get2sammyb.co.uk

Siren Blood Curse Is £20 From Playstation 3 Store

I know, I know. Siren Blood Curse came out ages ago and I hyped and hyped about it and then only did an “initial thoughts and opinion” post. It’s because I had personal stuff going on and wasn’t in the mood for a horror game to put it cryptically. But I finished the game last week and I quite enjoyed it you know.

Siren Blood Curse is essentially the first Playstation 3 “proper download game”. And what I mean by that is with Warhawk and Tekken 5 aside this is the first package that has been released on the PSN that is not a mini game or short 2 hour blaster - this is a proper game with big environments, lots of mechanics and a full storyline.

It’s hard to know exactly what is happening in Siren Blood Curse virtually throughout the whole game because you’ll watch events happen and then get mighty confused over the fact that said characters are “alive” again or in different places. I’ll try not to give anything away but it does get vaguely wrapped up at the end of the game so you’ll have some idea. You might need a lot of patience to understand the game fully though.

Siren Blood Curse puts you in control of a set of different characters, some Japanese, some American as you are set out to explore the village of “Hanuda” — a vanished village where human sacrifices have occured before. Cue the setting for a survival-stealth-action-horror game.

The game is split into 12 chapters which can be downloaded in one go for £20 from the PSN store or can be purchased in blocks of three for £6. Be aware that downloading the whole game will fill 9GB’s of your Playstation HDD but it is available on Blu-Ray Disc in Japan and soon Europe.

Each chapter puts you in different areas of the village with seperate objectives. Usually this involves finding an escape route from the part you are in but the game throws up enough challenges and unique surprises along the way to make things interesting.

The enemy, named Shibito, are a particularly horrifying form of zombie with tears of blood flowing from their eyes. Kudos goes to the sound engineers on Siren Blood Curse because there are a helluva lot of twittering and moaning sounds that really add to the atmosphere. These aren’t your typical moaning zombies — the Shibito almost sound vocoded. It’s an other worldly sound that will see you quaking in your boots.

Playing Siren blood Curse is hindered by the lack of robust controls. The camera is tight to the action and movement at times can be extremely clumsy. It’s an interesting point for discussion though because the often shit controls really define the game. I don’t know how much of an unfair let-off I’m giving this game but the fact that the camera is tight and your movement is flawed really, honestly does add to the tension of the game. That’s not to say it’s not frustrating — just that it offers that “oh shit, got to get away, where the FUCK do I run to, ARGH!”-kind of tension. If the controls and camera are done like this on purpose then it’s a brave move from the developer and one I think they kinda just about get away with.

Graphically Siren is unbelievably dark with even a brightness option not aiding the games gloomy look. Obviously the darkness is another intentional area of the game which has you sometimes wondering out totally blind into a field full of the undead. You’ll have to use your ears a lot in Siren which is totally awesome if you have surround sound. You’ll be immersed.

The whole game is covered with a grain filter which makes everything harder to see but also adds a layer of grime to proceedings. Horror games are all about building atmosphere and Siren does that in abundance.

The main gameplay mechanic to aid your plight in Blood Curse is “Sight Jacking” which allows you to see through the eyes of the Shibito. Sight Jacking is essentially if you need to sneak past an enemy or just find out where they are. Trust me when I say there is nothing more horrifying than watching through the eyes of the enemy your main protagonist be caught and subsequently murdered.

While Blood Curse won’t be the longest game you’ll ever play (took me about 9 and a half hours) there is plenty of replay value in the form of finding all the “Archive” data.

There are 50 pieces of archive data to be found throughout the game and they become almost essential in understanding the plot of the game and characters background. There are also some easter eggs that are hinted in the game and are unlocked in the real world which really help to provide a background to the game.

Siren Blood Curse is a pretty straightforward game but it’s a tense and most importantly scary one at that. What it lacks in longevity it makes up for in thrills so if you’re looking for a game to fill a dull weekend look no further than Blood Curse.

8/10.