Forbidden SirenDeveloper: SCE Japan
Publisher: Sony Computer Entertainment
Released (UK): Mar '04
Released (US): Apr '04
I saw this game get a good 9/10 score from the Official Playstation Magazine. I decided to buy it, although it took me some time to find it. It's not well known in the UK unless you are a Survival Horror fan and has only now found itself known after the recent release of Blood Curse on the PS3.
(Note: Because of this reason, I haven't been able to find any good pictures, just various screenshots.)
What's it about?
Forbidden Siren is set in Hanuda Village, Japan where various different characters find themselves. The story is actually very confusing so I've put this excerpt from Wikipedia's article on the game:
"Siren is set in a remote, rural Japanese mountain village named Hanuda, which is characterized as being very traditional and particularly xenophobic. Following a ritual ceremony near midnight, the village teeters wildly between time and space, with an infinite sea of blood-red water in place of the usual surrounding mountains. The crux of the story focuses on the efforts of Hisako Yao, the leader of a strange local religion, to resurrect or re-awaken a being known as Datatsushi through an occult ceremony. The siren of the title is the call of Datatsushi, summoning the residents of Hanuda to immerse them selves in the red water, thus creating an army of subordinates called Shibito. The shibito then go about building a nest to house the corporal form of Datatsushi once it is summoned, as well as killing and converting any living humans left in Hanuda. The story is told through the perspectives of ten survivors, some of whom are natives of Hanuda, and is presented out of chronological order over the three days in which the mystery takes place."
There are four types of Shibito in this and they aren't defeatable meaning they will eventually wake up after being knocked out. They are attracted to noise and light so always walk (never run) when close to them and turn your torch off when around them.
The four types are:
Human Shibito - (Left) These look like Humans as normal, except for the blood coming from their eyes and the black stuff around their mouth.Spider Shibito - They are called Spider Shibito because of how they walk. Like the Crab Yoga position they walk on all fours, their back towards the floor. At some point you see them creating webs with rope and string.
Moth Shibito - These Shibito have wings like a moth or butterfly. They also carry gun's making it harder to avoid them.
Brain Shibito - (Right with Risa) There are few of these about and they have worm like things hanging from their faces. They control the Spider Shibito so when the Brain is down, the Spiders will fall down also.Sight Jacking is a concept within the game where the characters can see what the Shibito and other characters can see. This is vital plainly because this game involves more stealth than action. One character in particular wields no weapons whatsoever throughout their part in the game so stealth is absolutely necessary or you'll fail. Some Shibito hold rifles which can get you from far distances so sight Jacking informs you of what the shibito is focused on.
Shibito are very predictable and always use the same route either A to B or in circles. Sight Jacking various Shibitos in the area will make to wise to where they patrol as well as using their sight to find items.
There is a huge cast in this game, some characters being more important than others. Some characters you'll only play as once or twice, some characters you don't play as at all. Here's a list and the reasons they are at Hanuda Village.
Kyoya Suda (left) is our main character in the game and is the hero at the end (apparently). He's come to Hanuda to find out more about the massacre that happened there years ago.Kei Makino is a Priest of the local religion. I haven't come across him much whilst I've been playing but he's the brother of Shiro Miyata is a doctor at the local hospital.
Risa Onda is is back at her hometown from Tokyo to see her twin sister Mina Onda who is a nurse at the hospital where Shiro works.
Tamon Takeuchi (right with Yoriko)is a teacher who grew up in Hanuda Village and has returned to find out what had happened to his parents who had died when Tamon was a child.Yoriko Anno is Tamon's student who has come along uninvited. We find that she has a crush on her teacher which is the unofficial reason for coming along. She's quite annoying is this character - I don't like her much.
Hisako Yao is one of our bad guys although she is nice at the beginning of the game. She is a nun of the local religion and she's the reason the events of the game occur, reincarnating the god of their religion.
Miyako Kajiro (left) is the latest girl within the Kajiro family to be sacrificed for the religion. She is goes along with Kyoya for most of the game but she is completely blind which can be a pain for whoever is playing the game.Reiko Takato is a teacher at the local elementary school whose student is Harumi Yomoda. Reiko spends half of the game protecting Harumi from the Shibito before sacrificing her life in order to save her once again.
Akira Shimura is also a resident of Hanuda and is the oldest character of the game. His Shotgun makes him the easiest character to play as although he is pretty slow. He kills himself to avoid becoming one of the un-dead, failing. He eventually becomes a Shibito.
Naoko Mihama is a model/TV Presenter who is in Hanuda to film the Television series, Occult Japan. Going a little bit crazy she drowns herself in the red water in a bid to keep her youthful looks. She is my personal favourite in this game.
Tomoko Maeda is a middle school student who becomes a Shibito. She dies off screen so we don't know how she died but she was probably killed by another Shibito
Mina, Yoriko and Miyako are the only characters we never play as through the game but all have quite important parts in the plot.
A lot of the time the playable character will have a sidekick with them. These don't attack the Shibito themselves but rely on you to do it. They'll do pretty much what you tell them to such as "Wait","Hide" and "Come Here". Female sidekicks may also need your help in pulling them up high places such as sheds, rocks etc. In some cases, hiding a sidekick in a certain place may encourage them to find items such as keys.
The graphics used in this game are very unique in the fact that the characters are played by actors (I don't just mean the voice). The actor’s faces are imposed onto the character models making them look more realistic. Going to the Menu Page allows you to see the real life actor playing the character.
The areas in the game include The Elementary School, The Maeda House, Lower Arato, Janokubi Valley and the Shibito Nest amongst others and there are some really good props hanging around such as the payphones, drawings (by the children at the school). The clothes the female characters wear are nice too - Risa Onda and Naoko Mihama for example.
In order to find out more about the plot, there are 100 Archive Items to find throughout the game. I love this part of the game because the guys at Sony have been really innovative regarding the kind of items you can get. Videos and Tapes are some of the best you can get but there are also newspaper and magazine articles which can be quite funny. I think these can be really interesting to look at.
The weapons are quite unique too. You have the staples such as the rifle and the pistol but you also have the Poker, Umbrella, Hammer and the crowbar.
Why I never completed it:
This game is extremely hard and that is the only reason I haven't been able to complete it. The game is much harder than most for the following reasons:
1) Where Silent Hill, Resident Evil and Project Zero have healing items to collect; Forbidden Siren has nothing like that. If you get trapped by several Shibito’s you will die, your energy however will go back to normal when you haven't been hit for a while.
2) If your Sidekick dies you will have to start from the top and because they don't attack Shibito they usually do unless you tell them to stay put.
3) Checkpoint is a word Sony Japan doesn't know about in this game. Checkpoints are exceptionally rare meaning that you have to do the whole mission from the start which is obviously a pain when you're near the end of a mission. Checkpoints do occur occasionally but not very often.
4) The game is quite time consuming if you're a magpie gamer like me I.E. You have to collect everything available to you. If you find an archive item then die during the mission, you will have to go and get the archive item again. It takes forever on the harder missions at the end of the game.
5) It is a very confusing storyline on religion which is a subject I personally find boring. To make the game even more confusing, the events of the game are not in chronological order so you're going back and forth but the link navigator will help you out a little. The link navigator is a graph with the character names at the top and the times on the left so you can look back at what mission came first. Unfortunately you won’t get control of it until halfway through the game.
The first time I played this I didn't get as far as the third or fourth mission without getting killed over and over again. I put it aside and just never went back to it...In fact, I sold it without giving it much of a chance - I found it just too hard.
Then Forbidden Siren 2 was due for release and despite the fact I was unsure about getting the second after failing the first, it was Christmas so I got my Mum to buy it for my present. I’m going to talk about Forbidden Siren 2 later but for now I’ll just say this. It impressed me so much I decided to get the original again and give it another go.
The second time I got a little further but I still found it rather hard and for a second time I put it aside. As I’m writing this now, I am attempting it again after the recent Blood Curse has been released although I’m using a walkthrough in order to do it.
Anybody else find the game extremely hard?
Archive Items? A pain or useful?
Who's your favourite character?
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