Product details

Abstract

Survival horror that centers on a land-locked village in Japan that disappears following the loud blaring of a siren.

ESRB rating

Blood and Gore, Intense Violence, Strong Language,

Full description

Players tune in to a vision of the living dead in this PS2-exclusive survival-horror game. Siren is set apart from similar macabre adventures by its heroes' ability to "sightjack" the first-person perspectives of other characters in the game. Using the analog stick like a fine-tuning dial on an old TV set, players can pick up and hone in on the energy of nearby zombie-like men and women, which are common enemies in the game, and see the world from their points of view. Once found and fine-tuned, up to four such out-of-body perspectives can be stored and selected with a button press, allowing wily survivalists to survey an entire area without stepping into danger themselves.

The game is designed to generate fear through the unknown. The players' vision is often obscured by fog and darkness. The over-map displays the surrounding area in detail, but does not show the characters' current location in it, forcing them to orienteer their position based on compass readings and visual clues. Only by studying their surroundings from different perspectives, learning the behavior patterns of nearby enemies, and combining these discrete pieces of information to imagine the larger picture, can players hope to understand their current circumstance well enough to devise a plan to safely escape. Siren's storyline involves ten playable characters, each with a different background, all desperate to flee before they meet the same fate as their undead pursuers.

Siren is set in a Japanese village that has recently suffered an inexplicable, unholy disaster. Soon after a strange red rain fell from the sky, and the river turned the color of blood, the villagers began to lose their humanity, becoming undead "shibito." While it seems impossible to kill a shibito opponent, they do show the results of a good attempt -- in the form of blood and wounds. Unlike these frightening undead, however, the game's heroes are quite mortal and can be killed with just a few hits. The best hope is to avoid the shibito wherever possible, using the sightjacking ability to see impending attacks, find the most secure routes, and discover hidden bonuses from a relatively safe distance.

Special features

Play as ten different characters through 78 missions

"Sightjack" system allows players to see through the eyes of the enemy while advancing the story

Game's story line and monsters are based on Japanese mythology