Saw II: Flesh and Blood

Saw 2 is hands and shoulders above its predecessor. Campbell and Michael are the main game players, both suffering from severe inner ear problems and vertigo as well as crippling polio, judging by there inability to walk a foot wide board of wood and running speed of just past crawling. With as twisty and complex a story as any Saw movie, the story holds up rather well. Michael Tapp finds himself in a stretch of abandoned real estate, trying to free the cops that were part of his fathers police unit.

Like its predecessor, the game struggles for atmosphere, but manages to pull it off rather well. The backgrounds are vivid and well detailed. In place of the same sequence of rooms from the prior game, it moves between a hotel, subway, hospital, and a school. Audio is still all Tobin Bell, though the other characters are well voiced, if a tad whiny and childish. The background from Detective Tapp still misses its mark, as they can't find a good voice actor to sound like Tapp.

Gameplay is where it falls flat. Everything except puzzles is a QTE. Dodging booby traps, holes in the floor and collapsing ceilings, combat and some cinematics, everything is quicktime events. While this sometimes contributes, it more often robs the moment of the feeling its going floor. The traps are repetitively repetitive, though the character traps are well made, few have the metaphorical irony that the Saw movies did so well, and few have any originality, though some are spot on. Boss fights are tedious and banal, and feel more like work. Save points are rare as diamonds, so you better have a good hour to play at each stint.

The tone is all wrong though. Jigsaw rewards ingenuity and drive, but he doesn't punish curiosity. There are too many places where you can be insta killed for trying to find collectibles, one of the few things done exceedingly well and in line with the larger universe story and tone. But there's a shotgun or blade trap on nearly every door, and you're shuttled through like a canal lock, meaning you can't go back and explore.

One great thing is the Billy Doll puzzles, which are optional, are HARD. Not just mind numbing find the combo nonsense, but complex number and logic puzzles. This is a rather tasty bit that I wish had been applied to the larger game, as while some of the puzzles are fun, most are tedious, though nearly all of them are done with a decent amount of thought. A bit more explanation, and raising the bar for the majority of the puzzles would've done great things for this as whole.

Overall, this is a solid rent, but don't be surprised if you find yourself wanting to put an axe through the TV. Given this is twice the quality of the initial foray, hopefully the third installation will be of the quality of the original saw movie.

I haven't finished the game entirely but I love it so far. I'd say I'm along the middle right now. I loved the first one as well minus the puzzles that were only guessing games. I was hoping they would get that right this time around but they exist in the sequel. It's quite frustrating to say the least. You'll find yourself assuming that you have figured out how to get past a puzzle, and once you pass it you see that it was mere luck...Other than that horrible occurence in the game it's actually pretty great.

-good graphics
-great soundtrack
-good Billy Puppet puzzles
-it keeps you on your toes

If you like the SAW movie series, you will love this game. If you don't, or haven't watched the SAW movies....well....there is a good possibility you will not.
The combat system is flawed, but the traps and puzzles are great fun. The graphics are nice and offer the dark and grizzly atmosphere of the films.

For such a low price, every SAW fan needs to check this out!

› Go to Amazon.com to see all 9 reviews  3.2 out of 5 stars