The Suffering

The demo starts with Torq being led into death row. There is a whole lot of "beeping" the dialog so I cant wait to get the real version to see what it says. The dialog seems to fit with the prison setting and is very well done.

Once in the prison all hell breaks loose, literally. All of these weird creatures start appearing, killing everything in sight. Its awesome!

I dont want to give too much away I am preordering this game right now


Great Expectations   February 8, 2004
Outlaw Wyvern (St. Petersburg, FLA)
5 out of 9 found this review helpful

Tho this game won't be released for another three weeks, I have great expectations for it. Surreal has hoovered a couple thousand gameplay hours from me with Drakan: Order of the Flame, Drakan: The Ancient's Gate (BEST PS2 GAME EVER!!), and their unfairly underrated Lord of the Rings 'Fellowship of the Ring'. The screenshots for the Suffering show awesome promise, as does the premise of the game. It will be SCARY! I look forward to much integrity, detail, frightful level bosses, thought provoking storyline, and sphincter-tightening gore! The storyline will have several possible endings, so replay value should be high. I WILL buy this game!


Best Survival / Horror Game I've Seen In Quite A While   March 14, 2004
kurlebj (Hackettstown, New Jersey United States)
5 out of 7 found this review helpful

"The Suffering" - Now here's a game that came out last week (nearly under my radar) and I picked up on a whim the day after it was released. Very excited to play it after the helpful guy at the gamestop by my house filled my head with anticipation of the "creepiest" and/or "scariest" game I've ever played - and you know what, he might have been right.

Looking a lot like the "Silent Hill" games (but better) and playing a lot like the "Max Payne" games, this game truly is the scariest I've ever played. The visuals are shocking and timed perfectly. The sound really adds to the ambiance of the game and the foul language and graphic violence only adds to the realism. The storyline is good too as it keeps you wondering if "Torque" (the character whom you play) is really guilty of his accused crimes. But is it fun?

Damn straight it is. A lot of fun. The controls are pretty easy to pick up, the learning curve is maybe a half hour to get used to it, but vets of this type of game should have no problem at all. You never know when the next time is, the game will make you jump and what's around the next corner. The game is very dark so it will be hard to see things most times. (And sometimes you might think you saw something, but did you?) And let me tell you, it's a lot of fun to blast away at your enemies utilizing several common place weapons, such as: Tommy Gun, Twin Revolvers, Shotgun etc. Also, you have full use of grenades, Molotov Cocktails, etc. There's a lot of action to keep you from getting bored. Don't worry about that.

There is also some puzzle solving aspects of the game, but they are usually not to difficult and are easily figured out within a few minutes of logical thinking.

Now for a few minor downsides. The game is pretty short. You're looking at around 8 hours or so to beat it. (But there is some incentive for replay value since you can achieve 3 different endings) Also, there is not much variation to the creatures that you fight. There are only around 4 different variations of commonly seen creatures in the game. Could have used a bit more variety there.

In conclusion, this is a fun game that happens to be one of, if not, the, scariest game I've ever played. I highly recommend you pick it up, especially if you're a fan of the horror-genre.

Roundup: (I have it for Xbox)
Graphics: 4/5
Sound: 5/5
Gameplay: 4/5
Storyline: 4/5

Overall: 4/5


Horror Has A New Home   March 16, 2004
Robert Davis (San Francisco, CA United States)
5 out of 5 found this review helpful

The Suffering (XBox version reviewed) is by far the most disturbing, violent, foul-mouthed, and perverse game I have ever experienced (the only one to come close is Manhunt - which is also all of the above - but in a much sleazier way....Manhunt, while a very guilty pleasure, makes you feel the need to shower after playing). The Suffering, on the other hand, is outstanding in every aspect - including the setting (a prison with a blood-soaked history steeped in violence and corruption). Into this environment, without warning, comes an unspeakable evil - and here is where the gory tale begins. Someone finally got it right when it came to translating real horror to the console game (Alone in the Dark, and the Silent Hill, House of the Dead, Clock Tower and Resident Evil series must now take a back seat...and I do not say this lightly as I am a big fan!!!). You play the game as Torque, a brutish killer on death row for the murder of his ex-wife and kids - a crime he has no memory of committing - who is suddenly freed from his cell when the carnage erupts. I cannot begin to truly describe the sense of dread that you experience playing this game - and much of it comes from fleeting images, whispered voices, sounds of graphic slaughter, and the terror-filled screams of the victims (inmates and guards alike). It is what you do not see that is the most frightening. Also the brief flashbacks that the protagonist experiences truly enhances the overall fear factor. Add to all of this the moral choices your character is forced to make when he encounters survivors. Inner voices urge him to either save and/or kill them - and whatever Torque (you) decides to do will ultimately affect the outcome of the game! From a technical point: the sound, voice acting (especially the character of Hermes, who sent chills down my spine) and overall graphics enhance the gameplay a thousand-fold. Also the designers truly understand the importance of being able to easily save (ie. at the gamer's discretion not the game's!!!) Only one quibble (and it is very, very minor): I wish there were more variety in the creatures (although the ones they have - designed by Stan Winston's studios - are truly nightmarish...and represent bizarre morphings of various methods of execution (hanging, lethal injection, electrocution, etc). This is by far the best game I have played. Highly recommended for fans of genuine horror.


Best Horror Game Out There!   March 17, 2004
Steve Kinney (los angeles, california United States)
5 out of 6 found this review helpful

This game blows away all those other slow paced horror games out there today. The game is so fast paced with a shot of adrenalin. Your hands sweat from playing this game because you never know what is coming at you next. The puzzles are all fun to figure out but like some other people said, I wish there were more creatures and just a little longer game would have been nice. I still havent found out how to get the flamethrower yet, I guess I will have to play it a few more times.