Review: Saw
- Thread starter Susan Arendt
- Start date
What actually qualifies SAW as a Horror, I can understand Halloween and The Ring being more atmospherically based alongside tension build ups etc.Susan Arendt said:
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.
There is a lot of repetition to the puzzles, yeah. Even one that aren't specific repeats are very similar thematically. But I still thought they were clever, on the whole. I personally appreciated a more "in your head" approach, as opposed to running from zombies and shooting everything in sight. (Not that I don't love those games, too.)Alone Disciple said:
Think of it as more of an "E for Effort" than actually "this game is high quality," if you like, as that's more accurate.
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.
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.WHENTWOTRIBESGOTOWAR said:
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!!!
...Just like Matrix.
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!!!
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.Catchy Slogan said:
...Just like Matrix.
My instructor for a "Gothic Horror Literature" class (which was a lot of fun) basically described "horror" as the only genre that is named after a familiar emotion, fear. There are also games, books and movies that have horrific elements but are not labeled as "horror", per se. I'm a fan of the "King's Field" games for the Playstation/Playstation 2 consoles, and while the game was good for an FPS RPG, the game(s) did well in capturing the feel of a dungeon that it was a little creepy (especially with those damn transparent ghosts).
On Topic: Nice Review Susan. It seems like it's going back to the original roots of the first two (though I think the first one was the best so far). It's also nice to see the idea of horror games branching off to other genres besides adventure/action gameplay. This kind of reminds me of a grim/gritty version of "Spy vs. Spy".
On Topic: Nice Review Susan. It seems like it's going back to the original roots of the first two (though I think the first one was the best so far). It's also nice to see the idea of horror games branching off to other genres besides adventure/action gameplay. This kind of reminds me of a grim/gritty version of "Spy vs. Spy".
I'd have to say the game is probably closer to the second movie than the first. It's set between those two and uses the characters from the first, but it has the same "one large environment trap broken into a series of smaller trials" set up as the second (or probably closer to the third, since all of the trials involve one person having to try to save other people). It was, however, written by James Wan and Leigh Whannell, the writers of the first movie, and they also helped to design the traps.Abedeus said:
![[Cold-Shoulder]](https://eg-forums-escapist-data.nyc3.digitaloceanspaces.com/data/avatars/l/60/60749.jpg?1620549096){kind=avatar}
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?
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.CaptainChaosify said:
So the game has a creepy and unsettling atmosphere, it's based on a series of horror films, and the entire objective of the game itself is to survive... but it's not survival horror?
I'm incredibly confused by this concept and if someone could explain it to me then I would greatly appreciate it. Plus to narrowly define survival horror and then defend saw against other peoples narrow definitions of horror seems kinda... funny
I'm incredibly confused by this concept and if someone could explain it to me then I would greatly appreciate it. Plus to narrowly define survival horror and then defend saw against other peoples narrow definitions of horror seems kinda... funny
Yeah, I knew I was going to get an argument on the survival horror line.Taerdin said:
Well, to my mind, at least, survival horror involves an impending threat from an outside enemy -- zombies, monsters, ghosts, whathaveyou, which is not the case with Saw. So it's not survival horror in the typical sense. That's my personal take on it, anyway, but your mileage may vary.
Fools! All horror movies are inferior in the prescence of The Shining (Best horror movie ever IMO)!Susan Arendt said:
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.