Platform: PlayStation 3

Genre: Survival Horror

Number of Players: 1

The novelty of survival horror has proven that it anything but a novelty. Resident Evil has paved the way for other titles like Silent Hill, Fatal Frame, as well as numerous lesser-known titles. In 2003, Sony’s Japan Studio would release their foray into the world of survival horror with a more stealth based title and the game, Forbidden Siren, would make its way to North America later in 2004, but unlike the games that it needed to live up to, Siren only received moderate praise at best. However, Japan Studio is making another attempt to lure gamers into the world of Siren with their latest offering, Siren: Blood Curse.

Once again players are taken the Hanuda, a mysterious village which is rumored to have disappeared, but that seems to not be the case at all. In the original game, the story revolved around Japanese characters, all of whom were very badly dubbed, but the strange occurrences in Hanuda find a different group of visitors. A film crew from the United States has come to work on a documentary about the village and has quickly discovered that the rumors and tales about the mysterious curse are more than true. Meanwhile, Howard Wright, a student, has found himself caught up in the terrifying events at the village while Seigo Saiga has come to lend some much needed assistance, but the goal for all; survive.

In Japan Siren: Blood Curse was released in a similar fashion to what Warhawk was here, giving Japanese gamers the option to either purchase the game in its entirety on a Blu-Ray disc or to download it from the PlayStation Network Store. SCEA however has gone with the download option, though I don’t think that seeing the game hit retails shelves at some point in the future would be completely out of the question. Blood Curse is divided into twelve different chapters and you have two method of purchase; either by individual episode or buying a bundle with everything. Even if you do go with the bundle, and that’s really the recommended fashion to purchase the game, it is still downloadable only by chapter, though that makes perfect sense ass combined, the chapters equal around 9 gigs.

Siren: Blood Curse presents itself in such a way that it is very comparable to a horror film, particularly the aspect that has you controlling multiple characters. This isn’t done in the same way where a game like Resident Evil might have you temporarily in control of another character or how Fatal Frame III had chapter’s specific to characters, though there are definitely stages where a single character is all you will play. Much of the time however, you will play as one character for part of a stage, then switch to another. Each role you take on flushes out the story a little more and the characters won’t always be together, though even in being apart, it helps to give more details to what is going on in the village. Aside from Howard and Seigo, players will also find themselves taking on the role of Sam Monroe and his ex-wife Melissa Gale, part of the television crew, and even their young daughter Bella Monroe and cameraman Sol Jackson. There is another character, Amana, who is controlled briefly, and an NPC, Miyako, who make up the remainder to the characters found in the game.

The good news if you hated the dubbed in the first game is that won’t be much a concern in Blood Curse. I downloaded the demo when it first appeared on the Japanese PlayStation Network Store and from what was presented there; no changes have been made to the voice cast. The only localization appears to be simply translating the Japanese text into English; so in this case, the game actually retains the same feeling that the creators had intended it to have.

Each of the chapters in Blood Curse has you performing a variety of tasks, all based around the story of course. Some might be as simple as sneaking past the shibito, the zombie-like beings that inhabit the game world, and for me, they have a very distinct likeness to those creatures found in Evil Dead, the voice in particular have that otherworldly sound. You will also find that the shibito go beyond just looking like human zombies to forms where that take on appearances of spiders, strange winged creatures, and the brain shibito. With each objective that is completed, you will see another appear on the screen depending on how far along in a chapter you are, and at times these are meant to act as more of a tutorial so you can learn the various abilities and functions that can be performed in the game.

Hiding is actually an essential aspect, and this can be used to evade shibito pursuers when you are in dire straights. However, you can arm yourself as well, and although you might find necessary firearms from time to time, there are other methods to dispatching these undead as well. Something like a simple sake bottle can be used to bludgeon your enemies, though it’s more effective when broken, and the game is very good about letting you know when an item can be grabbed and equipped. The same is true on finding places to hide and just about everything else that the game offers, and if you’re ever at a loss, you always have access to the instructions via the games menu as well as a means to see the map of the area, at least what you’ve uncovered so far.

Much of this might sound like things that you’ve seen in other games, particularly the survival horror genre, and it doesn’t end there either. Characters will have access to a flashlight that can be turned on or off, and this is all done via the D-pad. You also have the ability to shout which will attract the attention of enemies, and believe it or not, this will come in handy. You can also use the D-pad to get companions to follow you or to set traps and flares. However, the game does offer other things that give it a unique flavor. The Sight Jacking ability is the key of this, and even though this was found in the original game, it has changed slightly. Sight Jacking allows characters to see through the eyes of another, be it a human or a shibito. This mode now enters a split screen where the left is what you are currently seeing while the right is what the target sees. While using this ability, things are very easily distinguished by showing shibito as red marks, friendly characters as green and you can quickly jump from target to target. This new variant of Sight Jacking however does take a bit to get used to, but it integrates very well into the scheme of the game.

The chapters themselves also give players an opportunity to revisit sections, and not just with the gameplay either. You can view cutscenes again or, if you haven’t played in a while, refresh what it to come by checking the last section which will give you a preview, though the start of each episode does recap the events so far. It’s a bit like what you might see if you’re watching an episode of 24 or Prison Break. Another reason to replay episodes lies in the games archive feature where items that you collect will shed more light on the characters as well as the events that are transpiring in Hanuda.

Unlike a game like Fatal Frame, Siren utilizes both day and night to tell its story, but between the two, I have a fondness for the night settings. These definitely have a nice creep factor to them, and that’s really one of the biggest draws to the survival horror genre. The developers have used a nice overlay that gives the game a look that is like scratched, worn film, and that really gives a nice touch to the atmosphere. What I truly appreciate though are the details, and there are some great recreations of some architecture that you might find in parts of Japan as well as some great exterior design as well. The game is even a bit bloodier than I expected, though I have yet to see a design team touch on a game that might rival the gore found in a movie like Day of the Dead or Dead Alive. Overall I think most will find that Siren is a very good example of what the next generation of games can provide fans with when it comes to horror, and this is merely the beginning. Resident Evil is just around the corner and I have it on good authority that at some point, we will be seeing Fatal Frame make another appearance.

What may surprise some of you that are fans of the first game is that while Siren: Blood Curse is a sequel, it’s not the first, There was actually a second game released on the PS2 in Japan that never saw the light of day here as well as a live action movie that acted as a tie-on. The distribution method found with this game is one that I really like and players won’t feel compelled to try and complete everything all at once. And, like many games in this genre, I found that playing at night was much more appropriate. This is the type of follow-up that might have me dusting off the first one and giving it another chance, but if that’s not the case, Siren: Blood Curse is a great survival horror title that has that distinct J-horror atmosphere found in some many of their movies. Thankfully, a remake isn’t in the works.
 

 -mike-