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[IbizaPocholo]

Saw: The Video Game from 2009 feels like a missed opportunity for a franchise ripe for a video game adaptation.

The term "missed opportunity" pops to mind for Saw the game. They did a great job of nailing the atmosphere of Saw. It's clear the team had an understanding and love of the franchise. It feels in a similar vein to game series like Condemned and Manhunt.

It's the gameplay where it falls short. While there's heavy emphasis on puzzles, Saw overplays its hand with recurring puzzles and minigames. Ones that more than wear out their welcome before the game's end.

Saw also has one of the clunkiest combat systems I've come across. And not in "survival horror" kind of clunky. The kind where I at first wondered if my game was bugging out. It's one that needed far more love considering how much you can break it with one strategy that trumps all others.

And while the story has its moments, there's a lack of choice and consequences in Saw the game. With how the game begins, it seems like its setting up for your actions to have consequences. That you will have a say in whether people live or die. A morality system - it would be a perfect fit for a game based on Saw. But once you dive in, you realize it's nowhere to be found.

It is too bad, because with a few tweaks, Saw here would fit well alongside games like the Condemned and Manhunt series. Games with bleak, dark atmosphere with gameplay to match, where there are few games out there like them. Saw could've slotted next to these titles with more time time devoted to it. But it never quite reaches what its capable of.

Timestamps:
00:00 - Prelude
03:00 - Saw Intro
08:27 - The Presentation & Atmosphere of Saw
11:31 - Exploration, Minigames & Puzzles of Saw
18:37 - Combat of Saw
25:39 - On the Saw Film Franchise & Convoluted Timelines
35:18 - Plot & Highlights of Saw
01:02:23 - The Future of Saw Games & the Rumor Mill
01:05:03 - In Conclusion of Saw
01:06:21 - Support Shout-outs & Credits Q&A

 

[March Climber]

For different reasons, this game and The Thing video game both gave me a 'they almost had it' feeling.

In The Thing's case, it was the technology at the time.

In Saw's case, it was partly the fact that development started on this game way back when just Saw 2 had recently released.

Both Saw 1 and 2 were very similar movies that almost took place in one setting. The movies beyond 2 had expanded with the franchise's settings and lore, and thus that could have expanded the concepts behind the game. The production studio behind the movie most likely didn't want them to do much of anything beyond the scope of those first two movies.

Because of not having much to work with, you could literally feel the repetition within the game's traps and puzzles.