Note: This plot synopsis details the "good ending" The game begins five years prior to the original, with Torque serving time in Eastern Baltimore Correctional. Having been served
divorce papers by Carmen (Rafeedah Keys), he is playing
chess with his friend Miles (Arif S. Kinchen), who believes their incarceration was orchestrated by a criminal named Blackmore. As they talk, they are confronted by Blackmore (
Michael Clarke Duncan) and his gang, who are unhappy that Blackmore's rules are not being followed. As the gang begin to beat up Miles, a
riot starts. Torque and Miles are separated, and Torque experiences visions of the creatures he would encounter five years later on Carnate. The game then cuts to the end of the first game. Depending on the player's
saved game, one of three opening
cutscenes play: • Good ending: Torque is with the
coast guard coming from Carnate. As they approach
Baltimore harbor, they encounter an army of
mercenaries. The coast guard hands Torque over, but Torque faints, and two soldiers approach him, with one saying "We need to get him inside ASAP. This guy's the prime." • Neutral ending: Torque is driving the coast guard's boat when he has a vision of Carmen, who tells him "you went through so much, all because you could never control your anger." The boat is approached by a helicopter, which orders Torque to dock. He does so, but faints, with a mercenary saying "We need to get him inside ASAP. This guy's the prime." • Bad ending: Torque is in a semi-unconscious state on the shore of Carnate, with Killjoy (
John Armstrong) berating him, telling him he thought he was cured, and warning if he thinks he has seen the worst of things, he is mistaken. With that, mercenaries arrive and place Torque on a helicopter, with one of them saying, "we have secured the prime target." When Torque awakens, he is strapped down in a warehouse guarded by mercenaries, and introduced to Jordan (
Rachel Griffiths), leader of an organization called The Foundation, who tells him the "malefactors" are her life's work. However, when the building's power cuts out, Jordan leaves, and Torque is released, hearing Foundation soldiers say the "specimens" have broken lose. Seeing a vision of Carmen telling him he must return to their apartment, he heads into the sewers, where he has visions of Copperfield (
Bob Papenbrook), an infamous slave hunter, and The Creeper (
Scott Bullock), a
pimp turned
serial killer. Upon reaching his apartment, he finds a letter from Carmen asking for a divorce, a letter from Miles saying he is learning more about Blackmore, and a letter from Blackmore advising Torque to forget about Carmen. He has a vision of Carmen, who mentions Blackmore goes by the moniker of "The Colonel," and sees Killjoy on the TV, who reminds him Blackmore hired people to kill his family. As Torque leaves his apartment, he sees the malefactors have broken loose onto the streets of
Baltimore. He encounters a drug addict named Kyle (
Scott Menville), who is convinced Torque is his father, and together, they head to a
crack house, passing the
gazebo where Torque and Carmen first met. Torque has a series of
flashbacks to his early dates with Carmen, his initial employment by Blackmore, and the conflict between them over his loyalties. Heading to Miles' bar, he experiences a flashback to the incident for which he was arrested; a man threatened his children and called Carmen a whore, prompting an enraged Torque to kill him seconds before the police arrived. Miles then contacts Torque via radio, telling him they have to kill Blackmore. After being separated, Miles tells Torque to meet him at the harbor, where they will interrogate Jordan and find out where Blackmore is. Torque returns to the warehouse, and encounters an imprisoned Consuela Alverez (Meg Savlov), wife of Ernesto, a CO from Carnate Island. He releases her, and helps her get a boat to Carnate where she plans to search for her husband and children. He is then ambushed by Foundation soldiers. However, a truck driven by Jordan rescues him. She explains her men have betrayed her, and are working directly for Blackmore, who has been funding the Foundation for years. She is taking him to Eastern Correctional, Blackmore's location. In Eastern, Torque encounters a dying member of Blackmore's gang, who says "the things you did in here. I mean, you sure made your mark, but why would you hire someone to..." With that, the lights go out, and when they turn back on, the man is dead. Torque is contacted by Miles, who angrily tells him "how long it's been man? How long you been making a mockery of everything?" He then encounters Warden Elroy (
James Patrick Stuart), son of the infamous warden Raymond Elroy, who took
sadistic pleasure in torturing inmates through manual labor and
solitary confinement. Elroy tells Torque the prison has descended into chaos since the appearance of the malefactors, and asks for help in restoring order. He is able to convince the guards and prisoners to work together, and with Torque's help they are able to escape, although Torque remains behind. He meets up with Miles, who angrily says "it's been years man, years I been trying to get the straight word on Blackmore. And what the fuck is up with you my man? First I hear this, I couldn't believe, I said no way, not my man Torque. That cracker bleeding out in the basement, he told me what's what and he got no reason to lie. My brain ready to pop. It's too whack, nobody'd make this up. Nobody would never say that you..." However, Torque
blacks out, and when he awakens, Miles is dead. Blackmore then contacts Torque, telling him to come to the drowning pool beneath the prison's factory. As Torque heads there, he is attacked by Foundation soldiers backed up by a helicopter piloted by Jordan, who was lying about her men betraying her. Torque defeats the soldiers and kills Jordan. In the drowning pool, Killjoy, Copperfield and The Creeper assess Torque's moral actions. Torque fights and defeats Copperfield. However, Blackmore leaves, compelling Torque to follow him. They return to where Torque grew up; Garvey Children's Home. Inside, Torque remembers meeting Blackmore for the first time. However, in his memory, Blackmore is an adult, Torque is a child, and none of the staff can see or hear Blackmore. Blackmore then confronts Torque, telling him that the ties that bind them can never be cut. Torque realizes the truth - Blackmore is not real, but is actually Torque's
alter ego, having first appeared as an imaginary friend when Torque was a child. When Torque blacks out, Blackmore's personality takes over, but now, Blackmore wants to be in control all the time; "we've only got the one body, and I'm tired of sharing." He transforms into a monster, and he and Torque fight, with Torque defeating him. Blackmore disappears, and, if the game began with good morality, Torque is approached by Carmen, who tells him, "I never want us to be apart again."
Alternate endings Neutral ending Numerous things are different throughout the game if the player is playing as a neutral character. For example, the letter from Blackmore is to Cory, not Torque, telling him Torque doesn't really love him. During the scene when Torque sees Killjoy on his TV, Killjoy reminds Torque that Blackmore had manipulated Cory. When the helicopter attacks, it is piloted by Jordan, and in the drowning pool, Torque fights Copperfield. Later, Blackmore reveals that he gave Cory spiked drugs prior to Cory's murder of Malcolm and subsequent
suicide. In the final battle, neither Blackmore nor Torque is able to win, and when they approach one another they are repelled away from touching. Blackmore points out "Looks like we're going to play this game a while longer. I couldn't change you, and you couldn't get rid of me. The ties that bind, they'll keep us connected, but apart. And I'll be right here, standing over your shoulder."
Bad ending Numerous things are different throughout the game if the player is playing as an evil character. For example, the letter from Blackmore is to Carmen, not Torque, warning that Torque can't be trusted with the safety of their children. During the scene when Torque sees Killjoy on his TV, Killjoy reminds him that even though he killed his own family, Blackmore had convinced him that Carmen was planning on taking the children away. Later in the game, Jordan meets Torque prior to his arrival in the drowning pool and joins him on his way there. When the helicopter attacks, it is piloted by Blackmore, and Jordan helps Torque fight the Foundation soldiers. In the drowning pool, instead of fighting Copperfield, Torque fights and defeats The Creeper. In the final battle, Blackmore defeats Torque, and absorbs Torque into him. If the player has kept Jordan alive throughout the game, she then approaches Blackmore, asking if Torque is gone. Blackmore says he is gone "for good," and they kiss. ==Development==