Siren

The Good
Interesting setting, premise and monster designs. Sound design was superb and I loved the way some enemies would cry out in agony after I just pummeled them. Some of the characters were mildly interesting and I played the game in Japanese so I didn't have to endure Japanese characters with British accents.

The Bad
The chapter system is extremely confusing and requires a guide to play. Sometimes you can't progress unless you pick up an item from a previous level, the game itself won't tell you which level or what item and I had to look it up online. In fact I had to rely on youtube as chatgpt was unhelpful and some over a decade old forum posts asking for items. I didn't like the tank controls either and can probably attribute most of my deaths to not being able to maneuvre my character well enough, but this was easier to get used to as it exists in other games I've played.

The Bottom Line
The game became too frustrating to really be scary and I just wanted it to end. I watched the secret cutscene on youtube as I don't feel like getting all the items.

I'll play the second game if it's less frustrating than this one because the yamibito look pretty cool.

The Good
Sound. Sound is of utmost importance when it comes to survival-horror games. The sound is perfect in Forbidden Siren. Right from the start when you see the "Project SIREN" intro, you realize that the developers have put a great deal of effort into the sound effects. The sounds that the Shibito (the undead in this game) are making is incredible. This time around the zombie's aren't just moaning, they can also mumble and sometimes talk. They can even laugh.

Another thing that i liked about this game is the new feature. Sight-Jacking. You can view the current situation trough the eyes of everyone who is in close proximity of you. This is truely unique. Not only is this adding to the creepy atmosphere of the game, it can also be handy to predict the moves of the enemy. It's really scary to see yourself through the eyes of a Shibito. I also like the static sound effects of sight-jacking. It sounds really cool to hear a zombie laugh and breath hard when they are following you.

Another thing i was rather fond of, was the fact that this isn't just another survival-horror game with zombies, huge guns and hero as playable character. This game introduces new elements. Not only the sight-jacking, but also the fact that your enemy's aren't just dumb undead monsters. The enemy is smart and unlike many other survival horror games, these zombies can use guns. The fact that the enemy is also smart this time around, means that this makes things even scarier.

The Bad
Controls. The controls can be a pain when you are playing the game for the first time. Especially when you are trying to dodge bullets from the police officer in the first mission. Sometimes they can also be frustrating. When you walk/run into a wall, the main character needs about 3 seconds to recover from his slight collision with the wall. This can be extremely frustrating. Especially when you need to navigate the little blind girl through a zombie ridden level. After a while you get the "Well, why don't you just keep moving b****!" feeling.

This game is extremely hard. The only weapons you get in this game are some melee weapons and a pistol, and even if you acquire this pistol, chances are that you only have a few bullets at your disposal. And not only that. It's easy to die. When a zombie attacks, it's almost certainly "Game Over", and to make things worse, you still have to deal with the hard controls.

The Bottom Line
This is a great game that add's a lot of new features to the survival-horror genre. If this game has a few follow-ups with improvements regarding the controls and the scale of difficulty in the game, we could be in for a massive hit.

Bottom line. If you can see through the lacking controls and almost unfair difficulty, you're in for a treat.