March 8^th, 2004 (12:00am) - Midway Games announced today that The Suffering, the all-new, action horror game today has shipped for the PlayStation 2 and Xbox.

“The Suffering captures the disturbing and terrifying nature of the horror genre in a compelling third-person action/adventure game set in the mature and gritty world of a maximum-security prison,” said Steve Allison, chief marketing officer, Midway. “The Suffering has already generated massive awareness and backed by a multi-million dollar marketing campaign, we are confident that the game will be well received.” By alternating periods of tense and terror-filled exploration with frenetic combat sequences, The Suffering creates the ultimate experience of terror. In the dark world ofThe Suffering, creatures jump out of shadows, fall out of trees, and erupt out of the ground, attacking the player in the most frightening ways possible. Along with a cast of uniquely hardened criminals and guards, players must battle not only the ghoulish apparitions besieging the prison but also the demons of their own forgotten past.

The player controls the prisoner Torque, a hardened inmate in his late 20s, sentenced to die for a murder he may or may not have actually committed. Underneath Torque’s tough exterior hides a man who is not quite psychologically balanced, who fears far more than he would ever admit to. As a side effect of his mental instability, Torque has flashbacks to the events from his past, throbbing images that depict the events that lead up to the crime for which he was imprisoned. Torque is also subject to black outs where he becomes extremely violent and transforms into a massive monster hell-bent on destruction.

The Suffering has been receiving high praise from the media: