Saw
a game by | Zombie Studios |
Platforms: | XBox 360, PC (2009) |
User Rating: | 7.8/10 - 49 votes |
Rate this game: | |
See also: | Horror Games, Old School Games, Cult Classic Games, Games Like Friday the 13th |
Saw is a video game adaptation of the popular horror movie franchise of the same name, featuring sadistic traps, brutal death scenes, and plenty of disturbing content. The game was developed and published by Konami, the same company responsible for the classic survival-horror franchise Silent Hill. Historically speaking, video game adaptations of movies have never performed well, but the Saw movies present a good foundation for a fun horror game. By focusing on the puzzle nature of the original stories and putting players in the middle of a deadly game, the Saw video game does a decent job turning the terrifying film world into an enjoyable interactive experience. Those who are squeamish may want to turn the other way, but fans of horror will be surprised at the quality of the Saw video game.
Main Game Features
- Original story featuring characters from the movies
- Multiple narrative endings
- Bloody combat and complex puzzles
Story
The Saw game takes place between the first two Saw films and puts players in the shoes of Detective Tapp, one of the original detectives who worked the Jigsaw serial killer case. Known for the twisted life-or-death games he places his victims into, the Jigsaw killer has evaded police capture for some time. Now, Detective Tapp finds himself in a game of his own, trapped inside an asylum and forced to progress through gruesome sequences. As Detective Tapp travels further through the asylum, he discovers the secrets behind the Jigsaw killer's origins, uncovering some of his own demons along the way. The story has multiple endings, which are determined by various player choices throughout the game.
Gameplay
Similar to the Silent Hill or Resident Evil franchises, Saw plays from a third-person perspective, with players controlling Detective Tapp and guiding him through the booby-trapped asylum. After waking up in the abandoned building strapped to a chair, you'll need to find a way to escape before you perish from the various dangers within. Although the asylum is abandoned, you'll find other characters trying to complete their own game, which often requires you to defend yourself. Combat is simple, with the ability to attack, block, and counter. There are over a dozen weapons to use in the game, which are also required to complete some puzzles.
Puzzle-solving plays a major role in the moment-to-moment gameplay, as many of the game's sequences will require you to think and act carefully. Certain sequences force you to complete grotesque tasks like digging through toilets, as well as avoiding needles and razor wire. You'll occasionally encounter more complex traps with a timer, wherein you must search the environment for clues and figure out a solution before time runs out. Navigating the asylum's halls is also dangerous, as you'll encounter doors that have been rigged with shotguns, electrified puddles, and other macabre death machines. You can disarm these traps by successfully performing a quick-time event, so you'll always have to stay alert while playing, otherwise suffer the setback of death.
Conclusion
Although the story isn't as effective or frightening as the movies it's based on, the Saw video game is still plenty creepy and entertaining. Clocking in at around 6 to 8 hours, you'll be able to wrap up this deadly adventure in just a few play sessions. For fans of the Saw film franchise or survival-horror games, the Saw video game should be an interesting albeit slightly repetitive nightmare. Casual gamers might prefer a classic horror game like Silent Hill instead, but the unique serial killer story can only be found in Saw. If you're looking for a fun horror game to try out, there's a good chance you might've missed Saw when it first released, so give it a try.
Pros
- Bloody traps reminiscent of the movies
- Fun puzzles
- Translates the tone of the movies well
Cons
- Too many quick-time events
- Combat feels clunky
Download Saw
System requirements:
- PC compatible
- Operating systems: Windows 10/Windows 8/Windows 7/2000/Vista/WinXP
System requirements:
- PC compatible
- Operating systems: Windows 10/Windows 8/Windows 7/2000/Vista/WinXP
Game Reviews
This Is a game about sticking your hands in places where they shouldn't go. Not usual places like down ladies' bras and inside coffee machines while they're dispensing, but rather more sinister containers: commodes filled with used syringes, barrels of corrosive acid, and the chest cavities of living people. It's inside these things that nefarious antagonist Jigsaw has hidden the dozens of keys, cogs and fuses you'll need to move through his retrofitted insane asylum.
There have been, to date, 4,000 SAW films. You need only have seen one of them to understand the appeal: people deemed guilty of some sort of moral infraction by Jigsaw are kidnapped and placed in extraordinarily sadistic situations. The most famous of these is one in which a girl's head has been placed in a reverse bear trap, primed to snap open and split her skull in two unless she can dig a key out of her still-alive boyfriend's stomach. Thus, the torture porn genre was popularised, and we all pretended to be disgusted while we all secretly loved the guts. SAW does a decent job of carrying over the horrific predicaments, but for the most part reduces them to panic-free quick-time events. Third-person melee combat is slow and clunky, the environments are bland and (though it makes sense considering you spend the game trying to escape one building) repetitive, and the same handful of puzzles (like the stick-your-hand-in-something-icky puzzle, and one where you've got to align numbers in mirrors) are wheeled out over and over again.
If you've watched every SAW film while breathing heavily and stroking your underparts, there'll be something here for you. Otherwise, with some ropey PC controls S4LVs something of a gory stinkpot.