Survival Horror With a Great Action Twist
The survival horror genre started off in the early 90's with a PC title called Alone in the Dark. Now, 15 years later, the survival horror genre receives one of its most unique and disturbing entries. The Suffering is a game about Torque, a deathrow inmate with a mysterious past. Torque was accused of murdering his wife and kids, and, after being convicted, was sent to Carnate Island's maximum security prison to await his execution. Of course, the minute Torque arrives things go to hell, literally. The opening cutscene sets up this story amidst a flurry of foul language. After a few moments, though, the power dies and Torque's new "friends" are sent to a couple week early death. Unfortunately the guards also are murdered, leaving Torque to escape his cell and find a way off the island.
The setup is great and the story sets up an incredible mood. Played from either first or third person, The Suffering is as much a shooter as a horror game. Unlike Resident Evil or Silent Hill, you have full control of your camera and an agile and responsive character. Torque can hold all his weapons at once, in addition to nine healing pill bottles and flashlight batteries. The Suffering plays mostly like any other shooter, and the controls are responsive enough, although you may want to up the sensitivity a little. The gameplay in The Suffering isn't anything special, but the creatures you fight and locations you fight in make up for this. First up, the levels in this game put Silent Hill to shame. The haunted prison your'e in for the first half of the game is dark and rotting. The walls are covered with crumbling wallpaper and streaks of blood. Lights blink on and off, and rats scurry across the floor. The prison doesn't even come close though the the horror that is the Killjoy's insane asylum. Haunted by the late Doctor Killjoy (Who appears through the use of old 1800's projectors) the asylum has to be the freakiest level I have ever played in a videogame. The "padded rooms" which house such items as the living head and shoulders of a person who Killjoy explains, "needed to have his mind separated from his body," and a bloody teddy bear and tricycle are at times so haunting that it makes you shiver. Doctor Killjoy himself, a sepia toned projector image, is one of the best characters ever put in a videogame. If anything bad can be said about the environments it's that at times it's too dark to see where you're supposed to go which can lead to some confusion. More on that later though.
Enemies in The Suffering are just as horrific as the enviornments. All of them are based around a form of execution, such as the agile creatures with guillotine blades for arms and legs, the swamp like monsters with lethal injection needles coming out of their backs and eyes, and the giant abomination with an entire firing squad on his back. As great as these enemies are, there aren't nearly enough of them. The first five hours of the game or so will only see you fighting the three above mentioned enemies. In a game that lasts around ten hours that's kind of a shame. The enemies also follow very distinct patterns of behavior making it almost routine to fight them after you have learned how they behave. Also lacking are the number of boss fights, of which there are only a handful. The final boss is also extremely easy once you figure out how to beat him. To fight these enemies you'll have your standard array of weapons, including dual revolvers, a tommy gun, shotgun, and for a couple scenes, a flamethrower. While there aren't that many weapons, they are all fun to use and the combat never really gets boring.
In addition to the weapons you can also transform into a beast that can slash away at enemies killing them in one hit. Of course you can only stay in this form for so long, and have to recharge it by killing enemies before you can use it again. It's important to reiterate that while there may not be many weapons or enemies to fight the combat never gets boring, and there are so many unique enviornments that the game never becomes repetitive. There are also some simple puzzles to break up the combat although, when you realize that you have to solve a puzzle, they are pretty simple. Problem is, there were several times in the game when I was completely lost. There is no objective screen in the game, and the game rarely boxes you in, so it's possible to explore the level for ten minutes or more before realizing that you had to pick up some item that you didn't see your first time through. A simple objectives list would have alleviated this, or at least a helpful minimap. Still, when nothing is happening, the game has a habit of quickly displaying a grisly image onscreen accompanied by a screeching noise, just to fill the monotony.
At points in the game you'll come across survivors who will help direct you to the next point of interest. These people obviously save you a lot of wandering time, but they can be killed much to easily, and you have to kill them if you want to see the bad ending. There are three endings to The Suffering, one if you save most people, one if you kill most of them, and one if you use your beast form for most of the game. I would highly recommend keeping everyone alive the first time around so that they can direct you and offer covering fire. I haven't beaten the game three times so I can't comment on the quality of the other endings, but the good ending is satisfying and ties up the story nicely.
The Suffering looks great from an artistic standpoint. As I said before the creatures have a dark and insane look to them, and they animate incredibly well. The enviornments really aid in the sense of immersion, and the copious amounts of blood help give the game its more mature theme. Technically though, the game could have had some higher quality textures on the creatures and on Torque. The enviornments can also get a little blurry when viewed up close. The music in The Suffering is minimal at best. The score makes use of unconventional instruments such a lead pipes and jail bars, and the result is a soundtrack that is a unusual as the game it scores. While Torque remains silent throughout the game, the supporting characters are voiced perfectly, especially the Mexican guard who joins you late in the game. It is almost worth getting the good ending just to hear the survivors' interesting stories.
Although it can be beat in about ten hours, there is ample reason to play The Suffering through three times to see all three endings. There are also several different difficulty settings to sink your teeth into, as well as some bonus content like a making-of featurette. Overall The Suffering is an above average game that balances standard gameplay with an anything-but-standard setting and story. With its horrific and intelligent level designs, terrifying enemy lineup and at least on-par gunplay, The Suffering should appeal to fans of the horror genre as well as anyone looking for something a little more mature from their games.
Although it can be beat in about ten hours, there is ample reason to play The Suffering through three times to see all three endings. There are also several different difficulty settings to sink your teeth into, as well as some bonus content like a making-of featurette. Overall The Suffering is an above average game that balances standard gameplay with an anything-but-standard setting and story. With its horrific and intelligent level designs, terrifying enemy lineup and at least on-par gunplay, The Suffering should appeal to fans of the horror genre as well as anyone looking for something a little more mature from their games.
