- Joined
- Jan 2, 2007
- Messages
- 1,067
The Saw movies. What can I say about them that I didn't say in my long ass review of Saw V? Simply put: I have a love/hate relationship. I see the potential lying beneath a pile of crap, and while the series has given us one gem (The first film) they've consistently gotten worse, yet I still follow them, falling into some sort of bizarre category of "Fan" that isn't really a fan of the movies themselves so much as the potential they've been sloshing around underneath the pile of overdone guts. So when I saw the box for a Saw video game in my local game rental store, I kinda went "huh?" I mean, how exactly does Saw work as a game? Yet despite that, my morbid curiosity got the better of me and I gave the game a rental. I'm ousting my normal review pattern and am going to keep this review concise and to the point.
Believe it or not: Saw kinda works as a game. That's not to say its a very good game, but its surprisingly better than I expected. The thing that works about it is the atmosphere. The atmosphere layering the game is great, and at some points its enough to blanket the games many flaws. The game might actually conjure up more scares than any of the films, excluding the genuinely eerie first film, because with the interactive aspect you feel like you're actually being toyed with by the infamous Jigsaw killer. Tobin Bell steals the show here, always providing a creepy voice and making Jigsaw an interesting character. The game itself is sort of a puzzle game, as it should be, as you figure out how to bust yourself and others out of traps while avoiding others. It would work well but there's one game breaking mechanic: The controls. Ugh. The sloppy controls will often confuse, even the beginning of the game, which has you in the series' famous "Reverse bear trap" mechanism, just shows a rotating arrow and occasionally a button symbol pops up on the mechanism. I died about 12 times figuring out that you had to twist the right thumbstick in the OPPOSITE direction that was shown (Gee, way to go guys..) at a high speed and somehow move your right thumb to hit the correct button at the same time. Ouch. The other traps don't get any better. Oddly enough, this style of control might work better for a Wii game. The graphics aren't spectacular, but they get the job done, and despite some stiff animation, there are some great gruesome deaths. The story is surprisingly coherent (I never thought I'd use the phrase "Coherent Story" when referring to a Saw title..) and feeds some interesting table scraps to those who are following the series, and fills in a few gaps. Yet it would still take a lot more effort to fill in the black holes in the story to the series.
In the end: Don't get Saw. However, it may be worth a rental for those who like the films, or if you are like me and hopelessly follow them, trying to pick up the few interesting pieces of the puzzle. It provides a few genuine chills and thrills, has some good voice overs, and for the gore fans, it has plenty of over the top gore. It is a curious game, much like the movies its based on, it never really does anything special yet theres so much potential for something good underneath it all. If the controls were improved and the game was maybe released for a budget price on XBLA/WiiWare or something, it might actually be something genuinely good, and a unique puzzle based take on the survival horror genre. For those who aren't into Saw, there's nothing here for you.
Believe it or not: Saw kinda works as a game. That's not to say its a very good game, but its surprisingly better than I expected. The thing that works about it is the atmosphere. The atmosphere layering the game is great, and at some points its enough to blanket the games many flaws. The game might actually conjure up more scares than any of the films, excluding the genuinely eerie first film, because with the interactive aspect you feel like you're actually being toyed with by the infamous Jigsaw killer. Tobin Bell steals the show here, always providing a creepy voice and making Jigsaw an interesting character. The game itself is sort of a puzzle game, as it should be, as you figure out how to bust yourself and others out of traps while avoiding others. It would work well but there's one game breaking mechanic: The controls. Ugh. The sloppy controls will often confuse, even the beginning of the game, which has you in the series' famous "Reverse bear trap" mechanism, just shows a rotating arrow and occasionally a button symbol pops up on the mechanism. I died about 12 times figuring out that you had to twist the right thumbstick in the OPPOSITE direction that was shown (Gee, way to go guys..) at a high speed and somehow move your right thumb to hit the correct button at the same time. Ouch. The other traps don't get any better. Oddly enough, this style of control might work better for a Wii game. The graphics aren't spectacular, but they get the job done, and despite some stiff animation, there are some great gruesome deaths. The story is surprisingly coherent (I never thought I'd use the phrase "Coherent Story" when referring to a Saw title..) and feeds some interesting table scraps to those who are following the series, and fills in a few gaps. Yet it would still take a lot more effort to fill in the black holes in the story to the series.
In the end: Don't get Saw. However, it may be worth a rental for those who like the films, or if you are like me and hopelessly follow them, trying to pick up the few interesting pieces of the puzzle. It provides a few genuine chills and thrills, has some good voice overs, and for the gore fans, it has plenty of over the top gore. It is a curious game, much like the movies its based on, it never really does anything special yet theres so much potential for something good underneath it all. If the controls were improved and the game was maybe released for a budget price on XBLA/WiiWare or something, it might actually be something genuinely good, and a unique puzzle based take on the survival horror genre. For those who aren't into Saw, there's nothing here for you.
