Siren: Blood Curse: Solid game, bad delivery

As a horror game, Variety critic Leigh Alexander is fairly happy with Sony's new "Siren: Blood Curse":

"Siren" is still dread-inducingly terrifying, due in large part to the lack of combat. The game de-emphasizes fighting in favor of running and hiding, and the objective of each episode is usually to avoid enemies and safely reach a certain destination. The "sightjack" system lets players steal the shibito's point of view so they can see their own hiding place from the enemy's eyes as he slowly shambles toward it in the dark, weapon in hand. The result is sheer terror as players try to find an escape route before it's too late.

Though a fear-enhancer for sure, the sightjack system will likely feel fussy and tedious to all but the most hardcore survival-horror fans. Most players will wish they could just look around to find out where their enemies are. Success in an episode usually relies upon experimentation, through several frustrating deaths, to learn the precise pattern in which an area should be traversed.

But she has one major problem: It's not available on a Blu-ray disc, like most Playstation 3 games. Instead, you can only download it. And that, she writes, is a major pain in the you-know-what:

Sony's decision to deliver this game as a series of downloadable episodes is a frustrating head-scratcher, as the process of installing each of the 12 episodes on a Playstation 3 in two hour chunks -- even longer than it takes to play them -- is its own terror. Sales are likely to suffer as gamers endure agonizing waits and wonder why they can't just walk down to their local GameStop and buy the damned thing.

It sounds like Sony is using "Siren" as a way to promote digital delivery of games bigger than your standard little casual title. Perhaps our broadband pipes and our hard drives just aren't ready for that yet.

You can read Leigh's entire review here.