Okay, let’s get something out of the way before I even start talking about this game.
I don’t really like modern horror movies.
I like the old ones, though.
Romero’s Night of the Living Dead is still one of my favorites.
However, new horror movies seem to focus on clichés, grotesque amounts of gore and lame
startling gags than they do on actually producing a chilling atmosphere and creepy story.
No other horror series is more guilty of this than Saw, and what does every terrible franchise
need?
Yes, a bad game, correct!
You get
to live!
Saw follows the story of detective Tapp, who at the game’s start, is being held prisoner
by the series’ signature villain, Jigsaw.
Of course, like all of the protagonists in the movies, Tapp has to solve Jigsaw’s puzzles
in order to survive.
It isn’t quite that easy though, as everyone else in the trap is after a key that is inside
Tapp’s body.
I guess they need to “Tapp into him” for the key.
Now, this might sound a little bit interesting, but it doesn’t really make a good story
for a videogame.
Maybe fans of the movie would like this kind of thing, but having to solve traps in order
to NOT die just isn’t that fun.
I’d rather be setting the traps.
Controls in Saw are some of the worst on the 360.
The camera needs to be turned every couple of seconds so you can actually see, as it
seems to always give you a terrible angle.
Fighting is essentially button mashing, and the controls are just really unresponsive.
I thought I was pretty the wrong button to go into my combat stance, but I wasn’t.
Apparently the game wants to make sure that you REALLY want to pull the left trigger before
actually letting you do it.
If there wasn’t somebody trying to rip open my chest while this happened, it might not
be so much of a problem.
The bread and butter of the game isn’t really the combat, it’s the puzzles.
Just like in the movies, you’ll need to find items and get clues in order to save
yourself from certain death.
Some of these are interesting, like lock picking, but others just feel like pointless collection
quests that don’t have much purpose.
In addition to these, there’s quick-time events that require you to, press the A button
before you get your head blown off, for example.
Unfortunately, these aren’t any fun, either.
That’s the problem with this: most of the game works like it’s supposed to, but it’s
original concept doesn’t have any entertainment in it!
Saw’s strongest aspect is definitely its visuals.
Faces, especially that creepy puppet Billy, look really realistic, and environments help
to convey the creepy atmosphere of the movies.
Unfortunately, the game is REALLY dark for the majority of the time, so you won’t even
be able to see these things.
It’s like every time the developers have a good idea, they have to shoot themselves
in the foot.
Oh, maybe that’s where the next key is!
Saw is a bad videogame based on a bad movie series.
If you’re a fan of the series, and I really don’t understand why you would be, you might
find the story to be semi-interesting.
For everyone else, this isn’t worth any of your time.