SAW: Thoughts from the First Hour

2 Jan, 2010

Hello Reader… I want to play a game – Actually I already have, it’s the Saw Videogame and I have been waiting to play it for so long. The Saw movies – even though they are sick – are amazingly clever in the way the traps are set, the stories are played out and how everything seems to wrap up and make sense. These are the reasons I truly love the Saw movies – well the first three maybe. So in this “First Hour Review” I’m going to shed light on my views of the game so far… Oh Yes, there will be blood.

I could see a problem with my experience before I had even started. The problem was that I was creating scenarios and stories in my head from the moment I heard that the game was being made, so I knew that it would take a miracle for the game to live up to what I had imagined it to be. This is why I never get my hopes up about a game because I know that it is inevitable that I will be disappointed.

Well I have some news for you, it’s actually really really great. I knew that it would be good when the title screen appeared because it’s a gorgeous digitally rendered version of the Rusty Bathroom that all Saw fans know and love – wow that impressed me. This familiar imaging teamed with the ghastly giggle of Billy the Puppet made me regress to the excitement and mindset of a child at Disneyland, “Oh my God this is gonna be so good”, were my exact words I believe.

I was pleasantly surprised to see the action kicking off almost immediately with Detective Tapp – our cardigan clad protagonist – with the Reverse Bear trap fixed to his head and the situation being shoved in our faces by the quick cut, flashing between snippets of terror that Saw has made famous. From what I’ve seen in this first section of game play, I believe the game is set around the time of the first movie, considering Tapp is there and another familiar face, Amanda, has yet to become the apprentice of ol’ Jigsaw.

It’s excellent the first time Billy appears on the TV with the horrendous voice of Jigsaw echoing through the tiny bathroom that you start in, I was grinning too much to realise that the timer was running down and I was being given button prompts to escape from the headgear. I did it obviously, it’s nothing too complicated, wiggle the Left Stick and then press one of the buttons – mine was Y because I’m engaging in some Xboxing. Actually a lot of the traps in this game so far can be easily disarmed with a nice slice of button pressing, for instance, opening a door sometimes starts up a pulley system and if you don’t press the correct button in time, you get a visit from the shotgun to the back of the head fairy.

Before I go into any other game play details I shall indulge you graphics connoisseurs by confirming that although it is dark, (What did you expect?), it is extremely pretty. The eerie glow of the televisions and the effects of the fire shine off of the walls in a way that screams horror – Konami, I love you! I have had one or two graphical errors I must say, one of them looked like a complete catastrophic failure of the Xbox’s graphics but thank Jiggy it wasn’t!

Along the way there are other poor pawns in Jigsaw’s games strewn about the place with the objective to kill Tapp because – in true Saw fashion – he has a key in his gut that somehow is the key to everyone’s trap. So these deranged oafs blunder about with rusty metal devices on their heads and it’s your job to either barricade or bolt doors to stop them chasing you, or just put them out of their misery by introducing their face to your weapon of choice. If you manage to destroy them then you get to watch the trap engage anyway which is somewhat satisfying for a morbid chap such as me. Another annoying enemy comes in the form of a fellow with a shotgun collar on, Tapp manages to get one of these delightful things around his neck too, so when an enemy with a similar collar appears, you have to get away from them as fast as possible because if he gets too close… Boom! So lock a door behind you and listen to his collar go off, it’s kill or be killed people so don’t be all moral with me!

Healing yourself after a battle with these guys or a stroll through a mass of broken glass, (yes you are barefoot), is easily done. Merely ram a hypodermic needle in your neck or arm to relieve the pain of anything that might have invited itself into your life. Also you are able to pick up smaller instant health items like Bandages or Bottled Water to fill a little amount of health that may have been lost in a fist fight.

The aim of this game from what I understand so far is Tapp, haunted by his past, has neglected his entire life, so Mr J. Saw has set up a nice assault course for him to traverse so that he may re-live the events that lead to his partner Sing’s death due to his incompetent behaviour in the situation. Finding audio tapes with clues leads you into small, timed traps where you fight to find the solution before you are blown up or electrocuted. The ones I have encountered so far have been very well thought out, for instance standing in a correct place in the room to be able to see a picture of a puzzle solving symbol painted on the walls with glow in the dark paint, “It’s all about perspective, Detective”, or circuit completion puzzles which cause a slight amount of shouting and disgruntled faces. Other small puzzles include lock picking and shoving your hand into needles or acid to find a key, now that can only be described as nasty!

Each chapter of the game is separated by a different victim, I won’t mention any spoilers but when you find them, you are forced to release them from the traps they are being held in before either the time runs out, or they die due to you making a mistake.

Now the bad points – yes we knew there would be some – this is a game adaptation of a movie after all. The light sources that you are given are pretty pitiful, first you get a lighter which does nothing unless you stand right in front of what you want to see, and even then it’s like a dim glow that gives you a headache. The Torch does a good job of lighting what’s up ahead, but the camera is angled so that Tapp is always standing in front of it. The last one I have encountered, the Camera… it’s hardly worth mentioning it, but you just flash it and you get a brief freeze frame of the room you’re in, fully lit, I can’t see any purpose for this apart from a bit of nostalgia from the first movie maybe?

The second – and surprisingly – the last bad points are the trip wire traps. These cheap and annoying, almost invisible wires are the bane of my existence causing 90% of my deaths and because the Checkpoints aren’t that frequent, I often complete a ten minute section of play only to run into one and have to exchange stern words with the game whilst repeating the entire thing. If you aren’t constantly scanning the floor, then you are going to set off one of these traps and receive another shotgun blast to your Cranium. This would be fine if; A. The camera wasn’t angled upwards so you can’t see what’s below – unless you keep stopping and pointing down, or B. Even if you are looking carefully, the wire might still be disguised as a crack in a floor tile and BAM! You can disarm them and re-arm them to kill your pursuers but honestly, don’t bother unless you are using it immediately because this game involves backtracking and as we know Backtracking + Forgotten Trip Wires = Tapp – Head = Dead.

So to wrap up my initial look at the first hour of the Saw videogame, I will end by saying that this title does not by any means disappoint a loving fan of the series or indeed besmirch a great franchise of entertainment. I look forward greatly to seeing what vile and difficult trap Jigsaw puts me up against next. In fact, if you don’t mind me leaving, let the games begin.

Let us know your initial thoughts of this game in the Comments section below. Keep it Spoiler free though because remember, we’ve only played an hour!