The Suffering (PlayStation 2) Review
~by tankMage
Score: 8.6/10 (Good)
What do you get when you give a guy named Torque narcotics and guns? The Suffering, that’s what.
I have to say right out of the gate that this game was made to shock and offend. There’s gore, no-no words, and the main character is a troglodyte that was sent to prison for murdering his family. If you do not like that sort of stuff, it might be a good idea to play a different game. Now if you DO like edgy offensive games, you are in for one wild ride. Imagine running around a spooky prison, blasting monsters that look like they came straight out of the Hellraiser movies while popping a dubiously named drug called Xombium to heal yourself….and that’s just half the fun!
The super dark horror theme aside, The Suffering is a good game that struggles here and there. While the story is interesting and there are some great monster blasting/puzzle solving scenarios, the game lacks polish. It can also get repetitive at times, with baddies often just popping up and saying “Boo!” just to slow Torque down. So expect something that more like a hidden gem (I never heard anyone talk about The Suffering) rather than a masterpiece. I also find the survival horror tag this game is sometimes given to be questionable, but if people call Resident Evil 4 survival horror, we can include The Suffering in the genre as well. May as well throw DOOM in while we are at it (Don’t worry that was a poor attempt at a joke).
Torque is not your typical survival horror hero.
Survival horror features a lot of cops or regular Joes taking up the role of hero when zombies or whatever decide to crash the party. The Suffering sets itself apart as players control a convicted murderer charmingly named Torque…well he isn’t just a murderer, he murdered his wife and kids. Or maybe he didn’t, you decide. So yeah, Torque isn’t exactly a boy scout nor does he look the part with his scowl and mutton chops. He is also probably the guy you want on your side if things go tits up, which is what happens just after he is shown to his cozy death row cell. After a bit of cussing from the other inmates, the lights go out and horrific monsters start killing everything in sight.
While the monsters are creepy, I often felt bad for them, because they had the misfortune of being locked in prison with Torque who frequently hallucinates, pops pills like candy, and swings a mean fire ax. The game really goes out of its way to be gory and dark, but it’s more unsettling than scary as one feels pretty powerful while lumbering around as Torque. However, this isn’t a weakness, because it all ties into the story, which is open ended insomuch as the player can choose wether to be a good guy that helps those stranded in the prison or a psycho that butchers everything in sight. Choices matter too, because Torque’s appearance changes as he saves or kills people and the ending is influenced by the player’s actions.
There’s a lot of flashbacks and Torque experiences visions that could be straight out of the classic horror film, The Shinning. The scenes give the player some background on Torque as well as the island the prison was built on. Overall, the story is fairly well told as even the exposition dumps that occur here and there are done with style.
There’s also some great characters that include a prisoner that reminded me of Mark Twain, the ghost of a 1930s mental institution shrink, and a guard who just wants to get back to his family. For that matter, most of the people Torque encounters are fairly interesting and they do a good job of driving the story as well as the action forward.
Mysterious mysteries.
Some plot points and parts of the backstory are not fully explained, which is great since it gives players some room to fill in the gaps through investigation and imagination. You are never directly told what happened on Carnate Island (though there’s plenty of hints), why Torque is the way he is, or what happens to him and I like that. Plots are explained to death all to often, so it’s nice to have some mystery.
They’re ooky and they’re spooky…
The real stars of the game are arguably the monsters which look like something out of the Hellraiser movies. I don’t want to give too much away, but they all have their own gimmicks and were really original. The bosses had a lot of pizzazz as well, but they were few and far between. Unfortunately, there’s not a ton of variety to the bestiary and you’ll find yourself fighting the same baddies throughout most of the game. This can make the action feel repetitive at times, but it’s not too bad and I would rather have a few imaginatively designed foes to slaughter than the same old cliches that are the usual survival horror fare.
Run and Gun fun!
While I have a few complaints about the combat effects, battling monsters is pretty fun. Torque will find pistols, shotguns, shivs, and even fire axes as he explores the island. These armaments are fairly common in video games, but it’s nice that the devs weren’t stingy with the firepower and that they didn’t stick players with some lame excuse for a weapon. There’s also plenty of baddies to take aim at, so expect plenty of action.
A nice balance between combat and puzzle solving.
The Suffering has a few puzzles in it, but not so many that it makes the player feel like he or she is constantly stopping to turn a crank or push a box. Some of puzzles are fairly clever too and most of the boss fights have a problem solving aspect to them that makes them more entertaining. Players will also find plenty of hidden goodies if they take the time to explore and there are even secret weapons, which is a nice touch.
First or third person? You decide.
One of the things I really like is the ability to switch between first and third person camera modes. This isn’t the first game to do this, nor was it the last, but it’s rare to see in this genre. The system works very well, though I found myself using third person as the game progressed since it was easier to see anything that was trying to ambush Torque.
All bark and no bite.
My biggest gripe with combat is that it feels flat. The graphics and sound effects used when monsters take damage are really toned down to the point that jumping on a goomba in Super Mario Bros. is more satisfying than blowing apart one of Carnate Island’s monstrosities. A little more gore and a nice thwack! sound when bullets or blades struck flesh would have really helped. Weapons like dynamite and the shiv were especially disappointing, because I often had trouble telling if they even damaged the enemy. It’s odd considering how this game goes out of it’s way to be shocking, but fails to outdo titles that were way older than it when it comes combat.
Janky wanky game engine.
The action and overall design of The Suffering is really good, but the game engine isn’t quite there. Gameplay is usually smooth, but moving over certain types of terrain or performing some actions feels really jerky and unresponsive. Jumping is the main culprit, because there’s a slight delay to it. Torque is also able to grab onto ledges, but whether it will work or not is a coin toss. Moving crates is also a bit wonky, because any small movement of the stick makes Torque shift the crate around in a jerky manner. I’m not sure if this was an issue with the PS2 port or if every version *ahem* suffered from this problem, but it takes some of the fun out of exploring Carnate Island.
The AI is also pretty terrible, even for a game from 2004. If you choose to help the survivors trapped on Carnate, expect them to run into your line of fire, stroll into hazards like burning wreckage, and walk off into a death trap full of monsters while you stop to pick up some of that sweet, sweet Xombium.
All too easy?
I used to crank up the difficulty on PS2 titles as high as I could when the console was new, because I felt like games were becoming far too easy at that point in time. I don’t do this anymore when I review games since I’m not sure what other players are going to do and it makes sense to just go with the default experience. The Suffering’s standard difficulty is aptly called Normal, but it’s more like Easy mode. Most monsters die pretty fast and do not do a lot of damage, players will find tons of weapons and ammo, and an NPC is often around to help out. Auto-aim was also included and I really considered turning it off, because it made the game stupidly easy as far as I’m concerned.
While I think the default difficulty could have used a boost, it’s likely that Hard and Impossible modes offer more challenge, especially if you turn auto-aim off. It is also worth noting that I don’t think I would want to play as a good guy on Hard or Impossible considering how dumb the NPCs are and that you have to keep them alive to get the “Good” ending. It was annoying to babysit the NPCs on Normal mode as they ran into hordes of bad guys or fires as it was, so I can only imagine them getting absolutely slaughtered on Impossible mode.
Is it really survival horror?
The Suffering is often called a survival horror game, but I rarely felt the need to be careful with my ammo and often had more healing items than I knew what to do with. This may be due to the fact that Normal difficulty isn’t all that tough, but it’s likely a component of the game design. A more traditional survival horror game incentivizes players to flee from enemies or to use weapons sparingly. In some cases you have to kill everything to move the story forward in this game. I’m not sure how I feel about the survival horror label, so I’ll just leave it up to others to decide, but I will say you will be disappointed if you are expecting Silent Hill. In all fairness, The Suffering may have gotten the label from its fan base, but the devs were just trying to make a horror/action title. Either way I was not able to find confirmation.
I almost forgot to mention Torque can transform into a monster…
Somehow I went through most of this review without mentioning Torque’s ability to go from Dr. Jekyll to Mr. Hyde for a limited time. So, early in the game Torque figures out how to turn into a grotesque monster that is arguably freakier than the actual monsters. He can rampage around, ripping and tearing everything in the room to death. It’s fun and even necessary at times. I’ll be sure to use it more if I ever play this game on Hard or Impossible mode, because I feel like Torque’s ability to morph will be more useful against stronger foes. I’ve also read that using the transformation ability a lot will change the ending the players gets, though other sources say it doesn’t, so maybe I’ll test it one day as well.
Cheesy voice acting aged to perfection.
The voice acting isn’t great aside from a few good performances from characters like Clem and Dr. Killjoy. Most of the actors sound like this is their first job. I’ve heard much worse, especially on the PS1, so it’s not too bad. Just don’t expect the sort of expensive VOs that come with more modern games.
Wait, there’s sound effects and music?
As I said earlier, the sound effects are kind of muted and it hurts the overall feel of combat. There’s also music, but it’s basically a generic horror soundtrack. It’s not especially good nor is it particularly bad. If anything, it was a nostalgia trip, because it was really reminiscent of the sort of score you’d hear in a horror film from this era.
Final Thoughts
It’s crude and messy, but The Suffering is pretty fun at the end of the day if you aren’t bothered by cussing, violence, and prison stuff. It would have been a phenomenal game if it had a bit more polish, but there’s hope, because it got a sequel…which may or may not be better. For the most part I enjoyed playing this game; it’s one of those titles where the sum of the parts is greater than the whole.
Thanks for reading my review of The Suffering for PS2!
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