The Suffering is quite scary, great sound effects, and awesomely gross horror movie type monsters. This is definitely a great game. I bought it because of all of the great reviews and was not dissappointed. My husband was laughing at me for screaming and jumping when my character was being attacked in the basement. I like that it's not just a prison shoot'em up game - you can shoot guards, prisoners, and the monsters. I have to shut the game off after just a little bit of play because my heart is racing from being scared.

I enjoy video games, and I certainly enjoyed this one. It's a regular shoot'em up MF. But, what makes it so different is the amazing creepiness, the music, the lighting, and the fact that you can walk through almost a whole level, and and not see a thing. The background sounds are spooky, the music swells and fades... then, BAM!!! A freaky beastie jumps out of a dark corner and I jump out of my seat.

My wife would watch this game over my shoulder and get just as freaked. It was like a good scary movie that you get to walk through.

The reason I didn't give it five stars is the linear plot/play line was a bit tedious. If it were more like GTA, where you could just explore the island, that would make this a really great game.

I wasn't expecting a whole lot from this game when I picked it up used. I was very pleasantly surprised by it. There is no single overwhelmingly awesome feature here - storyline is strong, voice work solid, graphics reasonable, control scheme perfectly fine. But this game is truly greater than the sum of its parts, and it rises to that blissful state where it all comes together and you experience "great gameplay". I really had a blast playing through this. I found the "easy" setting to be TOO easy. "Normal" was still relatively easy, so veteran gamers may want to go with a higher difficulty level. All in all this was going to be one of my best gaming experiences ever... Unfortunately the final boss battle sucked. The first two "bosses" were effectively done in terms of storyline twists as well as difficulty. But the very last boss had nothing to do with the story and was just unneccessarily and annoyingly difficult. This left me with a bad taste after what had been a stellar game. Better luck next time (Suffering 2 comes out this fall, I hear).

The Suffering, from Midway games, was a pleasant surprise early this year. It is a horror game with an emphasis on action over survival and puzzle solving, which should please gamers like myself, who often can't find the patience for Resident Evil or Silent Hill games.
The action takes place from either a third or first-person perspective, and allows you to switch instantly between the two with the touch of a button. And while there are a few genuinely creepy moments, the action almost never lets up.
There aren't a great variety of enemy creatures, butthe ones that are there sport some awesome character models, and have pretty cool backstories. As for weapons, you'll find a handful of melee weapons and firearms to blast away the swarming creatures.
Medicine functions as health, just like Max Payne, which works well, because you can save it for when you are desperate and then replenish your health with a single button press.
The graphics are impressive with little touches, like your charcater's shirt gardually becoming soaked with blood as you fight through each level.
Puzzles are simple and easy, not overly complicated like in some survival horror games, so the action will keep coming.
The game is extremely violent, but is worth checking out. I just recommend renting first; it is not very long, and can easily be beaten over the course of a five-night rental.

First of all, to help our friend out who got stuck at the chasm, you have to kill all the infernas PLUS shoot their ash piles when they collapse. Otherwise, they keep regenerating, and you'll just die. Once you kill them all and destroy their ashes, walk to the edge and the bus will come barreling down the street, so get out of the way! This game is genuinely terrifying. My pulse raced on a regular basis as I was playing it. Disturbing images throughout as well. And the boss at the end is spectacular. I found the ending to be anti-climactic, but it doesn't detract from the game very much. By the time you get to the boss, you've seen it all anyway, so what else do you expect, right? I found it to be a perfect balance of story, gameplay, and puzzle solving. The profanity was very excessive, however, and that's why I only gave it 4 stars instead of 5. I know it's prison, but come on, game designers. Kids are playing these games whether the Mature rating is on there or not. We all know what cursing sounds like, and I really don't need to hear the "f" word and the "c" word over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over (I'm not exaggerating here, dear reader. The profanity is a constant stream throughout the game. It never lets up. I found it extremely juvenile of the designers to include so much of it. It reminds me of a bunch of junior high boys who have just started getting bold enough to cuss around their friends.) If you can tolerate the language, this is a truly terrifying experience.