The Suffering

Prison, a place where criminals go after committing crimes ranging from rape to murder. But would you encounter your inner demons in jail, even on death-row? Perhaps. The Suffering, an action/horror game from Midway and Surreal Software, is the prime example of that. Here's my review on The Suffering.

Plot: The star of The Suffering is Torque, a convicted felon put on death-row for the murder of his wife and two kids. His arrival isn't welcomed with open arms since inmates don't like child killers very much. Just as Torque is about to settle down with his new life on death-row, a slight earthquake rocks the prison and something in the darkness attacks and kills Torque's fellow inmates, leaving him as the sole survivor. Now Torque must escape from jail and find the truth about what really happened to his family while fighting against monsters and his own inner demons in order to survive. 5/5

Graphics: The graphics in The Suffering are truly dark and gritty, not to mention well done. Every character and monster are near photo-realistic. What really sets the creatures apart from the monsters from other survival horror games is they are based on different execution methods. Though designed by Stan Winston Studios, the monsters look like something out of a H.R. Giger painting. Even the blood looks good. 5/5

Sound: The music in this game aren't the traditional music we would hear in most survival horror games. The music are inspired by the sounds you would usually hear in every day life. The sounds gives you the feeling of what's around the corner. True work of genius. 5/5

Gameplay: You can switch the views of the game from 3rd to 1st person perspectives. In 3rd person mode, the controls are responsive yet stiff. In 1st person mode, the controls gets rid most of the stiffness. Torque can transform into a demon with just a simple touch of a button. In his demon form, Torque can tear his enemies apart with ease. The Suffering has a moral system, any action Torque does will effect the outcome of the game. 4/5

Midway and Surreal Software certainly did a good job on The Suffering. Certainly will make Resident Evil and Silent Hill look like a couple of Disney cartoons. Be on the look out for the sequel, The Suffering: Ties that Bind.

Final Review: 5/5

I work at an EB Games store and we had received the new Xbox magazine with the demo discs. One of the demo's happened to be The Suffering. I'll tell ya, for the brief 15-20 minutes the demo gave you to play, it was damn scary stuff. The atmosphere was creepy, the monsters scare the crap out of you, the noises would startle anyone, and the voices in your characters head will send chills up your spine. I am definately going to get this one when it is released.

Take Silent Hill, add Beyond Reanimator with the nickname "Rebirth power", add a lot of horror survival, some cliché "cute little girl wants to play" horror, and the result is a wonderful fast but repetitive and short Survival Horror TPS/FPS. The actual plot changes the way you finish it, and if you don't know how you are, you can track down your character's soul alignment from the family picture.

The cleaner it is, the better you are. I don't want to add more as it would be spoiler, but I advise fans of such games to get and play it. IT is a game worth playing at least once.

Annoying Problems: Grenades aren't worth much in more difficult modes than Easy. Game sometimes crashes, so save often. Rhombium heals less in easy mode, so do monsters hurt less, so difficulty level only defines maximum health and monster health.

First off forget about Resident Evil. Thats just childs play compared to Midway's The Suffering. You start as a prisoner named Torque who offed his wife and kids or did he? Thats why you play and find out.

He is on death row. The night he is put in the prison an earthquake happens and demons invade the prison. You are then let out to explore the prison and the island that the prison is on.

Most of the demons are just reincarnated versions of inmates who were killed there before. The game has some pretty violent things to go along with the horror theme of the game. The game is ultra bloody.

There is a lot of swearing all through the game. Of course what else would you expect. Its a prison for one and its being overrun by demons. Who wouldn't be using every word they could think of.

The main character Torque doesn't talk. Which I really don't mind that too much. I just hate when companies take the easy way out and give everyone else a voice, but the main character. Like I said its not too bad in this game. As Torque has a lot of various little actions that really make his character stand out.

There are three different endings. There are plenty of weapons to defend yourself. Its a damn near perfect game.

"The Suffering" plays like "Max Payne" meets "Resident Evil". It's a shooter that mainly consists of blowing away the same five monsters every few minutes. The main character is Torque, a death row inmate, who was convicted of killing his family. As luck would have it, an earthquake occurs in the middle of the night, freeing Torque from his cell. Unfortunately, monsters modeled by various forms of execution invade the prison.

This is where the player takes over. Your job is to help Torque escape the haunted prison. In the process, you can either help the guards and fellow prisoners or kill them. What you decide will dictate one of the game's three different endings. Your arsenal consists of 10 firearms, a shiv and flashbang grenades. At times, you also have the ability to transform into a giant, rampaging beast, "Hulk"-style. And you can switch between first-person and third-person perspective at any time.

The best aspect of the game is the cutscenes, hallucinations and flashbacks that propel the story forward. There done in a cinematic way which brings back memories of "Book of Shadows: Blair Witch 2" and the 1999 remake of "House on Haunted Hill". It's pure horror. I only wish there was a bit more challenge. This is a straight-forward action game with a little exploration to be found. Yet, it's a fairly enjoyable lengthy adventure.

"The Suffering" is not for the little ones. It contains non-stop blood and gore, constant profanity and the words scrawled onto the prison walls are as profane as well. The DVD also includes a behind-the-scenes look at the making of the game and a documentary-like special entitled "Inside a Haunted Prison" covering an early time of the American penal institution. Horror fans should buy this, it's a well made title of the genre.