Capcom have been flying the survival horror flag with their Resident Evil series for a long time now. Others have tried, and in ingenious ways nibbled little chunks from Capcom's celebratory cheese. Konami took one mother of a chunk with its Silent Hill series, delving more into the psychological side of horror than all out action and gore. From the director of Silent Hill came Forbidden Siren, with its highly original visual style, and Tecmo's Project Zero, which took away weapons and replaced them with a camera, both slowed down the pace and took our minds on a little journey to a very scary place. Now a game has come along that seems to have found the perfect balance between the pace of the action and the thrill of the scare. Welcome to The Suffering: Ties That Bind.

You play as Torque, a bad man with a history, a history you'll probably be more familiar with if you played the first game. Accused of murdering his wife and children, Torque was sent to Death Row but never made it to the chair due to the major infestation of the prison by demons and such. Cue the events of the first game. TTB actually recaps some of the prison scenes surrounding The Suffering to put you back in that frame of mind, or introduce you if you're just joining the series. Outside in a prison recreation area, Torque plays chess with an inmate when a group of prison thugs try to start a ruckus. Explosions, klaxons and screaming follow as the facility is plunged into confusion. Moments later you have a shotgun and some very strange things are happening; guards are screaming over tannoy systems and being dragged into ceiling ducts right before your eyes, horrors occur behind closed doors and every surface is decorated with blood. Lights flicker on and off, strange voices follow your every move, almost commentating on your actions, and unnatural shapes flutter in the shadows.

TTB certainly starts as it means to go on; equally as gruesome as it is compelling, and the storyline gets its hooks in you very early on (and starts off with one of three different openings, if a completed save game from the original is available). A very bad man called Blackmore, voiced expertly by Michael Clarke Duncan, is after your blood and your soul, and the remnants of your mind. From the very beginning it is made very clear that Blackmore has a grudge against you and the game sets out to uncover why. Blackmore sounds ominously like the dark side of Torque's conscious, which is already pretty dark, and makes encouraging comments in your ear as you kill. His reasons become clearer as you progress through the game, as does the grizzly revelation of his intent towards Torque.

Another personality taking a keen interest in Torque's progress is his wife, Carmen, who Torque actually murdered. Sounds strange that she would be talking to him after an incident like that, let alone guiding and helping him, but given the context of the game that's probably the most 'ordinary' thing that happens. She plays your conscience and when presented with a moral choice she encourages you to do good things, like bake cookies and sell them to the elderly at a discounted rate. The banter in Torque's mind between his murdered ex-wife and the dirty rotten scoundrel who put him behind bars (Blackmore) is intended to influence decisions made by the player at key stages in the game, which ultimately affect the outcome of the story.

Sure, there are demons and military types running amuck on the streets of Baltimore, but there are also innocents, if you can call them that. Various denizens of the streets and slums inhabit dark corners of this most brutal of worlds and occasionally Torque encounters them. It is here that Carmen and Blackmore start their bidding war for your soul; Carmen wants you to do good things, Blackmore wants you to kill everything that breathes air and walks upright. Should you decide to walk the dark path and dispose of these cretinous dope fiends and street urchins, Blackmore revels in delight while you become more powerful. Images of horrors that appear to be in Torque's mind flash up on the screen in a tinge of red and black as you kill; the game slows down and you really get the feeling you're being made to question the morals of your decision. Of course, you could make the saintly choice and let them live, but that makes the wife talk more and her voice is really whiny. I'm not sure what the overall benefit is of letting people live; I was having far too much fun killing everybody! But that does give the game another potential play through, to see the consequences of playing the good guy.

Torque has a bit of a trick up his sleeve, and when you've killed a handful of soldiers or malefactors then you get a little stressed, a little wound up, a little insane. Tap the triangle button when your insanity meter is full and you'll transform Torque into a spiky demon that can cut, chop and slash his way through hordes of enemies. Torque's 'inner self' is a little clumsy, but can often rescue you from tight situations. As mentioned earlier, if you make bad moral decisions by killing innocents, you are rewarded with more power, relating specifically to this demonised state. The demon can 'level up' depending on how you act during the game, changing appearance as well as gaining strength and speed. He's not much use against soldiers with long ranged weapons, but against the majority of other demons he slices and dices until the cows come home, or until your insanity meter runs out, whichever happens first. He can smash through certain walls that Torque cannot access in his normal state, so keep your eyes open for cracks in the walls too.

Play takes place from either first or third person perspective, which brilliantly compliments the style of game that TTB is and the environment it takes place in. I found the first-person mode best for combat and the third-person mode better for navigating obstacles, but you can chop and change to suit your tastes or the situation you're in. Should you be in first-person mode, the camera automatically switches if you climb a ladder or transform into your badass alter-ego, or take any other action that involves some form of animation. TTB feels primarily like a first-person shooter, with a third-person perspective added to compliment the gameplay, which is ironic considering that the first title was solely a third person game. The engine feels like a very polished Half-Life, which is no bad thing, and even the 'facility overrun by monsters' intro of TTB bears more than a passing similarity to the opening of Half-Life. The graphics are great, although it doesn't really matter, because things get quite dark most of the time. It's the movement of things that quickly gets your attention. Walk up to dead demons however and you'll be both impressed and a little sickened by the detail in these creatures, designed by none other than Stan "The Man" Winston, who is responsible for far too many of your favourite movie monsters to even begin mentioning. The environments look very atmospheric, from the prison intro through various Baltimore slums, sewer systems, underground tunnels and streets. Wherever you are, the immediate surroundings help draw you into the horror of the situation.

Combat can be furious, and disorienting, but mostly it's a lot of fun. The different types of demon often require different tactics to take out, so it doesn't just feel like a point and shoot caper. The numerous weapons available feel solid and convincing, and offer a neat range of ways to dispense with your enemies. Everything's a bit dark and demons often come at you from all angles to confuse you. As tense as you are from the psychological pounding that the game has already given you, you may jump and yelp like a little girl as you aimlessly fire round after round into the sky, run in circles looking for health and eventually crawl under a rock and cry.

The demons you face are superbly designed to terrify the strongest of wills and the sturdiest hearts, animated in the most unnatural and unnerving ways. Born out of the sins of man, these 'malefactors' as they are described take on the characteristics of the crimes and injustices they represent. Some found in crack dens have syringes sticking out of their bodies and try to inject you with their poison, like some demonic drug dealer. One of my favourites is an arachnid shaped…thing, with guns fused into its limbs and a vaguely humanoid body at its core. Born out of the gun crime that inhabits the streets, these creatures are as grotesque as they are dangerous. Much like the film Predator however, I found it helpful to remember the line "if it bleeds, we can kill it" and bleed they do! So keep pounding shotgun rounds into the most resilient of Hell's minions and they'll eventually fall over in a shower of glistening claret. There's a nice little detail included that sees Torque covered from head to toe in his adversary's life blood after a fight; even the gun he's holding gets a thick coating, making him look as nasty, if not more so, than the creatures he does battle with. A handy archive section in the menu tells you a little about the malefactors, which doesn't give you much of a tactical edge, but is interesting nonetheless. There are also scrapbooks describing the various parts of the city you explore and the history of Torque's family.

The 'play' part of the game is great, running around shooting demons, navigating your way through some detailed and good looking environments, but that's not what makes this game unique. That goes to the seamless melding of action and psychological drama. Torque has flashbacks to his violent past in real time, often grabbing his head as images flash across the screen. Humans turn into diabolical demons as you approach, before depicting horrific scenes and then disappearing. Both Blackmore and Carmen's comments throughout the game help to lead Torque down this particularly shadowy 'memory lane', as well as uncovering elements of his past that are key to plot development and understanding Torque's character. These aren't particularly fond memories, mostly Torque dealing with the fact that he murdered his wife and children.

Torque's therapist/doctor appears randomly every now and then, in TV screens and projected on a wall in a theatre, and it seems his role is to help Torque explore his inner self. During one set piece the doctor actively encourages Torque to release his inner demon in order to fight a large number of enemies, then goes on to perform an operation on somebody's brain. He's a little twisted, but seems to be on Torque's side, although his presence does sometimes keep you guessing as to the part he is playing.

Torque's son sometimes appears too; there's a particularly tense moment walking through a sewer system, waist deep in water, and in the shadowy distance the son appears briefly but disappears around corners and behind pillars before you can catch him. He continues to lead you through the dingy tunnels at speed, constantly urging you on. No malefactors attack you down there, but the threat, as opposed to actual enemies, is a far more powerful tool in the game maker's arsenal when it comes to scaring the player.

There's another character that pops up every now and then, and he's a nasty one. He wears a large overcoat and his face is painted with a smiley, much like the characters from Rockstar's Manhunt. He has a very high pitched voice, full of malice, and you will often find him hiding behind fences or in other inaccessible areas telling you all about how he killed his victims and how much he relished in their suffering. Generally he's not a very nice chap. Occasionally he even gives you a peak inside his coat at the tortured souls who are trapped there. He either criticises your mercy, or congratulates your lack of it, but either way he'll unnerve you. His presence remains a mystery throughout the game, but he is linked with the appearance of the malefactors. Spooky.

Ties That Bind is wrong, but in a very, very good way. As a horror game veteran I love to be scared by games; they bring something to the table that a horror film just can't compete with. Ties That Bind blends the best bits of a lot of games that are out there into one, highly enjoyable package. It has the intense psychological drama and suspense that Silent Hill and Project Zero create so well, but balances that out with fast paced action seen in titles like Resident Evil, or even Devil May Cry (not that Torque can bounce around lobbing his sword about like Dante, but they do share a certain 'Jekyll and Hyde' personality trait). Imagine Max Payne meets Event Horizon; slick action with a very twisted design ethic, great storytelling and some disturbing psychological 'parent issues'. The voice acting is great, although Torque's wife whines a little. I find being a murderous bastard helps to shut her up. The plot is really engaging and you'll genuinely want to find out what the hell is going on, plus the moral ambiguity angle (is he good or is he bad) will keep you guessing to the end.

I would gladly recommend The Suffering: Ties That Bind to horror fans. If you like lots of guns that feel the business, lots of demons who look the business, lots of tension, lots of suspense, a great plot that keeps you guessing and interested, and buckets and buckets of blood, then you'll probably love this. Be sure to play it in the dark with the volume turned nice and high, and if you have surround sound make use of it. Mums and dads beware though: this is an 18 for a very, very good reason. Don't buy it for little Johnny or Jane for Christmas, unless you don't want them to sleep ever again…

Reviewed by Jim Powell for AceGamez (All Rights Reserved).