PlayStation 2

The Suffering

You know you wanted to get it, but for some reason, you smelled Resident Evil all over it, didn’t you? The thing about The Suffering is that no one has really given it a chance since it comes off as another Resident Evil clone. Not to say that there are no instances that would remind you of it, but The Suffering, with its deep story and many surprise elements, is far from any RE game or clone you may have played. And to be honest, this game puts more on the table than most other games of its genre.

Midway, a company recognized for their stable of arcade style games and over the top sports titles, tries their hand at something completely removed from their current library of games with The Suffering. The Suffering tells the tale of Torque, a man condemned to die by lethal injection for the “alleged” brutal murders of his wife and two children, who’s destined to spend his final days at Abbott State Penitentiary, located on Carnate Island, a small island off the coast of Maryland. As can be expected with a game of this nature, Carnate Island, as well as the penitentiary, have unique histories rife with tragedy and of course, E-V-I-L.

As if prison weren't bad enough, with hazing in the yard, shanking on the row and brutality in the shower room, imagine having to put down a horde of monsters from the bowels of hell in your spare time. That's exactly what you're charged with doing in The Suffering, a brand new title from Surreal Software and Midway Games.

Survival horror games were once a big part of video gaming. Games like Resident Evil, Carrier, Silent Hill, and others were once big deals. Everyone always clammored for the newest Resident Evil and the big question was always "what platform will Capcom make it for?" But somehow, the survival horror genre has taken somewhat of a downtick. Silent Hill 3 came and went with little fanfare, and Fatal Frame 2 came out and you almost didn't know it hit shelves. Midway wanted us to begin to relay the message to the gaming community that they want to get the revival of the genre going. Well, today Midway can come through on that very promise and has brought us The Suffering. Midway was betting that The Suffering would turn some heads. It got my attention!

The Suffering has a lot of good stuff going for it - scary creatures, fast-moving gameplay, and a good story. It also has enough flaws that anyone who's grown tired of the genre will likely be unable to look past its faults. However, if you're someone who's sole reason for not liking Resident Evil is that it's too slow paced then The Suffering might be right up your alley, though I'd suggest renting it first.

The modern horror game is one that sticks pretty close to the blueprint laid out by Capcom's 1996 release Resident Evil. Slow pacing, methodical puzzles, and scares centered around things that jumped out of the darkness were the order of the day then, and since that time, games have roughly based themselves on this concept. Midway's new game, The Suffering, goes for the horror thing with creepy monster design and startling visual trickery, but it also ditches most of the ammo-conservation and slow pacing found in a majority of horror-themed games. The end result is a much more action-packed experience that might be a little too straightforward in spots, but it does make for a solid action game.

Although The Suffering will inevitably wind up lumped with Resident Evil and Silent Hill in the 'survival horror' category, in actual fact it feels more like an 'action horror' title when you get round to playing it. In games like Resident Evil, risking the last half an hour's play every time you take an uncertain step arguably does just as much to promote tension and accentuate every fright as a mutant dog leaping through a window. And while The Suffering is heavy on the otherworldly sights and sounds, it dispenses with the slower pacing and inventory juggling of 'survival horror' titles and throws in a pretty comfortable checkpoint system to boot.

Starting your magazine advertisement campaign with a decapitated head stuck down a prison toilet splattered with fecal matter? This can be the handiwork of only one company. No, not Nintendo; we're talking about the schlock-and shock-peddling superstars of interactive entertainment: Midway. This time though, there's the intact skeleton of a great game waiting there, under all that offal. The Suffering stars Torque, a family dismemberment specialist (or is he?), and full-time death-row inmate.