The expression of hate and fury in the middle of one evil darkness.
The history tells you about Torque, that is accused of killing his family. Judged guilty, he was send to the Abbott State Penitentiary, that was an German base in the 2ºWW, locate in a island near Maryland. But, soon as he arrives, some sort of earthquake happens and make all the island fall into the darkness, and together with the darkness, many creatures have come spread despair and death.
Later, we'll be surrounded by many obscure mysteries involving the ones that live in there and who once lived there. Also, the truth about Torque will start to come and soon, you be involved in many situations that will define what end you reach when finish the game. This is because you're responsible about the chooses that he'll make, and, every time that you will make a choice, you will hear voices of his consciousness, trying to convincing you to kill and help at the same time.
I can even say that The Suffering brings many psychological questions. Along the game, Torque will see flashes that normally show violence, blood, death, and many other macabre elements. Then, every time that he come close of someone, the flashes show the crimes of that person, making all the choices about them - if they will live, die or just be ignored - be involved in serious thoughts about moral and personality.
Even the monsters that appears along the game have a close connection to the island's mysteries and the history itself. It's like they are some sort of incarnation or manifestation of all the evil of the island. And here, The Suffering had make a great work modeling and detailing all that bizarre creatures, and each creature will have its own movements and attacks. Face many of them mixed together will be a real challenge, because you need to use different strategies to beat each type of enemy. And they have the bad habit to surround you, even in low numbers.
To be able to face so terrible enemies, you will find many weapons and equipments that will help you to survive. From and axe to an machine gun, the game give to you some fun options to spread the demons blood in the floors and in the walls. And, a little later from the beginning, you'll discovery that Torque can transform in some sort of monster, that is like his pure expression of hate and fury. It's a great addiction.
Even The Suffering being a horror game, the action is the main diversion. All that history helps you to stay tied to the game, because can be little repetitive. I found the game decently long, and the same enemy can be repetitive, mainly in the beginning. But if you like of many sequences of action with many violence, than you will not be bothered by this repetition.
In other hand, the boss battles can be a little difficult at first time. I have some difficulties in discovery what to do, having much of the try-and-fail (I think that is the expression...). But these are the moments when you get a lot of the history. Have to mention that the bosses have the most deep (and interesting) mysteries of the game.
The voices are just gorgeous and help a lot to the immersion, and all the others sounds and music make their job very well. But here, I have a negative point. In many parts of the game, the voices that are said by the character (Torque don't say anything in all the game) can mix with the scripted ones, making you stay a little confuse in what they're saying, even with legends.
Another negative point: is the engine. It can just crash without a clear reason. Only in the last level, the game crashed twice and rebooted my system in both crashes... That wasn't the first time and is the main reason that make me delay to end the game.
*More good points:
- Great level design;
- Gore and violent;
- Nice controls;
- Good monster's AI;
- One of the best rain effects that I ever seen in a game, mainly in its time.
*Some negative points:
- Few enemies;
- Outdated graphics;
- Weak human's AI;
- Few scares for an horror game;
- No multiplayer, low replay value.