The Suffering : Games : Web Wombat

I'm talking about The Suffering in this instance, and although it kicks plenty of arse and is a high quality game, there's no denying it's a harrowing experience.

I know all about the sick little game he's playing.

For some time now he's been trying to corrupt my mind, by feeding me nasty visuals mixed with some scorching, horrifying audio work [Ed - it's called Sesame Street].

I am on to you Ed. You got close this time, and yes, The Suffering (TS) pushed me into some very dark places. But no dice!

I'm still here, and the shaking of my hands has dulled enough in order for me write down some of the events that caused me much horror.

The Suffering puts you in the blood soaked boots of Abbott State Penitentiary death-row inmate Torque, who was convicted for the murder of his ex-wife and two children. For these violent acts, Torque has been sentenced to death by lethal injection.

It comes as no surprise that Torque's mission is to escape Abbott State which is located on the Island of Carnate. The Island is your classic 80's horror movie setting, mainly due to its bizarre history.

Here's the deal: In the late 19th century, a large mansion was built on the island by a rich family who lived there for a very short time. The Mansion was then converted into an unaccredited mental institution - The Carnate Institute for the Alienated - which was run by a Dr. Killjoy until some time in the late 1920's.

"Die Loser"

Killjoy's methods have been described as 'unscientific', 'barbaric' and 'depraved'. In the 1930s the federal government acquired the island for use in the Second World War and since the end of the war it has been used by the department of correctional facilities, and still is at the present time.

Due to this bizarre history, Abbott State is now being overrun by hundreds of severely mutated and ultra-violent inmates, many of whom also have hard-core anger management issues. Nice.

Torque is no "Community Member of the Year" himself, but then the aim of the game is not to convert these mutated freak-a-zillas in to tree-hugging, flowing picking, rainbow kissing, muesli munching happy campers.

As far as the concept goes, TS can be compared to games like Red Faction or Hitman Contracts in that is a 3rd/1st person shooter (you can switch the camera) with plenty of guns and bloodshed.

The controls will be familiar to anyone whose played a first or third-person shooter before, with strafing/sliding controls combining with the point of view to create a very playable game. Slightly exaggerated physics lend the game a unique feel, which works well with the subject matter.

By and large, the game is great fun to play, with nice pacing, lots of killing and a couple of simple puzzles to add variety to the carnage. There's one level where you need to jack up a car, so it rolls down a hill to aid your escape, and little things like this add greatly to the game's appeal.

To Strengthen TS's position in the horror genre, Midway have recruited the services of a talented character designer who has created some ultra-evil, ultra-violent killing machines that make Frankenstein's monster look like a sugar-coated Mary Poppins.

Say hello and shake hands with Mr. Pointy

My personal favourite mutant also happens to be the most common one. It has a human-like form, wrapped in blood-soaked bandages and has long knives for legs and arms (pictured right). Its killing methods are almost ninja-like, and it's one crafty nutcase.

The creature designs help make this game very moody, and the monsters that occupy the prison have their own odd personalities too.

Often you'll witness them doing strange and disturbing things, like this one mutilated inmate who was meandering down a hallway dragging his knives along the walls - sparking and screeching the whole way. Until I put him out of his misery with a well-placed shotgun slug to the head.

In addition to the humanoid-sized enemies, there are much bigger and scarier killing machines throughout the game.

Massive giants with bagpipe-like guns strapped to their backs are another favourite, and who could forget the barbaric sumo wrestlers who at some point have ingested a family of live rats. You have to hack them to pieces or set them on fire with molotov's, as conventional ballistic weapons do little. And when they die, the rats burst out and come a running. How's that for fun!

I do wish that there was a greater variety of baddies though. The creators gave a taste of some classic character designs and even though this game is very good, I would have really liked to see more.

At worst, TS is constantly entertaining. At best it's a terrifically scary piece of interactive horror. It's suspenseful at times as well, due to some cleverly crafted scenes that would make even the most hardened horror movie fans
feel a little jumpy.

The game can often brake out in full-scale frantic combat sequences, with a variety of targets to shoot, and in a situation like this, when all hell is breaking loose and you've just got to kill everything that moves, the game designers regularly hide away nice little surprises close to the action.

When Torque "cracks the sads" his insanity
turns him into a Hulk-like beast of justice

These are usually in the form of stationary machine gun turrets, and they help keep the fun factor levels way up. Word up!

There's also a good variety of weapons and plenty of ammo too! Guns ain't nothing without bullets. My all time favourite gangster weapon from the 1930s "The Tommy Gun" leads this all-star cast of weaponry.

The best supporting weapon would have to be the customised prison issue, pump action shotgun, but I'm getting ahead of myself here.

Weaponry starts off with the home made "shiv", which is a piece of bed-leg metal with a cloth wrapping for a handle, with which you use to gash and lacerate your foes.

From there you must use the shiv to kill a guard who has a revolver, then use the revolver to kill yet another guard who's got a pair of dual pistols, and so on goes this grisly dance of death.

TS also features another highly effective piece of weaponry which is integral to the game's appeal and fits well with the title. Torque has the ability to transform into a large angry beast when his 'insanity meter' maxes out. A quick button press will send the game into a stylised slow-motion period and Torque will start to screech, scream and stretch into this oversized stomping lizard of nightmarish proportions.

The beast's mobility is better than Torque's human form, and he has a much longer reach for maximum melee maiming. He can also punch the ground really hard, which results in his ultra deadly "shackles of death" move. Although the beast element is a very effective weapon, I found him harder to control than in human mode, and ole beasty has only a couple of attacking moves.

But it is good to transform every now and then just to mix it up a bit, plus it's an interesting element to the game which I think will influence other game creators and future games to come. You read it here first.

"Rest in pieces..."

Dr. Killjoy makes several appearances throughout the game, and if you've forgotten about the intro already, he's the prick behind all this madness. He only appears as a hologram in locked cells and dark corners, and his purpose is to unravel the in-depth plot behind The Suffering.

Killjoy a spooky old-school character who helps interweaves the storyline into the game in a bellowing, enchanting voice. He's like one of those blokes at the circus who yells "Step right up! Step right up! Everybody wins a prize!"

Due to the graphic nature of TS, I got heaps of unwanted attention around the office and at home from flat mates and colleagues, like, "You know those games influence you, don't you?" and "Shit man... this game is pretty hard-core," and "If you keep playing that game you will get brain damage," and I'm like "Yeah, sounds interesting..."

If you're going to get this game, which I highly recommend, the best way to achieve maximum enjoyment and underwear-staining suspense whilst playing The Suffering is to simply adjust the light meter at the start of the game so as to make everything dark.

The game supplies you with flash light batteries throughout the game, that would otherwise go to waste, and it makes the game so much more intense and realistic when you have only a flashlight to guide you through the levels.

In conclusion, The Suffering is top notch game. It's fairly original, is very compelling and will be a treat for more mature gamers who've been yearning for something not directed at toddlers.

It combines great gameplay, stylised graphics and so much atmosphere, you'll need an atmoshper-o-tron 2000 just to deal with it. And it's damned scary too, thank you very much Mr. Editor. I should remind you that I now have a lifetime subscription to 'Jailbird Joey' monthly. No idea why, but hey - you're paying, so let's go crazy.

Game: The Suffering
System: PS2
Players: 1
Online: No
Developer: Midway
Distributor: Red Ant

Rating: 90%

(Ratings Key/Explanation)

The Suffering is on the shelves now.

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