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The Suffering (PlayStation 2) artwork

The Suffering (PlayStation 2) review


"The suffering is a game that should have been a survival horror game, but for some reason the creators didn’t see it that way. It is a game where you play the role of Torque, who was convicted for the murder of his family. And you have to decide whether he is guilty or not. Along the way to figure out this very strange mystery you encounter otherworldly incarnations of the prison’s bloody history. The object is to get out alive, and decide Torque’s fate. "

The suffering is a game that should have been a survival horror game, but for some reason the creators didn’t see it that way. It is a game where you play the role of Torque, who was convicted for the murder of his family. And you have to decide whether he is guilty or not. Along the way to figure out this very strange mystery you encounter otherworldly incarnations of the prison’s bloody history. The object is to get out alive, and decide Torque’s fate.

The way you do this is one of the most innovative things I’ve ever seen in a videogame. You must decide to help or kill other survivors of the prison. If you help them Torque will obviously be innocent if you kill them he will be guilty. There is also an ending if you kill people for half of the game then decide to turn good, but I have yet to find that one.

Torque also has hallucinations and flashbacks of murder. Apparently they are the flashbacks of his wife being killed. These serve no actual point except that they are unexpected and scare you when they pop up. Sometimes at the end of a hallucination monsters pop up out of nowhere (it’s just a waste of bullets).

The game isn’t that hard to survive. There are bottles of medicine all over the place (I guess the guys that made it thought that the game would be more challenging than it actually is, or they thought people these days suck at videogames).

The graphics are fairly good, about those of Grand Theft Auto (so basically, crap). The game play does tend to get repetitive by just having to kill some monsters, or the always exciting assault the film projector (you’ll see what I mean, if you play the game). There are some cool unlockables that tell you about the monsters, and people on Carnate Island

The most annoying part of the game is that when you have to make a decision there will be two voices in Torque’s head. And Torque’s wife saying things like”he needs your help or he’ll die”. I found myself yelling at the screen to shut the hell up because it got so annoying.

I also found it hard to be a good guy because the people that needed help couldn’t defend themselves. It was so pathetic. Occasionally one of the people found a piece (gun for you non-gangstas), but even then they couldn’t hit anything.

The monster design in the game is great. They are based on different forms of execution in the prison. Some of them are lethal injections, being hung, and swords. Most of the monsters are slow so they can be easily escaped by running from them.

The game is more based around action then atmosphere, so it is not all that scary. Torque can also transform into a freakish monster himself to kick some serious ass. All through the game the infamous Dr. Killjoy is diagnosing Torque, pushing him to transform and kill various monsters. All-in-all generous use of flashbacks, disturbing hallucinations, gallons of blood, and lots of very adult dialogue and content make for a very thrilling game that is a good buy.



narutofreak124's avatar
Community review by narutofreak124 (April 24, 2004)

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