Another great title from Midway. An excellent action-horror game, that will entertain fans of pure adrenalin.
User Rating: 8 | The Suffering PS2
What would you get if you removed the puzzles, but kept the gore? Replace the static camera angles with real time full 3D control? Keep the exploration, but never slow the pacing? You’d have a game like The Suffering, an action/horror game set in a dark, gritty, and macabre world of bloody deception and murder. If you’ve got a taste for first-person shooters and terror tales, The Suffering is the game for you. Gameplay - The Suffering takes place on a small island called Carnate, which is set just off the Maryland coast. Among many other troubling things, Carnate is home to the Abbott State Penitentiary, home to Maryland’s most disquieting convicts. Players take the role of Torque, a man convicted of murdering his wife and two sons. Whether or not Torque is guilty of these crimes is actually up to the player, where actions taken during gameplay will affect the outcome in one of three possible endings. Torque himself doesn’t remember anything about the murders, which leaves the option for the player to decide the truth by how the player chooses to run through the game. Just after Torque’s introduction to his cell, other cons in the same vicinity are arguing back and forth over Torque’s alleged crimes. Then, something rocks the prison, feeling like an earthquake and disturbing the electricity. Then, out of the shadows, unspeakable horrors begin claiming prison inmates and corrections officers one-by-one. After getting his bearings, Torque escapes his prison cell and ventures off to escape the prison and the now-obviously haunted island. Essentially, The Suffering is a first-person shooter. It plays like one, despite the fact that you can play in either first-or third-person, and can switch perspectives on the fly with a simple button press. Both viewpoints work pretty well, but using melee weapons is much more advantageous in the third-person perspective due to the ability to combo with them; something you can’t do in first-person. Guns are a joy to use in first-person though, and the game’s haunting atmosphere is more immersive in this view. And immersive it is indeed. As Torque, it’s your mission to escape the horrible goings on at Abbott, and ultimately escape Carnate Island. The prison isn’t the only place on the dark isle though, for Carnate has a very bloody and disturbing past. Throughout the game, players will visit graveyards, an asylum, an old quarry, and the prison grounds in addition to the massive prison structure itself. Combining the spooky environments with the engrossing gameplay is what sets The Suffering apart from other horror titles. While other games concentrate on exploiting the main character’s isolation, The Suffering offers players the chance to befriend helpful non-player characters (NPCs). Not only are some of these NPC’s an enormous help (they know their way around Carnate Island better than you), but you actually need to help them if you want to earn at least one of the game’s three endings. Treating the NPCs well will earn you their trust, and as long as they have or find a weapon, they are especially useful in battle with numerous evils. What’s more, NPCs can lead you to specific locations faster than if you were left wandering around the island alone. Furthermore, if you happen to get stuck as to what to do next, chances are an NPC knows what you need to do and will help. Of course, you don’t have to be a nice guy if you don’t want to. If you’re feeling saucy, you can just unleash the dark side of you and kill them for their guns or for your pleasure. And believe it or not, there are advantages to this as well. Some NPCs inadvertently do more harm than good, and if you’re trying too hard to protect them when they can’t protect themselves, you become more vulnerable in combat. While the extra firepower is appreciated, the NPC A.I. can be questionable at times. There are instances when an NPC will run directly in front of you when you’re firing at an enemy. A friendly NPC will only take so many hits before they think you to be a killer and turn on you. If you are particularly interested in keeping them safe, you mustn’t injure them in any way, because if they decide to turn, they fight to the death. Unfortunately, keeping an NPC from getting caught in the crossfire is almost impossible, and it appears that most of the game’s NPCs are prone to running directly into one, especially when fighting in close quarters. It’s great to be forced to fight with more care and aim more precisely, but it’s irritating to watch an NPC start blasting you because they ran into your gunfire. As the riveting story unfolds, your encounters with these NPCs will trigger voices in your head, where Torque’s true nature slowly begins to show itself. One voice is that of your dead wife, pleading for you to help the individual standing before you. The other voice is a raspy, menacing voice, encouraging you to kill the person. You will also hallucinate, capturing glimpses of your dead family -- seemingly alive and well – roaming the environments. You will also see shocking visions of your family and even yourself. Most of these encounters reveal parts of Torque’s past, but it’s the player’s actions that actually shape Torque’s story for him. There are dozens of short, scripted events throughout, many of them disturbing enough to chill to the bone. For the most part, The Suffering contains lots of blasting, and is less puzzle-oriented than other horror games. There are a few moments that may make you scratch your head now and then, but for the most part, the game’s puzzles are meant to be quick-paced enough to keep the story moving along. Since there is lots of combat, a few more weapons would’ve been nice. There are only two melee weapons and a handful of guns to play with, like pistols (that you can double up on), a shotgun, Tommy gun, homemade flamethrower, TNT, and some grenades (flash bang and shrapnel). There are also a few turrets you can use from time to time. Admittedly though, the weapons, while limited, are at least satisfying to use. The enemy count is as anemic as the weapon variety. There are only a handful of monsters, each with their own methods of attack, but some of them don’t make an appearance until late in the game. Having a limited number of enemies and weapons isn’t a problem in other horror titles, because the gameplay is slower paced and doesn’t rely on action. The Suffering being so action-heavy has a harder time of it, as you feel like you’re fighting the same creatures over and over again using the same weapons over and over again. This makes the combat feel more repetitive than it should. Thankfully though, boss fights aren’t merely shoot-a-thons, and actually require you to use your brain a bit to defeat them. The final notable play mechanic is Torque’s ability to morph into a powerful beast. There are definitely times where this comes in handy, most especially when overwhelmed by foes. After a morph, Torque can use the shoulder buttons to do much more damage to enemies. There is a limit however, to how long Torque can stay changed. Torque must dispose of his opposition in order to fill his insanity meter. Once he’s able to change, the meter begins to drop. If Torque doesn’t change back to his normal form before the meter depletes, Torque dies. This keeps the amount of time that Torque is a monster well in check. Truthfully though, since there is nothing scary about being the monster, morphing somewhat disturbs the otherwise captivating storyline (though the game does a decent job of explaining it later in the game). Graphics – Capturing the ambience of a genuinely creepy atmosphere in a videogame isn’t easy, and therefore any use of visuals and sound are crucial to the package. The Suffering is host to a very stylized presentation, from the crisp texturing to the art design and color palette. The monsters – designed by the film effects pros at Stan Winston Studios – are notably well designed and have a distinct Clive Barker-esque look to them. The environments aren’t very detailed, but are offset by excellent lighting effects. Whether its beams of moonlight shining through the penitentiary windows (complete with dust particles!), the flickering of lamps in need of maintenance, or the soft glow of streetlights lining the dirt roads leading to the prison, the lighting is simply breathtaking at times. One creature in the game grinds its blades along the concrete floor and walls before attacking, and not only does the sparks flying from the blades look great, but the light actually sources off the creature for an even better effect. Torque’s flashlight looks nice too, and is very handy, since the environments are often cloaked in darkness. Shadowing is well done, though not as impressively executed as the lighting effects, but they still add to the already slick presentation. While the characters aren’t detailed and look kind of basic, Torque himself looks respectable, and looks especially cool when covered in blood, which splatters all over him and the environment. The effect is really great, and only helps to build on the incredibly gory atmosphere. The blood spatters on you even when in first-person too. The framerate stutters now and then, and the weapon effects aren’t so hot. The lighting that radiates from them looks kind of static, though what those weapons do can be impressive. Blasting chunks out of enemies is especially satisfying, as is exploding their noggins. By far the greatest effect though, is (naturally) the shotgun. At close range, one blast from the shotgun sends enemies flying backward when shot and a direct hit blows an enemy’s body apart in bloody chunks, leaving only their bottom half. Delicious. Sound – The other critical effect required in a horror game is the inventive and atmospheric use of sound. The Suffering delivers here too, perhaps even better than the visuals. The game’s haunting effects seem to be originating from right behind you, or just off to your side. Strange, unexplained noises, musical stings during startling moments, and sometimes moans and grunts similar to enemy sounds fill the environment around you. The voice acting is also a shining element, creating totally believable characters and situations. Given the gritty environment, dialogue is overflowing with profanity, but is tastefully done enough that none of it seems to be inserted just for the sake of being there. Conclusion - The action-packed nature of The Suffering keeps it from being the scariest of horror games, but Surreal Software added a plethora of inventive effects that make up for it, actually out-scaring some games in the ever growing genre. Few games tried to scare you while throwing a copious number of enemies at the player and caking him in blood from start to finish and actually succeeded. But thanks to Surreal’s polished presentation, innovative story progression, thrilling tale, and haunting visual effects, The Suffering does just that, and then some. If only other games were made with such a desire to do something unique and with such style. If you’ve got the guts, take on The Suffering. You’ll never be the same. 
