Review: Saw

[sarahvait]

Wow, I thought this would suck. I mean, after Saw III and IV...

Btw, this still isn't the game with the most exploded heads ever. Try playing PsiOps - every time you sneak-sap someone, their head bursts from your PSYCHIC ABILITIES!!!

If it's anything like the first Saw movie, then I might buy it. I didn't relly like any of the movies past number 2, and that was pushing it a bit.

Pretty much my thoughts. Especially since I watched the first 3 movies one after another with few of my friends and we all agreed that 1 was great, 2 was okay, 3 was meh.

...Just like Matrix.

Yeah, I watched the first Saw and never saw the other ones. I really didn't see the point of continuing. I mean, I watched that movie and had to pick my jaw off the floor at the end. That's just me anyway. I'm sure you intelligent folks weren't impressed, but man, I literally could not leave until I watched the whole movie.

Spoiler

I mean, Jigsaw was there the whole time in the room with them! Those two guys knew that Jigsaw was watching them, but the idea that he was just inches away from the them! And then you realize that that glowing thing that went down the drain at the very beginning of the movie was the key to get out, but it's gone, and now this guy has absolutely no chance to escape. And the other guy trying to go for help is slowly bleeding to death and was most likely killed by Jigsaw when he left the other guy to rot in that bathroom. That ending always sticks with me. Why make another movie after that? You know, unless you can pull that off again.

I still want to play the game. I watched my roommate play a bit, and I agree about the voice acting. Not so great. It doesn't match the situation too well.

Spoiler

You save that screamy guy from getting sliced open, and it's all, "It's all your fault I'm here!" Well, you're a bad man! I was just doing my job!" This is the kind of conversation I expect to hear on Law and Order, not in a death labyrinth with massive amounts of death traps. Priorities, guys, come on! Where's the frantic fear of death? The real fury at being involved at all?

Oh yeah, that one conversation between Tapp's dead partner's wife and Jigsaw kinda made me lol. "You and your death traps are responsible for my husband's death." "Hey, I just set up the traps, it's not my fault Tapp wasn't smart enough to keep your husband from getting killed." "You're right! I'll kill Tapp!" ...Well, that was easy. It's like she's subscribing to the logic of hate the player, not the game.

 

[Susan Arendt]

Oh, one other thing about the voice acting that I neglected to mention - the barks repeat incessantly. The other inmates simply don't have enough to say. While I agree that someone with a shotgun collar beeping like mad around their neck isn't likely to be an amazing conversationalist, he'd likely say more than just "I have to do this!" over and over again.

 

[TitsMcGee1804]

sorry susan, I have to agree with Vlane

Movies like Saw, Hostel, Hills Have Eyes...its torture porn, its not horror

Call it an Ultra-violent thriller if you want, but my eye for horror is like, supernatural things like ghosts, aliens or mutated serial killers

Thats extremely narrow minded of me I know, but I will accept that Saw stands up there above every other torture porn (aside final destination 1 & 2) by actually having an interesting story and well developed recurring characters (not the silly impale-fodder)

Me, myself...i hate gratuitous...violence for the sake of violence that the cinema's seem to be caked with these days

28 days later, BEST HORROR EVER....homage to the fact that you dont need to make people jump to be scary, and dont need to pull out peoples rib cages to be disturbing

 

[theultimateend]

Oh, really? You're going to punch me in the face? Good to know.

Damn it. Why do you have to respond? I can't hurt you.

which are horror, whether you like them or not

No The Exorcist is a horror movie. The Saw series belongs to the torture porn genre or snuff movies. You watch a Saw movie to see the death scenes, which are good, but you don't watch them to get scared and I have no idea how you can get scared watching that.

You get off on bloody neck stumps?

Most of us care about our fellow human being enough at least be afraid FOR them. Saw is horror weather you like it or not.

After all, horror is an evolving genre. Saw is just different horror.

"Horror Weather" Now that would be a great movie.

At any rate. I haven't the ability to feel for the people in Saw mainly because of how poorly they are setup. The entire plot is so weak I almost expect an off stage personality to walk in and explain to us why the next scene is important.

Generally speaking nothing like saw, or any gore related movie, scares me. It just grosses me out. Which I can get from a short romp of watching someone eat pig testicles on some reality TV show.

Fear is instilled quite easily when you built up concern for a character, when you help make them relate able, that way when the scene begins it isn't them in the scene...it is you. You watching the world crumble around you as something you once thought certain and secure is taken from you.

At least that is how I've always looked at it. It is also the only time I get anxiety in a movie like that. So far of the Saw's I've seen the only emotion I've got was "Really?" Whenever the trap was something that would cause a person to sooner go into shock than actually finish. Yes...yes jigsaw...certainly going into shock will help that 60 second timer seem all the more reasonable...

At any rate I tried to make this less a bash on another 'invincible' title and more my take on horror (there are certain movies, music, and games that nobody can badmouth without being called out on it for trying to 'look cool' this usually is one of them).

Gore Porn is just like reality TV, it is cheap and easy, that is the real reason folks do it. Why pay a writer when you can just get drunk and write down different ways to abuse cutlery and shop tools?

Oh, one other thing about the voice acting that I neglected to mention - the barks repeat incessantly. The other inmates simply don't have enough to say. While I agree that someone with a shotgun collar beeping like mad around their neck isn't likely to be an amazing conversationalist, he'd likely say more than just "I have to do this!" over and over again.

Never dated a pushy guy who really wanted a kiss?

 

[Yegargeburble]

What actually qualifies SAW as a Horror, I can understand Halloween and The Ring being more atmospherically based alongside tension build ups etc.

SAW is pretty much

1. Puppeteer who has as much anger vs the world as an angsty teenage girl except has the means to carry out his plans.
2. Dark Dreary atmosphere
3. Over the top, unnecessary gore filler
4. Terrible writing and acting
5. A movie for kids below the age of 17.

Ok, let's all agree right now that the Saw movies aren't good movies. You are absolutely correct that the writing and acting are bad, and that they're about as sophisticated as my cat. But not being a good movie doesn't mean it's not a horror movie. You don't like the protagonist, but the godlike villain is a staple of horror, as is the dark, dreary atmosphere, the isolation, the feeling of helplessness, and so forth. Are there better examples of horror? Sure. But that doesn't mean Saw isn't horror.

I have to agree with this. Saw does count as horror, even if the movies pretty much suck (I kind of liked the first one, but after that...). Remember, most horror nowadays has (or tries to have) the above list's content, especially bad writing. In movies with a human antagonist, the antagonist is either:

A: A souless monster. Probably undead (Friday the 13th)
B: An angst / anger filled person bent on killing people. May or may not be undead. (The Ring, The Grudge)
C: Someone absolutely out of their mind (Halloween remakes)

That being said, the game actually looks like it is better than the movies. If I ever have the time, I may rent this game.

 

[SomeBritishDude]

Since I hate the movies I doubt I'll like this game.

 

[[Cold-Shoulder]]

Good review, I didn't even know Saw the game was even out. :/
I saw two Saw movies, the first one was okay but the ending was predictable, the second movie was horrible but I couldn't guess what the ending was.
What movie was the game more along the lines of if you don't mind me asking?

Hmm...I don't want to give away a lot for the folks who might enjoy playing it, but given that you play as Detective Tapp and run into more than one person from his past...it's kind of like a blend of 2 and 3. It's definitely more trap-based than the original Saw, which had a far more robust storyline.

Sounds interesting.
Worth renting the game at least just to see what it is like. Thank you.

 

[Fearzone]

Nice review. For a game that was completely off my radar it has made me think about getting it.

 

[FROGGEman2]

Lovely tag at the end, I think I may give it a try.

 

[Jas0913]

Cool review, nice job Suzzz =P.

 

[TraderJimmy]

Saw isn't based on horror movies since the Saw series isn't part of the horror genre and I will personally punch you in the face if you say otherwise.

So yeah I hate the movies so I will probably hate the game and I won't give it a chance to impress me.

But it's a nice review.

Saw 1 through 3 are definitely Horror. No doubt about it. They're in a tradition that goes back to Poe (although this time, the Pendulum frequently fails to stop swinging).

Saw 4 onwards are definitely...debatable. There's no suspense, because we don't care about or believe in any of the characters (usually deliberately), there's none of the campy 'frights' that make up the rest of the horror genre as I understand it. There's no horror in the things, how can they be considered horror?

Marble Hornets is ten times scarier even than the best instalment of the series, the first. And it's essentially no-budget. Make of that what you will.

The later Saw films are just a filmed version of Mousetrap (Ok, yeah, I know that already exists). And someone dies when the little guy jumps off the diving board.


This game looks quite good. Beginning to get sick of the continuity though, it no maek sens.

*snip*

Fools! All horror movies are inferior in the prescence of The Shining (Best horror movie ever IMO)!

Saw could've been much better, it had a good concept but decided to focus on gore rather than a psychological element of horror, which would have been much more frightening. That said, time limits have always made me nervous in games and that combined with what appear to be reasonably tough puzzles should make my heart pump, a definite rental.

nojustno

Hate The Shining.

Book much better. Muchmuchbetter. Kubrick vastly over-rated. Only film not completely ruined by him, Clockwork Orange, which no-one could ever ruin anyway. It's still significantly poorly directed.

Jesus, I may never forgive Kubrick for that cheesy adaptation, and for RUINING the end of bloody A.I. Which was amazing until the point that Haley survives the fall . And apparently, it wasn't Spielberg who tacked the shitty ending on.