Good story with multiple conclusions, cool looking monsters, and buckets of blood that would put Carrie to shame.
The gameplay is kind of clunky at first, but you get used to it very quickly. At your disposal, you have many guns and a single flashlight which has limited power so you will need to be on the lookout for batteries throughout. The only thing you can do that doesn't involve guns has to do with your sanity. Once you have killed enough monsters, your insanity meter will fill all the way up and it is at this moment that you can trigger yourself to turn into your own horrible monster. There are only 3 main moves you can pull off while in this mode and it really isn't all that interesting either. I played through the whole game and only used it a few times although it wasn't needed. It's a nice addition, but still pointless and not to mention that it doesn't make sense. The game really isn't all that deep in moves at your disposal, but the greatest part of the gameplay is the choice of whether to be a good guy, a bad guy, or remain neutral. Want to be a bad guy? Well, do you see that guy that needs your help? Blow his head off. If you want to be a good guy, stick with him and keep him alive. Otherwise, just leave him alone and do what you want. Being bad in this game is much easier than the other two only because you can just run through and shoot everything that moves. To be a good guy, you must help, defend, protect, and escort people throughout the game. This seemingly simple gameplay mechanic helps this game trudge along because later on it does tend to get a bit repetitive. Depending on what you do during the course of the game, you will get different endings, which in all honesty, aren't that different. The same things still happen, but they happen in different ways. I won't spoil it for anybody that wants to play through it, but after one play through, there really isn't much else to go and do. Besides this one aspect, the gameplay is just like every other third person shooter out there, so if you have played one like this, you should be fine.
The graphics are very good for a somewhat older Playstation 2 game. I loved the way the enemies looked. The enemies were all based off of certain executions that were performed at the penitentiary, so seeing the thought and effort that was put into them is very impressive. Torque also looks rather well although he and other minor characters do look blocky at times. There was the occasional slowdown in areas of intense action and also slight pop up in outdoor areas, but it's not enough to detract any enjoyment from the game. The best part of this area of the game is the blood effect. When Torque is blasting away at multiple enemies, blood goes everywhere. If you pay attention to Torque, you can see him getting redder and redder with the blood of his victims. There are times in this game where you will be downright drenched in blood. It's awesome and something more games should do.
The sound is decent enough. For a supposed "horror" game, it should be better, but it did its job rather well. Although there are some creepy sounds and voices heard throughout the game, it just really isn't all that scary. Countless other horror games have had much scarier sounding elements and they were all done better than this game, but it is still sufficient. The voice acting (at least the little that there was), is also passable. Torque is a mute while others such as Dr. Killjoy sound maniacal and the other inmates sound scared. It's nothing that will impress you, but nothing that should turn you away.
Overall, this game is pretty sweet. Although I found it to be not scary at all, it was still a very enjoyable third person shooter. It had a pretty good story with branching paths which lead you to multiple conclusions so it's nice to actually have a choice in a game like this. It's unremarkable in most aspects, but it's hard to deny that it's damn fun throughout. I'm a huge fan of horror games and movies and although this is considered a horror game, it is more of a third person shooter. This isn't a bad thing though. There are horror movies out there that I absolutely love because of the immense violence and cool kills rather than tense build up and scary characters. This is the first game I've played that reminds me of a horror movie of that type. If you are looking for a good bloodbath shooter game with a few creepy images thrown in here and there, I highly recommend this game. You won't be disappointed.