The Suffering: Prison is Hell (2004)

ALEXE · Subject: The Suffering: Prison is Hell (2004) Wed Feb 04, 2009 12:03 pm

http://thesuffering.midway.com/site.html

Quote:

The Suffering is a video game developed by Surreal Software and published by Midway Games, released in 2004 for the Xbox, PlayStation 2, and the PC.
A sequel, called The Suffering: Ties That Bind was released in September 2005.
A film adaptation (IMDB link) was announced by Midway and MTV Films to be released in 2009.
The game featured monster designs by Stan Winston.
In September 2008, the PC version of the first game was made free for download.

Just to make a little sub-note here, Stan Winston has also designed first-hand the most popular characters in the Terminator series, the Jurassic Park series, the Aliens series, the Predator series and many more sci-fi productions for which he's gathered 4 Oscars and many more other awards. So just the idea that this one guy created the Predator, Ellen Ripley's Xenomorphs and the red-eyed Arnold's Exo-skeleton is completely mind-blowing!!!

Back to this game...
I'm not a horror head, honestly. When a freak jumps outta the dark to maul me I experience a combination of shock, freight, frustration and quickly getting pissed off. But the day The Suffering was released as "free for download" I thought to myself "why the hell not?".
So I took it on, played it... then played it some more... I expanded my playing time for hours and hours, so that in 3 full nights I finished it and started over.
The "who", the "where", the "what the HELL!?", the "how in the woooorld?!" and the "am I gonna make it out of this?" really converted me from a casual player to a BIG FAN of this game's franchise.

Let me translate:
WHO - Torque is awesome in that bad-mo'fo' not-to-be-fucked-with way and he's got mad skillz with any weapon he gets his hands on Very Happy

The other main characters (especially the spirits and villains) are very well defined and developed, the voice-casting is perfect and overall production of the cutscenes and dialogues is really captivating.
The creatures are flawless, though the mainliner reminds me of Golum a bit, it preceded him so Tolkien can shove it xD

WHERE - Carnate Island is the perfect most original, complex, terrifying and well thought-out action stage for all the horrors a team of human beings could ever imagine: a super-max penitentiary, an asylum (doc's mansion), a quarry, a dock, grave-yard, sewers and many more aweful settings you'll shiver your boots through.

WHAT - The apocalyptic outburst (of a various palette of incredibly amazing creatures Stan Winston was so inspired to design) is very well scripted and offers a great incentive for this action-packed thriller video-game, with stage difficulties ranging from "walk in the park" to "Ye who enter here leave all hope behind." (Dante - Inferno reference Wink

).

HOW - self-explanatory motto: "INSANITY is your DEADLIEST weapon!" Twisted Evil

Also, not unprecedented but very well projected is the multiple-ending scenario where the choices you take through-out the game affect the way it will lay out for you to the end. There are 3 morality paths: Good/Neutral/Evil, all worth experiencing, all professionally differentiated and exposed as you maim your way deeper down the plot-line.

Graphic quality or realism is not an attribute to any 2003-2004 release of any video-game company so don't stress it, alright? For the amount of action this game provides you really have nothing to complain about! Realism is overrated anyway bounce

I guess you'd have to try the game out if you wanna understand what I'm about here, but in order to make my review of this game more convincing, here's a few screenshots I took (by Fraps means) of the gameplay:

Review on the sequel "Ties That Bind" to be followed shortly Wink

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ziorko · Subject: Re: The Suffering: Prison is Hell (2004) Wed Feb 04, 2009 1:13 pm

daamn looks scary xD
reminds me a bit of that film "13 geister" don't know
how it's called in englisch propably 13 ghost's
but woooow you shoot once at someone his bodyparts fly away xD

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scc208 · Exile Staff Number of posts: 469 Age: 21 :: Registration date: 2008-03-24

shit..how often do you see a man being torn into 2 parts?.... it looks horrible.... the similar game i have played must be Postal 2, but you know that what you will do in this game is only laughing or pissing on the floor lol ....anyway alexe it is not a bad scary game judging from your screens pirat

ALEXE · Subject: Re: The Suffering: Prison is Hell (2004) Fri Feb 06, 2009 4:21 pm

hehe yeah
you should really pay attention to the screenshots I took of the sequel, in the "Ties That Bind" topic, really sick shit, believe that Wink

the quicker somebody replies there - the quicker I post new more grimey pics Very Happy

don't make me sit on them and don't make me double post there, please Wink

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