SAW is one of those movie franchises that I always appreciated conceptually, but not in actual execution. The concept of a serial killer who kidnaps people whose lives are being wasted and tortures them until they die or escape with a newfound outlook on life is interesting in theory, but the films themselves have essentially birthed what has come to be known as the “torture porn” genre of films. You know what I’m talking about: films where the characters are essentially abused for the entirety of the film, where the death scenes are visceral and gory, and where there’s no real satisfying conclusion because no one ever learns anything, because they’re stupid and/or they die. The films, inevitably, are violent, gory affairs where no one ever learns from their mistakes and everyone keeps making the same stupid mistakes they made prior to being kidnapped, until they die from it or kill everyone they know because of it. Needless to say, making a video game based around what can best be described as a conceptually bleak franchise doesn’t seem like the best idea, but people like the movies, so I guess someone had to give it a shot. The end result, the game we’re reviewing today, actually isn’t a bad attempt at trying to make a video game based around the franchise, surprisingly enough. In fairness, the game isn’t without its problems, and chances are good that you’re not going to like it if you don’t like the films, but to be honest, SAW the video game has absolutely no right being as good as it actually is, and if you’re a fan of scary games it’s worth a look.

The storyline in SAW takes place sometime between the first and second films, and casts you as Detective Tapp, the police officer from the first film who was obsessed with bringing Jigsaw to justice. Fans of the franchise who are looking for authenticity will be pleased to know that as the game begins, you wake up in the reverse bear trap test and have to fight your way out of it before the real game begins, because Jigsaw is a bit of a prick. Jigsaw’s actual game is a bit more involved than that, of course. He’s set up a massive gauntlet of tests and puzzles for you to go through as you attempt to save six people from their own demise, with the intention of showing the good detective all of the damage his crusade against Jigsaw has caused. Oh, but that’s not all: Jigsaw has also rounded up a bunch of less than savory characters and set them in various places throughout the dilapidated asylum, and instructed them that they have to kill you to escape, as our fine friend has removed the bullet that was lodged in the good detective… and replaced it with a key that every hostile freak in the asylum wants to cut out of you. Good times. The plot of the game is surprisingly well written, and the various events as they occur in the game tie together well. It’s interesting seeing how one man’s life can affect so many other people, and the game does a good job of tying all of the events together as well as emulating the feel of the SAW franchise. On the other hand, SAW is a very bleak franchise, and this game is no different, so it should probably be mentioned here that the story is ultimately a very hopeless story and that, though there are two endings to the game, both of them are very depressing and bleak, so this probably isn’t a game someone looking for a happy ending should look into. Just so you know.

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Review, Saw, XBox 360

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