by Jason - March 29, 2004 If the Resident Evil series took place in a prison and was actually frightening, you�d have The Suffering. Midway�s venture into survival horror puts you into the shoes of Torque, a racially ambiguous death-row inmate with a silly name (don�t say that to his face!), and serious mental problems. You see, Torque is on death row for a reason: Apparently he murdered his wife and two sons. The problem is that he can�t remember a thing about it.

The game begins with your arrival at the Maryland Department of Corrections Maximum Security Penitentiary on Carnate Island, an island with a history that�s as terrible, if not more so, than the crimes committed by the inmates residing in the prison. After the introduction and subsequent conversation, all hell quite literally breaks loose plunging you, as Torque, into the disturbing surroundings of the prison, Carnate Island itself, and the even more disturbing depths of Torque�s own mind. As you try to escape from the prison and the island, you�ll be fighting against demons from without�and within�as you slowly piece together the history of the place, and why Torque came to be there.

Gameplay

The Suffering can be played as either a first-person shooter (FP) or third-person shooter (TP). The TP view is perfect for walking the halls of Carnate Island Prison and the Island itself, and when using the �monster� you become when your insanity gauge fills up�while the FPS view is ideally suited for various forms of firearm related mayhem. The �scenes in your head� images mentioned below appear randomly, and in more than one instance caused me to drop the controller. My only major annoyance is that when Torque goes to pull on a soda-machine or open a door, the game automatically changes views. For example, opening a door in FP mode will find the game jumping to TP to open the door, then it will return to FP mode again. Not a major gripe, but a gripe nonetheless. The game plays quite smoothly as well, with no slowdown I could perceive, or any instances of objects falling halfway through walls.

Graphics

The graphics in The Suffering are good. Not stunning or perfect, but GOOD. The game was, after all, developed for multiple platforms, and it shows. The characters die in disturbingly detailed fashion, and those undead and other assorted monsters are brought to life with good attention paid to the little details, while the lip-synchronization to the spoken words leaves a bit to be desired. Lighting effects are dim, as one would expect in an old prison facility, and they lend themselves to more than a few startling moments. The flashback scenes and subsequent �dream-style� presentation are exceptional, and the �scenes in your head� flashes are wonderful, as are the fleeting glimpses of things you can�t identify�if you saw anything at all.

Sound

All the graphics in the world do nothing for a game without decent sounds. The Suffering has those in spades. From haunted, tortured screams, to the sizzle of the electric chair, to the evil hiss of the gas-chamber, and the sounds of crackling fire, to the creepy music through the game, the sound really helps the game overcome the few shortcomings in it�s graphical presentation. The voice acting, while being more profane than I believe I�ve ever heard, is dead on. The voice actors managed to carry every emotion perfectly, and for that they should certainly be applauded.

Fun Factor

While slightly linear at times (run from point A to B, save him, kill them, etc.) The Suffering is definitely a game that�s fun to play. A myriad of weapons from the pistol and ever-present shotgun to Molotov cocktails provide plenty of splatter-y goodness, while the �insanity meter-powered monster� provides loads of hack-em-to-pieces bliss. Several different endings lend themselves to a decent replay factor as well, guaranteeing you will get all the entertainment you paid for from the disc. The Suffering is probably the most fun I�ve had since the original Resident Evil�and that series is right lofty company for Torque and Co.

PlasmaFactor

For being the first game I can recall that actually spooked me, I'm giving The Suffering a PlasmaFactor of 9.

The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly

The Good: Exceptional sounds, well done voice-acting, and excellent story.

The Bad: The graphics could have been wonderful, but it won�t happen when you have to build a game for the PS2�ers as well, and don�t have time to snazzy up the XBOX version to make use of the Big Black Box�s power. The view-switching every time you open doors, or pull things is annoying.

The Ugly: Hey, it�s a prison. There�s a lot of ugly. And this season, Midway�s The Suffering is going to make it ugly for their competitors.