Super Street Video Game Reviews
Game Title: The Suffering
Publisher: Midway
Genre: Action-Adventure, Survival
Platform: PS2
Rating: 
Midways recently released horror-fest, The Suffering, will send more than chills up the spine. Gamers are plunged into the insidious world of Abbott Penitentiary, a decaying, dissolute, island-prison that houses the nation's worst criminals. Worse than the inmates, is the more sinister, dark secret that is about to be unleashed when a dangerous storm rocks the very foundation of Abbott Penitentiary. Gamers play as convicted murderer, Torque, who must escape the vile prison while pitted against potential friends and unholy fiends in the effort to not just to survive, but to make it off the island to freedom.
From the beginning of the game, Torque is haunted by flashbacks and periodic blackouts. It was during one of his blackouts that his family was murdered. Now the question remains throughout the game: Is Torque guilty or innocent? Is Torque the monster who slaughtered his family and deserves his seat on Death Row? Or, has he been cruelly convicted of this heinous crime when he is innocent? That depends. In a cool twist, The Suffering has three different endings, and the one gamers get is based solely on actions performed during the game.
It's hard to know which actions lead a player to one ending or another. Torque, as well as other peripheral characters (other inmates and guards), are constantly being hunted by psychotic, mutant freaks always eager to add another body to the ever-growing pile. At least gamers are not just left to their wits to survive, and gamers can fight back with prison-made weapons like a big sharp shivs and Molotov cocktails. Once the action starts, players will find other important survival items like guns and shotguns (picked up from dead guards), ammunition, heath, and important papers and maps . Torque will also find "throwing" weapons like grenades or TNT which are very useful for big attacks to obliterate a vile swarm of ghastly ghoulies without losing tons of health.
Fighting these monster-like mutants does have benefits for Torque. Besides his health meter, Torque also has an Insanity meter. Once the Insanity meter is full, players just have to activate it and watch as Torque turns into a grotesque hulk-freak who's got enormous power to smash the other monsters into bleeding blobs of deformed flesh. One warning though, even if all the creatures aren't dead, Torque will be if players forget to turn him back into his Human form before the Insanity meter runs out.
Players used to playing first-person shooters will have no trouble stepping into the action of this game. Controls are easily picked up and scrolling through Torque's inventory of items become second nature just as quickly. All levels of gamers are welcome inside the walls of Abbott Penitentiary since developers designed the game with four difficulty settings: easy, medium, hard and impossible.
Graphics look great and do the job of giving players the feeling of being enclosed in a moldering, putrid prison that is filled with murderous, bizarre creatures, half-dead inmates and prison guards, and the horrendous secret that started it all. A good soundtrack with a host of chilling sound effects will keep players on the edge of the couch and more than a little unnerved.
The Suffering from Midway is a creepy, scary game that will thrill gamers like the latest horror flick, only this time, players are the star of the show. The dreary world of The Suffering will sink players into the dismal world of Abbott Penitentiary. As Torque, players must accomplish goals to progress through the levels of the prison by staying alive, using resources and weapons, and a few survival smarts will serve gamers well. We especially liked the Insanity mode and the Herculean strength Torque gets to demolish the evil beasts who are after him, plus the whole "guilty/innocent" verdict being dependant on gameplay is a clever, cool twist. Of course, we recommend playing with lights off and the surround sound up. We give it three and half nukes.