Forbidden Siren II
It’s been a while since I saw Forbidden Siren II in action at E3 and in the meantime I was able to research the ghost islan Yamijima from my comfortable chair to uncover all kinds of dark secrets. Did the virtual horror manage to interest me and more important: was it true horror or did you get an equally scary feeling as when seeing the extremely bad acting Paris Hilton in the funny comedy like the remake of House of Wax?
Well, let’s cut to the chase: Forbidden Siren II manages to dwell you into a claustrophobic atmosphere where you’ll quickly jump up by any sound you hear around you. Atmosphere and certainly horror stands or falls with the sound experience and that is in FS2 just amazing. Since most of the time you’ll be running around at night you won’t quickly notice it but also the graphics are doing a very good job making the PS2′s CPU sweat.
It’s like you’re playing an interactive film where you get the possibility to finish the different chapters in your own tempo and loosely your own order. To be able to comprehend the storyline I would suggest to follow the preset line and let the pieces of the puzzle fall into place. While playing as a little boy that wakes up from terrifying noises on the ground floor, a soldier that saw it necessary to put a bullet through the head of his fellow companion, or a couple of survivor’s from a ship wreck you constantly get a clearer image on what is going on on the island and who these strange creatures are.
The gameplay mainly consists out of hiding from the enemy of attacking it with anything that can be used as a weapon while next to that you also have to solve puzzle after puzzle. Plenty of variation and to have an edge over the opponent you can use Sight Jacking with which you can check out the surroundings through the eyes of someone else which of course gives a strategic advantage. Unless of course you’re watching your own back through the eyes of your enemy. Scare effect assured and that’s what counts in this game!
I must admit that I’ve never been a big fan of puzzle horror games seeing that often the atmosphere was laughable and the gameplay not too great but together with Capcom’s Haunting Ground, Forbidden Siren 2 made it clear that this genre can contain a lot of fun. There aren’t a lot of games that make me jump from my chair when suddenly an enemy suddenly appears on the screen, or make me crawl down from fear when that typical danger tune starts playing from my speakers, but Forbidden Siren 2 is certainly one of them.
For those that don’t want to fall asleep at night, this game is a must-have. For the casual gamer, this title can be/look a bit too complicated but it’s certainly a title worth checking out
8.0