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Better than most of the garbage being released...

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 19 / 20
Date: March 15, 2004
Author: Amazon User

The Suffering is a decent game. It's not absolutely amazing or groundbreaking, but it is definitely more entertaining and worthwile than most crap-action titles being released right now. With dime a' dozen shooter games hitting the shelves en masse, The Suffering mixes things up a bit. It couples intense horror sequences with satisfying shoot em'up action, creating a well balanced blood soaked blend. And it is indeed well balanced. This game puts its best foot forward as a melting pot effort, combining massive amounts of gore and profanity with a decent story, and some good ol'fashion disturbing imagery. I felt that if ever the shooting and fighting grew a bit repetitive, the game's freaky/disturbing context prevailed and pulled the game through. As much as you run around chopping up demons and blowing them full of holes, the 'darker' backbone and theme of the game is always right there making itself known. Like I said, it's a mixture; You never feel too overwhelmed with the bulletfest or the brooding story elements. The graphics are run-of-the-mill PS2 quality. Nothing to boast about, but nothing to really gripe about either. The control interface is nicely done and the ability to switch between first and third person view at any time is excellent indeed. There are four difficulty settings - Easy (for your little sister)- Medium (for wusses like me)- Hard (for people who like to get aggravated and swear blood-vengeance on their PS2 - and Insane (for people who like getting splattered thoroughly and quite often.) The game's difficulty is balanced well, and the medium setting provides a challenge without overwhelming or enraging you. Also: weapons and provisions are well supplied throughout your adventure. - It isn't one of those action-horror titles where you have to be sparing with your loot. If anything, this game encourages you to hose down everything in sight, as there is always plenty more ammo to be found as you progress. My next topic of discussion is The Suffering's use of decision based story progression, and how it ultimately determines the ending of the game. Put simply: You run into people during the game (officers, inmates etc) and you are faced with choices - You can either choose to help them and follow the, dare I say 'light' path - or you can choose to be evil and cut them down and continue on your way. One nifty element the game designers have employed here is the use of voices that your character hears inside his head when faced with such decisions. One voice is his dead wife, urging him to do the right thing... the other voice is the voice of insanity, urging him to go Scarface on everyone. It is a neat little perk and one of the game's more memorable and fun features. And the choices you make regarding people who need your help will determine how the story ends for you, as the game features multiple endings. The demons/monsters you face in the game are pretty cool and some are definitely on par with the grotesque freaks found in Silent Hill. The voice acting is well done and very entertaining at points. On a similar note, if you play this game all the way through you're going to hear the F word about 300 times. - As well as some other choice phrases that helped The Suffering earn its well deserved M rating. So I guess that's either a boon or a disappointment depending on your tastes. In closing, I recommend this release. Fun if you like blazing guns action play, and fun/intriguing if you're a horror game fan. If you have the cash to spend, I'd say go for it. There's replay value and some great action/horror elements that make this title a satisfying stand-out. And let's not forget the blood... buckets and buckets of blood. ;)

Gruesome Monster-slaying fun.

3 Rating: 3, Useful: 11 / 13
Date: January 12, 2005
Author: Amazon User

I bought The Suffering while waiting for something I really wanted to come out, but I was pleasantly surprised at the amount of effort and detail that has gone into this game. Be warned though, it's dark and horrific, and the game seems to really revel in showing all the gruesome ways people can be sliced up, mutilated and tortured. You play Torque, a man imprisoned in one of the harshest prsions ever built, and it's up to you to make sense of what is happening when staff and inmates alike start getting mowed down by bloodthirsty supernatural monsters which appear seemingly from nowhere. The story hits the ground running in the first few minutes of play, when your character suddenly finds his cell door open and the prison in total chaos. Once out of your cell, it's a matter of making your way through the prison, and outside, hoprfully to freedom.

The thing that struck me while playing was the attention to detail present in the locations. Many of the rooms have working telephones, light switches, taps, lockers etc, and even though interacting with them sometimes proves to have no effect (flushing the toilet for example!) it's a great and realistic addition to the game world. Of course many of these things are important to the action, such as unlocking doors or finding supplies, so it pays to explore just what you can do in every new location. A word of warning also, be alert or else some parts of the game will pass you by. Some pathways and rooms containing supplies and even weapons can be completely bypassed if you are not thorough in exploring, so it pays to be cautious. This, of course, is only possible once you have cleared any areas completely of marauding monsters, and it's here that the meat of the game lies.

The creatures invading the prison are pretty gruesome and relentless in their attempts to kill you. Some very Silent Hill-esque creatures inhabit this world, including agile metallic creatures with blades instead of arms and legs that just love to leap at you from the ceiling, and crawling mutants who like to pull loaded hypodermic syringes out of their skin and throw them at you like darts. Early on in the game you will be hard pushed to come through fights unscathed, so it's a blessing that healing supplies are scattered liberally throughout each stage. However, just when you find the best (in my opinion ) firearm - the shotgun - and start cackling with joy as one or two close-range blasts send the creatures flying in a hail of body parts, the game ups the challenge and starts sending wave after wave of critters at you, some of which respawn endlessly. It sounds unfair, but it's not really, as in these cases the game is either telling you to get the hell out of there, or find a way to plug up the seemingly endless stream from it's source.
In several ways, the game reminds me a lot of the similar PS2 adventure "Ghosthunter", in that you have to run around whilst manually aiming, and things seem to be far more capable of dashing around the screen than you are. But, in a great additional aspect, you can also switch to first person view at any time, and still run around, attack and jump, etc. So that's almost two games in one, if you prefer to play it that way. Plus the weapons are a lot of fun...when I found the fire axe it was definitely playtime, heh heh...

As for the plot, it's very minimal, with escaping alive being about the only important issue here. There is a sub-plot involving Torque's memory of his wife and children and what has happened to them and him leading up to to the current situation, but it's very much a peripheral issue to the main action of the game. I found Torque's constant flashbacks and visions to be rather pointless after a while, as the script doesn't give Torque any personality whatsoever (he never speaks or changes his expression during the entire game), so it's impossible to feel any sympathy or even tell what emotions he's supposed to be experiencing!

The gameplay improves further once Torque gets outside of the actual prison, as the repetition of cells and offices gives way to a variety of forests, roads, rivers and cliffs, and the freedom to explore is pretty impressive (or maybe I should say that the disguising of the restraints the game uses to stop you going where it doesn't want you to go is pretty impressive!). Towards the end of the game, you'll also make it to a delapidated asylum/residence, a shoreline complete with shipwreck, and a clifftop lighthouse, and the graphics of these locations is wonderful, well worth waiting for.

So I recommend this game. It's challenging, although some of the killing can be avoided if you just want to run past everything. Still want more? Well, actions such as your willingness to help other survivors (even when they might be actively hostile towards you) will change the ending you receive, or open up extra goodies if you keep certain NPC's alive long enough - pretty tough to do in some cases. And there are several situations featuring puzzles and traps to test your problem-solving skills. There's also an "insanity" meter which, when full, allows Torque to transform into a super-strong monster himself and dish out insane damage....to find out how and why, you'll have to play the game. It's definitely worth a look

one good horror game

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 8 / 8
Date: February 25, 2004
Author: Amazon User

This is the best horror game I have played since resident evil 2. I love to get spooked but most horror games are about scaring you by giving you no ammo and running as your tactic to survive. Now don't get me wrong that adds to the spook factor but it gets hard to pick up time after time. Well, for the past several months i have been looking into The Suffering as a possible rental on a dark weekend when it came out. Just recently I played the demo and it blew me away as one of the best horror games ever.

Let us get to the point that made the game fun. You could fight. Thats it, you could fight back and actually have a chance to survive without spending ever bullet with regret. On top of that you still feel as if you are still on the brink of death as the story and monsters surround you. Now that is awesome when it comes to horror games.

Now the gore factor is a little much, even for a 18 year old guy, and the language is ridiculous but I got past that and saw what the game was like underneath. This is no kids game at all and if you are a parent looking into this for a child 16 and younger forget the game. Anyone else have fun. It is well crafted and good for a night of peeing you pants.

This Game Kicks Ass!!!

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 9 / 10
Date: May 20, 2004
Author: Amazon User

I'll be honest with you, I didn't think I would like it that much when I first played it, but then I put it in, and now I'm addicted to it! One of the things I like is that the creatures aren't all out to kill you. Don't get me wrong, they still want to kill you, but when you see 2 different kinds together and they don't see you, they attack each other instead of you. I also like the fact that the game reflects executions. For example:

1.Slayer - Decapitation (or dismemberment)
2.Marksman - Firing Squad (my personal favorite creature)
3.Mainliner - Lethal Injection
4.Nooseman - Hanging
5.Burrower - Buried Alive

other creatures include Fester, who are Slave Traders (it's a long story), Inferna (I hate them cause they're hard as hell to kill), and who can forget the 3 ghosts that help/don't help you

1. Dr.Killjoy (lousy name, but he's the doctor who ran the asylum and he appears via film projector)
2. Horace (haunts the prison and it was obvious he was electrocuted)

3.Hermes (I like this guy cause he has that stalker voice and he appears through gas used in the gas chamber, which is also the way he died)

You'll also have choices to make when you meet guards or inmates. You'll hear 2 voices everytime, a demon then your dead wife, but it's up to you who to believe.

Overall, it's a great game and I highly recommend it. But one other thing, play it in the dark!!

"RATED M" HEAVEN

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 6 / 6
Date: March 14, 2004
Author: Amazon User

After banging out Manhunt (Rockstar Games) a couple of weeks ago, I've been coasting while waiting for a couple of upcoming releases. That all changed the other day when I ran across this game. I'm back in "rated M" heaven. It's cool that the haunted Carnate Island (with it's long and storied past) is set off the coast of Maryland. Coming on the heels of Manhunt, this game (by Midway) is a cross between Doom and a horror movie. Truely creepy. So turn down the lights, pop this disc in, turn up the sound, and hopefully I'll see you at one of the three possible endings (if you survive). Good luck.

Solid, horrific fun

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 5 / 5
Date: April 16, 2004
Author: Amazon User

The Suffering, Midway's much hyped about survival horror game, is solid, horrific fun from beginning to end. Playing as death row inmate Torque, the newest resident of an island prison, he is one of the few survivors of an attack by some horrific monsters in the prison. From then on, you take on a horde of ghastly creatures, while finding a few surviving inmates and guards as well; your choices determine one of the game's three different endings depending on your actions. Torque has plenty of different weapons to his disposal, and as his insanity meter rises, he can transform into his monstrous alter-ego. Besides a bit of a sloppy frame rate and some minor control and camera issues, The Suffering is a fun game, and does offer some replay value with the three different endings. It offers less on puzzle elements and more on bloody action than other games in the genre, which can be both good and bad depending on the gamer. Besides it's third person perspective, the game can also be played in a first person perspective, but that is practically useless when you have to see if something is attacking you from behind. The monsters are varied, albeit repetitive, and are designed reasonably well, while the graphics are solid PS2 fare. The sound is where The Suffering shines; with plenty of shrieks, screams, and everything else that makes survival horror games enjoyable. Be warned however, the game earns it's Mature rating as it is exceptionally violent and contains some of the harshest language to ever be found in a game (then again, considering this is a game revolving around prison inmates, is that a surprise?), but despite it's shortcomings, The Suffering is worth checking out for fans of the genre.

Time to raise hell and make someone else suffer...

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 5 / 5
Date: April 28, 2005
Author: Amazon User

The Suffering is a game that would fall into the rather successful niche created by games like the Resident Evil and Fatal Frame series, but with one sick little twist. This game takes psychological horror gaming to a sick and rather twisted new level.

In the game you play as Torque, who has just been sent to Carnate Prison, one of the worst penitentaries in the world. Torque was sent there for the brutal murder of his wife and two children but has absolutely no memory of the crime. On the day Torque arrives at Carnate, an earthquake occurs that seemingly has opened the door to a hellish gateway that unleashes demonic creatures based on the various methods that were used to kill the prisoners of Carnate. Your task: kill whatever gets in your way (human, creature or otherwise) and learn the awful truth of Carnate while escaping the hellhole, figuring out why you have a mysterious ability to transform into a monster (more on that later), and learning if you really WERE responsible for your family's deaths.

Throughout the game you will encounter creatures that represent the various ways of dying in and/or escaping from prison, including creatures with blades for hands and feet (knife/shiv attack), beasts with needles in their backs and eyes (lethal injection) or guns on their backs (firing squad), creatures with half a body that drop from the ceiling with nooses around their neck (hanging), creatures that burrow underground (digging out) and one boss that has a particular affinity for-and is made nearly entirely of-poison gas (gas chamber).

SO how are you going to fight them? Luckily for you you will run into a nice little assortment of weapons to use like a shiv, shotguns, Tommy gun (machine gun used by gangsters in the 1930s), revolvers, a dual revolver set, grenades, TNT, Molotov cocktails, and more. But what if you're in a bit of a jam and your weapon's not helping?

Well you have a little something that is called an Insanity Meter that can help. For each monster that you kill your meter will grow. If you just happen to kill a lot of mosnters in any area, Torque and his weapon will be virtually splattered with blood from the attack. When the meter is flashing, press one button and Torque transforms into a monster that can tear through enemies and shake things up if you need to. Keep in mind that you will have to play in certain ways and do certain things to get one of the game's 3 possible endings.

This game is definitely not for kids since there is a lot of bloody violence, seriously disturbing imagery and a lot of swearing. The graphics are pretty good, even if it is a dark and slightly moody atmosphere for the game. But another fun aspect of the game is that the shooting allows you to switch at random from third-person (which you are in most of the game) to first-person at the touch of a button. Additionally as I was playing the game I couldn't help of think of a rather obvious pun while playing...(Hell in Carnate/Hell Incarnate)

All in all, this is a game that a lot of gamers slept on initially, but now that its available for $20 this is a good time if you're not too happy with how Resident Evil: Outbreak was (I know I wasn't) and have your reservations on Resident Evil: Outbreak File #2. So get set to (literally) raise a little hell and unleash The Suffering...

Insane Game - A Bloody Success!

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 4 / 4
Date: November 24, 2004
Author: Amazon User

"The Suffering" is a game I will enjoy for a long time. Four different levels (easy, medium, hard, insane) for the shooter enthusiast to choose from. A "mature" rating with good reason. Graphics are excellent, though the upclose shots of the characters/creatures are a bit blocky. I must tip my hat to Midway for going above and beyond the call with the creature designs... bringing in 4-time Academy Award winner Stan Winston. The voices you hear are excellent. Not only the main character Torque, but the creature's grunts and growling, the voices inside Torques head (the good one being his dead wife, the other that of pure evil), the slashes of knives and gun fire, all the way down to the pitter-patter of Torque's bare feet running on the cold wet cement. The story line follows Torque in a maximum security prison. He escapes his cell and now he's trying to find his way around the building to gain his freedom. 9 levels to go through - Torque encounters all kinds of hellish creatures. Killjoy, Horace, Hermes, Burrower, Nooseman, Slayer, Mainliner and a cast of others who in turn try to end Torque's life in a variety of ways. You can probably guess as to how each foe met their own doom - the gas chamber, electric chair, firing squad, dismemberment, buried alive, etc. Some are more lame than others (some hard to kill, some not), but still cool to deal with. "The Suffering" relies heavily on the element of surprise. Sure there's lots of brutal assaults and lots of blood, but the surprise factor is what really got me here. Windows breaking with creatures jumping in; watching helpful security guards that are walking with you get dismembered in a slue of ways by surprise creature attacks, etc. Another cool thing is to fill the "Rage Meter" and hit the insanity button and watch Torque morph into a huge creature where he dominates and usually wastes anything in his path. The language is excessive with F-bombs and S-bombs galore. Don't play this with young and impressionable kids around - if the language doesn't get to them, the violence and probably will. Only drawback is that I wish the movement of Torque was easier; you have to look left and right with one thumb, and move forward and back with the other, not to mention slashing or firing with the other. In the heat of battle (let alone surprise), this can become cumbersome. Graphics, sound, story, puzzle/maze, characters and foes, and the creativity are all top notch for a game that is no longer the full PS2 price. You can pick it up "The Suffering" now for the low-low price of a case of domestic beer. Great game in 2004.

The Ideal Horror Game

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 4 / 4
Date: September 23, 2005
Author: Amazon User

After I finished playing this game, i can honestly say it was one of the few games i've played that was truly scary. It has all of the perfect elements of a good horror game. A big part of the gameplay is just walking around the prison and hearing all the terrifying screams of other inmates and guards being killed off. The Suffering makes you use your imagination, rather than having endless monsters run right up to you, whitch i think is a must for any horror game. You'll turn corners and see a body being pulled up into a ventilation shaft by something you see only a glimpse of, stuff like that.

Once you get a ways into the game, it basically reverts to a regular third person shooter for the most part. You also have the option to make your character, who calls himself "Torque" into a good guy, or bad guy based on several decisions you make throughout the game. I think what really makes this game is the environment. While in the prison, the light are always on the verge of going out, and sometimes do, leaving you to make do with either your flashlight, or a low supply of flares. When this happens, the game is at it's best. This game is rated "M" for a reason, there is a ton of blood and gore, some language, and a plot that involes the brutal murder of his family. Anyone looking for a dark, twisted game that is bound to scare the hell out of you at least a couple of times, then this game is for you.

Sick, Twisted, and Gory.. I Love it!

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 4 / 4
Date: June 19, 2007
Author: Amazon User

Wow, the atmosphere of this game alone is enough to warrent a paragraph about the "mood" of this great Game! I have looked for something like this for a Very long time. (thought I had found it with Rockstar's Manhunt or Manhunt 2 due out 7/30/07) its truly amazing! you start off in a prison cell, and after a few minutes you realize, something is horribly wrong! all the other inmates have vanished and theres blood everywhere. you must explore and be prepared to jump (there is a part that got me even better then RE #1 did with the "dogs through the windows" scene) this is a 3rd person adventure type game with tons of shooting and puzzle solving. Tons of killing, blood and gore! it (aside from the gore) really gives you the "feel" of being in prison and not a wink of help in sight. the sense of desperation only grows throughout the game. and the "creatures" are inspired by their varied criminal acts! right down to "bodily fluids" pooling beneath hanging or fallen bodies! this game is brilliant. its really rare a game with this much violence and gore (till you hurl!) turns out so well when so many turn out so poorly. Buy this Now while you still can but I would avoide the sequal as it has many bugs that will freeze the game up. The Suffering is almost art in its sickness! part 2 however is graphicly as pleasing with better deaths etc but considering you will get 50% to 75% through it then have it perma freeze ugh. Cant say Anything bad about this title though. its simply perfect!

Graphics: 4 1/2 stars nothing Uber ground breaking but some of the "mood" graphics work really well hence the xtra point and a half.

Sound: 5 Stars! freaky and Superb! you will have nightmares! lol.

Fun Factor: 5 Star Swetness. Kill aha!

overall: 5 stars for a) sickest game and B) most fun sick game!

Buy it Here!
The Suffering

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