Saw: The Videogame

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Release Date: October 6, 2009

Saw Review

Would you like to play a game?

The horror genre is at a strange stage of evolution in the entertainment industry. Hollywood films continue to skew towards what critics disgustedly refer to as "torture porn," a type of movie most recently popularized by the Saw franchise. These movies are meant to shock the viewer through mutilation and graphic depictions of death and pain. Meanwhile, horror videogames have turned into shoot'em-ups with far flung sci-fi settings (Dead Space) and muscle-bound, invincible protagonists (Resident Evil). Saw partially succeeds in bringing a taste of Hollywood horror to your console by grounding itself in the gritty and depraved world of the popular film series.

Saw breaks out of the gates hard, introducing us to the protagonist Detective Tapp as he regains consciousness and struggles to release himself from a deadly trap. A metallic helmet has been affixed to his head that will bisect his cranium if players don't quickly press the corresponding buttons that flash on the sides of the device. The puzzle isn't complicated, but from the outset the presentation strikes the right chord by giving us a high tension, nerve-racking experience.

Detective Tapp soon realizes that he is one of many people trapped in an insane asylum and has become a pawn in the deranged plans of a serial killer. His captor is the man he has spent his life pursuing, a brilliant psychopath labeled "Jigsaw" by the press. His claim to infamy is that he's never "killed" anyone, he simply presents them with a choice of actions. Unfortunately for his victims, the decision making process involves self-mutilation, suicide, or murder. They also involve brain teasers and puzzles that require players to act quickly under pressure. Considering Jigsaw often asks his victims if they'd "like to play a game" it's pretty amazing we haven't seen an interactive version of his exploits until now.

Without spoiling anything, I can say that the plot and progression of Saw the videogame is something of a "greatest hits" montage from the film series. Fans will find the scenarios, characters, and violent set pieces extremely familiar. You'll get everything from barrels of pig guts, to limb twisting, to improvised surgery. None of the gross-outs are as gut-wrenchingly realistic as the film, but the graphics have just enough kick to induce queasiness. In this way game puts the best ideas from the franchise to use. Unfortunately the films only provide enough material for a few hours of interactive horror before the formula starts to repeat itself.

Jigsaw acts as a kind of evil god in the game. His voice and image is omnipresent through the use of well placed television sets. He controls all movement in the facility through magnetic doors and cages. It forces the player into a series of bottlenecks and ever deadlier areas of confinement. The asylum is a maze of dirty bathrooms, dirty hallways, and dilapidated stairwells. The décor is fittingly bleak; just don't expect much variety.

The game is broken into chapters, and cleverly the achievements and number of chapters are kept secret to maintain a level of suspense. In each section Jigsaw has imprisoned a person from Detective Tapp's past and he must reach the victim and release them from one of the killer's intricate deathtraps. For example, you partake in the goriest game of Memory ever conceived to free a man from a metal rack. Every wrong move causes his body to be perforated with steel spikes. How's that for motivation?

These set pieces are the big payoff at the end of a level and the most enjoyable part of the game. You'll lose just to see the trap sprung and the victim creatively disposed of. I found myself wishing there were more of these "big" kills and less of everything else, but to maintain a respectable length, the path to each victim is long and arduous.

Jigsaw's smaller traps appear in a few different incarnations. First off, the asylum is filled with small but deadly barriers to slow Detective Tapp's progression. These include doors and tripwires rigged with shotguns that can turn any room into a slaughterhouse. It keeps players on their toes because these traps don't wound, they kill, every time.

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Game Details

Published by: Konami
Developed by: Zombie Studios
Genre: Action
Release Date:
United States: October 6, 2009
Australia: December 3, 2009
MSRP: 59.99 USD
Also Available On: PC, Xbox 360
Also known as: Saw