Unlike other film franchises that release disastrous video game tie-ins just in time for a films release, Saw has taken it’s leisurely time to be developed into a video game. The question is has it made a difference to deliver the gut wrenching, gore gushing, terrifying and squeamish experience it’s motion picture counterpart conveys? 

Players take on the captivated detective David Tapp, who has been healed of a gunshot wound courtesy of Jigsaw at a price and placed in a murky asylum. In the first stage of the game Jigsaw rather kindly puts you in a locked toilet with a reverse bear trap on your head.

From here on in it’s very clear that the games have begun, if you manage to survive the bear trap you are presented with your first puzzle. In the toilet is a mirror with a set of numbers which unlock the padlock for a door.

Jigsaw now plans to teach you a lesson due to Tapp’s obsession, with perusing Jigsaw who is known for making people play his sick twisted games, which forces players to ultimately take one another’s life with no blood on Jigsaw’s hands.  

Tapp plays the biggest role in the game as you learn that Jigsaw has placed a key in your lower abdomen. The key plays a major role in the game of other people imprisoned just like you in the asylum, making you a moving target with a bounty on your head.

Saw follows the familiar pattern of it’s motion picture counterpart; Jigsaw has handpicked a handful of people who don’t appreciate life and plans to show them otherwise.

A lot of the infamous deaths from the Saw films make a squeamish appearance in the video game. Shotgun triggered doors, reverse bear traps and the rack (limb twisting machine) are a few of the deaths you can expect.

In the film every puzzle determines a life, which is either your own or somebody else’s. As for the video game the effect hasn’t quite rippled on, it doesn’t give players that sensation that someone’s life is in your hands.

The graphics are partially the problem as they are not so polished or endeavoured compared to other games made with the Unreal engine. Majority of the voice acting is not up to scratch, if it wasn’t for Tobin Bell breathing life into Jigsaw the game would be something of a disaster.

Most people will find that the puzzles aren’t challenging enough for a full retail game. Eventually you’ll find them to be boring and repetitive, the only highlights the puzzles have to offer are rummaging through either a toilet full of syringes or someone’s stomach filled with blades. Other times you’re presented with a fuse box that can easily be fixed.

The game’s environment is dark with poorly lit and placed lighting, which can be slightly embraced with a lighter at hand. Saw implements a ropey and unresponsive combat system, you would think using a baseball bat would give you an advantage in a fight, but in fact it’s better to use hand to hand combat simply because it’s quicker and effective.

Saw has a lot of potential but unfortunately falls short of the praise the film received. It’s quality not quantity that the game deserves, trying to elongate the length of a film into an 8 hour length video game doesn’t do Saw any justice. I really hope Zombie Studios takes all the criticism on the chin, It would be great to see Saw return for a sequel one day.

6/10