When SAW turned from a horror film into a franchise it was only a matter of time before the inevitable game peeked its head above the horizon. These sorts of games, based on film or television, are usually a mixed bunch and often not great examples of their genre.

SAW the game has you play David Tapp, the policeman from the films. The game opens in much the same way as the films, in that you find yourself waking up in a room only to be taunted by Jigsaw about some moral short coming. Of course all is not lost as Jigsaw provides you with task, the completion of which may secure your release.

Tapp finds himself inside an abandoned asylum, an aptly creepy environment for Jigsaw and his minion to torment you. Your task is to rescue, through violence and puzzle solving, six other poor souls. To add to the peril Jigsaw has embedded a key in your body which other characters require to complete their escape, you are therefore both hunter and prey.

The Whitehurst Insane Asylum has a relatively small game area and your freedom to both interact and explore your environment are somewhat limited, this can cause frustration when a perfectly health man seems incapable of climbing over small objects.

The controls are easy to learn, although I found battling the various thugs a bit of a chore as the game's response to your desire to brain one of these guys is pretty sluggish. On the up side the puzzles are suitably ghoulish and bloody, though the shotguns blowing your head off when opening doors gets a bit boring after the first couple of times.

The characters that you have to attempt to rescue all have their own little story supplied by Jigsaw, but not really enough for you to truly care what happens to them, but that’s not really the point. The game is all about atmosphere and puzzles and whilst I wasn’t that blown away with the game as a whole, it does provide about eight hours of puzzle solving.

With the limitations of the environment I’m not sure that I could recommend this as a buyer, but it may well be worth a rental on a rainy evening.

6

Charles Packer