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makingmusic476 on 08 July 2008
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9/10

Some highlights from the review:

Sometimes, however, combat won't be an option at all. In the first mission of the game, you need to run and hide from an armed police officer with a gun and an unfortunate case of zombie eyes. The fact that you don't get a useful weapon until the very end of the mission makes the tension all the better. The game returns to that theme in the last mission of the three-chapter chunk we're reviewing today, where you play a defenceless young girl who can't risk being spotted by any of the undead nurses who infest the ruined hospital in which she finds herself. Even knocking over something in the dark and making a noise can have them screeching and converging on you, resulting in heart palpitations as you hunt for somewhere to hide. It's superb, creepy, unbearably tense stuff.

Graphically, the game is nothing short of stunning. Eschewing the clean, crisp look that many other HD games - including present PS3 poster boy MGS4 - have opted for, Blood Curse demonstrates ably how to achieve the gritty, murky look that works so well for survival-horror. The ruined village and its forested surrounds are full of dark, moving shadows, every texture is corroded and rough, and the air is full of swirling mists which add flavour to the environment, rather than obscuring your vision. Indoors, the use of light and shadow is brilliant - on occasion, your first heart-stopping indicator of an impending threat will be a shadow in the light from a doorway.


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However, with the chapters being bundled in threes for a fiver each, the value is undeniable - even taking into account the brevity of the first instalment. The Siren team is, arguably, the most talented team working on this style of survival-horror at the moment, and Siren: Blood Curse is the best thing to appear in the genre in a very long time.

So even if Americanised remakes leave you screaming and running for the hills (for all the wrong reasons), Blood Curse comes with a strong recommendation. For a fiver, we're struggling to think of any reason why you shouldn't try out the first three chapters of what will, at this rate, turn out to be a superb game overall. Look out for our full review of the 20-quid whole closer to its 24th July release.

The director of the Siren series was the lead director of the original Silent Hill, for those who'd like to know.

I'm rather disappointed that the game is being released in episodes via the PSN, though I've heard there may be a Blu-Ray compilation when the game is fully completed. That's the only way I'll buy it, tbh.