Post by Socom on Sept 21, 2005 8:38:23 GMT -5
The Suffering: Ties That Bind
Hell breaks loose on the streets of Baltimore. Full review.
by Tom McNamara
September 20, 2005 - The original Suffering, released just over a year ago, was a gem of atmosphere and pacing. It wasn't the prettiest game, nor was the story particularly deep. But what story it had was sharply delivered. Ties That Bind picks up right where the original left off, with our hero Torque escaping the island he'd been imprisoned on. Unfortunately, he's not the only thing that's getting off the island, and the beasties who blocked his path at every step have spread into Baltimore, thanks to the burning curiosity of recklessly ambitious scientists.
As the plot unfolds, we also get a deeper look into how Torque got behind bars to begin with, and the shock horror effects and wandering ghosts manage to lift the material above boilerplate "rise and fall of the criminal in love" dirge. All of the pieces fall into place, and Torque's mission beyond simply reaching landfall becomes gradually clear, again with that very capable pacing we saw before. Conveniently, the events in question took place in Baltimore, so Torque gets to return to the key locations of his life, and the viewer is often treated to some eagle-eye flashbacks where everyone is animated a little jerkily and staring a little blankly, almost as if they're puppets. What's separated the Suffering games from the annual pile of third-person action adventure games is their horrific, stylized presentation of intangible evil, and a mysteriously horrible army of violent creatures who were people at one time but have been horribly disfigured, in some kind of undeath, according to the conditions that led to their deaths.
In this dark prison environment, people who overdosed on drugs become screeching gremlins who rise from pools of blood, throw hypodermic needles at you, and jump on your back if you're not paying attention. Die in the electric chair and, in this world, you may come back and shock other people to death. Torque seems to be the only person who can stand up to this twisted legion, thanks in part to a mysterious ability to change himself into a punishing beast with a swinging blade for an arm and grappling chains sprouting from his back.
Those of you who played the original will be familiar with the weapons in Ties That Bind, except now you can't have all of them at once. You can only have two weapon slots, but you can have all three grenade types (flashbang, fragmenting, and Molotov cocktails). You'll typically want to have one gun and one melee weapon, because ammunition isn't as prevalent as before. On the bright side, you can dual wield hand cannons, in addition to a melee weapon, as well as dualing revolvers, semi-automatic pistols, and submachine guns. There are also some more exotic weapons, like an RPG, which is always fun. The hand cannon, however, while powerful, only holds two shells at once, which makes for frequent reloading, so you'll be favoring the pump shotgun until the assault rifles come along. The Colt pistols are disappointingly weak, and the revolvers are sparsely distributed.
And you'll be lamenting your occasional lack of power, because the difficulty spikes sharply upwards sometimes, in a way I don't remember experiencing in the first game. You'll be going along fine, tackling a trickle of enemies, then suddenly you'll find yourself facing a wave of tough enemies, or a flood of sheer numbers, with no save points in between. There will be a situations you'll play through more than once simply because the sudden ramping up caught you by surprise. Sometimes it's a gun emplacement you don't notice until you round a corner and it's right in front of you. Other times it's a heavily armed enemy who pops up in front of you, and you can't find cover quickly enough. It's certainly no Devil May Cry, but I found myself lulled into complacency a few times, only to get slapped upside the head.
Graphically, there have been a few updates, but you can't expect a huge change with only a year of development time. The creature animation is still excellent, and the motion-captured stuff is blended well with traditional animation. Some creatures, both old and new, get some nicely cinematic introductions, and you'll unlock the bestiary as you progress. There are also three journals the pages of which you'll come across. Sometimes they're hidden, which rewards poking around the nooks and crannies. You'll also find letters written to various people.
There's a lot of text, but you don't have to read any of it, except for on a few occasions. It just serves to flesh out the environments and the story. Since the game is so story-oriented, though, I would recommend taking the time to pore over it. The journals are all narrated, and the voice acting throughout the game is quite good, actually. Michael Clarke Duncan (Daredevil, The Green Mile) lends his talents to the role of Blackmore, Torque's one-time thug mentor and now his enemy; and Rachel Griffiths of Six Feet Under takes on Jordan, one of those recklessly ambitious scientists mentioned earlier.
With the game taking place mostly in Baltimore now, there's more urban environments, although you will get a fair share of indistinguishable warehouses and sewer areas. The pathing is fairly linear across the board, with immovable objects arranged just so, preventing you from hopping over to another area. You'll be funneled along a very specific path, to the point where doors won't open at first, but will when you've walked down in another direction and had an encounter the designer wanted you to experience first. This doesn't feel that artificial, since doors and other objects with minds of their own is not exactly an alien concept in the world of The Suffering. If anything, the games distinguish themselves by creating an unsettlingly thin division between reality and violent hallucination, with the membrane punctured early and often, as if the boogeyman of our shared childhood has been given God's dice.
Besides the different environments, Ties That Bind will also put you up against human opposition. A certain corporation interested in the goings on at the prison island of the last game has its own private army. They have a passing resemblance to the Combine, but their demeanor is more like that of hard-bitten security detail veterans. The Combine is more robotic and authoritarian. Either way, you'll find yourself facing large numbers of them, and the AI makes an effort to stay behind cover and provide covering fire while a team member or two closes in from the side. They won't do anything fancy like attempt to flush you out with grenades or ambush you, but you'll often be facing them in large enough numbers that you'll be glad they don't behave like authentic soldiers.
There are a few new creatures here and there, but they almost fit too well into the current lineup. So much so that they don't seem that different at first glance. Overall, though, the creatures in Ties That Bind seem to take a lot more punishment, particularly the Arsonist. This guy can dart out of your line on fire quickly, toss fireballs at you, and launch burrowing attacks that will home in you unless you keep moving the whole time. Early on, though, you'll be able to morph into that beast and turn the enemy into chunky bits with a few swipes. In fact, you'll need to do so against some targets that are heavily armored, packing serious heat, or both. There are also certain obstacles that require monster to break through. In this situation, though, there's always plenty of fodder baddies around (who fill up your morph bar every time you kill them).
Generally, Ties That Bind is quite a solid romp, and a cut above most of the games in the genre that are marred by poor controls, poor balancing, annoying music, bad voice acting, thin stories, and a host of other problems that define the vast middle ground. Surreal Software has a very clear and detailed vision of the location and the people and tortured souls that populate it, an intuitive and smooth control scheme, and a dripping, engaging atmosphere of unpredictable nightmare.
Closing Comments
Unfortunately, while Ties That Bind should stand proudly beside its older brother, it doesn't do a whole lot to expand on the theme of the original -- nightmare prison visions come alive, ghosts that kill, and churning violence. There are more neutral people in the environment, but one of the original's strengths was how we were so isolated within a seemingly inescapable mote of horror. That was an excellent tension. There was also something quite Gothic about it that doesn't carry over into Ties That Bind. With the survival horror subgenre so heavily populated, you'll want to add any flavor you can to make yourself not look like the stalwarts. Ties That Bind, being more urban, loses some distinction. Still, if you liked the original, you should like Ties That Bind. If you never played either, there has been some discussion in the office with regards to how much Ties That Bind is a standalone title. I think you'd benefit from playing the first one before diving in, and you can get it for $30 brand-new these days, or around $20 pre-played. There are some recurring themes and characters whose presence has a lot more substance and context if you've played the original.
Credit: IGN
Hell breaks loose on the streets of Baltimore. Full review.
by Tom McNamara
September 20, 2005 - The original Suffering, released just over a year ago, was a gem of atmosphere and pacing. It wasn't the prettiest game, nor was the story particularly deep. But what story it had was sharply delivered. Ties That Bind picks up right where the original left off, with our hero Torque escaping the island he'd been imprisoned on. Unfortunately, he's not the only thing that's getting off the island, and the beasties who blocked his path at every step have spread into Baltimore, thanks to the burning curiosity of recklessly ambitious scientists.
As the plot unfolds, we also get a deeper look into how Torque got behind bars to begin with, and the shock horror effects and wandering ghosts manage to lift the material above boilerplate "rise and fall of the criminal in love" dirge. All of the pieces fall into place, and Torque's mission beyond simply reaching landfall becomes gradually clear, again with that very capable pacing we saw before. Conveniently, the events in question took place in Baltimore, so Torque gets to return to the key locations of his life, and the viewer is often treated to some eagle-eye flashbacks where everyone is animated a little jerkily and staring a little blankly, almost as if they're puppets. What's separated the Suffering games from the annual pile of third-person action adventure games is their horrific, stylized presentation of intangible evil, and a mysteriously horrible army of violent creatures who were people at one time but have been horribly disfigured, in some kind of undeath, according to the conditions that led to their deaths.
In this dark prison environment, people who overdosed on drugs become screeching gremlins who rise from pools of blood, throw hypodermic needles at you, and jump on your back if you're not paying attention. Die in the electric chair and, in this world, you may come back and shock other people to death. Torque seems to be the only person who can stand up to this twisted legion, thanks in part to a mysterious ability to change himself into a punishing beast with a swinging blade for an arm and grappling chains sprouting from his back.
Those of you who played the original will be familiar with the weapons in Ties That Bind, except now you can't have all of them at once. You can only have two weapon slots, but you can have all three grenade types (flashbang, fragmenting, and Molotov cocktails). You'll typically want to have one gun and one melee weapon, because ammunition isn't as prevalent as before. On the bright side, you can dual wield hand cannons, in addition to a melee weapon, as well as dualing revolvers, semi-automatic pistols, and submachine guns. There are also some more exotic weapons, like an RPG, which is always fun. The hand cannon, however, while powerful, only holds two shells at once, which makes for frequent reloading, so you'll be favoring the pump shotgun until the assault rifles come along. The Colt pistols are disappointingly weak, and the revolvers are sparsely distributed.
And you'll be lamenting your occasional lack of power, because the difficulty spikes sharply upwards sometimes, in a way I don't remember experiencing in the first game. You'll be going along fine, tackling a trickle of enemies, then suddenly you'll find yourself facing a wave of tough enemies, or a flood of sheer numbers, with no save points in between. There will be a situations you'll play through more than once simply because the sudden ramping up caught you by surprise. Sometimes it's a gun emplacement you don't notice until you round a corner and it's right in front of you. Other times it's a heavily armed enemy who pops up in front of you, and you can't find cover quickly enough. It's certainly no Devil May Cry, but I found myself lulled into complacency a few times, only to get slapped upside the head.
Graphically, there have been a few updates, but you can't expect a huge change with only a year of development time. The creature animation is still excellent, and the motion-captured stuff is blended well with traditional animation. Some creatures, both old and new, get some nicely cinematic introductions, and you'll unlock the bestiary as you progress. There are also three journals the pages of which you'll come across. Sometimes they're hidden, which rewards poking around the nooks and crannies. You'll also find letters written to various people.
There's a lot of text, but you don't have to read any of it, except for on a few occasions. It just serves to flesh out the environments and the story. Since the game is so story-oriented, though, I would recommend taking the time to pore over it. The journals are all narrated, and the voice acting throughout the game is quite good, actually. Michael Clarke Duncan (Daredevil, The Green Mile) lends his talents to the role of Blackmore, Torque's one-time thug mentor and now his enemy; and Rachel Griffiths of Six Feet Under takes on Jordan, one of those recklessly ambitious scientists mentioned earlier.
With the game taking place mostly in Baltimore now, there's more urban environments, although you will get a fair share of indistinguishable warehouses and sewer areas. The pathing is fairly linear across the board, with immovable objects arranged just so, preventing you from hopping over to another area. You'll be funneled along a very specific path, to the point where doors won't open at first, but will when you've walked down in another direction and had an encounter the designer wanted you to experience first. This doesn't feel that artificial, since doors and other objects with minds of their own is not exactly an alien concept in the world of The Suffering. If anything, the games distinguish themselves by creating an unsettlingly thin division between reality and violent hallucination, with the membrane punctured early and often, as if the boogeyman of our shared childhood has been given God's dice.
Besides the different environments, Ties That Bind will also put you up against human opposition. A certain corporation interested in the goings on at the prison island of the last game has its own private army. They have a passing resemblance to the Combine, but their demeanor is more like that of hard-bitten security detail veterans. The Combine is more robotic and authoritarian. Either way, you'll find yourself facing large numbers of them, and the AI makes an effort to stay behind cover and provide covering fire while a team member or two closes in from the side. They won't do anything fancy like attempt to flush you out with grenades or ambush you, but you'll often be facing them in large enough numbers that you'll be glad they don't behave like authentic soldiers.
There are a few new creatures here and there, but they almost fit too well into the current lineup. So much so that they don't seem that different at first glance. Overall, though, the creatures in Ties That Bind seem to take a lot more punishment, particularly the Arsonist. This guy can dart out of your line on fire quickly, toss fireballs at you, and launch burrowing attacks that will home in you unless you keep moving the whole time. Early on, though, you'll be able to morph into that beast and turn the enemy into chunky bits with a few swipes. In fact, you'll need to do so against some targets that are heavily armored, packing serious heat, or both. There are also certain obstacles that require monster to break through. In this situation, though, there's always plenty of fodder baddies around (who fill up your morph bar every time you kill them).
Generally, Ties That Bind is quite a solid romp, and a cut above most of the games in the genre that are marred by poor controls, poor balancing, annoying music, bad voice acting, thin stories, and a host of other problems that define the vast middle ground. Surreal Software has a very clear and detailed vision of the location and the people and tortured souls that populate it, an intuitive and smooth control scheme, and a dripping, engaging atmosphere of unpredictable nightmare.
Closing Comments
Unfortunately, while Ties That Bind should stand proudly beside its older brother, it doesn't do a whole lot to expand on the theme of the original -- nightmare prison visions come alive, ghosts that kill, and churning violence. There are more neutral people in the environment, but one of the original's strengths was how we were so isolated within a seemingly inescapable mote of horror. That was an excellent tension. There was also something quite Gothic about it that doesn't carry over into Ties That Bind. With the survival horror subgenre so heavily populated, you'll want to add any flavor you can to make yourself not look like the stalwarts. Ties That Bind, being more urban, loses some distinction. Still, if you liked the original, you should like Ties That Bind. If you never played either, there has been some discussion in the office with regards to how much Ties That Bind is a standalone title. I think you'd benefit from playing the first one before diving in, and you can get it for $30 brand-new these days, or around $20 pre-played. There are some recurring themes and characters whose presence has a lot more substance and context if you've played the original.
Credit: IGN
