Epitomizing the eternal struggle between good and evil, Painkiller delivers non-stop action.
You play Daniel, a man cast into a place between heaven and hell, given the task of saving eternity. Your struggle to destroy the four generals of Lucifer’s army will take you to the edges of insanity, both figuratively and literally. The game play is quite addictive and its fast action style will keep you on the edge of your seat as you battle dozens upon dozens of seemingly endless enemies. Mixed into the fray are many secret areas, destructible items (courtesy of the Havok 2.0 physics engine), and imaginative levels. By far the most impressive and amazing thing in Painkiller are the bosses. Immense only begins to describe them. Picture yourself, an average 5’8 male, coming up to the toenail of a foe, which just happens to want to squish you any way possible. One such boss is the Necrogiant, who by my estimation looks to stand about 70 feet high. On top of the huge mass, the bosses each have a “power” or two up their sleeve; for instance Necrogiant can create a tornado that flings you into the air hurting you constantly and then drops you hurting you even more. Needless to say, the sheer amount of enemies coming at you, the giant bosses, and the tricky landscapes to navigate make for some very challenging game play. The weapons in Painkiller all have two functions, that are drastically different, none of this shotgun with one shot or two shots at a time. Painkiller’s shotgun comes bundled with a liquid nitrogen blast that freezes an enemy making a tempting target to shatter. The most unique weapon in Painkiller is the aptly named “Painkiller”, which is multiple spinning blades on primary and a flying grapple type device that injures or flings enemies toward you if they die. The “Painkiller” also works on items, based on weight etc according to the Havok 2.0 engine. During your conquest of Lucifer’s army, you’ll acquire tarot cards, depending on if you satisfied the requirement the level has been assigned; for example finding every secret, getting minimum 500 gold, using only the stake gun etc. These cards give you special bonuses, like reloading faster, if you put them into play by paying the required gold amount before the level starts. These can be beneficial for getting other cards, for example by aiding you in beating Necrogiant in less than 2 minutes; you get another more powerful card. By far my favorite part of Painkiller is the stake gun coupled with the Havok 2.0 physics engine it becomes an amazingly fun weapon. The stake will stick into anything, including solid cement/marble walls, and enemies. If you’re good you can pin an enemy to a wall with the stake or even pin two enemies together. I once shot a skeletal zombie in the head and the stake hit the head of the zombie behind him, they fell down dead together like a lump, which was very satisfying. In Painkiller you don’t see the same boring death animation over and over, it all happens based on the Havok 2.0 physics engine, bodies crumple or explode based on the weapon and health of the enemy and damage given. All in all the game play is great and re-playable for fans of the Quake or Unreal series of games.
The graphics in Painkiller, while not top notch Doom 3 or Far Cry quality, are quite detailed and offer nothing that displeases the eye. The lighting and modeling seem quite good, with the lighting being slightly better. Putting a stake through a jumping Ninja and watching him do five back flips mid air was hilarious. Firing a stake into a brick wall, it will leave cracks around the part where it hit, and if you fire one into a thin pillar, it will stick out the other side. Little things like this add realism, and it doesn’t look fake or unbelievable like games of the past.
The sound in Painkiller was great. The "thunk" of a stake hitting wood or an enemy’s armor, the whistle of a ninja star flying past your head, or the scream of a fallen foe with a stake jutting through his middle and out his back, all sound as though they should. My only complaint would be some of the enemy battle cries can get repetitive and annoying in later levels when there are literally fifty or sixty coming at you at once. The little things like fire and landing squishy body parts that a zombie threw at you are all adding realism which makes it more fun to experience. Good sound, just repetitive at times. What I think games need to do is make the sound as in depth as the physics engine. If a body can “rag doll” why can’t a sound change in real time based on what it reflects off from point A to point B. Say a tunnel made of different materials, with wooden beams supporting concrete walls, the sound would change pitch and density based on distance and materials. Current engines probably can’t handle this, but I hope someday with Audigy 2 ZS type cards, 7.1 surround, and new game engines will try to make this reality. As good as audio is in games, I feel it is integral in recreating reality.
The replay value in Painkiller depends on your view of these types of mindless mayhem games. If your style is fast reflexes, fast action, and satisfying physics and deaths, then you will love re-playing Painkiller again and again. The multiplayer looks to be a lot of fun as well, also adding a lot of play time. The tarot cards and special bonuses, the secrets and the bosses alone will make this game fun for a long time to come.
I thoroughly enjoyed Painkiller’s game play, weapons, enemies, and levels. It’s a game I will prize in my collection, and rated probably in my top 20 FPS list thus far. I recommend it to anyone who liked Quake, Unreal, UT, or Serious Sam. See if you can stop the armies of hell.