Painkiller review

This is pretty standard when it comes to how much gibbage you can expect.

Being a core component of my formative, teenage years, first person shooters never had any adverse affect on my development as a human being. They put hairs on my chest, cemented my relationships with friends and helped increase my PC and technical literacy when the first Doom mods appeared. I wouldn't be the man I am today if I hadn't had the chance to gun down Triads, Nazis and hordes from the depths of hell and acquaint myself with a veritable catalogue of obscenely powerful firearms. I have, of course, matured into a well-adjusted and socially proficient human being. Now, take a look at Charles Manson or Pol Pot. Did they ever play computer games?

The first person shooter genre has diversified considerably and we now have numerous sub-genres to cater for every possible sub-taste, from massively multiplayer titles like Planetside through to ultra-realistic soldier sims and space operas. The roots these have all grown from - mainly Wolfenstein 3D and Doom - are somewhat lacking representation nowadays, everything is more cerebral, more complex, more story driven. Everyone has put their own spin on the shooter to make what is so often a copycat title seem more original.

External organs

Peekaboo!

Painkiller, on the other hand, doesn't even have a duck button. It does have lots of pentagrams, it is very linear and it revels in flamboyant, melodramatic violence. "Ludicrous gibs!" was a boast that originally belonged to Rise of The Triads, but it's far, far more appropriate here. The decision to include the Havok 2.0 physics engine seems to have been based solely on its ability to throw guts and body parts about the place.

This really is the spiritual successor to Doom, far more than Serious Sam ever was, and yet it still possesses enough ideas of its own to avoid being a straight knock-off. You might be fighting against hellish hordes, navigating nightmarish levels and avoiding explosive barrels, but you won't feel short-changed as long as you're not expecting anything too intelligent. Painkiller just wants to see you backed into a corner, at your wits end, only three shotgun shells left with which to take down whatever that... thing is that's approaching.

The devil's in the details

Well designed, slightly disturbing environs are the norm.

This is an attractive game. The hordes of unholy creatures that rush you are composed of thousands of polygons and sport hi-res textures and bump mapping, the reflective water and specular lighting boosting the looks department even further. Of course, all this would be wasted if the level design itself was lacking, but the varied and well-crafted locations across which you battle Lucifer's legions do the game engine justice. Fighting your way through a huge opera house with twisted, malformed beasts flinging themselves at you and distant, unearthly whispers teasing your ears and disturbing portraits leering at you from the walls is as damn cool as it should be. Someone out there has a sick and twisted imagination and it's born the most hideously beautiful fruit.

The levels are usually split into small sub-sections which seal off your retreat and open up new areas to explore, progress being dependent on the slaughter of all opposition first. Health bonuses gained from fallen foes further encourage firefight frenzies and excess violence can temporarily transform you into an immortal killing machine, at which point the screen warps into a distorted perception of reality and Painkiller becomes even more disturbing. It may only be a game about shooting things, but it does it so well, with such pacing and character, it does a fine job of maintaining focus.

High stakes

Cut scenes occasionally follow the ludicrous plot.

The more open plan levels are the best looking (including a suspension bridge, a Venice-like city and the aforementioned opera house) and when the scale is cut back to more conservative dimensions the game loses something in terms of atmosphere and style. Nevertheless, Painkiller's still got it where it counts: demons that explode into flocks of ravens when killed, huge, towering boss creatures and physics so overblown that Newton would cry. The only ingredients missing from the mix are an electrifying deathmatch mode and a buttock blasting arsenal. Painkiller's multiplayer is decent, but the five modes don't add much to the broad spectrum of experience that first person shooter players have been treated to over the last few years. This is in part due to Painkiller's weaponry - some of which is fantastic, some of which is derivative and all of which is a little narrow in scope. Two weapons worthy of note are the Stakegun and the eponymous Painkiller itself.

The former fires a sharpened length of wood which tends to pin foes to walls or lodge comfortably deep inside their bodies. A little compensation against gravity is required, as stakes drop earthwards over distance, but this makes mastering the weapon even more gratifying. The Painkiller, on the other hand, is a deadly bladed device which can be wielded a little like a chainsaw or launched at foes and retrieved at the click of a button, a process which often pulls apart anything (or anyone) it's lodged in.

Recommended dosage

Pick a card, any card.

Finally, Painkiller offers Tarot cards as end-of-level bonuses. Complete a set objective for a certain level and a card is added to your inventory which can be used to boost your abilities in subsequent challenges. There are dozens of cards and over the twenty-four levels you'll amass quite a collection. They're best saved for use against the major bosses who are far tougher than the bog standard hordes. Unless you're an absolutely terrible player it's wise to choose one of the higher difficulty levels otherwise Painkiller won't be as challenging as it should be.

And that's it. This is a game about guns and shooting things. It's about making a mess and going "Oh Christ!" It's about being scared out of your wits one minute and then bellowing with laughter at something gruesomely humorous the next. Painkiller doesn't set out to do all that much and you won't be solving puzzles, choosing weapon load outs or trying to be stealthy. You will be enjoying the pace, the level design and the increasingly bizarre opponents. The first person shooter dynamic has been stripped down to what it once used to be, polished up for the new age and the result works rather nicely thankyouverymuch.