Siren

[Square]

Gari ? most of the scenario's first objectives are just a 'escape from the area' type affair. It's when you go back to the second objectives that the thinker's game really kicks in.

[Garibaldi Biscuit]

Ah, I see. I've completed some second objectives without really meaning to, so if you don't do them first you go back to do them later eh? I can certainly see why that grates with some people on a gameplay level.

I am enjoying this, the suspense and tension is great, but then again if you shut me in a dark room within two minutes I am imagining dangers and possible noises, it's certainly split people in a Blair Witch Project fashion, with some caught up in the way Siren plays on their natural tensions and others just going 'eh? This is crap and repetitive'.

It is a little rough around the edges for me though, and I don't mean graphically, e.g

I'm just playing the scenario atm with the Doctor and my first objective was to find a weapon. Ok, I thought, and came across a deserted car on the road, all it told me when I stood near and pressed X was that 'there's fuel here that could be siphoned if you had a container'. Ah, just the fuel here then, I thought, and went to search for my weapon elsewhere. It's only after about an hour playtime and a grudging look at an FAQ that I found out there are extra items in the car, one of them is a weapon. Now I swear I went to the side of that car and pressed X but all the info it would give me was regarding the fuel, I dunno........maybe it was my fault, but wasting all that time in a game which is already a real ball-buster in the difficulty stakes riled me just a little

[Square]

I guess you should have looked in the boot...

[Garibaldi Biscuit]

I did click on the boot! I swear it!

Anyway, had to return this last week, but got up to...

Destroy the Shibuto brain mission, the one where the stern Professor is accompanied by the infuriating essex/japanese schoolgirl. Quite a tense one really, I couldn't locate extra bullets and found mine going down at a rate of knots against the scuttling shibuto, out of interest how much more is there after this mission? To give me some idea of how much of the game I'd covered.

[Square]

I'd say you were less than halfway through. How many characters have you unlocked?

[tiddles]

I've been playing the UK version for a while now (I'm up to the first school mission), and after a slow start I'm loving it.

Although an authentic subtitled PAL version would obviously have been preferable, the dub isn't THAT bad - certain characters grate, but equally others (such as the old hunter) are pretty good.

The game's biggest flaw in my view is that it's not very accessible... you do have to play for quite a while before everything comes together. Initially you'll be floundering around, not knowing where enemies are and struggling with the controls, and not inspired by the fractured storyline; however, as you play further, you begin to learn your way around the environments, the sight-jacking starts to make more sense, and you begin to work out what's going on.

The fighting early on also doesn't do the game any favours, especially if you've played Resident Evil or Silent Hill. It's pretty frustrating initially trying to take on the zombies hand-to-hand, and I spent ages trying to conserve ammo on the first revolver level before I found out that it wasn't carried over from mission to mission.

Basically, you have to like stealth games, because this is what this is... combat definitely takes a back seat to creeping around, working out your enemies' patrol routes, and sneaking past. Like most games of this type, there's a high degree of frustration involved when it seems like there's no way to get through without being spotted, but this is counterbalanced by the exhilaration you feel when you finally beat a level.

Graphically it's not particularly amazing in any one area, but again it all builds up into a satisfying whole once you've played a few missions.

Is it scary? In a way - the sight-jack removes some of the fear of the unknown because you always know where your enemies are, but because you can never permanently take them down it's tense as hell. And the atmosphere builds as you find out more and more about the situation.

Currently I'd say it's up there with the best of the Silent Hill series and Project Zero, dubbing and flaws notwithstanding, but you have to give it time, and not expect it to be the same as those other games.

[Rushy]

With the US version just over the horizon now, whats the word with the voice over? Has it been redubbed for the US market?

I'm so tempted to pre-order it from VG+ (?25) right now, but I really want to know about the dub before I go ahead.

[Concept]

If you check back in this thread, you'll find SCEA are sticking (stupidly) with the English cockney dub to save localisation costs.

Great isn't it?

[Rushy]

If you check back in this thread, you'll find SCEA are sticking (stupidly) with the English cockney dub to save localisation costs.

Great isn't it?

.......

[Family Fry]

Well, Well, Well, i finshed this one last night all mission 1 and 2 scenarios....clocked in at 29hours and 43mins......*FAINTS*
Precict it WOULD have been 25hours Ish if it wasnt for those DAMN LATERNS!!!!! ft:

[Zanza]

the dub isnt that bad, altho some of the female characters come out sounding like cockney slappers, but the male voice acting seems good on the whole.

[Sketcz]

What about the french dubbed version?
Is the |French version even dubbed?!

Does it have English subtitles?
Im tempted to pick up a local copy, but only if it has English subs with the French voice overs.
Should remove the gratting cockney accents hopefully, but still make it playable.

Any news on this?

[Family Fry]

Make it playable?!
The game is barely that with any bloody dub. Before anyone say why did i play it 29 hours if i thought that my answer is simply the overall story and genral curiosity to find out what happens to everyone in this limbo of a town, gameplay wise its a damn annoying and flawed game!

[Cerberus]

ok people. Here is a quote from gamespot.

Though the story is set entirely in a quaint Japanese town, the voice acting is all inexplicably British, which adds an amusing cross-cultural quality to the game. What we heard of the English voice-over was quite satisfactory and seemed to fit in with the overall presentation of the game nicely. It seems as though the localization team has done its job well.

The URL is http://www.gamespot.com/ps2/adventur...w_6092427.html

Does that make you want to laugh or cry? Are we being too harsh with the voice-acting or is this guy being too soft? Do you think the developers/publishers will ever bother changing their ways with articles such as this all over the place? Is there any bloody point debating this any more?

[Concept]

It was the same with the Gamespy preview of early US code a few months ago.

This sounds generalistic, but some american websites seem to have trouble judging quality in acting when they come from an English-based voiceover. I remember a large number of them praising The Getaway for having superb voice acting when that came out too.



Were they playing the same game as me?

What we heard of the English voice-over was quite satisfactory and seemed to fit in with the overall presentation of the game nicely.

And how exactly do urban Cockney voiceovers fit nicely with a game set in rural countryside on the other side of the world?

Hmm...

Maybe Gamespot thinks we all still live in castles surrounded by greenary in England, or travel by horse and cart too.