Siren (video Game) - Reception

Reception

Siren received generally positive scores, with a score of 71.24% on GameRankings based on 65 reviews, and 72% on Metacritic, based on 48 reviews. Features of the game which were especially praised were the graphics, particularly the facial animation, and the complex and deep storyline. Much criticism, however, was aimed at the high difficulty, the unforgiving nature of the game, the relatively useless map feature which didn't show the player's position in the game field, the obscure nature of some of the puzzles and a general tendency for players to have to utilize trial-and-error methods to progress through the game.

GameSpot awarded the game a score of 6.7 out of 10, with a rating of "Fair." Reviewer Bethany Massimilla concluded that although the game had a great story, and interesting characters, it was "ultimately marred by tedious trial-and-error-based design that makes it best suited to survival horror fans with a good store of patience While the need to know what happened in the village of Hanuda can sustain you, it's a hard ride through all the tedious trial and error you have to engage in simply to pass a level and move on. Fans of the genre interested in something new may be game for Siren if they're possessed with lots of patience--but they're the only ones this game is truly suited for."

IGN scored the game 7.7 out of 10. Reviewer Jeremy Dunham praised the originality of the concept, the use of Sightjacking, the graphics and the storyline, but criticized the difficulty level and the trial and error nature of the gameplay; "At the end of the day, Siren is one of those rare kinds of games that overcomes gameplay shortcomings with its concept, style, and storyline. For those of us that allow ourselves to be immersed by it, it's undeniable to say that the game isn't among one of the scariest experiences on the market; and we're not just talking about the how ugly the monster faces are either. We're referring to its terrific combination of atmosphere, pacing, and storyline twists as well. And let us not forget that the Sight-Jacking system serves as a great way to breathe new life into a genre that has otherwise seen little innovation since its inception 12 years ago. Yet despite that fact, Siren definitely isn't for everyone. As there will unquestionably be a great crowd of gamers that find the trial and error gameplay overly frustrating as they attempt to solve obscure puzzles and slip by the incredibly belligerent Shibito. The clunky menu system and sometimes awkward viewpoint controls will likely grow tiresome for less patient players too, and the armpit voice acting takes away from what could have been the spookiest audio in the history of the PlayStation 2. The good news is that the positive in Siren outweighs the negative, and for players willing to give the storyline and weaker gameplay elements a chance there's one hell of a ride in store for them."

GameSpy scored the game 4 out of 5, with Bryan Stratton following other reviewers in praising the storyline and atmosphere, but criticizing the nature of the gameplay; "For all of the things that Siren does well, there are a number of things that keep it from being a truly A-list survival-horror game. Siren's biggest problem is that it can get very frustrating very early on. If you're not a fan of unforgiving stealth-based gameplay, you're going to die often and repeat missions to the point where it becomes more tedious than scary. Some of the missions are extremely frustrating, such as the ones in which you have to lead a helpless character past several Shibito, or any mission with a Shibito sniper. Siren's controls and camera are also on the sloppy side, which seems to be a genre-wide curse. One of the worst aspects of the control scheme is the way your character is momentarily stunned whenever you accidentally run into a solid object. God help you if you've got a sniper's crosshairs trained on you while you're trying to run through an open doorway, because there's a 50-50 chance you'll clip the doorframe, stumble backwards, and get shot. These wouldn't be such major issues if Siren had scalable difficulty options that allowed less skilled or less patient gamers to avoid getting stuck on one mission, but Siren is intended to be played in one way and one way only, and its inflexibility is going to turn many gamers off. Still, for each thing that Siren doesn't do well, there are two innovative ideas that make it worthy of high praise. It is definitely not a game that will appeal to every survival-horror fan. Those who enjoy it will rank it among their favorite games of all time. Those who don't should hope that some of Siren's good ideas are stolen by developers who can implement them in a less frustrating game."