"The Suffering" plays like "Max Payne" meets "Resident Evil". It's a shooter that mainly consists of blowing away the same five monsters every few minutes. The main character is Torque, a death row inmate, who was convicted of killing his family. As luck would have it, an earthquake occurs in the middle of the night, freeing Torque from his cell. Unfortunately, monsters modeled by various forms of execution invade the prison.
This is where the player takes over. Your job is to help Torque escape the haunted prison. In the process, you can either help the guards and fellow prisoners or kill them. What you decide will dictate one of the game's three different endings. Your arsenal consists of 10 firearms, a shiv and flashbang grenades. At times, you also have the ability to transform into a giant, rampaging beast, "Hulk"-style. And you can switch between first-person and third-person perspective at any time.
The best aspect of the game is the cutscenes, hallucinations and flashbacks that propel the story forward. There done in a cinematic way which brings back memories of "Book of Shadows: Blair Witch 2" and the 1999 remake of "House on Haunted Hill". It's pure horror. I only wish there was a bit more challenge. This is a straight-forward action game with a little exploration to be found. Yet, it's a fairly enjoyable lengthy adventure.
"The Suffering" is not for the little ones. It contains non-stop blood and gore, constant profanity and the words scrawled onto the prison walls are as profane as well. The DVD also includes a behind-the-scenes look at the making of the game and a documentary-like special entitled "Inside a Haunted Prison" covering an early time of the American penal institution. Horror fans should buy this, it's a well made title of the genre.
