I’ve always enjoyed the Saw movies – okay they’ve had their ups and downs but the traps have always been gruesomely clever and so absurd they become funny. However, there wasn’t anything too funny if you bought the Saw videogame last year because it wasn’t very good. Saw II: Flesh and Blood is already out a year on and is trying to take some money from gamers around Halloween.
After playing through a prologue where you play as some other poor dude cutting a key from behind his eye, you play as Michael Tapp, a reporter who happens to be Danny Glover’s son from the first movie. After investigating a crime scene you end up in the clutches of Jigsaw and have to survive his fiendish traps and help others too. Unfortunately what you really have to survive is the boredom of playing through the game.
It’s a mix of puzzles, exploration and combat but none of these are actually very clever or any good. Puzzles usually equate to looking for numbers to open locks with, connecting circuits to open locks with, finding nearby items to open locks with and switching off lights to – I’ll let you finish that sentence yourself. You also have to save others trapped macabre devices by completing puzzles before the timers run out. It’s only during these moments there is actually any tension whatsoever.
Combat is even more tedious than before. There is no real-time combat and instead you have to play through quick time events to dodge and attack opponents. You’ll also have to mash buttons to avoid traps behind doors such as rigged shotguns and swinging axes.
Graphics are nothing to write home about either. The likenesses of Jigsaw actor Tobin Bell and that creepy little dummy Billy are good but overall textures look like something from the PS2 and animations are unfinished and jerky. Voice acting is actually probably the best thing in the game.
There is more variety in this sequel but mostly it re-uses the same tired ideas from the first game. Only get this if you really, REALLY need another fix of the Saw franchise. For everyone else, maybe try watching Saw 3D instead. Saw II: Flesh and Blood gets a mediocre 5 out of 10.
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Related: Saw videogame, Silent Hill Origins, Saw 2 Flesh and Blood review on Youtube
