If you have not heard about the Saw series, you probably are not a fan of the horror genre, whether represented by books, movies, games or excursions to odd places. You’re probably thinking that you this game will put your heart to a high pressure, but it is not quite like that. If you want to know more, read the review below.
The action takes place between the first two films of the series, the main role being played by the ex-detective Tapp. This, after receiving a bullet in the chest, is saved exactly by Jigsaw even with a seemingly small price: in the place of the bullet was brought a little surprise. Nothing serious so far, just that all those caught in the puzzle can escape from death with a single key: specifically, the little surprise you have instead of the bullet that you received earlier.
The game begins in the bathroom which is already famous, a little modified for the producers to introduce a way of escape. After a puzzle quite simple and intuitive, the game takes on a path that already does not follow the story in the movie. However, the puzzles encountered retain that “something” that characterizes the killer from the first two parts (Jigsaw, aka John Kramer), such as the possibility of escape, marking the clues and the puzzle sign drawn on almost all doors.
The action takes place in an insane asylum in ruins, but most of the time you’ll spend in dark corridors, looking for traps prepared by Jigsaw, avoiding guns that can be triggered by a cable or avoiding the broken and scattered shards that can make a road between two points a true adventure. Most of the obstacles encountered in the game take the form of mini-games, some quite simple for the adventure fans.
However, the introduction of the factor “time” in some places manages to bring the players on the verge of despair, and the connecting of a series of pipes under four concentric circles is ten times worse when you know that the pipe will stop the gas entering the room. Unfortunately, the vast majority of puzzles are very easy to answer. If you give nose to nose with a locked door, certainly in an adjacent room there is a code written on the walls, whether is viewed in a mirror, or is seen through a hole in the wall.
The story spans several levels, each bearing the name of Jigsaw’s victim, the victim which must be rescued by the player. If walking through that level can sometimes seem child’s play, the puzzle that can save that person is quite challenging. The way how the puzzles can be taken varies, having thus levels where there is a time limit and levels with limited wrong moves. Those victims, who basically are designed to tell the story, will be in some way already known to the fans of the series.
Just like in the first two films, all the puzzles have a way to be solved, so the victim can escape and can begin a new life, but the fate of the detective Tapp is similar to the events of the third part of the series. Thus, he has no chance to escape, whatever the choices, only that he will find this at the end.
The battle, a very interesting element in such a game, is very poorly implemented. The character responds very difficult to attack commands, sometimes it simply ignores them all, and the defense command does not show signs of optimal functioning. The fighting system in SAW manages to annoy many people, but you should get over it quickly if you want to get to the end of the game. Another questionable thing is the hardness of the weapons.
These, being they lamps or pieces of pipe can hit an enemy five times before they are destroyed. However, a wall can be destroyed with such objects, without them losing their resistance. Little strange, considering the idea that a wall is stronger than a human head, but who knows, maybe some people do have a resistant head. The false feeling awakened by the sounds of battle is increased by the fade sounds, with almost no connection with reality and by the faulty collision system. Thus, a stick can refuse to fight unless you very close to the opponent. It is good that the gun and the Molotov cocktails do their job, even if they are found more rarely.
The good part is that often the fight can be avoided, by drawing an opponent into a trap set by Jigsaw, or closing a door and waiting for it to explode along with the trap that is inside it. And even better is that the enemies are all scripted, so that they will not give evidence of too high intelligence, although they can unlock a door or get down on the stairs after you.
James Wan and Leigh Whannell, the Saw franchise creators and writers of the game, took care to introduce elements that made the name famous. Thus, some weapons found in the film are present here, such as the bat with nails or the scalpel. Also, elements of torture can be seen in all the way, the famous mask which breaks the jaw and the head of the victim has a place of honor, and the rifle initiated by a cable is everywhere in the game, the pieces of models enrich the atmosphere, along with other elements that can be found in the film (for example, the illumination of an area with a camera flash, thing present in the second part of the series).
Unfortunately, the dark part of the game was not so good developed visually. Although on the road are found dozens of rooms with the timer on “zero” and the victims are killed, many of them in the way in which they were killed in the movie), the graphic details are not as pronounced as most Horror fans would desire.