by Lynda Mc Donald

Created on: July 31, 2009   Last Updated: August 01, 2009

Siren: Blood Curse is Survival-Horror games which currently only available for the Sony Ps3 console, it is basically a remake of the previous Blood Curse game. The game puts a twist of the popular zombie genre by placing the story in Japan, and having the zombies (these are actually referred to a shibito) inhabiting a local village that apparently 'vanished' after a number of human sacrifices were made there.

The game's shibito are a lot smarter than your average zombies, and much like in Resident Evil 5, they are able to use weapons quiet effectively as well as run and perform a range of different, but easy tasks e.g. they can pull levers and turn wheels. This itself is quiet frightening, as it means it is much more difficult to outsmart them or even outrun them. What's even more scary is that nearly all the characters start out with no weapons, so they only way you can survive being in the presence of a shibito is hiding until you can run and get a weapon. Waiting for a shibito to leave until you can make a break for it can be quiet daunting, so the games has a helpful little feature: a split screen where you can play as normal while locating, and looking through the eyes of, any nearby shibito . This is a really handy feature because the majority of the game is stealth based, which unusual in a survival-horror as you usually just have to kill or outrun your attackers. Shibito also have the ability to talk, this means that if an English speaking shibito is perusing you, it will most likely be calling out to you and trying to convince you to come to them.

Unfortunately for any gamers in the United States the game is heavily censored, which will have a huge effect on the game quality, as apparently the amount of blood splatter and all the scenes with the Bella, the little girl, have been taken out completely.

The games level set up is quiet unusual, but not unpleasant; the game play is split into twelve episodes, with a lot of cut-scenes in between. The graphics are great, the shibito are terrifying and finding yourself weapon-less is common enough. Unfortunately the game is rather short but it is a good game, with a really fresh interpretation of zombies that will scare you to death, I'm giving it 9 out of 10.

Unless you live in Japan Siren: Blood Curse can only be bought online from the Play Station Store.

Learn more about this author, Lynda Mc Donald.
Click here to send this author comments or questions.