"Tolerate" is probably the best way to describe one's experience with Blood Curse as the actual horror elements make it worth suffering through at length. The village of Hanuda is a fantastic setting for a game such as this and the environments are some of the most unsettling since Silent Hill 2 so many years ago. Blood Curse is so true to its J-horror roots that even though the plot is quite muddled and obscure, that's part of its charm: you may not know exactly what's going on at any given point, but your confusion is shared by the characters and the fear of the unknown is successfully magnified. Unfortunately, the game itself can't quite live up to its promise as its gameplay keeps the rest of the production chained down. The erratic controls and invulnerable enemies make for one too many trips to the Game Over screen and even the most intense of scenes becomes a bore after a few restarts.
One huge plus for Siren: Blood Curse is that it does take advantage of its episodic nature, despite not really being released episodically. Think of Siren not so much as a brand new series, but as something you pick up later on DVD because your friend told you it was worth checking out. With each episode comes a different playable character and thus a different twist on the mechanics, meaning that even if you didn't like the episode you just played you're bound to get something different on the next. It also features a dramatic intro sequence with every episode and ends on the note of, "next time, on Siren." It's enough to make you growl, "previously, on Battlestar Galactica" at the beginning of every new episode before you curl back inside yourself.
Bottom Line: Appropriately enough, Blood Curse is the Siren of 2008 as it's an awkward and ultimately shoddy production that is just unique enough to gain a cult following despite its laundry list of faults and short comings.
Recommendation: Only serious horror junkies looking for a fix need only apply. You'd better have some Silent Hill audio dramas signed by Yamaoka himself.
This review is based on a version of the game downloaded from the PlayStation Network.
Jared Rea is a freelance games writer who misses the golden age of Saturday night Nickelodeon. He also totally guessed about the existence of Silent Hill audio dramas before bothering to fact check it. Oh, Japan.
