Score Rundown

Visuals
Sound
Gameplay
Replay

Overall: 7 (Swoll)

Ratings Explained

 
 

Developer


Surreal Software
 

Publisher


Midway
 

Released

9/26/05
 

Genre

Action
 

Midway had themselves a sleeper hit on their hands last year with the Suffering, which is undoubtedly one of the creepiest games to come out in some time. Set in a gritty prison overrun with mutated evil, it managed to weave creepy environments and great scare moments with fast paced gunplay. Now that Midway has another successful franchise and a brand new movie deal to boot, it would only make sense to bring fans a sequel. Enter Ties That Bind, a great game in its own right, but feels more like an expansion to the original game than a full-fledged sequel.

Ties That Bind picks up immediately after the end of the first game. You play as Torque, a man who was sentenced to do time after the death of his wife and kids but has no recollection of the murders. We find Torque on a boat as he flees from Abbott prison on Carnate Island , the setting of the first game, to the supposed safe shores of Baltimore . Little does Torque know that the same evil that overran Abbott are now wreaking havoc on Baltimore . It appears that escaping Abbott and Carnate were only the first step in Torque’s journey on finding out about his mysterious past. Torque will find himself having to visit the familiar places and faces from his past, namely a man named Curtis Blackmore, who seems to be the root of everything that has gone wrong in Torque’s life.

Anyone who has played the original game will be right at home with the gameplay of Ties That Bind. The game can be played from a third or first person perspective, though it’s generally recommended to stick to the third person view to get the full effect of Torque getting covered in blood and gore from the sometimes intense battles he’ll happen upon. Anyone who has never played a Suffering game will find that the controls are pretty much standard for a third person action game and should pick them up quickly.

All isn’t the same in terms of gameplay, however, as a few things have been changed for this go around. First, Torque is limited to carrying two weapons as opposed to an entire arsenal which can make you ponder whether or not to pick up a new weapon since ammo can be pretty scarce. Luckily there are more melee weapons at your disposal so carrying one ranged and one melee weapon is advised. Ranged weapons, especially your colt 9mm are extremely underpowered and you’ll have to empty anywhere from six to nine bullets to put down the lowliest enemies. While you can dual wield the Colt, it does little to stop an advancing monster. Eventually you’ll come across a couple of shotguns, a submachine gun, or an ultra powerful revolver, but they’re not very common and ammo for them is virtually non-existent. You’ll find yourself having to conserve precious ammo, a trend that the first game pretty much debunked, and falling back on melee weapons like rusty pipes, axes, bats, or a good old fashioned pistol whipping to take down the lesser baddies. This sort of vicious circle causes the game to be pretty difficult at certain points where you’ll find yourself literally walking through a level only to come across a large group of enemies consisting of a number of small and large monsters that will charge you all at once making ammo conservation pretty difficult since you won’t be able to switch between using melee on the smaller enemies and ranged against the advancing large ones.

Thankfully, Torque comes equipped with an equalizer that comes in the form of a large monster that he can morph into when he kills enough enemies to fill his insanity meter. Torque’s morph carries a greater significance this time around since he’ll need to change into the monster form to break through certain cracked walls and kill certain types of enemies. Once transformed into his monster form, Torque can lay into the smaller minions and quickly reduce them to steaming piles of gibs in a matter of one or two hits. Unfortunately, the transformation only lasts in the neighborhood of twelve seconds and you’ll have to transform Torque back to his human form before the meter runs out or else he’ll lose a significant amount of life as a penalty. Torque’s morphed form serves as a double edged sword since it’s at a disadvantage against enemies with guns, like the Special Forces that are the only human opponents you’ll come across in the game. Since Torque isn’t invincible in his morphed form he’ll easily get gunned down, especially when he’s surrounded.

In addition to the human enemies you’ll be going up against, all of the enemies from the first game make a return as well as some new faces. The syringe hurling mainliners are back as well as the monsters with blades for arms and legs, but you’ll also come across newer and badder enemies like large spiders with guns mounted on their backs and legs and monsters that leave a trail of fire and hurl fireballs. While the original monsters were all designed after types of executions their representations are changed or forgotten in this chapter, for instance the Mainliners that represented lethal injections in the original game now represent heroin addiction and spawn from the blood puddles of addicts. As far as the gun wielding spiders, god knows what they’re supposed to represent. Gang warfare perhaps? Either way, the enemy design is still creative and will make you want to run in fear when you first see them.

Enemy AI is still leaning towards the dumb side where enemies will opt to chase after you and gather around or attack anything explosive. The human opposition you’ll face tends to be a bit smarter and will run for cover if they’re hit or run from a grenade. The moral system that was present in the first game is back and offers a little more variety. You’ll come across characters that need your help which will prompt voices in your head, namely your deceased wife and Blackmore, to tell you why you should or shouldn’t let them live. Your decisions will affect the ending of the game but won’t change the path you take in it. If you choose to help people, you’ll be required to protect them or solve puzzles to help them along. While they don’t up and disappear on you like they did in the first game, they tend to be suckers for danger and won’t try to run when enemies are coming at them. They’ll just stand and scream for help or let you know how messed up the situation is. As was the case in the first game, helping people in need is more trouble than it’s worth but it’s great for your karma if you care enough. One new element is that your creature form will change based off of your decisions and will earn you new attacks which is extra incentive to go one way or another with your decisions.

Though Blackmore is portrayed as the root of all that is evil, he doesn’t really seem all that scary or intimidating, at least compared to the other characters you’ll come across. Of course Dr. Killjoy is back, but the real character to watch out for is a guy called the Creeper, which you’ll learn about during a series of hallucinations that pop up when you enter certain areas. The game’s story is stretched a little thin, but fans of the first game who want to find out more about Torque’s past and life before prison will get what they need from it in a manner that is very drawn out.

One major factor that made the original Suffering game such a great experience were the environments and sense of danger involved with being in a prison on a remote island. Unfortunately with Ties That Bind, something is lost in translation as far as general creep factor is concerned. The urban environment just feels too familiar, over done, and open to get the same trapped and desperate feeling the game provided. That’s not to say that the environments aren’t creepy – they’re just not as creepy. Environments are a little more varied this time around and you’ll be shooting it out on the ruined streets of Baltimore and a number of indoor environments. You’ll still come across unsettling things like junkies on binges, fresh suicides, dead bodies, and things like that. The same linear level design comes into play here and the game will gently guide you by the hand taking you to specific locations and scripted sequences. You’ll find an occasional secret here and there, but these mostly consist of one room and don’t stray far from the beaten path.

The rest of the game’s visuals fit the grittiness the series is known for. While not the best seen on the system, they’re good enough to make their point. As was the case with the first game you’ll still get random images that flash onscreen which are always good at providing a jump or two. Character animation is well done and realistic except when it comes to cutscenes where characters seem to move like marionettes rather than people. The biggest offender would be Torque’s wife Carmen who is constantly moving and using the same head bob and arm crossing animation over and over.

If there was one element in the original game that helped make it one of the creepiest games anyone has ever played it would be in the sound department. While Ties That Bind sticks to the original formula, it’s a tad lacking this time around. The ambient noise just isn’t as spooky this time around and far off screams or overheard conversations are few. The best moments would definitely come from the hallucinations involving the Creeper where you’ll hear his victims scream and talk as you’re navigating through a section of a level and really make you start to fear him more than Blackmore himself. The game’s soundtrack is unobtrusive and takes a backseat to the aural experience, but manages to set the mood appropriately. The voice acting is also well done with the likes of Michael Clarke Duncan doing the voice of Blackmore who gives the character the evil and mystique the character deserves. Other characters deliver their lines well enough to avoid any unintentionally funny moments, though the secondary characters you’ll end up helping tend to repeat themselves a little too much.

While The Suffering: Ties That Bind is a solid game on its own merit, it either lacks or downplays the elements that made the first game so great. Despite all of this, the game makes for an enjoyable experience with its own share of memorable moments and sticks to the tried-and-true formula of the first game which isn’t a bad thing at all. Fans of the series will get some enjoyment out of this one based off of the story alone. Despite the new setting and downplayed elements, Ties That Bind will still make a number of gamers’ creepiest games lists.

- Brad Hicks (Dr. Swank), SwankWorld Media

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