Saw: The Video Game picks up a day or two after the events in the first feature film. This time the participant in Jigsaw's game, no relation to the Marvel villain of the saw name, is Detective Tapp from the film. Danny Glover's character. He finds him self sew shut from the bullet wound and in generally good health, except for the fact that he is in a trapped to shit mental hospital filled with other "victims" trying to dig a key to their safety and survival from your chest. Oh, and he not only has to save himself, but multiple other characters from the films. Some of which, if you have seen the movies, you know what ends up becoming of them.

Controls:

For the most part, there is no innovation to the basic controls of an action or survival horror film. Except that this one uses quite a bit more "quick" action presses to do certain moves and disable traps from blowing your head off. Like when opening a door, you have a few seconds to disable a shot gun trap before stepping in front of the barrel, or when knocking a "minion" (named because technically they are working for Jigsaw but only to save themselves.) to the ground you can stomp their face in if you follow the instructions correctly. Nothing to major, but these are the basic controls.

There are a few different sets of controls that come into play with the traps them selves. Like for instance on the PS3, the use of the sixaxis to keep balance while walking over a pit trap. Not the first in PS3 use, but this control isn't used much at all. There is also the toilets filled with needles that you have to shake and move around to virtually dig for a hidden key as well. Once again, not innovative, but a nice little you of the technology. I could just imagine this game using Natal or the PS3 Motion controllers. Then they would be amazing. Maybe in a patch.

Unfortunately to tarnish the rather well done controls, there were a few issues with a few of the other basic trap controls like twisting a dial and flipping circuits. Sounds just like you would imagine too. Press left or right and do a button press respectfully. Only the twisting was crazy sensitive, spinning the dial like there is no gravity and pressing the button to flip would usually flip the circuit 2 to 3 times for a press. Randomly too. Something that you can see was not intentional. So there is no hiding behind that guise Zombie Studios.

Graphics:

With the use of the Unreal Engine and some really well done, creepy models, Saw's visuals are top notch. Which only adds to the dark, movie inspired environment as well. You could look at it at times and think it was a rendition of the film done completely in Machinima. The good machinima too. There were a few locations that I saw in the game and thought, these would be awesome in future films. Very well done.

As the characters go, for the most part they looked as close as they could get without snagging the original cast of the characters to go in for molding. As is to be expected. Think more along the lines of when they make good toys based on real people. You can see how fake they are even though they look a lot like the person they are mimicking. No complaints here at all.

Unfortunately, again, on my system, there was a major graphics glitch that happened randomly. Something to do with the shadows and how the lighting was done in the game. There were times where shadows would start filling in the screen obscuring everything but the HUD. By filling in, I'd turn around and get shadow tracers that started to expand out as if someone spilled ink on a sheet of paper that was the screen. This would happen at both inopportune and opportune times and sometimes when going into the pause or inventory screens.

This made the game unplayable until I ran and spun around in random directions until it just popped off the screen in the blink of an eye. Again something I know was unintended for the game and stories sake. But it made the game very unplayable quite frequently that if I wasn't a fan of the franchise, I would have taken the game back and exchanged for another title altogether.

Audio:

While they were not able to secure Danny Glover to voice the main character, they were able to get the rest of the cast. Including Toben Bell, the voice and actor for Jigsaw in the films. This of course added a bit more into the fun and immersion of the game. Hearing the voices brought back full memories of the film and let very well to the fun and experience. Oh and before you ask, they got a really good voice actor to sound like Danny Glover for the game, so it isn't much of a stretch to get into all the characters.

As for the background music, there is nothing outside of the sinister and grinding noises of the environment unless there is action going on. Even then, sometimes there is no music. Much like the films and any other good horror film you can think of. The mood is completely set by this and anxiety of trying not to let Tapp die is raise quite a bit. The only thing I could say might make it better is the removal of music all together. I don't know why, but that makes it all even creepier.

Gameplay:

When you look at it, there are three real modes of gameplay. As is to be expected here, it plays just how you would think it would be to survive one of Jigsaw's trapped havens. You need to figure out how to survive areas to figure out the clues he has left to gain your escape and life back. It can feel a little Resident Evil, sans the big monsters, at times; Find the item here to unlock door there. The puzzle solving and collecting aspect as is custom to all survival horrors. Only in this case, the items you are seeking are keys or nails to pick locks.

Then there is the combat side of the game, with quite a few different weapons you could use. A table leg, fabric scissors, a table lamp, a crutch, and even a gun are some of the weapons you can use to smack someone down with hard or light attacks. Which becomes a button mash to see if you can hit first. Also to see how fast your weapon breaks. Which makes sense at first, but a baseball bat shouldn't break as easily as a metal pipe should. They both do the same damage and they both break after five uses. Which makes no sense at all.

Finally, even though they were mentioned above, the puzzles. While part of the survive and search process, they really make up a totally separate portion of the game. Everything is a puzzle with it's own way of beating it. In fact the only thing that is not left to randomization is the previously mentioned Pipe Dials. Patterns and requirements are different every time you try them. Which is good to keep solutions from being posted online for players to fly through the games. Where's the fun in that right?

I do need to say that some of these puzzles and traps are insanely easy or insanely hard. Some of the lock picking puzzles can be beat by simply pressing a button once. I did it twice during my play through. But then you get a puzzle like in chapter 5-6 where you get 7.5 minutes to bypass to large arrays of circuit puzzles, a smaller circuit puzzle, kill a guy, and disable another pipe dial all before having to run back out of the maze of corridors to safety. It was absolutely ridiculous.

Fun Factor:

Finding out what else has been going on as well as why some of the characters of the films are they way they are is ridiculously fun in this game. It adds so much more to this story than the side Matrix game did for that franchise. Which was kind of the point of the game, besides making money. It keeps you wondering what the hells is going to happen next. Not to mention it is more about the story then anything. Which this reviewer is all about.

While the puzzles can be frustrating, I found myself enjoying the challenge some of them presented. They aren't you run of the mill type puzzles either. Which also has to get you thinking somewhat outside the box and take a look from a different angle. If only some of them were not so ridiculous at time. The irritation to fun factor had me leaning away from fun to annoyance too many times.

Overview/Final Words:

All in all, this game is for the true die hard Saw fans, or anyone that wants really easy Trophies/Achievements. At least to buy. There is not many reasons to replay the game once completed, unless you want to play it on insane mode. Which from what I've seen means just less health for you and more for the minions. All the traps where the same difficulty no matter which way you slice it.

It adds quite a bit of extra story to the whole six year film ordeals. Including a few "Holy Shit" moments. Both in shock of the twist and scare of the action. It is completely worth a good rent for someone that doesn't fall in the category above. Saw: The Videogame is not a long game at all, if you exclude the number of times you will die during your play through, so people who are not fans of the franchise might be upset shelling out the $59.99 retail price.