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For once a scary game

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 4 / 6
Date: April 22, 2004
Author: Amazon User

Even though many think other horror games are really scary(resident evil,silent hill,fatal frame)U have to check this out! The games plot is excellent!! It involves a scary town in which every 30 years red water will appear! It gives eternal life and many of the people think this.(I know its sounds wierd but stick with me) The people drink the water and become shibitos(living dead). Now u may think zombies are stupid well shibitos are one hell of a enemy. First thing is they are dead but have human traits. Which means they can have weapons! These consist of guns,melee weapons, and even a sniper rifle. Now another thing is they never die so u better becareful if you run into "ONE" now if u run into a group. Bend over and kiss you A$$ goodbye. Now this might seem bad buts its good! Its soo original too. Another good thing is the sight jack! U can see what your enemys are doing. See where they are there pattern of inspect. The sound music and grpahics are top notch. The acting is pretty good but not great. There are only some minor issues. The controls feel sloppy and when u hit things u always bounce off. Anything else its a great game for survival horror fans tired of the old same game. I must say check it out! Rent or buy it today!

Not Silent Hill, But Very Original

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 3 / 3
Date: April 23, 2004
Author: Amazon User

I didn't know what to expect from this game initially, all I knew up until I bought the game yesterday was that it was from the creators of the original Silent Hill. I must say that I am not disappointed. Think Silent Hill and Metal Gear Solid with a nice dose of Japanese culture and mysticism and that's as close as I can get to describing this game. I like the survival horror-stealth concept that this game presents. It's definetely original and I think this game will do well. If you lack the ability to be patient I suggest steering away from this one. It's primarily brains and not brawn. If you want a suspenseful experience this is the way to go.

Tough and Grim

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 34 / 34
Date: April 23, 2004
Author: Amazon User

I'm not a wimp or a gaming novice, so its not often I think that a game is too difficult...but this is exactly how I feel about Siren. I was very excited about playing it after seeing advance demos and previews of it, but I was unprepared for the challenge that was ahead of me.
The game plays like a cross-breed of Silent Hill and Metal Gear Solid, in that your adventure takes place in a nightmare world of derelict locations populated by sub-human zombie type monsters, but, with little or no means of attacking them, your success is largely down to using stealth tactics to sneak your way through the game, or to surprise and attack the enemy from strategic hiding places. Unlike the radar map in MSG, here your characters have the ability to see through the eyes of other people, which helps you plan your safest route, or warns you of attack when you suddenly "tune in" to the sight of yourself being run towards from behind! The game's setting is spot on. The many locations are on the small side, but all fully detailed and explorable. The enemies are horrifically realistic, mostly made up of zombified townsfolk who are all bleeding from the eyes and lurching around armed with various weapons and torches to seek you out with. It has been said that survival in this game is tough, and it's true. Be prepared to spend a lot of time watching your characters die as you try to work out the various strategies to passing each stage. The try-die-try again gameplay echoes that of the PS game "Fear Effect", so if that drove you crazy, expect more of the same. The playable characters are exceptionally vunerable to attack, and two swipes with a knife or one well-placed bullet will be then end of you, and the zombie enemies are relentless in their pursuit. In addition to this, when you do actually get a weapon with which to attack the zombies, you have to act fast because they always get up again after being knocked out for a minute or so. It adds up to an exceedingly punishing game, but I guess its actually far more realistic than the life bar and instant healing products of other survival horror games.

More problematic than actually just surviving, though, is working out what on earth you are supposed to be doing. The game is split between several playable characters, each of whom have separate "missions" to complete, and all are played non-chronologically at varying times within the game's 3 day timescale. The levels usually require a very obscure set of conditions to be met before you can accomplish each mission, and sometimes, the same stage will also feature a further, hidden puzzle that needs solving so that different characters can proceed through later missions. The menu for this is a kind of 3 day plan-o-gram with slots for all the characters at different days and times, with coloured lines linking them all up...it's quite a mental feat to piece all this together to work out what is going on. One really annoying aspect of the game is that if the hidden conditions to "open up" later missions are not met in the levels you have already completed, you are forced into a loop of replaying the same levels over and over again until you realise that there is a part of the river you did not think to look in (if you went that way), or a spot on the ground that the game prompts you can be dug up (if you happen to be standing in exactly the right place). Many players may suffer immense frustration whilst playing when they find they are never allowed to go anywhere new. I know I did, and it leads me to believe that only a truly dedicated player is going to put in the amount of work needed to make it through to the end.
This is a real shame, because the general concept and story behind the game is truly original, and there are some genuinely unsettling scenes to be encountered, which should startle even survival horror veterans. The graphics are amazing, characters look and move like real people, but sadly the obviously authentic Japanese setting has been weakened by the saddling of all the speaking characters with British (sometimes even cockney) accents, which is a terrible mistake. Still, the other design strengths just about manage to make up for it. Characters have recognisable personalities and all play differently. You'll soon find yourself with favourites and don't be surprised if you occasionally find yourself moved to sadness at their plight, or terrified along with them.

In conclusion, this is a teeth-grittingly hard game to play. Combining all too easily killed characters with obscure puzzle hunting, in levels where you have no pointers towards what to do or where to go, is a triple whammy that the game struggles to win you over with. Otherwise it is so near to being the most terrifying game on the PS2.

OK Game

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 1 / 1
Date: April 23, 2004
Author: Amazon User

Siren Wasn't A Bad Game, It Just Wasn't What I Think A Lot Of People Expected.
They're Aren't Many Games Like Siren.
*You Play As Ten Different People In This One Town That Is Being Taken Over By "Zombie"-Like Creatures.
*Your Told To Find An Item Then Run To The Finish Line.
Sounds Easy, But Not Quite.
*These "Zombies" Are All Over The Place, And They're Not Stupid. They Can Hear When You Run, And They Will Chase You. Even Into A House! And Some Even Have Guns. Yeah So It Has A Little "Metal Gear Solid" Feeling. Just With All The Hiding.
*Now Thankfully All The People Have A Gift Call "Sightjacking", Where You Can See Through The Enemy's Eyes, So You Know If The Coast Is Clear, Or Even See An Item That Is Around Their Area.
*In Some Levels You Start Out With Two People! So Not Only Do You Have To Look After Yourself, But Now This Other Person.
-The "Zombies" Don't Die. You Can Knock Them Out With Various Melee Weopons Or A Gun Or Two. But Just For A Short Amount Of Time.
--I Had One Big Problem With The Game. Your Mission Is Usually To Get An Item, Or Flip A Switch Or Something Then Go To The Finishing Point. But They're Are Other Optional Items They Don't Tell You About That Can Be Used To Get Other Levels In The Game, And To Get The Real Ending. They're Not Easy To Get And Sometimes Up To Five Different Items! And If You Die, They're Gone! And Your Forced To Get Them All Over Again. The Game Doesnt Have A Quicksave Option Or Anything Like That.
-You Definitly Need To Be Patient Player With This One-
-Siren Does'nt Really Have Much Replay Value, You Can Get Everything In One Completion.
*I Reccomend The Stradegey Guide Because All The Items Are HARD To Find.
With All That Said, Siren Isn't All That Bad, I've Never Played A Game Like It, Pretty Original.
I Recommend Renting. Or Definitly Buying Used At A Local GameStop Store. But The Price On Here Isn't So Bad.
So If Everything I've Said Hasn't Turned You Off, Give It A Try.

Ruined by lack of Japanese language audio track.

1 Rating: 1, Useful: 2 / 14
Date: April 25, 2004
Author: Amazon User

How can you have a game where all the characters are Japanese, the setting is Japan, and yet have all the characters speak in U.K. English with U.K. accents? Talk about spoiling a great thing. Siren 2 is supposed to be on the horizon, and hopefully the game's makers will come to their senses and include the Japanese audio track for all releases. It could have been right up there with Silent Hill, but instead the realism, and thus the intensity and scary factor, is lessened because of the lack of a Japanese audio track, which could have been easily included since this game was released in Japan with such an audio track. Those responsible for releasing this in America must have made a major mental lapse -- I hope so, because if they actually sat down and thought of some "reasons" to not include the original language track, then there's simply no excuse, no justification. Ridiculous, just plain ridiculous.

it's not worth the style.

1 Rating: 1, Useful: 1 / 7
Date: April 26, 2004
Author: Amazon User

it's a gmae of a kind, like fatal frame made it's own
style.
but this is a
"manual labor - countryside espionage action horror game"
nothing more nothing less.
go try it at a friends house .dont waste your money.
i give 1star because it has style.

Three Days in Hanuda - An Extremely Demanding and Scary Game

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 3 / 4
Date: May 02, 2004
Author: Amazon User

Oh boy - this is the kind of game that most developers are AFRAID to make. It demands a LOT from the gamer, and doesn't coddle him/her in any way, shape, or form. If you cannot handle a challenge or do not wish to think (a LOT), this is not your game. But if you do, this is most definitely a five-star experience.

You begin in the remote Japanese village of Hanuda, and there is weirdness afoot - an ancient ceremony is disrupted, an earthquake shakes the ground, loud sirens sound from out of nowhere, and a blood-red sea appears (even though the village is well inland, in the mountains). And the dead begin to walk the earth.

If it all sounds very apocalyptic, it is. But its an apocalypse thats localized to Hanuda, leaving you to wonder why that's so - why is this particular place so cursed? Stay alive long enough and you just might find out.

And thats the hard and SCARY part- you're not a hard-bitten machine-gun toting superman in this game, you're just a regular person. Actually, persons, since you play as one of ten main characters in an ensemble cast. Through the shared experiences of these survivors over three days, you slowly begin to unravel the mystery of just what has happened to Hanuda, and why.

You won't always have a weapon. What you will have is your wits - and the psychic ability to 'sightjack' - being able to leap into the mind of the dead (or living) beings around you, and see what they see, hear what they hear. Its actually a tremendous advantage, but it requires patience and intelligence to use, something not every gamer nowadays possesses. They want a thrill ride. Siren is not a thrill ride - its a "Are you smart enough and tough enough to survive?" challenge thats a hard slap in the face. Casual gamers need not apply.

Stealth is a big part of the game - as in a real situation in which you're alone and surrounded by enemies, you don't want to attract attention unless you have to. If you do have a hand-to-hand weapon, you can usually take a shibito (Japanese for 'the dead') down one-on-one, but thats only a temporary measure - in a minute or two, that Shibito will regenerate and get back up again. You can't really kill what's already DEAD, after all.

Even a gun (yes, do you get them sometimes in this game) is but a temporary savior, due to your finite supply of ammo. With the Shibito's ability to regenerate, a gun is no substitute for you being able to THINK of a way OUT of there.

If you're getting the idea that this game celebrates brains over brawn, you'd be right. Another part of that are the various Archive items you'll find along the way - clues, as it were, to the mystery of Hanuda. Some you'll even find by looking through the eyes of various Shibito as they patrol the town - clever, that.

The music and 'look' of Siren is quite appropriately creepy. Fog and mist are in abundance, and many of the missions are at night (which, incidentally, is the best way to play this game- at night, alone, with the lights turned off and the sound turned up). The voice actors do, unfortunately, have rather thick British accents, but thats a minor quibble and quickly forgotten as you begin to immerse yourself in the world of Siren.

The game will punish you (immediately) for bad or ill-thought out moves. Nor are there many moments where you'll feel like you're 'the king of the world'- a successful survivor of a place thats gone to hell, more like. But if you can handle it, Siren is a very rewarding game that'll actually make you a better, more thoughtful gamer.

Good luck - you'll need it.

for those with alot of patience

2 Rating: 2, Useful: 0 / 2
Date: May 02, 2004
Author: Amazon User

Sony gave it a good try but the game is too frustrating. The story begins with part of the Japanese landscape gone to Hell. The population has been turned into killer zombies called Shibito and you have to survive and find out what happened to the town. You can "Sightjack" so you can see through the eyes of the shibito, which is pretty scary, but you really don't care because as soon as your starting to get emotionally invested with your character you switch to another one. The accents do not fit the characters, and the color palettes used in the game a very drab looking. Be prpared to die and restart alot. Silent Hill 3, The Suffering, and Fatal Frame 2 are better choices.

A REVIEW ACTUALLY EXPLAINING WHAT THE GAME IS LIKE

3 Rating: 3, Useful: 1 / 3
Date: May 06, 2004
Author: Amazon User

Ok how this game works. its like a horror puzzle game. You get a special feature that allows u to have vision of the enemies around you. You must find your way through the forest trying to use the vision specialty you have, and try not to get seen by the enemies. Its in 3rd person with quite good graphics for a ps2 title. All characters have many many different facial expressions and the lighting effect is amazing. Its a cool idea, but its not a free roaming game such as resident evil, or fatal frame. It would be the scariest of all horror games if it was free roaming. Currently i am on the 3rd lvl or mission. It may change to free raoming later, but so far it is not. Its a cool idea, and i may end up liking it better than i do now. Any questions im me on aim at kilik327 or yahoo messenger at ujio_last_samurai

original, scary & difficult

3 Rating: 3, Useful: 1 / 1
Date: May 06, 2004
Author: Amazon User

This game is so intelligently crafted - and if you love getting scared, you should definitely get this. The fear factor really gives Siren its edge - but prepare to devote a lot of playtime for this one.

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