For this edition of my Horror Show feature in which I attempt to dissect the gruesome contents of countless horror games for the delight and delectation of any of the sickos who pass by, I rolled the clock back to 2004 and got knee-deep in The Suffering.

Our protagonist is Torque, a nameless felon accused with the murder of his family. Upon his incarceration in Abbot Prison, situated on the beautiful and harmonious Carnate Island, things go awry when hideous monstrosities show up out of the blue and murder everybody, leaving Torque to power his way through the now torn-apart maximum security prison in the hopes of finding an exit. However, like many small, peaceful, fog-troubled towns in America, Carnate Island has a ridiculous and almost unbelievably bleak past that Torque finds himself caught up in.

Let’s put The Suffering in context: 2004 saw the release of such classics as Half Life 2, Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas and World of Warcraft. With these games in mind, I would like it explained to me why The Suffering looks so awful. The graphics are laughable at times, and I know at the time they would have been laughable too. The first MGS game had better graphics than The Suffering. Also, the odd bug and clipping issue is fine, almost expected even, but a glitch every few minutes just takes the piss. A favourite bug of mine was when Torque’s big, manly shadow was catapulted into the centre of the screen, casting darkness over whatever was happening for a good ten seconds before disappearing in a puff of smoke. Add dodgy friendly and enemy A.I. into the mix and it’s a laugh a minute. Bugs in an action game are an annoyance, but bugs in a horror game can kill, and this is because they break immersion and if you’re not immersed in a horror game, you aren’t scared, and consequently The Suffering was possibly the least immersive horror game I’ve ever played. The fairly competent but over the top combat doesn’t help either, and you’ll find yourself lobbing dynamite at five enemies at once instead of fearing each battle, because who needs a survival element in a survival horror game. Also, Torque has the ability to turn into a giant, powerful monster, but the less said about that feature the better.

The strangest thing about The Suffering is that much of the game’s content can be dismissed with the phrase ‘good ideas, badly executed’. The player can switch at will between third and first person for no adequate reason, and the result is that neither is perfected. The first-person mode feels incredibly wooden, as if Torque is navigating the prison complex on a scooter, and the third-person mode is plagued with clipping issues when Torque stands to near to an opening door for example.

Another example of ‘good ideas, badly executed’ is that through-out the game, Torque’s sanity is pushed to the limit with numerous absolutely horrific flashbacks and hallucinations designed to disorient him and drive him to the edge, but Torque is a silent protagonist, meaning no emotional reactions. The result is that the hallucinations come and go and we are just meant to assume that Torque is bothered by them. This comes to the fore towards the end of the game when I assume Torque is supposed to be losing it, but this is expressed solely by odd moments when Torque stops and grabs his head for a split second before carrying on his merry way. It’s pathetic. I don’t understand who made the decision to have a silent protagonist in a psychological horror game, but they should give themselves a very firm slap on the wrist.

However, despite the criticism, which is numerous and well deserved, The Suffering still manages to be somewhat scary. The game really excels itself with its monsters, which were designed by the late Stan Winston. Thematically, the game revolves around execution and torment, and the monsters are the physical manifestation of different kinds of death. Highlights of the eclectic creatures on show are Mainliners, who are adorned with needles and represent lethal injection; Burrowers, who look like giant worms with chain-blades attached to their heads who represent being buried alive, and Festers, who look like the boomers from Left 4 Dead but with their stomachs full of rats and represent the outcome of a harrowing story told within the game in which slaves were left in the bottom of a ship to be devoured by the hungry rodents.  The monster design is incredibly intelligent and lives up to the title of the game, because they look as if they’ve been created to cause suffering; indeed, they are the earthly manifestation of suffering. Once again though, the ‘good ideas, badly executed’ stamp comes out again, because as terrifying as the creatures initially are, the graphics, combined with the A.I. and the sheer amount of enemies that are thrown at you, mean that they lose all effect. In fact, many become a complete annoyance, like the Inferna. They represent little girls who caused innocent citizens to be burnt at the stake through accusations of witchcraft, and though initially unnerving, they whizz round quicker than the camera will move, leaving a trail of fire in their wake which drains health very quickly and are a pain in the arse to kill. I have nothing but hatred for them, and not in a good way.

There were moments in which I felt fairly immersed. There’s a chapter set in an asylum which is without a doubt the best part of the game. The number of monsters thrown at you is reined back and it becomes more about one of the antagonists, the ludicrously named ‘Dr. Killjoy’ who looks and sounds like Vincent Price. He leads Torque around the asylum like a plaything, and the atmosphere is thick and tangible. However, once the chapter ends, you’re back to running through same-y environments with hundreds of enemies to kill.

Despite the lack of characterisation for poor old Torque, other characters through-out the game are interesting and sometimes horrifying, such as Hermes, who was the resident executioner and professional sadist in Abbot Prison who become so obsessed with killing that simply turning a valve wasn’t enough and he had to experience the gas for himself, which ultimately led to his death. There’s Horace, who butchered his girlfriend upon her visiting him because he knew he couldn’t protect whilst he was inside and spends his afterlife being constantly burnt alive on the electric chair. Unfortunately, however fascinating and effective all this is, is fails to distract from the fact that Torque is stuck in a wall again.

Upon finishing The Suffering, I was both happy and sad simultaneously: happy, because I didn’t have to play it anymore, and sad because there was so much wasted potential on show. It did scare me at times. Some of the set-pieces were so brutally horrific that you’d have to be made of stone not to wince. There is no line this game will not cross, and several moments were almost in bad taste they were so disgusting, particularly a few memorable moments with a little girl. The odd set piece was engaging and effective, but there was so much wrong and there was so much running around fighting hundreds of identical, buggy enemies that ultimately, the game was ruined. I mean, there was something like five turret sections… in a survival horror game? That’s like having a block sliding puzzle in Fifa 13.

I’m a huge horror fan and I want to cover as many terrifying games as possible. If you have any recommendations for games that I could include in my Horror Show feature, please get in touch. Either leave a comment below, or contact me on Twitter or drop me an email at .

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