So here we are again; another Halloween, another month to write a deliciously themed article.  Luckily this is a game-oriented site, else I would spin tales of true terror; of mortgages and debt, of teething and dirty laundry!  Of blistering noise and thunderous silence!  Of monkey's paws!  Of sump pumps!  Alas, I could not incur the wrath of my own conscience for such a deed, and must instead bring you a brief tale of stress and confusion.  You would call it Siren for the Sony PlayStation 2.



I find stealth mechanics extremely stressful, and thus in my age, very frightening.  "Who would have thunk it," I often ask myself, "that this player of games of psychological nightmares and so-called 'thinking man's' horror games would shiver at the prospect of creeping through a brush or hallway, filled with enemies, hoping to remain unseen?"  Then I remember that talking to one's self loudly while in the presence of others is also a little scary, and now I am doubly scared.  For my children, not for me.  Maybe for you.  You know what else is scary?  A woman with a shrimp cocktail on her face, creeping around like a creepy freak.  Forget your questions of identity in an ever maddening world.  Cold shrimp.  On somebody's face.  Getting a mite bit too much into my comfort zone with that food, she is.


Now if I can be serious for but a moment, I might talk about how scary Siren is.  Than again, I might not.  I find the game intriguing and fascinating and full of an atmosphere that makes one sit bolt upright and wide-eyed, frantically searching for the next source of tension that you know is around the corner. You might ask yourself, what do I do next, or what is even happening?  Now I do find Siren scary, but only by proxy, as Siren is one of those games wherein the true cause of personal fright for me - hitch up your pants, everyone....is heartburn.

Now don't get me wrong, I actually find many things more frightening than heartburn.  Getting attacked by a rabid animal in the dark whilst taking out my trash is a big one, but there are other circumstances to take into account.  I am, after all, a gamer rapidly approaching the end of my third decade of life.  I have a full-time life, with a job, two children, and a wonderful, committed wife who also has full-time employment as well as being a part-time student.  So by necessity, I must play my games at night, once the days responsibilities are cleaned/put away/folded.  There are many of you, no doubt, that share this same necessity.  Personally, the one thing I do not want, between 11:00 p.m. and 2:00 a.m. is a nice round of heartburn, which is exactly what Siren manages to serve up to me, nearly every single time.  What follows is a lot of pacing, imbibing of chalky liquids/tablets as well as a healthy pull of milk.  Usually it passes, but not before at least an hour has gone by, at which it could be as late as three o'clock in the morning. *Sad/tired face*


Now another man, in complete control of all of his faculties, would simply abstain from playing the game, and getting a restful five-plus hours of sleep that night, but I simply cannot.  Siren preys on my brain, like a mild case of schizophrenia, and somehow this time of year, it manages to migrate its way into the tray of my aging PS2.  More to the point, I really like this game, for reasons that I cannot readily quantify.  Is it the quaint atmosphere, literally dripping with horror and darkness or the tense, fear inducing music and effects?  Perhaps it's the eerie character faces, which are far too realistic, yet still seem to jump far too rapidly between emotions?  Maybe it's the near inability to defend yourself against your enemies, or even destroy them properly?  Then again, the way the story gets even more absurd as the game progresses is quite...  enchanting.  That could be it, right?  Maybe I could just be a complete weenie, as my five year-old referred to me the other day, and say all of the above?  Yes, I do feel a bit like an Oscar Meyer today.

I was very surprised to see the average rating for Siren was so high in the database here at RFGeneration:  82.5% (as of October 17, 2015).  Why?  Are a strange lot, often poking our noses into Eldrich horrors we know not of?  Maybe it's because the game is very unforgiving, and we are a traditional bunch.  But not only in its game play deliberately difficulty, but it doles out a massive amount of confusion quite literally almost right from the get go.  There is not really any ambiguity with the story, although it is a little perplexing as well.  Rather it gives you exactly what you need to progress the story so that you can, perhaps, see the end of the game.  Now looking at the database, a little under three percent of our community have reported as owning the game.  Even as small as that statistic is, I imagine that an even smaller percent have played the game, and even less have gotten past the first few hours.  There is a reason for that, but I don't want to get too much into it.  The biggest hurdle to this game is not the difficult game play, but rather the annoying way the story is progressed. 

Let's break this down for a moment, shall we, without getting too much into specifics.  Remember the confusion that I mentioned before?  You may hear me repeat that several more times from this point on.  Now this really isn't a review, nor does it contain any of the generic information (I hope) that you can glean from the Wikipedia page.  The story of Siren is told through the lives of thirteen or fourteen individuals, all trapped on the Japanese island of Hanuda.  Story progression is pretty interesting, as it is told in little episodic blocks where you will control a character (sometimes leading another) as they move around the stage and try to survive.  For a good, long while, the game goes from one episode to another, only ending when you accomplish some task, such as moving an object or reaching a location.  Then suddenly, and without warning, the game opens up and loses its linearity (or so it appears) and its mind as well. 

It's at this point that you suddenly realize that while Siren has a very linear story, much like a Tarantino movie, it is told completely out of order in respect to the rest of the game.  Being able to unlock another episode to play will require you to revisit a stage you already finished and accomplish another goal to open the way for another character to progress through the same area at a later date in the story.  Very cool idea, in my opinion, but also quite confusing.  After the honeymoon portion of the game is over (the first four or five hours that most people play before they quit), it can be quite difficult to figure out how to unlock another episode.  Maybe you have to eliminate a sniper, or even lower a radio down a well; it all seems very ambiguous at times.  Personally, I had to resort to a walkthrough at one point, which was not really that much of a help until I sorted exactly what I had done in each episode and where I might have gone wrong, as Siren doesn't track this info in any way. It might be better, perhaps, to play the game with a closed walkthrough at hand, perhaps dog-earring the page where your general progressions is.  You know, just in case.


Okay, so I (and the rest of print media and the Internet) have had my digs at the game, so let us flip it around for a tick.  First, I would like to repeat that I really do like the game, despite the great discomfort it gives to my gut and head.  Much like FarCry 2, Dark Souls, and the PC version of Drakkhen, Siren has grown a little root into my life.  I know I didn't really get much into describing the game or its mechanics, its story specifics, its strangely horrific citizens, and the whole SightJacking thing, as perhaps some of you would have liked (though likely none that have read this far into the article), but I really want everyone to check it out, even if it means consulting a walkthrough or even if it means only playing through the honeymoon part of the game and quitting.  At least pop this game in for a while.  We know all about our Silent Hills and Resident Evils and are wholly familiar with our Amnesias, Dead Spaces, and Five Nights at Freddy's.  We've seen the naked guy in Outlast and taken many chilling photographs in Fatal Frames.  You know what you might try?  A short, sharp round of Siren.  It is worth it.

Siren is available for the PlayStation 2, as well as (not sure about this one) for the Sony store and can be bought and downloaded on your PS3 for only $10 (last time I checked).  The physical PS2 version, depending on your region, can run from a few dollars for a loose copy, or as much as $20 for a CIB.  Still, there are deals to be had, and there are many copies of this game to be had for all to enjoy....or get heartburn with and/or confused by.

Thanks for reading! 

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