Siren: New Translation Impressions

My taste in games is well known through out our 4Player Podcast community. I am the guy who likes F***ed up S***. Some of my favorite games of all time include Silent Hill, Resident Evil, and other survival horror titles that share similar levels of the macabre. About a year ago, I got my first glimpse of a remake of Sony's first party survival horror game, Siren, and I was instantly intrigued. The story surrounded a cursed Japanese village that was inhabited by the terrifying Shibito, zombie like creatures that practiced human sacrifice. The game introduced an interesting game mechanic known as sight jacking which gave the player the ability to see the world through the eyes of different enemies. By holding a button and moving the joystick in different directions, the player could determine the location and movement patterns of enemies by seeing through their eyes. This completely re-imagined version of Siren shares the same concept and the same unique game play mechanic but is clearly a much more detailed, polished game. Check out this video of our first night of playing the game to get a good idea of the overall feel of the game.
The first thing you will notice is that the game is incredibly dark. When your flashlight is turned off, it is next to impossible to see anything. This can be both a good thing and a bad thing because it really helps create a tense atmosphere but also makes navigating the levels more complicated that it should be. The game is separated into 13 chapters and has the player switching between several different characters with different abilities and game play styles. Some characters are more fun to play as than others due to their ability to fight and pull off stealth kills. However, other characters such as Bella, the little girl, are all about being sneaky and getting by on stealth alone. This keeps game play from getting too repetitive and makes it harder to predict what is going to happen next. Allow me to also quickly say that the graphics in the game are very impressive. The game has a fantastic lighting system and excellent character and environmental animations that could make this game one of the best looking games on the system.Combat is also surprisingly fun despite its lack of depth. You basically can opt for a normal strength attack by pressing square or a stronger but slower attack using R1. It may sound very shallow but fights are satisfying none the less thanks good animation and ridiculous levels of blood spatter. By pressing the O button, characters can crouch and sneak behind unsuspecting enemies. If timed just right, you can perform a stealth of environmental kill depending on where the enemy is located or what weapon you have in your hand at the time. I also have to commend the game for its weapon variety, their are over 50 weapons scattered throughout the environments that all have their own speed, strength, and stealth kills which adds a few layers of depth to the combat. Last but not least, the sight jacking mechanic has been improved on as well. In the original title, sight jacking took up the entire screen and then forced you to stop sight jacking before you could move. In this new Siren, sight jacking splits the screen in half and allows you to view the enemies vision on the right while still allowing you to control your character on the left side. This makes it easier to coordinate your moves while still having an eye on where the enemy actually is. Overall, the game is an incredible improvement over the original game in just about every department and is proving to be one of the best survival horror games I have played in the past few years.

-Nick