"Battle out of Hell" alternates between greatness and mediocrity. It's worth playing for the great parts.
User Rating: 7.4 | Painkiller: Battle out of Hell PC
"Battle out of Hell” changes up the Painkiller formula a bit and offers 8 new levels and 2 boss battles. Some levels are shorter and smaller than the levels in the original, and they generally have less enemies. The game also seems more frustrating and less satisfying this time around, and it has some terrible technical effects on the original campaign. Most of the changes aren’t all that good, but the game still has some great levels, and it’s only 20 bucks. So, if you liked the original, then “Battle out of Hell” is worth playing. After all, it’s still Painkiller. The original game usually opted to through a large number of enemies at you, but didn't really make one enemy very dangerous. Battle out of Hell throws less at you, but makes them tougher, and also seems to cramp you into a lot tighter spaces. This is especially true of the orphanage level, which only has about 70 enemies in it or so and is over pretty fast. There is also one rail shooter sequence that mostly everyone who has played it hates, and a jumping puzzle here and there that isn’t too hard, but just a bit annoying. Most of the secrets still involve aggravating jumping puzzles. The loading times are just like the original – bad. This problem sticks out more now because of the increased difficulty level. Battle out of Hell has some cheap trick traps that are aggravating. It also has a few maddeningly difficult waves of enemies who are almost perfectly accurate and can take down all of your health in a few seconds. You will find yourself staring at the loading screen a lot. The game’s hard parts become very frustrating when you spend one minute looking at the loading screen for every minute of gameplay. The level design took a step backwards in some areas. One of the requirements of a run-and-gun shooter is that you need lots of space -- space for running around while you dodge rockets or bullets. Serious Sam and the original Painkiller got this right, but Battle out of Hell fails in numerous areas. The problem gets worse after the halfway point of the game. In some sequences, you are forced to fight a score of grenade-launching enemies in a small room. These parts are nearly impossible and very frustrating, and they kill the pace that made Painkiller so unforgettable. Painkiller also carries over the inane puzzle boss convention of the first game. The game’s first major boss isn’t too bad, but the final boss is horrible. The ending of “Battle out of Hell” will leave you with a lukewarm feeling. The game’s two pre-rendered cutscenes are so bad that they make cut scenes in the first game look like Oscar material. That’s saying a lot, since the story and cut scenes in Painkiller were so silly. What "Battle out of Hell" does carry over though, is the beautiful graphics, fascinating attention to detail, and creativity that the original had. There is so much creativity poured into every area that it's easy to excuse the fact that there's only 10 of them. The game always leaves you wondering: “What’s coming next?”, and it hardly ever disappoints. The loony fun park, the lab, and the city of the dead are some unforgettable locations that are every bit as incredible as the military base or the industrial facility in the first game. The Leningrad level looks and sounds great, although it doesn’t play that well. Ultimately, it would be worth playing “Battle out of Hell” just for three or four great levels, because they are that good. The worst part about this expansion pack isn't the new content. It's the fact that it practically breaks the old stuff. If you have this expansion pack installed, you literally cannot replay the original game. This expansion introduces tons of annoying crashes and bugs into the old levels, and one major game killer on the docks that makes the level unfinishable. You'll have to wait for a patch to fix this inexcusable problem. The new levels run wonderfully, but it seems like the old ones weren't even tested once. If you are planning to buy the original game and this expansion at the same time, then I highly recommend that you pass on the expansion for now. If you loved the original game like I did, then you’re not going to be disappointed. The game isn’t great from start to finish, but there are enough fun parts to justify the low price. I'm still pissed that the expansion makes the original game almost unplayable. I'm also disappointed that "Battle out of Hell" didn't refine any of the shortcomings of the original game. But, I got to experience some new exquisite locations for blasting a wide variety of enemies into bloody chunks, and that’s what I wanted the most.
