Hey, check out this amazing theory I came up with: Movie-licensed games suck. Bet you’ve never heard that before. Man, I’m so smart. What’s that? You have heard this? Dammit — way to crush my dreams of actually saying something somewhat intelligent.
OK, well, you may have heard that, but you probably haven’t heard this: The videgame based on the horror franchise Saw actually doesn’t look like a fun-killer.
Hard to admit, I know, but the Saw game was one of my biggest surprises at E3. Because, as you’ve already heard, the cliché is that all movie-based games are apparently terrible. Especially ones built around properties that seemingly don’t lend themselves to a videogame — like, say, Saw. But considering I’m actually a huge fan of the movies (and a glutton for punishment), I was curious to see the game. And I’m glad I did.
If you’re still puzzled why I think a game based on a movie where people escape gruesome death traps actually looks fun, I think you should know this first: The Saw game is not being developed alongside the next movie in the franchise. That means it’s not being rushed out to meet a premiere date and it’s not simply rehashing what’s currently going down in the confusing and convoluted story of the series (thank god — I have no clue what happened in the last Saw flick).
Instead, the Saw game takes place between the first and second films and puts you in the shoes, err, bare feet of Detective Tapp (Danny Glover’s character from the first movie). If you don’t remember what happened to Tapp’s character in the first film, don’t worry — neither do I. But apparently he’s back (yay?) to play a game that you’re also playing, only as him. Whoa — meta!
But here’s where the game sold me: Instead of just a bunch of trap-escaping mini-games, you’re actually put in an abandoned asylum where you have to, yes, escape traps via mini-games, but also use your environment to solve puzzles to progress through the game. For instance, when you first wake up, you’re stuck in a room, but the door’s locked. Well, you’re screwed, right? Duh. But if you look around the walls, you’ll see there’s random paint marks. Look around even more and you’ll notice that there’s also paint marks on the mirror. And if you strategically position yourself near the mirror to align both paint marks, the reflection will write out the correct combination for the locked door. Which, if you’ve ever watched a Saw movie, totally makes sense in the context of the world, but, surprisingly, also makes for fun gameplay.
As you progress through the asylum you’ll also end up meeting other victims of main baddie Jigsaw that you can either help or ignore. But, again, if you’re watched the Saw movies, you’ll know that working together is a big part of Jigsaw’s game, so there’s an interesting dynamic of helping people escape their predicaments but then potentially having to deal with them attacking you afterwards (what assholes, right?).
Seeing all this really felt like Saw to me. And I think that’s what makes this game standout: It successfully folds the core experience of the flicks with traditional survival-horror-type gameplay without it being too overtly obvious. In fact, it makes sense. Too much sense, actually. And that’s what really scared me.