Yet Midway's newest game, The Suffering, goes for the horror thing with creepy monster design and startling visual trickery, but it also ditches most of the ammo-conservation and slow pacing found in a majority of horror-themed games. In a revolutionary new step for the genre, it also gives players complete control over the camera in a fully 3D world, rather than giving players a forced perspective. The end result of all these genre enhancements is a much more action-packed experience, and although it might be a bit too straightforward in spots, it certainly makes for a solid action game.

In The Suffering you'll play as a thick-sideburned tough guy named Torque. The game opens with Torque being led to his new cell on death row at Abbott State Penitentiary, an island-based prison where the baddest of the bad go to die. Torque has been convicted of murdering his wife and two sons, but he doesn't actually remember anything concerning their murders. After a brief intro, a bunch of creepy monsters attack the prison, slaying many of the guards and inmates alike. This leaves Torque free to explore so he can attempt to escape the prison island and reach safety.

The gameplay is pretty focused on combat against various and sundry creatures, all of which were conceptualized by Stan Winston. Fitting with the "death row" theme, each creature is designed after a method of execution, and as such, each has its own moves and abilities. For example, some will hang back and try to pelt you with projectile attacks, while others will try to get up close and personal with lethal-injection-like needles. The hangmen, on the other hand, will simply descend from the ceiling and attempt to choke the life out of you, while the burrowers you'll encounter later on will pop up out of the ground and attempt to whip you with chains. The game is pretty good at giving you a lot of targets to shoot at, and as a result, you'll usually have more than enough ammo to deal with any situation, though the higher difficulty settings do toughen things up a bit.

Torque’s first weapon is a large shiv (knife), and along the way he'll pick up more devastating weapons such as a pistol, a tommy gun, a shotgun, flares, flashbangs, and so on. You'll also acquire bottles of pills, which act as healing items that can be used at any time. Additionally, you'll get a flashlight that you can clip to the front of your shirt, which comes in handy because much of The Suffering is superdark.

You'll also learn early on that Torque has the ability to transform himself into a big monster when you fill up his "insanity meter." The concept behind this transformation is that it’s all just a delusion in Torque’s mind, but the damage the monster can dish out to most of his foes is incredibly real. It’s important to watch the insanity meter closely and change back manually before it empties. If you let it drain all the way, Torque won't survive. Still, although Torque's monster form is an interesting addition, it's usually easier to just pick off enemies from a distance with one of your many firearms. In the end, this makes the monster generally feel like more of an intriguing afterthought than a gameplay necessity.

While the game is good at giving you plenty of monster-shooting action, it also really could have used either some more tactics for monsters or more varied types of monsters. Without this, the game's action grows a little tedious over time, since you'll essentially face the same handful of creatures from start to finish, and you'll rarely have to change tactics to deal with them. With that said, I suppose there are only so many methods of death upon which to base a monster.

Aside from the shooting elements, the gameplay also involves some light puzzle-solving. Most of this is as simple as finding a button or a switch to open a door, but you'll also have to push or pull boxes around, put out fires that block your path, and other adventure-game-like puzzles. On top of this, there are multiple ways to play the game, depending on your disposition. Throughout the game you'll run into trapped guards and inmates, most of which will need some assistance. You can choose to help them out of their current situation, ignore them completely or blast them and take any items they may have. These choices are essentially scored and tabulated behind the scenes, and at the end of the game, you'll see one of three different endings based on what sort of person you were.

The biggest innovation with The Suffering is Surreal Software’s introduction of a completely 3D world to the action-horror genre. With this development, the game controls like a first-person shooter, so you use the right stick to manipulate the camera and the left stick to move. You can actually play from a first-person perspective, if you like, but enemies tend to attack in groups, so not being able to see what's hitting you from behind is reason enough to stay out of the first-person viewpoint.

Inventory control is handled by the D pad, and it's done reasonably well, though it would have been nice if you could change weapons more easily. Also, make sure you go into the control settings and set the flashlight to clicking-in on the right control stick, which is 1,000 times easier than fumbling through your inventory to save batteries every time you encounter a bright room.

Where The Suffering really scores is in its presentation. The game's monster design is particularly interesting, especially because Stan Winston used his oh-so-wild imagination when coming up with them. The mainliner, for example, has a ton of glowing hypodermic needles sticking out of its body, which it throws at you in an attempt to hit you and blur your vision for a few seconds. The way the slayers move is also appropriately creepy, especially when they're grinding one sword along a nearby wall or floor as they run at you. In general, while you'll see very early on all the tricks the monsters have to offer, they do make a great first impression.

The rest of The Suffering looks just as good. The environments aren't supremely detailed, but since most of the game is incredibly dark, you'd have to really squint to even notice. It also moves at a smooth frame rate, which is nice, given all the game’s action. The coolest effect, though, is how Torque gets completely covered in blood after close encounters. It will wear off over time, but since you're usually getting right back into the middle of a fight, Torque is usually pretty much caked with gore.

Great sound is key to making a horror game, and The Suffering's sound is as great as it needs to be, with lots of strange ambient noises, shrieking monsters and other immersive little touches. The game's voice acting is a big standout as well. Though Torque himself is the strong and silent type, you'll hook up with a variety of characters and will hear things like radio chatter and other speech throughout the game. All of it is very, very well done. The sense of fear and impending insanity really comes through in the dialogue.

With that said, it’s worth mentioning is that The Suffering has an extremely "dirty" script, although its extreme language doesn't feel out of place. After all, you'd expect a bunch of surly prisoners to swear a lot, so you'd have to believe that they'd do it even more so when being attacked and killed by hellish creatures. Between this and the game's high volume of blood, The Suffering certainly earns its "M" rating.

Though the game relies heavily on cheap scares, it's a refreshing take on horror-themed games. It's also a bit longer than you'd expect from a straightforward action game, though the increased length is offset by an overall lack of variety. More monsters, more ways to do them in and perhaps some slightly more-involving puzzles would have made the game feel more in-depth. But even taking this into consideration, The Suffering is a fun action title that fans of this genre will absolutely enjoy. Who cares if The Suffering missed its original Halloween ship date? Scare yourself silly this Spring!

See more screens on The Suffering media page