Painkiller

‘Heaven’s got a hitman.’ (Because apparently God isn’t as all-powerful as has been previously suggested …or else he’s just lazy.)

Painkiller actually came out way back in 2004, but I’m reviewing it now because it has been re-released as a ‘Replay’ title (which, in layman’s terms, means they’re selling an old game, repackaged, for not much money). It’s a first-person shooter, where you control David Garner, consigned to Purgatory, and then given the task of assassinating a few of Lucifer’s Generals (read: waging a one-man war on Hell).

I didn’t play Painkiller when in came out, but coming to it now, I’m under-whelmed. The graphics, of course, are a couple of years old now, and although they haven’t aged badly, I don’t get the impression that there was ever anything worth raving about. Its vision of Hell, though, manages to be both varied and quite original.

Probably the most impressive facet of the game is its physics engine. Enemies are flung backwards realistically when shot; barrels explode and shatter into actual flying debris; and even the gold coins scatter nicely when you break chests open. In fact, I’d say this is some of the best physics work I’ve seen pre-Oblivion.

The music, while generally good, can quickly get repetitive because it’s so prominent when you’re fighting. Which, by the way, is all the time. This is an all-action shooter in the style of Serious Sam. So expect hordes of enemies all around you, and have a fast trigger-finger.

Surprisingly, and unfortunately, Painkiller only features five different weapons (even if they do each have a distinctive – sometimes crazily different – secondary mode). Variety, after all, is the spice of life (or, in this case, death). And it isn’t as if there’s much variety to be had in the game’s well put together, but ultimately linear, levels.

At the end of the day, Painkiller has nothing much to keep it fresh after two-and-a-bit years. It’s a run of the mill shooter, falling somewhere between Serious Sam and Doom 3.

But: it is on sale now for a measly ten dollars, and it is well worth that. If madcap shooting is your cup of tea, but you missed it the first time around, now is the time to grab a copy. It could also be that game you’re looking for, for your next LAN party: it’s cheap, entertaining, and will run fine, even on older systems (a 1.5 Ghz machine with 512MB of RAM is recommend). Hell – at this price, you could buy it as a coaster.