The Suffering review

In The Suffering you play a character called Torque and they don’t come much tougher than him. You’re able to withstand more damage and trauma than other humans which is perhaps understandable since you are not completely human anyway (or completely sane for that matter). Torque has been sentenced to death row for brutally killing his family but he claims he blacked out during the incident so nobody really knows how it happened. The prison he is sent to is on a remote island called Carnate; an island with a dark history that goes hand in hand with the gruesome prison facilities that also has its share of horrific events in the past. In short, the setting couldn’t be more fitting for a horror game.

Shortly after Torque arrives things go from bad to worse... no, make that the “worst”. As he sits down on his bed there is a sudden rumble and the building shakes, followed by the sounds of creatures scurrying in the dark, mysteriously killing off his cellmates one by one. From there on your story begins as you try to survive this Half-Life-esque monster invasion and find out more about yourself and where you are.

“They say this cat Shaft is a bad mother...”

The game lets you know right from the start that it’s not trying to appeal to everyone, the designers have a clear target group in mind. The FMV intro features foul language, going far beyond simply using the F-word, but it’s definitely warranted and gives the game a more real and gritty feel, after all these are death row inmates with an extra incentive to swear (you know, with creatures coming at them and stuff). This is augmented by the fact that the voice acting is very good, a far cry from what fans of the genre have been subjected to in the past. The visuals don’t hold back either, right away you will see various methods of dismembering at almost every step. Yes folks, this is a game rated “M for Mature” (if you live in America anyway).

Controlling Shaft... errr Torque

Controlling Torque works well on the PS2, using the left stick to move and the right stick to look around. A particularly nice touch is that you can select first or third person view; first person is a more comfortable shooting view but third person gives you a better overall view. Torque has access to a variety of weapons throughout the game, such as a shotgun, pistols, machine guns and even a flamethrower. He can also throw dynamite sticks and Molotov cocktails, along with using non-weapons like a flashlight and flares and of course healing kits (called Xombium).

The offensive weapon that sticks out is Torque himself, he can turn himself into a monster at certain intervals, becoming a fierce killing machine. I have only two minor gripes with the gameplay though, one is that you can only jump up ledges where you are supposed to go, meaning that you can reach other ledges but for some strange reason you can’t climb them. The other thing is that there’s no quick way to change weapons in the middle of a fight, which can get annoying because this game supplies you with a lot of ammo and a lot of creatures to kill. In that sense the gameplay itself is more similar to shooters like Max Payne than Silent Hill.

Prison blues

Atmosphere and ambience is always a big factor for games like these and The Suffering does not let you down, you feel a constant tension due to the excellent sound and graphics design. This is what a survival horror game should be like - you should not feel safe at any time. I remember when playing Resident Evil that they had these rooms where you could save your progress on a typewriter and some mellow music started to play and no monsters were able to come in; they even eased down the tension in the otherwise terrific Silent Hill series at some places, but not so with this game. The sound, and the uncertainty of what lies behind the next corner is always present and creatures can and will appear out of nowhere (many of the monsters are able to phase through walls, ceilings, liquids and so on).

The creatures are well thought out; they all have a common theme in that they are all derived from an execution method. The noosemen drop from the ceiling and try to throttle you (hanging), the mainliners try to stab you with a syringe containing a deadly injection (those guys freaked me out the most) and so on. This also means that they have various methods of attacking you so be prepared to learn some tactics of your own.

Hanging with the homeboys

The interactivity (apart from blowing up monsters) consists not so much of puzzles but of communicating with other inmates or guards. You have a choice of basically being good or evil and, you guessed it, this influences the ending of the game. Being good allows you to get more information about where to go next or gain some background of the place through the one-sided conversations (Torque is too cool to speak).

The game is full of little ambient details that make the story that much more interesting, for example when you first meet an inmate or a guard that can help you, you hear two voices in your head; the good one is that of your wife (“Help him T. He can give you information”) and the bad one is a demonic voice, perhaps the monster in you (“Kiiiiiiiiilllll himmm”). Another nice touch is the recurrent flashbacks Torque gets, one-second visuals from some horrific scenes in the past and they add some extra tension to the game. I did mention Torque was not all there, didn’t I?

Last Rites

If you’re a fan of the genre you should definitely get this game, all the factors that make a good survival horror game are here; the story, the ambience, the tension, the scares and the gore. The formula has been slightly changed though, this game is more of a shooter than its predecessors and there is less puzzle solving, but it works; the game pace is nice and there’s never a dull moment.