• Format: 360 (version reviewed), PS3, PC
• Unleashed: Out Now
• Publisher: Konami
• Developer: Zombie Studios
• Players: 1
• Site: www.konami.com
  

The first film in the series was highly regarded by critics, even though some disagreed with its rather graphic scenes of violence. The sheer volume of grizzly content has earned the series a reputation, with many film critics labelling the genre as “torture porn”. However, as the series continued it never really evolved, throwing the same old tricks at the viewer and simply trying to out-do itself with the levels of violence it can legally project across a cinema screen. Much like the film series, the Saw video game début starts off well but quickly becomes dull and repetitive.

In the game you play the role of Detective Tapp, a man obsessed with exposing Jigsaw. After Tapp suffers from a gunshot wound, Jigsaw has the bullet removed and sews a key into his chest in its place. Tapp then wakes up in an abandoned insane asylum, filled with a number of mentally unhinged individuals, desperate to tear him apart and retrieve the key located behind his ribcage in order to escape.

Typical living area for a British bachelor

As well as being able to fight with your fists you will also be able to wield several weapons including pipes, bats, scalpels and table lamps. Many of these items are quite cumbersome and you will likely be irritated by the lack of a targeting system as you frequently deliver painfully slow attacks into thin air. The best weapons available to you are your fists, making the variety of weapons at your disposal slightly redundant. Simply using faster, bare-fisted attacks makes combat considerably easier. Spamming a series of uppercuts aimed at your opponent usually gets the job done with minimal effort, making the combat feel far too easy and unrewarding.

There are some unique enemies that will explode once defeated or others that will cause you to explode if you are too close to them after a certain time limit. Unfortunately, the fact that the combat is so easy gives these unique opponents very little chance to shine.

Puzzle action in the game is slightly more enjoyable than the combat aspect. As you make your way through each level, there are a number of smaller obstacles and hazards that need to be avoided. As you are bare-footed, stepping in broken glass will reduce your health bar. There are also a number of doors that, once opened, require you to press the corresponding on screen button, under risk of suffering a shotgun to the face, which, of course, will result in an instant death. The shotgun/face style trap also comes into play in the form of trip-wires which you will need to disarm, or suffer another instant death. These dangers ensure that you are constantly on your toes, with a further sense of caution added due to the dimly lit environments, requiring you to navigate through the dark with the aid of a camera, lighter or torch.

The other puzzles are usually presented in the form of a mini-game and some of them are genuinely quite clever, making you piece together a series of cogs to make a stationary cog move or look at a room from a certain perspective in order to find a hidden code or message. This aspect of the game really did have a lot of potential and the first run of puzzles is actually quite enjoyable. However, once you’ve searched through a container filled with dangerous objects/substances or repaired a broken circuit board several times over, the game begins to feel a little repetitive. The end of each chapter offers a major puzzle, acting as a sort of “boss” for the level, where you need to save a life. Although these are generally quite enjoyable, a few of these are basically larger scale versions of puzzles that you will have already undertaken several times through the game.

Although this is a very short game, there is quite a lot of backtracking involved. You will usually find yourself confronted with a locked door, sealed with a combination lock and have to run back and forth in order to find the code, which becomes very tedious.

It doesn’t really fit into the survival-horror category either. A survival-horror title usually involves very little resources. In Saw you begin with the best weapon in the game and health isn’t really an issue as you will most likely find more bandages, water bottles and syringes than you can possibly use.

There is some effort to add replay value as the game offers an alternative ending, but with a chapter select system you will most likely only want to replay the very last level in order to view both ending sequences.

Sadly, despite its many flaws Saw is an attractive game. The atmosphere fits well with the series, and as you progress you will see mangled corpses caught in barbed wire and watch people desperately claw at a window, begging for help as a collar around their neck explodes.

If you are being nit-picky you may claim that the amount of deaths you witness are a little excessive, but overall the game offers a very fitting and aesthetically pleasing gaming environment. With the copious amount of blood, guts and senseless violence, the condemned asylum acts as a perfect Saw setting.

Less can be said for the sound in the game. The audiotape instructions delivered by Jigsaw are well done, but beyond this the atmospheric music seems to simply loop every ten seconds and enemies will shout the same threats or orders at you over and over again.

Saw had the potential to be a fantastic survival-horror title but just didn’t live up to expectations. The few impressive puzzle ideas are overused and the game genuinely lacks any real challenge. No amount of fancy graphics can really help a game that’s fundamentally dull. If you are a fanatic follower of the Saw series, itching to get your hands on the latest Jigsaw escapade you may well enjoy this game. Everyone else should expect to be disappointed.

What causes violence? If you are a fan of George Lucas then you know that ignorance leads to fear, fear leads to anger, and anger to violence. I ask this as currently we are going through the yearly attack on gaming, largely caused by Modern Warfare 2; but most probably an attack which would have attached itself to another game had MW2 not been released. It’s the time of year when everyone wants a game and hence gaming is big. It used to be films which were attacked at this time of year, but hey, compared to games they are so small fry.

It's the fault of these guys. If only they had gone by Easyjet and left the guns at home. Stag parties are getting too complicated these days.

Now whenever I see a news report discussing evidence of how games might make a player violent, I see quotes relating to how those who play games demonstrate increased adrenalin and hence are ‘pumped up’. I can accept that. I can also accept that the same symptom might be displayed by those watching or taking part in football, rugby, boxing, X-Factor, Crufts, ballroom dancing, viewing the news, horse racing, motor sports and, for those who get a kick out of it, fishing.

Are we suggesting we ban those? Of course those commentators who are either stupid or just set out to be, might argue that their point is that only games have you committing acts of violence. I would point out that the violence though has to be triggered through some kind of condition or state of mind. Adrenalin is an indicator normally associated with such a situation. There is little evidence out there of players actually going to commit violence having just played a game. The research instead relies on indicators which might lead to violence, such as adrenaline. Well doesn’t that mean many activities have the potential to turn quiet, peace loving individuals into maniacs?!

In a month where six pupils at a school almost poisoned themselves for copying a plot line from the the pre-watershed BBC drama Waterloo Road, it’s amazing that the industry that got attacked was gaming! Now Waterloo Road is popular, but in the big scheme of things many more millions of young and old people are gaming than watching Waterloo Road. I would suggest that perhaps gaming is less dangerous compared to other activities such as watching EastEnders, Coronation Street, or possibly Countdown. It’s certainly worth examining on that level – i.e. looking at its effect on behaviour proportionally to the amount of gaming content consumed.

What is even more amazing is that the media have no problem with allowing lies about games being circulated. They seem to feel that it is fair game to drop all journalistic training and principles when it comes to attacking gaming. Hence, we see repeated quotes about how MW2 allows you to play as a terrorist – most shockingly played out on Fox TV. For those that have not played the game I have something to say. No you cannot!! You play a CIA operative embedded into a terrorist cell. You witness an attack and, if you feel it’s part of the character, can take part in a massacre; but ultimately you are a bystander to such an attack with limited control over the game at that point. It is crucial to the plot and at the end (spoiler alert) you yourself are then shot dead. It’s dramatic and has been seen in countless movies before. So why the problem now? You even get the choice to skip the scene – ever been offered that by a TV show or movie?

Now this isn't potentially violent at all? He is actually a member of the National Association of Local Butchers

Perhaps it’s because we call them games? Games are meant to be fun, and for children – right? That’s another lie the media propagate of course. They continually allow commentators to remind us that most people buying or playing the games are children. For sure, some are – but most people playing these games are 18 or above, and many are 25 years plus.

In the USA we hear people say that even if a game is bought by and for an adult, if there is a child in the house then they are sure to gain access and play it. Perhaps they are right. However, if they are, perhaps they should start by not keeping handguns in their house! I’m thinking (and correct me if you feel I’m missing something here) that this may be a more immediate and dangerous problem. And you know, you can even lock out your kids from your console very, very easily if you choose to.

I’m not saying there are not games out there with bad taste, nor am I suggesting there should not be age limits or even some games banned. If you can ban a film, then you should be able to ban a game. However, there should be parity between the art forms. In the UK the BBFC initially banned Manhunt 2 and fought to try to stop it being released. Why?

Now, apart from the pictures of men in masks holding guns AND this picture of a fist, what actually IS there on the packaging to alert parents to the fact that some games might contain shooting and violence?

Their own research concluded that players do not think that events in a game are real. We no more think we are really scoring the winning goal in the FA Cup than we think that we too have three heads and live on the planet Zog whilst playing a fantasy game. Indeed, they found that the fact they are interactive and we have to push buttons often brings us out of the drama and narrative, reminding us they are only games. This is something movies cannot do, and we can get lost in them and become ‘pumped up’ in a sustained way without having a release until the end of the film. So, why oh why, when it comes to violent games, suddenly all that research goes out of the window? What is the logic and reasoning for this? When films like SAW and Hostel are released, why then fight to ban Manhunt? Are the individuals in charge of these organisations stupid?

"I see stupid people, they're everywhere. They walk around like everyone else. They don't even know they're dumb!"

I don’t think they are. Well, I hope they aren’t anyway. I think it’s far more likely they are running scared. Those that are in the industry and those that are associated with it, such as the BBFC, still lack the self confidence to describe and communicate what gaming is to those that do not yet play them, as we do. This is a huge problem as it allows the issue to be hijacked by the Keith Vazs of this world. There are people, often important and influential people, who latch onto these issues without first thinking them through. People who, fuelled by their own ignorance, let their own emotions get carried away, eating away at their fear until they explode violently against an industry, artform and past-time which contributes greatly, in a positive way, to millions of people’s lives.

Maybe George Lucas had it right all along.