Same great Painkiller action hampered only by frustrating jumping puzzles.
When we last left Daniel Garner, he had just defeated Lucifer in the heart of hell and found himself surrounded by seemingly invincible hell spawn. After a close save by his traveling companion and guide, Eve, Daniel now has to battle his way out of hell and its new king, Alistair.
Not to ruin a good thing, BOoH doesn’t take too much time to warm you up as it thrusts you into an orphanage filled with possessed children, nuns, and a fat guy with a meat cleaver. This is just one of the few clever levels that make this expansion worth the $20 price tag. In addition to the orphanage, you’ll also get to visit the Tim Burton-esque “Loony Park” featuring a great “on rails” roller coaster ride and killer clowns, the war torn Leningrad with German zombies, and the zombie and bug infested Dead City just to name a few. The aforementioned levels are better than most levels featured in the original game and all feature some really creative scripting and effects that really make the Painkiller engine shine. Unfortunately, the other levels featured in the expansion tend to fall flat in terms of design. They’re either not much fun to play or feature some maddening jumping puzzles that seem like they don’t belong in a Painkiller game. Add to this the long load times in between your failed jumps and the experience can really put you off. One level is only unlockable in the game’s nightmare mode which is a big room with a giant bone monster walking around. Needless to say, going through the game again in nightmare mode after finishing insomnia isn’t much motivation just to experience this level, especially if you're wanting to brave the nigh impossible level goals to pick up the new tarot cards. Something also uncanny to the franchise is the fact that the underworld and stone pit chapters all take place in the same labyrinth of caves, which for a game praised for its wide variety of environments and monsters, seems a little strange.
Aside from old school run-and-gun gameplay and crazy use of physics, Painkiller has also been praised for some of the best weapons ever to be featured in a game of its kind. All of the old favorites are here, from the stake / grenade gun that pins baddies to walls and ceilings, to the ultra-badass rocket launcher / chain gun combination that always makes this reviewer a little stiff in some areas. You’ll go cuckoo pinning baddies to the walls and ceilings and blasting all the destructible objects. In addition to the classics, BOoH gives us two new weapons; a sort of sniper rifle that fires 2 rows of six stakes with an alternate fire of bouncing exploding balls and a machine gun / flame thrower combination. Both new additions compliment the arsenal well and are totally useful in certain situations. The sniper rifle is useful where you’ll commonly find yourself having to snipe enemies from above and far away. The flamethrower is probably the best addition since it’ll pour a great deal of pain on the hordes of enemies the game throws at you.
Speaking of enemies, BOoH has a potpourri of new enemies which are level specific and never repeated, yet another staple of the franchise. You’ll find yourself up against giant bone monsters, skeletons, a myriad of undead creatures like zombies and skeletons, and what look like sword-wielding warriors for the lack of a better description. The all new baddies definitely add some value to the expansion. There are also a couple of new puzzle based boss battles that leave a memorable experience, namely the battle with the final boss. Once you figure out what to do, it ultimately becomes a satisfying, if not short experience. He can be quickly dispatched in a couple of minutes if you have the right tarot cards at your disposal.
In addition to the expanded single player game, BOoH also gives us some more multiplayer modes like capture the flag and last man standing, which essentially death match with a set number of lives. Last man alive wins, simple enough. The problem is that the servers aren’t really full, so finding a good full game is hard.
The in game visuals are about on par with those of Half-Life 2, if not one small, teeny-tiny notch below. You can’t help but think to yourself that the game in and of itself is beautiful. All the environments have their own feel and look and you won’t find the same texture used twice aside from said underworld and stone pit stages. Some levels like Liningrad use so many effects at once that it will bring a moderately powered system to tears. Kicking and screaming like a little kid. I found myself having to turn everything down to medium after that level. The same can’t be said for the (luckily) few CG sequences that further the story. I had some gripes about the original game’s CG, but the scenes featured in this incarnation of the game are deplorable. Daniel has been redesigned from a veritable badass on wheels to a fattened up ventriloquist. That’s what 30+ years in purgatory will do to you I suppose. Eve comes out worse as she found time to get herself some clothes and lose any of her appealing features for this round. No I’m not stating the fact that she was nude was her only appealing feature, just about 65% of it.
From a sound standpoint, BOoH still holds up to doing a great job. The music tracks that play when trouble is afoot doesn’t rock as much (I won’t be blasting this with my windows down) and is pretty forgettable, but still sets the mood well – especially in Loony Park and Liningrad. None of the enemies’ sounds are recycled. You’ll get orphans speaking in tongues, moaning zombies, German zombie soldiers, and crazy sounding clowns. They all come off well. Voice acting is passable this time around despite the horrible CG that goes with it. Close your eyes and pretend it's a Painkiller book on tape. The new guns also sound like they pack a punch, most notably the machine gun. Not to ramble, the game sounds as pretty as it looks.
It’s a marvel that an expansion made it out so quickly after the release of the original game, let alone sporting some brand new levels, improved visuals, and a variety of new baddies to take down is definitely an impressive feat. Still, one can’t expect miracles out of everything. Don't get me wrong, Battle Out of Hell is still a thrill ride; there are just a couple of really bad intermissions breaking it up. Still, for the price they’re asking (I’ve even heard it’s on sale for $15 in some areas) it’s definitely got some bang for your buck. The expansion is enjoyable as the pleasure of killing far outweighs the level of frustration. I only hope that jumping puzzles don't become a staple for Painkiller 2.