From the moment I*Motion's original genre-creating masterpiece Alone in the Dark first appeared on our computer screens more than ten years ago, original ideas for the survival horror category have been few and far between. As regardless of what studio these games eventually come out of, it seems that nearly every single member of the genus has done its best to copy the model set forth by Infogrames; while adding little else to further the class. Though titles like Resident Evil and Silent Hill have indeed built entire empires off their strong presentation and storytelling elements, the core gameplay design itself is only one-degree north of where it originally started in 1992. Suffice it to say, the need for some innovation is definitely there.
Apparently SCE Japan's newly acquired Director Keiichiro Toyama felt exactly the same way when he sat down to create his latest survival horror entry, Siren. Having already directed and helped to design the original Silent Hill title for Konami, Toyama had a distinct vision of how he wanted to scare people like they'd never been scared before. That is, what if players could see the world through the eyes of the game's other characters? And to take it a step further, what if they could see their own death through the eyes of the thing that is stalking them? It's a creepy idea for sure, and it's also the premise of Siren; an overly atmospheric and highly stylized attempt at the terror genre.
As intriguing as this concept is, however, the real trick is to make it work. Sight-Jacking into the eyes of friend or foe alike certainly sounds like a great idea, but using that feature effectively can means the difference between Clock Tower 3 and Clock Tower 1.
Story
Powerful storylines can often be what makes or breaks a survival horror title and luckily for Siren, its plot is one of its strongest elements. Taking place over a three day period in the small Japanese village of Hanuda, Siren's narrative is a disjointed tale of spookiness right out of The Ring and Ju-on. As the story goes, there are unspeakable occurrences in the Hanuda Township every 30 years or so and tonight just so happens to be that tri-decade anniversary. In an instant, the surrounding bodies of water have turned the color of blood and the skies have opened up with a relentless rainfall. Unfortunately, the inhabitants of the village have been affected too and have transformed into mindless zombie-like creatures known as Shibito. From that point on, your one and only goal is to survive the three-day phenomenon and discover the source of this madness.
Though it sounds a little derivative at first, the plot is actually quite complicated and fascinating. Rather than follow the game's underlying mystery in a traditional way, Sony has opted to take a more Tarantino-like approach to the structure and reveals the plot in segments outside of any traditional chronological order. So while the game begins with an 18 year old student named Kyoya Suda discovering the girl Miyako Kajiro at 9am on day one, it quickly switches to the viewpoint of Professor Tamon Takeuchi who is lost in the night with his scared companion an instant later. In all, there are ten different characters and each one of them has their own motivations, fears, and back stories that affect the overall tale.
Because of its non-linear structure, Siren can definitely get pretty confusing in its earliest moments, with the identities of your protagonists, why they're in Hanuda, and how they're able to use psychic powers turning out to be as big a mystery as the origin of your enemy. Eventually everything will begin to make sense, but your understanding of these events is entirely dependant on how well you can piece together the clues provided and how well you can spot the little details that make everything come together.