The suffering: Ties that bind delivers a promising sequal to the first game, which leaves fans like myself satisfied.
First let me get into the storyline a little. Ties that bind takes place right where Torques adventure left off (the cool thing is, if you played through 1, and you still got a save file, you can choose between good evil or neutral. It changfes the story differantly for each game, but if you have no save file it of course starts with neutral). Torque is on his way back to Baltimore (where he is obviously from) when a unknown group ambushes him and tkaes him onto a boat. They obviously know of his adventures in carnate, for they don;t underestiamte him whatsoever. He is taken to the team's leader Jordan, a studier of the malefactors (the monsters that infest carnate, and now Baltimore) and now studies Torque. Then an attack happens on the ship..the whole group goes nuts. Torque eventually does escape, but finds that his nightmares are far from over. The team searches for him all throughout Baltimore, not to mention a breed of new mosnters infests Baltimore, and he still ust cope with what happened to Carman Cory and Malcolm...his beloved family. Torque's true mission however, is to hunt down Blackmore, a mysterious figure who has somethign to do with the disposal of his family. Will Torque find blackmore? Thats really up to you now isn't it.
The really cool thing about Ties that bind, is that it is a game that shwos you Torque's history throughout gameplay, and not just cutscenes. For exampole, tere is a point in the game where you are playing through Torque's times in eastern state pennitentery. You are with your friend Miles (your buddy throughout eastern, an old time friend) playing chess, when you meet the infamous blackmore (voiced by oen of my favorite actors, Michael clarke duncan). Blackmore offers Torque a deal which he denies, and reults in violent methods. Then, a prison riot breaks loose, and thats where you begin playing. Ties that bind is grteat, because it tells the story through gameplay and not cutscenes all the time. By the time you're done with the game, you should know almost ALL of Torques dark and brutal history.
The graphics for Ties that bind are thankfully improved. Torque doesn;t look as primordial this itme around, and the body models are more improved on the other characters. The backgrounds look better this time around, and the sound quality has improved as well. The guns sound a bit more realistic this time around, though they don't sound 100% authentic. The blood patterns still exist (when torque gets hit, or gets too close, a heavy mass of blood will splatter his clothes and face). The mosnters I think look better this time aroudn as well. What's the best graphic improvement? That carman (his wife) doesn't look like a lifeless doll!! Thats what I hated in the first game. Carman looked lifeless and very..bad. But they improved on that this itme around thankfully. The graphics do however, still need some work (some enviroment items look terrible, and the characters could STILL look better) but they are much improved fromt he last game.
The gameplay for TTB is much improved as well. Instead of having an inventory, everythign has a limit. Example, you can carry up to 2 weapons at a time, and ONLY 2! Except you can mix them up. You have melee weapons, and hten firearms. So you can have a handgun and a bat, or one sawn off and a lead pipe. You can also dual weild weapons in TTB, which helps greatly agaisnt the mosnters of baltimore. TTB has a lot of weapons, such as lead pipes, abseball bats, grease guns and asawn offs, as well as fmaous returns like handguns, tommy guns and so on. TTB luckily has a wide arsenal to take on the ghoulish beasts of the city. Torque also moves a bit more smoothly this time around. The jumping is improved a bit. No logner can you horde Xombium. They use a beat em' up typ emethod, and you can only take Xombium when you need it. If your health is full and you apprach it, it won't heal you..bummer huh? But i suppose it makes the game harder. Also, the flashlight batteries run otu a lot faster. I actually came to a pint where they die don me..and had to hurry and find new ones. But I liked how they did that. Makes the player have to rely more on getting them, isntead of passing them up all the time.
A cool thing that Midway and surreal did, is have the player rely on the insanity meter more. Ties that binds challenges ar emuch ahrder this time around, and the insanity meter helpes a lot. Now most of us knwo what happens when its full, you can change into a alrge beast and cut all your enemies to smitherines. This time around, it is almost required that you use it a lot mroe, for enemies come at ytou in huge hordes and you won;t always have the ammo to stop them (ammo has a shortage at itmes as well). So, why not transform into that ferocious beast!?!! The cool thing baout the beast this time around, is that it changes with your actions. If you help people out more, the beast will slowly morph into a blueish lightning firing hulk looking creature. Do bas things and it will transform intoa twisted black evil looking creature. Do nothing at all, and the beast will stay the regular greenish looking beast formt he first game. Each form ahs differant attacks, and the more deeds you do of a certain nature, the more stornger and differant these attacks become.
The monsters of ties that bind are something out of the ordinary. The first dealt with prison death related mosnters, this itme aroudn its deaths connected to city living. Some monsters make a surprising return, but differant themed. For example, the slayer comes back, but this itme its theme is being knifed to death int he mean streets of baltimore...gang related maybe? Then the mainliner comes back, but this time its themed as a drug dealer. Others make their return such as the marksman, and the burrower along with new ones like arsonist (being burned to death in a building) the triggerman (a large spider like creature affiliated with constant gunfire) the isolationist (solitary confinement related) among many others. TTB also has a return to the ghosts (like how the first one had hermes and horace) but this itme they ar emuch...darker then ever before. First comes copperfield, a southern slave master,w ith a horde of demon dogs...a very sick individual who hates all races but hsi own. Then comes th ecreeper (my favorite of the two) a sadistic pimp, who has four of his "employees" hanging by tentacles out of his coat when he opens it. A pimp who has killed nothign but women, with his numebrs stretching into the hudnreds...a man who's never been caught and hates nothing mroe then women. Then comes Dr. Killjoy, a returning ghost formt he first game, tryign to study the tru meaning of torques otulandish psyche.
Some monsters in TTB require special methods to rid of them. Some you must transform itno the creatute to elimiante, otherwise you can't touch them. It's a great way to make the player transform, and not just use firearms at all times. Also, you need the creature to break down certain walls to progress furthe rint he game.
The charatcers of TTB are all very unique andd interesting. TTB is one of th eonly games, where you can fight with a muslim side by side, and he/she is not accused of being a terrorist. There is also a heavy drug user, a police warden, your old friend Miles,a mong many others. It is of course..up to you if they should live or not. Liek the first game, the story changes with all the hcocies you make.
The areas in TTB are very interestign this time around. there is of coruse the streets of baltimore, among many other areas such as eastern state (you msut return there) Torque's apartment, the sewers among many other palces. Ties that bidn sets the atmosphere properly for all these places.
In conclusion, ties that bidn is a promising game, and a great sequal to the first. Though it has a few problems, you can oversee these by the excelant gamepla,y and excellant story. TRhere were two major problems I hated though. 1. The game seemed abit...too short, and 2. I hate how the dialogue gets cut off, or a bunch of it is goign at one time (like 5 charatcers talking at once). I htink surreal and midway need to work on this a lot more tfor the next game (hopefully htere is one). Also, i think Blackmore could've been done a lot better, though he looked decent int he final product. But all that aside, I say you should pick up TTB if you enjoy excellant action gamepaly, combined with a rgeat story.