Forbidden Siren PS2

The survival horror genre just got a tad more horrific thanks to this latest scare-em-up from Sony. Developed by a new studio at SCEJ, Forbidden Siren brings Japanese-style horror to the PlayStation 2, and if you've seen films such as Ring, you'll know that it's pretty chilling stuff. The bloodcurdling tale takes place in the Japanese village of Hanyuda, which, without warning, suddenly finds itself awash with evil, encircled by a sea of blood, and resembling pretty much the closest you can get to hell on Earth. All but a few inhabitants have been shall we say, zombified, with the survivors now immersed in a world of fear, endowed with the gruelling task of investigating the events that happened, whilst evading the vile creatures that were once their friends. The game takes place over a three-day period, with the player's control switching at key points between the ten survivors. Each character - from the inquisitive high school student Kyoya to the murderous old hunter Akira - is in the village for different reasons - you must understand their past and their reactions to the evil that continues to spread in order to begin to unravel the mystery. The adventure is made up of 78 episodes in total, which rather than occurring chronologically, take place at various different times within the story, with play zipping back and forth throughout the game's three-day time span. Consequently, the twisting plot unfolds in a rather sporadic fashion, often bringing you into contact with characters whom you know are soon to perish, or into scenarios to which you already know the (generally gruesome) conclusion. A rather novel element in the game is known as 'sight jack'. This is a feature that gives you the ability to steal the viewpoints of other characters and enemies in your immediate surroundings. Both a curse and a blessing, 'sight jack' allows you to temporarily predict enemies' movements and actions, but renders you immobile and defenceless at the same time. Forbidden Siren is inspired by the gothic novel