Posted February 01, 2009
Painkiller is an uncomplicated FPS where the only objective is to mow through wave after wave of enemies. There is a story but most people wouldn't care about it, it's seems to be completely incidental and is only driven forward by a cutscene for each chapter. The original game ships with four chapters of 4-6 levels each. Rather than there being a logical progression between levels, each level has it's own "theme". For example, there's a level named "City on Water" which has a Venice-type feel to it, there's a level in an opera house, on a military installation (complete with a UFO!), and so on.
The game bolsters a pretty exaggerated - and in the end fun - ragdoll physics system. Prepare to see enemies doing backflips from a shotgun blast up close, and getting pinned to walls with the stakegun. Again it's something that really works very well with the overall design of the game.
The visuals are good, with each level having a unique design. The models and textures are very good, and the game offers excellent performance despite there being a real calamity of enemies, projectiles, and destructible objects on screen at least once in almost every level. The sound and music is pretty rudimentary - but in no way missing any key features. Despite all the firing going on in the game, the weapon sounds never really get tiresome, with one exception - a nailgun of sorts you find later in the game.
There is an upgrade system in place whereby you can gain special powers by unlocking a card on each stage. Doing so requires you to complete a certain objective for that stage, adding somewhat to replayability as you can replay any stage at any time.
You get the Battle out of Hell expansion with this purchase, which adds another chapter of levels with new monsters and weapons.
Multiplayer is in the game but the servers aren't exactly crowded. The multiplayer options are pretty much the basics, not much to add about them.
On the negative side the loading times can be cumbersome, especially as you're prone to die a lot on some bosses. Replayability (short of going through it again for fun in a year or so) is limited, the only real reason being gathering all extra cards for different upgrades.
The game bolsters a pretty exaggerated - and in the end fun - ragdoll physics system. Prepare to see enemies doing backflips from a shotgun blast up close, and getting pinned to walls with the stakegun. Again it's something that really works very well with the overall design of the game.
The visuals are good, with each level having a unique design. The models and textures are very good, and the game offers excellent performance despite there being a real calamity of enemies, projectiles, and destructible objects on screen at least once in almost every level. The sound and music is pretty rudimentary - but in no way missing any key features. Despite all the firing going on in the game, the weapon sounds never really get tiresome, with one exception - a nailgun of sorts you find later in the game.
There is an upgrade system in place whereby you can gain special powers by unlocking a card on each stage. Doing so requires you to complete a certain objective for that stage, adding somewhat to replayability as you can replay any stage at any time.
You get the Battle out of Hell expansion with this purchase, which adds another chapter of levels with new monsters and weapons.
Multiplayer is in the game but the servers aren't exactly crowded. The multiplayer options are pretty much the basics, not much to add about them.
On the negative side the loading times can be cumbersome, especially as you're prone to die a lot on some bosses. Replayability (short of going through it again for fun in a year or so) is limited, the only real reason being gathering all extra cards for different upgrades.