Siren: Blood Curse Review, Continued

Outside the control limitations, initially the biggest beef with Siren was in the visual presentation. The graphics engine displays an annoying grainy texture as if reception isn't coming in clearly (this also appeared in Battlefield: Bad Company to some extent, but nothing this severe by any means). Because of the video quality, maneuvering can be difficult; making out the immediate area can grow cumbersome and nearly impossible in dark scenarios. Colors are usually washed out and distorted. At first, something seemed amiss after the Siren's introduction and escaping the game proved that it wasn't a connection from a hardware standpoint after all - it was an intentional move on the developer's part.

After going back through the first episode, the brilliance of the whole design suddenly came into focus. The disorienting, narrow field-of-view accompanying the maddening grit only magnifies the current hostile situation to a large extent. Throw in the fact that the current protagonist (looking back on Episode 1) had no viable weapon, it suddenly made sense why things were so difficult visually. It became clear that the graphics engine was clearly trying to emulate old horror movies you'd rent on video: worn out, scratched up and degrading over time. Going back to the "Blair Witch" scenario, the visuals fit right in with the low-budget, shaky-cam look made famous by the movie. This is, after all, a survival horror game. The gloves are off, and you're on the receiving end of a horrific gaming experience.

Whether it's a murky, fog-laced field or the blackest of hallways, you can't help but thrive on that primal fear of the dark, the unknown. You'll get a genuine scare when the monsters come out to play, coming down out of the dark woods or zooming down on wings. Although a few monster designs are rather weak and questionable (as in flapping wings growing out of eye sockets), the Shibito nurse is probably the best out of all the Shibito ("corpse people") designs, dancing around with an overly evil grin and black, soulless eyes. Although the Shibito appear immortal like a good Zombie, these beings don't come across as the undead, but rather puppets of some larger evil entity. Overall, the Shibito infestations prove challenging and downright creepy at night as well as during the day.

Blood Curse features different environments throughout its 12 episodes, and all of them are eerie.

What also proves to be challenge is the storyline itself, and unfortunately, the pre-rendered cut scenes and in-game sequences offer more confusion than clarity; perhaps, in the end, that confusion is on purpose. It's the game's Archive feature that does most of the explaining over time, a collection area containing chunks of story and various weapons. Throughout the game, you'll unlock bits and pieces of information that becomes available in the Archive, presented through phone calls, video clips, diaries, logs and whatnot. Here you'll discover the details of the underlying story that doesn't quite explain itself in the main portion.

To briefly summarize the story, it's August 2007 and an American TV crew heads to Japan to investigate the deserted village from the first Siren title. Legend has it that human sacrifices took place 30 years ago, hence the entire population has up and vanished. The crew begins its investigation by chancing upon a sacrificial ceremony, which begins the game. It's not until the very end when everything clicks together and the story suddenly blows your mind away. Without revealing too much of the plot, there's a brilliant link between the past and present. Needless to say, you'll spend a lot of time reading and listening to audio files to get the story in its infinite entirety. And the Archive helps explains in better detail why the TV network just happens to bring a little girl named Bella Monroe along.

Ultimately, the game's shining feature is its ability to scare, and in that sense, Siren gets two thumbs up. The action gets heavy, whether it's running across rooftops or battling the huge maggot-looking Shibito in close quarters. When things reach out from the darkness, you'll jump up and yelp for mama. When bullets rip into you as if coming from out of nowhere, you'll frantically run for cover. If anything, Siren keeps a firm grip of your nerves throughout the game, from the time Howard Wright encounters the possessed police officer until his final battle. The virtual heartbeat will cause your own to flutter as you hides in the dark. You'll creep along in the darkness, waiting for something to jump out at any second. If you're looking for edge-of-your-seat intensity, all it takes is one chapter, and you're hooked.

Unfortunately, Siren takes a turn for the stupid, especially around Episode 10. To be fair, there are problem spots throughout the game that require numerous attempts before completion. For some gamers, that may not be a bad thing; their tolerance for seemingly impossible situations may be high or just accustomed to those situations in survival horror. But when your protagonist is spawned on the stage, only to be torn down two seconds later, you have to wonder just how cruel the developers actually are. How fun is instant death? It's not. How fun is infinite repetition? It's not. The controls play a part in many of these scenarios, acting as if the character is moving in the ocean rather than the cold night air. The control delay scheme is on purpose in order to jack up difficult moments, sometimes those moments move into absurdity.

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