Siren (Playstation 2, 2003)
Posted: Sat Mar 16, 2024 8:00 pm
I became aware of Siren thanks to the recently released book called From Ants to Zombies: Six Decades of Video Game Horror. I thought it would be neat to try some of the games listed as I encounter them by flipping around.
As I am also trying to get my softmodded Playstation 2 running games, this seemed like a good mix. I burned a DVD of Siren and while nothing about the process was perfect, I was able to play a couple of sessions tonight. I didn't do a whole lot of research about Siren, but it seems to fit within the subgenre of horror game where you are a normal dude running around a dark environment - Silent Hill, the Resident Evils where you aren't a cop, P.T. - that kind of thing. There are a number of opening cinematics and not a FRAME given to telling you what the controls are, but I didn't get a manual with the game by playing it this way. As far as I can tell:
- Siren drops you into environments for you to explore and survive
- You can "sightjack" others after the first mission to see what they are seeing. A video game mechanic everyone loves!
The teenager or twenty-something that you start out crashed some kind of cult. I had the same reaction to this as I did playing the much more modern "World of Horror" game on Steam recently. The designers of this sort of game do not waste any time telling you why your character is in these situations. They just are.
A drunk cop is trying to shoot you for spying upon the cult doing their cult thing, so you have to run away and find your way into a shed to get keys to open a truck to drive away. The cop behaves more like a zombie than a drunk person, so I am just going off what I read for guides to Siren that says that he is drunk. He can shoot you twice before you die. You have no weapons here.
There is a catch all action button (triangle) for you to choose what context-sensitive action you want to take. You have to use this input to get the key and unlock the truck and start it. When you peel out, you run over the cop that was trying to shoot you. This is one of my favorite tropes in video games. If you are the hunted and you get a car, you are definitely going to smear the hunter on your way out. I did it in Necrotic Drift with the character that Walrustitty played, and there isn't that much difference between Siren and your average text adventure, Siren just has beautiful graphics and movement and a little collision detection. But the verbs of the game are very much the same.
I think the manner in which I am playing it is causing the game to stutter. It fits within this dark horror game though. Your second "mission" or board or level or whatever just has you, the Japanese boy, talking to a girl who tells you about the sightjacking thing. That was as far as I could play tonight. I enjoyed my time with Siren. I would even buy a real copy if it were affordable, so chalk this up to another victory of two-decades-late piracy!
As I am also trying to get my softmodded Playstation 2 running games, this seemed like a good mix. I burned a DVD of Siren and while nothing about the process was perfect, I was able to play a couple of sessions tonight. I didn't do a whole lot of research about Siren, but it seems to fit within the subgenre of horror game where you are a normal dude running around a dark environment - Silent Hill, the Resident Evils where you aren't a cop, P.T. - that kind of thing. There are a number of opening cinematics and not a FRAME given to telling you what the controls are, but I didn't get a manual with the game by playing it this way. As far as I can tell:
- Siren drops you into environments for you to explore and survive
- You can "sightjack" others after the first mission to see what they are seeing. A video game mechanic everyone loves!
The teenager or twenty-something that you start out crashed some kind of cult. I had the same reaction to this as I did playing the much more modern "World of Horror" game on Steam recently. The designers of this sort of game do not waste any time telling you why your character is in these situations. They just are.
A drunk cop is trying to shoot you for spying upon the cult doing their cult thing, so you have to run away and find your way into a shed to get keys to open a truck to drive away. The cop behaves more like a zombie than a drunk person, so I am just going off what I read for guides to Siren that says that he is drunk. He can shoot you twice before you die. You have no weapons here.
There is a catch all action button (triangle) for you to choose what context-sensitive action you want to take. You have to use this input to get the key and unlock the truck and start it. When you peel out, you run over the cop that was trying to shoot you. This is one of my favorite tropes in video games. If you are the hunted and you get a car, you are definitely going to smear the hunter on your way out. I did it in Necrotic Drift with the character that Walrustitty played, and there isn't that much difference between Siren and your average text adventure, Siren just has beautiful graphics and movement and a little collision detection. But the verbs of the game are very much the same.
I think the manner in which I am playing it is causing the game to stutter. It fits within this dark horror game though. Your second "mission" or board or level or whatever just has you, the Japanese boy, talking to a girl who tells you about the sightjacking thing. That was as far as I could play tonight. I enjoyed my time with Siren. I would even buy a real copy if it were affordable, so chalk this up to another victory of two-decades-late piracy!