufficient to capture the horror atmosphere and mood of the game.

For a game of this genre, I would say that it is more important for the storytelling to be intriguing and the atmosphere and sense of suspense to be adequately captured. Siren manages in these aspects quite well. There are also sufficient variations to each scenario which keep things refreshing such that it is not always the same hide and sneak or Shibito-bashing rountine. For these reasons, I would say that Siren is a good and enjoyable game.