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This game is evil.

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 48 / 50
Date: March 15, 2004
Author: Amazon User

I've been a fan of horror films for over twenty-five years now and have reached the conclusion that I can no longer be scared by them. I'm not saying that to be macho. I like being scared. I want to be scared. It's the reason I still go to horror movies.

I've of course tried to get my fix from horror video games. Resident Evil, Clock Tower, Silent Hill, Fatal Frame, ect. I've played whatever the critics or fans recommended as scary. To be honest, I found most of them to be laughable and some flat out boring. Playing The Suffering was like hitting the jackpot.

Some things I recommend before playing:

1) If possible play on the Xbox in Dolby Digital with a good receiver and speakers.

The sound FX are what drive this game; they're second to none. Fighting the monsters isn't really scary. It's actually comforting. What's scary are the noises you hear coming from the shadows. Something clawing it's way through the ducts behind you and to the right. The sound of men screaming, shots being fired, then flesh being torn apart to your left. A monster trying to smash it's way through the door directly in front of you which you've just tried to open but found locked. The sounds in this game are phenomenal.

2) Adjust the brightness of you T.V. to a low level.

The game will ask you to do this before you start playing. It's similar to other horror video games. You really need to have dark shadows for all those scary sounds to be effective.

3) Play in first-person mode.

Third-person mode is easier. You have a wider perspective, which makes it easier to move and see around you, but that wider perspective feels like a buffer zone between you and the monsters. You feel like you don't have to watch your back because the camera is doing it for you. First-person is a little more difficult to move around but much more intense. You feel like your really there.

4) Play alone, late at night with the lights off.

You know why.

The game starts off with you in a cell on death row. You've murdered your wife and children but don't remember because you suffer from blackouts. Soon the lights go out and you hear the other inmates being torn apart. Something pulls your cell door off and your set loose into the prison. Eventually, your given a choice of paths to take. You can either be a good guy and work with other survivors or be a bad guy and massacre everyone. Of course, I chose to kill everyone (lets face it, what gamer wont) and soon found myself suffering from horrible, and frequent, hallucinations of my murdered family and other things. And the voices, oh those voices in your head telling you to kill; that the person standing in front of you is just a piece of trash and deserve to be slaughtered by you. Though, those voices are contradicted by the voice of your dead wife telling you not to do it. That she could never love a murderer. God this is twisted.

I guess this is a good point to mention that this is the most masochistic game I've ever played. I recently finished Manhunt (which I loved) and this game blows it away. Some deaths are vivid and brutal. Innocent guard trying to help you: butcher him. Guard locked in gas chamber: gas him. Man strapped in electric chair: juice him. Parents should also know that besides the violence and gore this game also has adult language. Including a four letter profanity used to describe a certain part of the female anatomy.

This game is not your typical survival horror game. Not only is it actually scary, it's also action packed. There are plenty of things to fight and you better move pretty fast or your dead. There's also a good amount of weapons for you to use. The gameplay is more like Doom than Resident Evil (epically in first-person). You will eventually be taught, by a ghost, how to go into psycho mode. After you kill enough things your psycho meter fills up and you can transform into a raging beast. In this form you can dismember your victims with one swipe of your hand.

What can I say? I loved this game. I've looked long and hard for something to be able to scare me again. Playing this game made me feel like a little kid watching a horror movie through my fingers. This mothers intense.

Best Horror game in a looooooong time

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 9 / 10
Date: May 14, 2004
Author: Amazon User

I'm only halfway through with the Suffering but I can safely say that this game is something that other horror games are not: it's fun!

First of, the controls are very easy to work with; Unlike Silent Hill 2 and Alone in the Dark where the controls seems to work against you - and thus ruining the game experience for you.

Also, the atmosphere (great sound effects!) and the creatures are awesome. I really think this is one of my the better games in my Xbox collection. It action scenes are pretty addicting...

There are some bad points about the game that I have to point out though:

1. The movie sequence in the very beginning of the game is also the worst part of the game. The character models of the inmates do not look right and the voice acting is terrible in this section.

2. There are few bugs in the Xbox version. Sometimes the lead character, Torque, gets stuck between chairs and tables, etc.

3. There is a lot of swearing so its not recommended for the kiddies at all.

Overall, I highly recommend this game to all fans of the horror genre.

Sidenote: If you like this game, you may want to take a look at the "Thing" for the Xbox.

Warning- WILL give you nightmares

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 7 / 8
Date: February 06, 2004
Author: Amazon User

By playing the demo and the demo alone, I have spent sleepless nights playing all difficulty leavels and examining the area. This won't be your normal, "stuck-in-a-house/mansion" horror with the undead... you'll be facing the ghosts of those who have died in this prison, from lethal injection to being gassed, these ghosts will use items related to their deaths to seek vengance... but are they really trying to kill you, or are they trying to get you to do something worse...? The plot will keep you stuck in this game, you WILL have nightmares, and you won't stop playing until you finally get all the endings... trust me, it'll be worth it. So, move back in with your parents.. the only way you'll sleep through this one is with someone in your bed. And even then.. that won't stop the nightmares... Wait.. my cell's getting really dark... What the... IT'S IN MY CE-

On the CD-O-meter, this game ranks a...:
10/10

Prison truly is HELL

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 6 / 7
Date: March 27, 2004
Author: Amazon User

I've been waiting for this game to come out for quite some time and now that it's here, I can say that it was worth the wait. One thing for sure this game doesn't disapoint from literally scaring at any moment. From the vast numbers of enemies that pop out of nowhere, to the disturbing flashbacks and gruesome images that our main character Torque experiences. All the enemies represent various forms of executions, from firing squads to lethal ejections to beheading to even being buried alive. This game also has high replay value, considering the fact that there are 3 endings to choose from: Good, Neutral and Evil and I have to say that the most disturbing of the 3 was the Neutral ending, but I won't spoil it for you. The only real downside, which other reviewers have already mentioned is that this game is pretty short. It doesnt take too long to finish this game but because it's alot of fun you'll be playing this game over and over. As far as content goes, this game is really violent and gruesome and the language is pretty extreme and falls into the category of other gruesome but really fun games like Manhunt and Roadkill. Be forewarned that this game is NOT FOR KIDS. Parents be aware.

Great Expectations

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 5 / 9
Date: February 09, 2004
Author: Amazon User

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!

Horror Has A New Home

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 5 / 5
Date: March 17, 2004
Author: Amazon User

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!

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 5 / 7
Date: March 18, 2004
Author: Amazon User

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.

Scary as HELL!!

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 4 / 6
Date: February 02, 2004
Author: Amazon User

I just finished the demo and all I can say is if you like scary games, this game is for you. It's an easy game to pick up and play and it is completely random (not like the radio in Silent Hill 2 that got old after a while, the demo freaked me out!) It's gory, scary, and fun to play. I'm buying it once it comes out!!

3 THINGS TO PUT THE FEAR BACK IN YOU

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 4 / 5
Date: March 14, 2004
Author: Amazon User

Darkness, Quietness, and the Suffering: Combining these key elements make for a fun filled, scary as anything gaming experience. I played the demo a month ago and have been awaiting the release of this game with great anticipation. And it is finally here and I'm loving every scary minute of it.

An extremely intense game, packed full of gore, harsh language, frightening images, and gruesome enemies. It is not for the timid; it is not for the weak. It can be played with either 1st person or 3rd person views, with the first person view putting the player right in the middle of the action. An overview of the story can be found in the product description, so I won't waste your eyes on that. What I will advise you is that you play this game in the dark and quietness of your room in order to achieve the fullest extent of the scare factor. Also, there are multiple endings in this game depending on how you play it through, ie. killing every inmate and officer you come across might put your ending a bit diffrently then if you were to help those same people throughout gameplay. As you can see, the replay value of this game is relatively high.

So, get into this game and "Make them suffer, before they do the same to you.."

THIS AGME LOOKS SO AWESOME GET IT WHEN IT COEMS OUT!

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 3 / 9
Date: January 19, 2004
Author: Amazon User

THIS GAME LOOKS SWEET I SEEN SOME PICS FOR IT AND IT LOOKS GORYER THEN RESIDENT EVIL SERIES EVEN LOOKS MORE EVILER MORE THEN DOOM 3 AND DOOM 3 LOOKS PREETY FREAKIN' SCARY HELL EVEN LOOK AT THE COVER FOR THIS GAME A GUY IN A ELECTRIC CHAIR THIS GAME SI GONNA BE THE GOREST GAME OF 2004 I THINK I THINK YOU GUYS SHOULD LOSTEN TO ME ON THIS GET THIS AGME ITS COMING OUT IN LIKE A MONTH FROM JANUARY IT SHOULD COME OUT LIKE LATE JANUARY OR FEBUARY IM PROBALY WAIT NO IM GETTING IT ALOT OF PEEPS HAVNT HEARED ABOUT THIS GAME WELL WHEN TOU DO GET THE SUFFERING!

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