Just in time to celebrate spooky season, Sony has uploaded two survival horror classics for PlayStation Plus subscribers. That's right, fans of old school tank controls are in luck, because this week brings both the PlayStation 2 version of Siren and the original PlayStation hit Dino Crisis. That's spine-tingling news, but are either of these games worth playing? To answer that question, I decided to flip through the pages of Electronic Gaming Monthly, Next Generation, Game Informer and more classic magazines to see what the critics said back when these games first came out. It's time to run for your life, because this is another scary episode of PlayStation Plus Review Crew.


Having scared the stuffing out of PlayStation owners with the Resident Evil series, Capcom decided to shake things up by replacing zombies with the next best thing – dinosaurs. Released in 1999, right between The Lost World and Jurassic Park 3, Dino Crisis hit the PlayStation at a time when everybody was both scared and fascinated by everything from velociraptors all the way up to the mighty Tyrannosaurus Rex. It's the perfect setup for survival horror, trapping the likable Regina on a secluded island that has been overrun by some of the nastiest dinosaurs Capcom could animate. Never mind that it basically copies and pastes the same story from Resident Evil, because the change of location and villain is more than enough to shake up the formula. With Resident Evil 3: Nemesis hot on its heels, what did the critics think of Dino Crisis?

When it came to Electronic Gaming Monthly, they liked Dino Crisis, but didn't find the dinosaurs to be as scary as zombies. John explains that “despite what you might think at first, this isn't just another Resident Evil clone. Sure, it has a lot in common with its stable-mate, but it has enough new stuff to make you feel like you really are somewhere other than Raccoon City. As far as spooks and horror go, I think it has to be said that dinosaurs aren't as scary as zombies – although they can make you jump when they smash through a window and eat your friends.” Shawn liked the game a bit more, but also took issue with the dinosaurs: “After playing Dino Crisis, I've decided these supposedly extinct cold-blooded creatures suck. OK, so maybe they don't, -- I'm just mad because they 1) scared the hell out of me, and 2) killed me. The latter being a bigger problem, of course. Seriously, though, Dino Crisis is pretty solid in all respects – gameplay-wise, graphically, sound, etc. There isn't much to complain about. Heck, even the voice acting is decent. Any fan of Resident Evil should take notice.” Electronic Gaming Monthly gave Dino Crisis an average score of 8.1 out of 10.

That is pretty much tied with the lowest scores, with Edge giving the game an 8 out of 10 and the Official PlayStation Magazine giving it the equivalent score of 4 out of 5. They are the outliers, as GamePro gave it a 4.5 out of 5 and Game Informer gave it a straight 9 out of 10. Andy argued that “Dino Crisis delivers more chills and spills” than Jurassic Park. “Sporting the world-famous Resident Evil gameplay, there wasn't too much that Capcom could do to screw up this Dinosaur spin-off. The 3D backgrounds are especially nice, as they speed up gameplay, display better depth and darn it ... look real nice. Dino Crisis doesn't have quite the same flair as Resident Evil (like Darkstalkers to Street Fighter). It does, however, deliver an entertaining experience that shouldn't be missed.”

As we climb the scale we see Game Fan give Dino Crisis a very strong 92%, while Computer and Video Games went even higher with a perfect 5 out of 5. That's the same score we saw from Next Generation, who called it one of the year's best games: “The real stars of the game – and will immediately grab your attention when you start playing – are the dinosaurs themselves. Velociraptors move with an almost eerie realism as they hunt you down, pterodactyls take convincing swipes at your head, and the pad even rumbles with the T-Rex's lumbering approach. As adversaries, they are far deadlier than the usual zombies Capcom serves up, and twice as devious. Don't expect to take these guys out with just a head shot, either. Unless you find some tranquilizer darts, you can expect a dinosaur to take several good hits before it goes down – and the T-Rex takes far more than that.”

Although the sequels never quite lived up to the potential of the first game, Dino Crisis was a fantastic debut release that shook up the survival horror genre at the perfect time. It may not have zombies and mutants, but Dino Crisis still offers up a lot of scares.

Nearly a decade after Capcom took us to Raccoon City, Sony decided that they too could scare up a survival horror game. What they gave us is Siren, the 2004 supernatural thriller from the writer and director of Silent Hill. The game gives us a spooky storyline, mysterious city, zombie-like creatures and frustrating controls that make getting around a real chore. It's the kind of horror game that feels like it came straight out of the 1990s, especially when you look at what Capcom and other companies were doing with the survival horror genre at the time. But even with some dated elements, Siren picked up a cult following due to its intriguing story and a few genuine scares. What did the critics say?

This will probably come as no surprise, but the critics were split when it came to Siren. Let's go ahead and start with the lowest score, which comes from none other than Electronic Gaming Monthly. Jon liked it, giving the game a 7 out of 10 and arguing that “as with Silent Hill, the elegant haunting atmosphere in Siren makes it a hell of an interactive horror show. But Siren strips your defenses and puts you constantly on the run – with virtually nothing to steer you on the right path. So, you're actually supposed to ignore that combination lock, find a bucket to stand on, and climb a nearby shack? Sure thing. Piecing together the correct tasks while treading water in a sea of red herrings means running recon a couple of times through every stage before you'll find success. It's a promising start, but I'm hopeful a Siren 2 will emerge to work out some of the title's annoying kinks.” Crispin, on the other hand, hated it: “Siren is an experiment gone awry – a confusing fog-sacked combination of stealth and survival horror that'll drive you batty with frustration before it can creep you out. What the hell does a phone card, old nurse's shoes, and a power line have in common? Why, you use all this crap to escape zombified hayseeds, of course. Siren's mission-based levels are full of such random junk that you much mix nonsensically. Don't worry about pesky logic; if trying to solve puzzles the smart way doesn't kill you, the crackshot undead riflemen will.” EGM gave Siren an average score of 5.3 out of 10.

The Official PlayStation Magazine liked the game a bit more, giving it a 3 out of 5. It got a 6 out of 10 from Maxim, which is a magazine we don't normally turn to for video game reviews. And then there's Game Informer, who couldn't must up anything higher than a 6 out of 10. “I really, really wanted to like Siren, but in the end, I just didn't have much fun or feel like the innovative parts of the game were used to their advantage. It has good ideas and I'm glad to see experimentation in survival horror, but this should be chalked up as a failed test in the genre.”

When it comes to the higher scores, Edge gave Siren a score of 7 out of 10. GMR went a little bit higher, giving it a solid 8 out of 10. And then there's GamePro, who gave it a 4.5 out of 5, the highest marks of any of the classic magazines. “Though there are some slight flaws in the design and production, the amount of tense paranoia produced, combined with photorealistic character models, pseudo-scratched celluloid cut-scenes, and unnerving sound design, results in a logical and exhilarating progression of the survival horror genre that should not be missed.”

I will admit, going back to Siren twenty years later is a bit rough, but the story is interesting and it has a few good scares. Not the best game in the genre, but I'm happy this PlayStation 2 game is available again on modern systems.