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This thread has been linked to the game 'Saw'.
Saw: The Videogame
Xbox 360
Saw. A film series famous for its gore and spine chilling message that people don’t know how lucky they are to be alive. Now in its 6th instalment, the series has entered the gaming scene.
I was a bit sceptical at first on how this game would turn out. Not being a great lover of the film series (I only enjoyed the first two); I wasn’t in a major rush to try it out. My friend had played through and given it the thumbs up, so I ended up renting it through my DVD rental company.
Is this going to be another failed movie tie-in? Well, initially my thoughts were against that idea. From the start, it presented well – good graphics, authentic voices and a good concept. My only initial gripe was with the controls and the camera. But from first glance, it actually has the start of a decent game. This in fact carries through the first few levels.
The game concept is quite simple. You have been captured by the jigsaw killer (the very same as the ones in the films) and placed in an abandoned asylum. Your job is to escape the asylum, whilst learning the error of your ways. Sounds simple? Well, Jigsaw isn’t that nice and has booby-trapped the entire place, captured a lot of people that are linked to your character in someway (and they are informed that you are the reason why they are trapped in this hellish labyrinth) and to top things off, he has surgically placed a key in your chest that releases the other captives from their own ironic traps. So basically you are in a place that could kill you at every turn and filled with people who want your blood and need you dead to survive. Nice.
You play as detective Tapp. He is the guy everyone seems to hate (people hate him for a variety of reasons, as explained in the game plot). As explained in the concept, you need to escape whilst passing a variety of horrific tests. The game actually starts with your head in a bear trap and you need to get it off quickly. From then on, the challenges get more horrific – such as putting your hand in a toilet bowl full of used hypodermic needles to retrieve a key to get out of a room, working out a puzzle in the dark to defuse a bomb and basically running through a gauntlet of broken glass, tripwires and collapsing roofs. This is on top of the people hoping to be the one that manages to butcher you for the key in your chest. This is definitely not a game for the kids.
The challenges do vary quite a bit and some are very clever in their design (although many puzzles and traps are lifted straight from the films). However, by the end of the second level, the game starts to get a bit repetitive (how many more times will I need to punish the character to retrieve a key from some sort of harmful container). This is a shame as it initially showed great promise. Even the booby-traps tend to have a habit of becoming annoying rather than a challenge (saying that, they are the scariest points of the game – walking along and suddenly having your head blown off by a shotgun did cause me to jump a few times). Dying happens an awful lot and sometimes it can be a bit of a distance between checkpoints.
Graphically, the game stands out above average. It’s dark and gritty and the lighting effects give the game that creepy edge to it all. Weapons are instantly recognisable and blood splatters almost too realistically. You have several light sources available to you in the game, from the starting cigarette lighter (ambient light, but goes out if you run), a flash camera (dazzles enemies and provides a lasting image of the area) to the flashlight (which provides a direct beam of light to illuminate the area). This is a nice touch to the visuals of the game and as stated, makes the graphics a true highlight of the game.
The audio is pretty good as well. Footsteps sound like footsteps, glass crunches under your bare feet as you would expect it to and the sound of a baseball bat splattering through the head of a minion sounds pretty realistic (well, I’d imagine so…not that I’ve heard it happen before…). The music suits the game too – exciting and tense moments are beautifully accompanied by music of the same tempo. It does help get that adrenaline pumping! The voice of Jigsaw is authentic as well, so his voice appears a lot explaining the nature of your next challenge.
The controls are where the game really falls down. The camera is in an awkward position behind Tapp, making lining him up to do the various tasks can be tricky. Likewise, the combat side is very repetitive – sure there are lots of different melee items (from mannequin arms to baseball bats to even a table lamp) but they almost all handle in an identical way. Aiming your attacks is also tricky due to this shoddy camera. I don’t know if this angle adds to the tension, but it usually ends up with a frustrated player screaming at the screen. There are also a few button-press sequences, which normally suggests a lack of originality.
Overall, Saw is worth a look at. Although it does have its issues and gets a tad repetitive after a few levels, the first few are quite exciting and interesting to play through. If only the excitement and the tension continued to the end of the game it would have been a notable selection. It is at least worth a rent.
68%
Xbox 360
Saw. A film series famous for its gore and spine chilling message that people don’t know how lucky they are to be alive. Now in its 6th instalment, the series has entered the gaming scene.
I was a bit sceptical at first on how this game would turn out. Not being a great lover of the film series (I only enjoyed the first two); I wasn’t in a major rush to try it out. My friend had played through and given it the thumbs up, so I ended up renting it through my DVD rental company.
Is this going to be another failed movie tie-in? Well, initially my thoughts were against that idea. From the start, it presented well – good graphics, authentic voices and a good concept. My only initial gripe was with the controls and the camera. But from first glance, it actually has the start of a decent game. This in fact carries through the first few levels.
The game concept is quite simple. You have been captured by the jigsaw killer (the very same as the ones in the films) and placed in an abandoned asylum. Your job is to escape the asylum, whilst learning the error of your ways. Sounds simple? Well, Jigsaw isn’t that nice and has booby-trapped the entire place, captured a lot of people that are linked to your character in someway (and they are informed that you are the reason why they are trapped in this hellish labyrinth) and to top things off, he has surgically placed a key in your chest that releases the other captives from their own ironic traps. So basically you are in a place that could kill you at every turn and filled with people who want your blood and need you dead to survive. Nice.
You play as detective Tapp. He is the guy everyone seems to hate (people hate him for a variety of reasons, as explained in the game plot). As explained in the concept, you need to escape whilst passing a variety of horrific tests. The game actually starts with your head in a bear trap and you need to get it off quickly. From then on, the challenges get more horrific – such as putting your hand in a toilet bowl full of used hypodermic needles to retrieve a key to get out of a room, working out a puzzle in the dark to defuse a bomb and basically running through a gauntlet of broken glass, tripwires and collapsing roofs. This is on top of the people hoping to be the one that manages to butcher you for the key in your chest. This is definitely not a game for the kids.
The challenges do vary quite a bit and some are very clever in their design (although many puzzles and traps are lifted straight from the films). However, by the end of the second level, the game starts to get a bit repetitive (how many more times will I need to punish the character to retrieve a key from some sort of harmful container). This is a shame as it initially showed great promise. Even the booby-traps tend to have a habit of becoming annoying rather than a challenge (saying that, they are the scariest points of the game – walking along and suddenly having your head blown off by a shotgun did cause me to jump a few times). Dying happens an awful lot and sometimes it can be a bit of a distance between checkpoints.
Graphically, the game stands out above average. It’s dark and gritty and the lighting effects give the game that creepy edge to it all. Weapons are instantly recognisable and blood splatters almost too realistically. You have several light sources available to you in the game, from the starting cigarette lighter (ambient light, but goes out if you run), a flash camera (dazzles enemies and provides a lasting image of the area) to the flashlight (which provides a direct beam of light to illuminate the area). This is a nice touch to the visuals of the game and as stated, makes the graphics a true highlight of the game.
The audio is pretty good as well. Footsteps sound like footsteps, glass crunches under your bare feet as you would expect it to and the sound of a baseball bat splattering through the head of a minion sounds pretty realistic (well, I’d imagine so…not that I’ve heard it happen before…). The music suits the game too – exciting and tense moments are beautifully accompanied by music of the same tempo. It does help get that adrenaline pumping! The voice of Jigsaw is authentic as well, so his voice appears a lot explaining the nature of your next challenge.
The controls are where the game really falls down. The camera is in an awkward position behind Tapp, making lining him up to do the various tasks can be tricky. Likewise, the combat side is very repetitive – sure there are lots of different melee items (from mannequin arms to baseball bats to even a table lamp) but they almost all handle in an identical way. Aiming your attacks is also tricky due to this shoddy camera. I don’t know if this angle adds to the tension, but it usually ends up with a frustrated player screaming at the screen. There are also a few button-press sequences, which normally suggests a lack of originality.
Overall, Saw is worth a look at. Although it does have its issues and gets a tad repetitive after a few levels, the first few are quite exciting and interesting to play through. If only the excitement and the tension continued to the end of the game it would have been a notable selection. It is at least worth a rent.
68%
Saw: The Videogame
Xbox 360
Saw. A film series famous for its gore and spine chilling message that people don’t know how lucky they are to be alive. Now in its 6th instalment, the series has entered the gaming scene.
I was a bit sceptical at first on how this game would turn out. Not being a great lover of the film series (I only enjoyed the first two); I wasn’t in a major rush to try it out. My friend had played through and given it the thumbs up, so I ended up renting it through my DVD rental company.
Is this going to be another failed movie tie-in? Well, initially my thoughts were against that idea. From the start, it presented well – good graphics, authentic voices and a good concept. My only initial gripe was with the controls and the camera. But from first glance, it actually has the start of a decent game. This in fact carries through the first few levels.
The game concept is quite simple. You have been captured by the jigsaw killer (the very same as the ones in the films) and placed in an abandoned asylum. Your job is to escape the asylum, whilst learning the error of your ways. Sounds simple? Well, Jigsaw isn’t that nice and has booby-trapped the entire place, captured a lot of people that are linked to your character in someway (and they are informed that you are the reason why they are trapped in this hellish labyrinth) and to top things off, he has surgically placed a key in your chest that releases the other captives from their own ironic traps. So basically you are in a place that could kill you at every turn and filled with people who want your blood and need you dead to survive. Nice.
You play as detective Tapp. He is the guy everyone seems to hate (people hate him for a variety of reasons, as explained in the game plot). As explained in the concept, you need to escape whilst passing a variety of horrific tests. The game actually starts with your head in a bear trap and you need to get it off quickly. From then on, the challenges get more horrific – such as putting your hand in a toilet bowl full of used hypodermic needles to retrieve a key to get out of a room, working out a puzzle in the dark to defuse a bomb and basically running through a gauntlet of broken glass, tripwires and collapsing roofs. This is on top of the people hoping to be the one that manages to butcher you for the key in your chest. This is definitely not a game for the kids.
The challenges do vary quite a bit and some are very clever in their design (although many puzzles and traps are lifted straight from the films). However, by the end of the second level, the game starts to get a bit repetitive (how many more times will I need to punish the character to retrieve a key from some sort of harmful container). This is a shame as it initially showed great promise. Even the booby-traps tend to have a habit of becoming annoying rather than a challenge (saying that, they are the scariest points of the game – walking along and suddenly having your head blown off by a shotgun did cause me to jump a few times). Dying happens an awful lot and sometimes it can be a bit of a distance between checkpoints.
Graphically, the game stands out above average. It’s dark and gritty and the lighting effects give the game that creepy edge to it all. Weapons are instantly recognisable and blood splatters almost too realistically. You have several light sources available to you in the game, from the starting cigarette lighter (ambient light, but goes out if you run), a flash camera (dazzles enemies and provides a lasting image of the area) to the flashlight (which provides a direct beam of light to illuminate the area). This is a nice touch to the visuals of the game and as stated, makes the graphics a true highlight of the game.
The audio is pretty good as well. Footsteps sound like footsteps, glass crunches under your bare feet as you would expect it to and the sound of a baseball bat splattering through the head of a minion sounds pretty realistic (well, I’d imagine so…not that I’ve heard it happen before…). The music suits the game too – exciting and tense moments are beautifully accompanied by music of the same tempo. It does help get that adrenaline pumping! The voice of Jigsaw is authentic as well, so his voice appears a lot explaining the nature of your next challenge.
The controls are where the game really falls down. The camera is in an awkward position behind Tapp, making lining him up to do the various tasks can be tricky. Likewise, the combat side is very repetitive – sure there are lots of different melee items (from mannequin arms to baseball bats to even a table lamp) but they almost all handle in an identical way. Aiming your attacks is also tricky due to this shoddy camera. I don’t know if this angle adds to the tension, but it usually ends up with a frustrated player screaming at the screen. There are also a few button-press sequences, which normally suggests a lack of originality.
Overall, Saw is worth a look at. Although it does have its issues and gets a tad repetitive after a few levels, the first few are quite exciting and interesting to play through. If only the excitement and the tension continued to the end of the game it would have been a notable selection. It is at least worth a rent.
68%
Xbox 360
Saw. A film series famous for its gore and spine chilling message that people don’t know how lucky they are to be alive. Now in its 6th instalment, the series has entered the gaming scene.
I was a bit sceptical at first on how this game would turn out. Not being a great lover of the film series (I only enjoyed the first two); I wasn’t in a major rush to try it out. My friend had played through and given it the thumbs up, so I ended up renting it through my DVD rental company.
Is this going to be another failed movie tie-in? Well, initially my thoughts were against that idea. From the start, it presented well – good graphics, authentic voices and a good concept. My only initial gripe was with the controls and the camera. But from first glance, it actually has the start of a decent game. This in fact carries through the first few levels.
The game concept is quite simple. You have been captured by the jigsaw killer (the very same as the ones in the films) and placed in an abandoned asylum. Your job is to escape the asylum, whilst learning the error of your ways. Sounds simple? Well, Jigsaw isn’t that nice and has booby-trapped the entire place, captured a lot of people that are linked to your character in someway (and they are informed that you are the reason why they are trapped in this hellish labyrinth) and to top things off, he has surgically placed a key in your chest that releases the other captives from their own ironic traps. So basically you are in a place that could kill you at every turn and filled with people who want your blood and need you dead to survive. Nice.
You play as detective Tapp. He is the guy everyone seems to hate (people hate him for a variety of reasons, as explained in the game plot). As explained in the concept, you need to escape whilst passing a variety of horrific tests. The game actually starts with your head in a bear trap and you need to get it off quickly. From then on, the challenges get more horrific – such as putting your hand in a toilet bowl full of used hypodermic needles to retrieve a key to get out of a room, working out a puzzle in the dark to defuse a bomb and basically running through a gauntlet of broken glass, tripwires and collapsing roofs. This is on top of the people hoping to be the one that manages to butcher you for the key in your chest. This is definitely not a game for the kids.
The challenges do vary quite a bit and some are very clever in their design (although many puzzles and traps are lifted straight from the films). However, by the end of the second level, the game starts to get a bit repetitive (how many more times will I need to punish the character to retrieve a key from some sort of harmful container). This is a shame as it initially showed great promise. Even the booby-traps tend to have a habit of becoming annoying rather than a challenge (saying that, they are the scariest points of the game – walking along and suddenly having your head blown off by a shotgun did cause me to jump a few times). Dying happens an awful lot and sometimes it can be a bit of a distance between checkpoints.
Graphically, the game stands out above average. It’s dark and gritty and the lighting effects give the game that creepy edge to it all. Weapons are instantly recognisable and blood splatters almost too realistically. You have several light sources available to you in the game, from the starting cigarette lighter (ambient light, but goes out if you run), a flash camera (dazzles enemies and provides a lasting image of the area) to the flashlight (which provides a direct beam of light to illuminate the area). This is a nice touch to the visuals of the game and as stated, makes the graphics a true highlight of the game.
The audio is pretty good as well. Footsteps sound like footsteps, glass crunches under your bare feet as you would expect it to and the sound of a baseball bat splattering through the head of a minion sounds pretty realistic (well, I’d imagine so…not that I’ve heard it happen before…). The music suits the game too – exciting and tense moments are beautifully accompanied by music of the same tempo. It does help get that adrenaline pumping! The voice of Jigsaw is authentic as well, so his voice appears a lot explaining the nature of your next challenge.
The controls are where the game really falls down. The camera is in an awkward position behind Tapp, making lining him up to do the various tasks can be tricky. Likewise, the combat side is very repetitive – sure there are lots of different melee items (from mannequin arms to baseball bats to even a table lamp) but they almost all handle in an identical way. Aiming your attacks is also tricky due to this shoddy camera. I don’t know if this angle adds to the tension, but it usually ends up with a frustrated player screaming at the screen. There are also a few button-press sequences, which normally suggests a lack of originality.
Overall, Saw is worth a look at. Although it does have its issues and gets a tad repetitive after a few levels, the first few are quite exciting and interesting to play through. If only the excitement and the tension continued to the end of the game it would have been a notable selection. It is at least worth a rent.
68%
Could've been such a fantastic game. Never played it, but I've watched lots of ingame footage. Looks abit lacking tbh :( Will have a look at it regardless, unless they do a film job, and bring out like 7 Saw games.
Hopefully there won't be seven!
As I said, it is worth a look as it may appeal. If it didn't get repetitive so early on it would have made a great title!
As I said, it is worth a look as it may appeal. If it didn't get repetitive so early on it would have made a great title!
GROSS BUT COOL GAME I RECOMMEND IT
I wish it was on the wii though as it would be great! Your review was really good. I've watched the walkthorugh for the xbox360 and at times i thought some of the items within the game was repepitive.