The next wave of first-person shooters continues with Painkiller, a first-person shooter that combines next-gen visuals with the old school run and gun gameplay of Doom II and Serious Sam. Though Painkiller doesn't offer any gimmicks such as intelligent AI or stealth elements, it does offer plenty of action that should appease the bloodlust of the most devoted FPS fan.

 

You play the part of Daniel Garner who, along with his wife, dies in a head-on collision with a semi. After spending thirty years in purgatory, he's approached by the forces of heaven with a mission to destroy the four generals of Lucifer. In return, Daniel would be reunited with his deceased wife. The game is surprisingly story driven, as levels are interspersed with (not so great looking) cut scenes that push the story along.

Daniel's journey takes him through five chapters and twenty-four levels of pulse pounding action. The gameplay is similar to Serious Sam in the sense that you'll enter a room, all exits will be blocked off and you'll be assaulted by wave after wave of monsters. After the demons are taken care of, a check point appears, game saves. Wash , rinse, repeat. No annoying reloading. No night vision goggles. No puzzle solving. There isn't even a crouch button. Your only goal is to kill everything that gets in your way, keep your ammo full, and stay alive. Thankfully, ammo is plentiful and life is restored by picking up the souls of dead demons. You'll consistently find yourself at over 100 health if you play your cards right. If you're low, the next check point will kindly restore it back to 100 for you at no charge. After collecting in the neighborhood of 65 souls, Daniel will enter “Demon Morph Mode” where his vision goes almost thermal and he's able to administer great justice to groups of demons with one click of the mouse button.

Speaking of dealing justice to demons, Painkiller has five creative weapons at your disposal. Though it sounds like slim pickings, each weapon has a great alternate fire mode combined. Heck, they even managed to combine a rocket launcher and mini gun successfully. That alone is worth some sort of praise. Aside from that combination, the shotgun has an alternate fire that will freeze enemies thus allowing you to shatter them with one shot, the ninja star gun has a lightning gun attachment, and the stake gun doubles as a grenade launcher. Another weapon worth mentioning is the painkiller weapon (otherwise refered to as “blender on a stick”) that will chop up any enemies in your path. If an enemy is perched out of your reach, the alternate fire will launch the blade out and back to you along with the dead enemy so you can pick up the sweet, sweet soul within. Each weapon is great for certain situations and by the end of the game you'll easily know what your favorite is. A rocket launcher and a mini gun I say!

Lucky for heaven, the forces of hell aren't much in terms of smarts. Enemies don't really display any kind of AI. They prefer to run right at you and let their large numbers do the talking rather than duck behind cover. You'll sometimes see demons stuck running up against objects only opting to come after you when you're spotted. In the early levels, they won't attack unless you're right up against them or you miss on a shot. Later on however, they get guns, crossbows, and other melee weapons that make you realize they aren't as moronic as you originally thought them to be. On the subject of enemies, there's a great variety of them. In addition to the usual assortment of undead skeletons and zombies, you'll also go up against knights, crowbar carrying dock workers, bikers with guns, crazed cult members, and even witches. Why so many ends of the spectrum you ask? The game takes you through a wide variety of environments from cemeteries to medieval castles and from military bases to decrepit monasteries. Granted, it all sounds like a bad trip, but the levels actually come together well. Chapters all have a theme to them (modern, gothic, etc) so you won't be jumping from Camelot to Area 51 within five minutes time. Aside from your ultimate survival and efficiency as a killing machine, each level has a secret goal that can optionally be achieved. Early levels have simple goals like “kill all monsters” or “pick up 100 souls”. Later levels will handicap you with objectives like “use only painkiller weapon” or “don't pick up armor”. Completing these goals will garner tarot cards that will give you an edge in battle. When you pick one up, you can put it into a number of allocated slots in between levels for a fee that you pay with coins that you pick up from breaking objects and blowing things up during levels. These cards give you abilities like haste, half damage, and can allow souls to stay longer. Some cards, like haste, only have temporary effects, in which you're charged coins for each use.

The old school doesn't end with the single player game. Painkiller's multiplayer modes also offer the same old school, fast paced feel of the classics. Though it's all deathmatch based (sorry CTF fans), there are different spins on the DM formula like a mode where all players have the same weapon with unlimited ammo (bring on the rocket launcher chain gun!) or the mode where one person has infinite double damage and the other players have to kill them to get it. The gameplay is simple, but fun. Painkiller throws teamwork out of the window and makes it every man for himself.

The visuals in painkiller are great, just slightly below the other games that are either coming out now or due to come out in the next six months. While Far Cry made my system weep at times, the modest requirements made Painkiller run like a dream. The havok engine is in full effect here as monsters crumple down (or in the case of the stake gun, get their lifeless bodies pinned to the wall) with great rag doll effects, hanging corpses sway when you walk through them, and old merchant carts flip through the air after an explosion. The game also features a ton of destructible objects. Barrels, fire extinguishers, and bags of fireworks explode like it's going out of style and you can destroy almost every pot, coffin, wooden palette, and window you come across. One would never know how many things were capable of blowing up. Monsters also look great and it's worth noting that the boss monsters are larger than anything you fought in Serious Sam and it doesn't tax the system at all…well, I guess that depends. Environments are also well done and offer some really impressive locations, like the opera house with the giant theater complete with giant chandelier hanging above while in the middle of battle, will come crashing down spraying particles everywhere. Lots of particles. Blood also realistically run down walls, while it's probably not important to you, it's the best I've seen in a game yet. One could wish the same could be said for the CG. While the game introduces you to a very nude Eve in between chapters, the models all look like plastic figures that lip sync like an old Godzilla movie. Ironically, Asmodius is the best looking CG model and he's not even human. People Can Fly should have stuck to the impressive game engine here, but then again, I'm only a lowly reviewer.

The game does a great job with sound as well. Everything from footsteps to gunshots sound great and pack a lot of punch. Levels have some generic ambient noise and shifts into a hard rock track when trouble is near. Not just generic hard rock mind you, this is hard rock that you wouldn't be embarrassed to blast on the drive to work. Even with the windows rolled down. In a nutshell, the music is great. All enemies growl, grunt, or speak in tongues as would be expected and it's all executed well. Daniel and the supporting cast all do a good job of voice acting as well and don't hold back any emotion or sound awkward.

Painkiller can only be described as a non-stop thrill ride that will take you through thousands of demons, a wide variety of stylish environments and into the very bowels of hell itself while still managing to be fun all along the way. In this day of stealthy and tactical shooters, it's good just to be able to run at full speed and gun down everything in your path, though the fun can wear off and turn into routine towards the end. It's been a while since something this deliciously old school has come along and is definitely worth looking into.

 

Final Word

Man, I've missed this style of gameplay a lot. I didn't do much research into Painkiller coming into playing it, and it's great to have such a pleasant surprise. I'll admit, the gameplay might not be for everyone, but I was totally addicted to the game for the two weeks I was playing it. It was just a great way to blow off some steam. If you're looking for a great FPS that harkens back to the days of Doom, Painkiller will be worth your while. It's got tons of enemies and some really stylish levels. I'd go as far to say that Hell is one of the most creative levels ever devised, but that's just my opinion.

 

- Brad Hicks (aka Dr. Swank), SwankWorld Media