Aah game mechanics, the bane of gaming journous and reviewers alike!
I can't rememeber the last time I read an article from non-nieche site that focused on game mechanics unless they were just describing them like a wikipedia article, so I'll talk about Siren again! I could talk about siren unprompted any day, similarly to devil may cry 1&3 it's like everything I like about videogames rolled into one
I even talked about this thing already in my writing guild's submission but I can talk about one think I like for an asinine-ly long amount of time
So what is sightjacking? You stand still and press R2 (I think it was R2? when I play it it's all muscle memory), and then the screen fades to static. Then, you rotate left analog stick, as if you're trying to tune into the radio station, and here it is: you can see from your enemy point of view, and then you can map the "frequency" to a face button; don't take Too long though, you're completly stationary and vulnerable while doing this. Aside from the "dialing into a frequency" thing being super unique and creative and neat, what makes it is it not only creates the gameplay but it reinforces every single aspect of its game
The aspects in question
Siren's atmosphere is blood curdling from just the "presented by sony" screen, it doesn't fuck aound. No matter how many times I played it to 100% I always felt a very very deep sense of dread at the start screen, it feels hopelessThe music? Dont even get me started. No harmonies, just endless looping drones, it sounds like what I imagine the apocalypse would sound like
The enviroments were from the most part recreated from japanese locations, lots of abandoned places and forests, some are pretty much recreated exactly; you can even visit them! JPN fans have done it as the game is quite popular in its homeland compared to the rest of the world
The monsters themselves well; they've caused me my fair shareof nightmares.
They're still intelligent, they can't die, they're weirdly happy and you have no idea what exactly these demon people are until the very end of the game.
The fixed difficulty proudly tells you that if you're not willing to die horribly a thousand times to get to the end you're not gonna make it past level two, you're always vastly outnumbered, get tired quick and can take on one enemy at once MAYBE MAAYBE two if you get ballsy, as your combat is deliberately stiff and unsatisfying (the other bane of the modern audience) and that's only if they don't have a gun.
And on top of that there is no minimap and no map markers whatsoever, your map merely has points of reference which you need to use to orient yourself in the dark or foggy levels, and said levels are full of items you need to pick up or events you need to trigger to continue the game, or as the game's plot goes: you'll be forever stuck in an endless time loop.
FURTHERMORE you may have a companion you need to escort to the end of the level (the bane of top 10 youtubers)
It enhances every aspect you say?
As you start level 1 all you know is you have this power, you try it, and it does the best presentation of a videogame monster I've ever seen; no, experiencedIt's not tecnically the very first time you see a shibito, as you meet one in the prologue, but that's the first time you can examine them for as long as you want.
The immediate thing that jump to you is the sound, oh the sound they make. The voice actors and sound designers really knocked it out the park, listen to this shit
As you try to stomach the horrifying breathing sound you can begin to study them, how they all seem to just go on the same chores they used to do when they were still human, like farming or praying. Some just do repetitive gestures which again seem to come from memory; like trying to light a cigarette or chopping vegetables, or just turning on the tv and laughing like a moron.
Every character has full body 1st person view, as in you can see the rest of them when they look dow, so you can pick up on stuff like how they move their hand and how frenetic they get when they spot you or how fast they're going. Now THIS is a memorable way to introduce and enemy, not those 2 bit biohazard 2 and silent hill 2 remakes where they just say "What is THAT??" and negate any suprise or unqiue personal reaction the player might've had.
The game Does use demos (weeaboo way to say cutscenes) but it uses it to give you a break in between intense levels and to elevate what was already there, the only time it introduces new enemies the tension was already there, and it immediately cuts to gameplay as if to say "go on, it's your problem now.." players may even be startled by how you start off being Already targeted by a shibito and die before they realize it.
Here every player may spend a unique amount of time examining them, maybe you just take 30 secs or maybe you just stand there for minutes at an end trying to figure them out, horrified and fascinated at the same time.
Of course, now you can get an idea of where they are on the map and where they'll go, their pattern, you try to keep your cool and memorize them and BOOK IT when you think it's the right time.
But you also need em for puzzle solving: like I said all the levels are very detailed and will have at the very least one or two things you need to pick up and nothing is highlighted, maybe these freaks will look at it or look at something that'll clue you in; so you alson gotta do the best to ignore their gastly voices and focus on if you're seeing something useful.
You can even use them to spot Other freaks so you kill two birds with one stone and also find out what their friends look like.
N-Nanda..?
And speaking of that..it's awesome for reveling new types of enemies..After a couple levels you are introduced to the brain shibito, and the bug shibito. By this point most players will SJ the moment the level starts to see what's up ahead, one of them has a very weird otherworldy breathing sound..kinda sounds like someone breathing inside scube diving suit that's half full of water? It's so hard to describe. Unlike everything you've heard so far it's inhuman.
But then..you see two more who are crawling or slithering on the groundat an impossible speed, wtf?? And they make like hich pitched cryies?? And this other one is flying and sounding like a radio??? Everything you knew is flipped as you wonder what in the deviol's name is happening now. Do you dare walk intio the darkness and find you? I'm not gonna spoil what they look like but they're charming little puppies.
Imagine if they just walked up to you while you have a clear viw of them with your uncharted-style camera and the main character just went "WHATS THAT??" I wouldn't be here talking about it, all this mistery and slow reveal you piece together yourself would've been thrown out the window. This whole thing was possible because they carefully planned how to let the player uncover the game bit by bit, making you fear what could be in that darkness and making your straightfoward ojective (go there, grab this) way way harder because you gotta do it under stress.
That's another lost art, combining slow and methodical controls with lack of information makes the player do that thing from horror movies where they fumble with the keys while they're being chased: the simplest task requires all your brain power if you're under pressure
And you're Always under pressure. If you don't move your hairy ass either a freak is gonna reach you or the one you just downed is gonna get up and come for your eyes. They don't die by the way that's another thing, you SJ them as they die and as they lay on their knees you can SJ them and hear them breathing. It's coming back. They make an especially nasty sound too as they get up, in fact there's alot of unique little things they do and you may be morbidly curious and SJ them even if it's risky, more chances for player expression..
With many games nowdays I seldom get the impression they came up with the game mechanics first and then built the game around it
- Sightjacking greatly enhances the horror
- May make the player more invested in the story
- Lets the player experiment on what they can find
- Gives them the tools to overcome the game's challenges and balances enemies and levels around it
- Shows off the great care the studio put into the really really detailed enviroments (the opposite of detective vision)
You don't really have to "learn games" anymore, you played one of em you played em all
I didn't even get into Siren being inspired by the seminal namco arcade game and the megadrive port of a submarine pc game, but maybe I'll do a remake of my writers guild submission and do a whole nerd-out about my undying love for this bloody brutal piece of entertainement
Siren is available on I think the PSN if somehow you're on this forum and don't know how to steal a car, its director Keiichiro Toyama recently made another quite unque game with Splitterhead; low budget but way way more memorable than Biohazard 8
Behind the scenes pic and info from this awesome fansite
Siren Maniacs - From the start of planning at the location shoot, until the testing stages
Information about development of the Forbidden Siren horror game for Sony PlayStation 2. These materials were published in "Siren Maniacs" official guide book.
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