Review: Siren: Blood Curse
Jul. 28
For those of you who don't know, Siren: Blood Curse is the 3rd installment in the Siren series, with Siren 1 flopping in the US and Siren 2 never making it across the pond from Japan. Blood Curse shares the overall theme of the Siren games - several people stumble across a lost village whose inhabitants have resurrected as the dead and stalk the grounds. Blood Curse has two types of releases. You can choose to buy the full game or buy it in chunks, on a per episode basis. This review covers this new PSN game in its entirety.
Blood Curse marks the first next-gen appearance for the series and it makes a strong impression as the game has been refreshed for the American audience. This time around the story is about a TV crew from America who has journeyed to research and film a documentary on the urban myth of Hanuda, the Vanished Village. Frozen in the 1970s and surrounded by a red sea, it is said that an ancient curse has been set upon the town. That is the jist of the story without giving anything away. One of the main reasons to get this title is because the story traps you in with its mystery. You just have to know what's going on and what happens next.
The camera has some problems and can make it difficult to see around corners and such, but this is fixed with the "Sight Jacking System" that is put into the game. Basically you will hit a button to pull up a splitscreen. Gamers search or tap a button to find the enemy characters and see what they see, through their eyes. So you can watch their patterns and see where and what they are doing, which becomes very useful in a lot of areas. Another cool feature in the game is what and who you play as. You don't play as one person, you control numerous visitors to the village who all have different types of objectives and things they can do. This keeps the game very fresh. Each character also gets to wield a number of different weapons ranging from a gun to a hot poker!
Blood Curse tends to hold your hand as players are directed what to do and where you need to go, but it also gives you freedom on how you want to complete or get to that point. For example, at one point you have to slip past a nurse who is sitting at a desk and you need to get to the set of stairs in her line of vision. You can either make some noise and run from her until she gets out far enough, or go into a room and find a clock and set an alarm for her to go turn off and you slip by. This is something that made the game more fun, when I veered off to try my own technique to see if it would work.
The game presentation is solid. The character models look next-gen and have a very good look and feel to them. The same can be said about the voice acting, the last Siren featured terrible dialogue and the voice over's of a poorly made soap opera. Blood Curse feels like you're playing a movie. This is a title worthy of your money. If you're a huge fan of survival horror titles, Blood Curse won't disappoint.
PROS: Very good visuals, atmosphere
CONS: Controlls are not that great
Graphics: 4.50
Sound: 4.00
Controls: 3.00
Fun Factor: 4.00
The Info: Platform: PSN Publisher: Sony Computer Entertainment America Developer: SCEI ESRB: M (Mature) Players: 1 Price: $39.99 for full game, $14.99 for one part
Ian Guss (43)
Sean Ely (5)
Tae Kim (1)
Terry Terrones (159)
Will Herring (41)
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