When you hear that siren...
It all begins when a production team from a well known spooky TV documentary show, along with a scientist and the shows presenter, arrive at the spot where a small Japanese village once stood, but had dissapeared long ago under mysterious circumstances, to film an episode for the show.
Little do they know that on this night is when the village will decide to reappear, forcing them to become entangled in a time paradox that will take them over the edge and into sick territory, fighting for there lives.
All of the villagers have become shibitos, or Japanese zombies. The only difference being is that they still conserve some of their original humanity, clamping them onto the original roles they played from before they became shibitos. So your up against zombie police officers, hunters, housewives, nurses, farmers, etc, each with there respective weapons. Your also up against the dark, armed only with a torch that doesn't help all that much.
The game is separated into 12 episodes, that will play out like a TV show, along with the usual "next time, on Siren Blood Curse" thing. Each episode is divided into 4 parts, where 2 are usually playable and the rest cinematics done with the games own engine. Along these episodes you will fill the shoes of many characters, each of them with their own strengths and weaknesses. Some of the characters are stealth and others are all out action, whereas there are also some that are a balance of the two, which gives for a lot of variety and different ways to approach the levels. It's a good thing too, because one of the downsides of Siren Blood Curse is that there are not that many locations in the game, so you will find yourself again and again going through the same hospital , houses, farmlands, forests and mines. Again it's not so bad because each character shall approach them differently, but it wouldn't have hurt them to have put a couple of more locations, but hey, as it was originally a downloadable game, perhaps it had it's limitations.
You have access to may types of different weaponry, including firearms, that you shall find or that you shall take from the Shibito's themselves. Although they won't die, they will go down for a bit, allowing you to solve puzzles or just get from point A to point B without being too molested.
The atmosphere of this game is well done, making you feel tense at all times.
Graphically its pretty decent, but has an oldschool feel to it, plus a filter that again reminds me of Silent Hill 2.
The controls could be better, as occasionaly the character will feel a little bit slow on the uptake, but nothing really that bad as to make it unplayable or anything.
The story is very complicated and most of the time you may think you've sussed out what's going on, but then there will be a turn of events that will again leave you confused. It does intrigue though and you shall keep playing to find the truth in it all.
I have to mention that the sight jacking from the previous Siren games is back, but is much better implemented this time around, and you will not be able to solve a couple of the puzzles without it.
Some of the levels are slightly vague about what you have to do although there is a detailed map that you can acess at all times, with handy markers of your objectives, although sometimes, as I said, it can be a bit vague and frustrating but eventually you will find the way.
Siren Blood Curse is in no way an easy game and sometimes the darkness will really hinder your progress but it all just adds to the stressful, scary atmosphere.
Recommended for any survival horror fan.
Graphics: 8
Story: 7
Addiction:8
Controls: 7
Camera: 7
Duration: 8
Online: 0