Painkiller Hands-On

This is my second encounter with Painkiller this year (no pun intended, Croteam), and each time I play it the game appears better and more polished. That's a good sign, no? Well, of course it is! The latest pre-alpha build of Painkiller features three single player levels and some steamin' (though not fully functional) multiplayer fun, just to give us a taste of what's to come in the full retail version.

Talk about a beautifully designed map.

The red flash of justice will conquer all!

Here's the skinny for the uninitiated, before I dive right into the latest beautiful parts of this game. Painkiller is an arcade shooter that pays homage to id's early work; I'm mainly referring to games like Doom and Quake 2 here. Hell, the designers have intentionally included the famous Quake 2 strafe jumping bug, which in itself speaks volumes about their game design affinities. In case you weren't aware, strafe jumping is a technique used to achieve great movement speed by jumping from side to side in rhythmic fashion. Ironically, it was actually an engine bug that id let slip in the retail version of Quake 2. The funny thing is that players around the world took to it like crazy, so John and co. decided to leave it in the game.

That said, the very fact that People Can Fly included strafe jumping is a clear indication of where they drew their inspiration for Painkiller. The game is just brimming with Doom memorabilia - creepy monsters and zombies roam the town streets, which have been done in a prevailing gothic architecture, and as the monsters spawn behind you, you mow them down with your trusted boom stick. You run around linear levels looking for doors and unlocking pentagram shaped locks as parts of the map gradually become available once you've cleared the area. You get the picture I think. Painkiller is not about creating an immersive cinematic experience, as Doom 3 is going to be, it's actually a true Doom clone powered by some excellent 3D code and the Havok physics engine.

The pre-alpha build comes with three single-player maps and a semi-functional multiplayer facet with just two DM maps: DM-Unseen and DM-Sacred. You start off your single-player escapade in an abandoned cemetery that (eventually) leads up to a tall gothic cathedral; which is really a perfect setting for any Doom-like arcade shooter. People Can Fly are sticking to the tried and proved concept of subtly increasing the number of enemies and their toughness as you move closer to the glowing sphere that represents the end of the level. The Player is only armed with a flashlight and a powerful shotgun (without an alternate fire mode). As you run around the dark cemetery, a grey mist rises from the ground, while you knock over caskets when dead knights and evil witches swarm at you from all sides. You make your way through the graveyard until finally you reach the cathedral - ominous and solemn, and naturally brimming with evil, undead monsters (I can only imagine the horrors that lie within real cathedrals... - Ed.)!

So, are these guys dancing or just, erm... hanging around?

Burn, heathen scum!

The graveyard level is all about quantity, in terms of the sheer number of enemies that come at you. Two things caught my attention this time around that weren't there in the previous build. First off, People Can Fly has included a special power up which lets you tear apart and slaughter monsters as you move around at great speed, seeing nothing but grey shades of the environments and the red flash of Justice! I would imagine this is how a Predator would hunt if it happened to stumble on some horse steroids. Though very gory, the power up is perfectly suited for the game, and it makes for some entertaining, yet still predominantly cartoonish, violence. Taken as a whole the predominant mood is actually spot-on for this type of game.

The second map I tried is set in a menacing looking Goth village with tattered wooden houses that are subtly lit by torchlight and, of course, invaded by decaying zombies! As I raced through the streets using a crossbow that shoots wooden stakes as a primary attack and launches grenades in alternate fire mode, I couldn't help but admire the sharpness and the natural look of wood textures and the amount of detail in the highly interactive environments. While the lighting in the cemetery level didn't leave me all too impressed, I was really blown away at how good everything looked in the town level. On top of that, the Havok physics engine proved its worth by making almost every discernable object interactive and destructible. The designers have also added a few nice, creepy touches to the settings, like limp decaying bodies swinging from nooses that react realistically to the impact as you shoot wooden stakes into them. Granted, you'd have to be a bit of a sadist to do it, and I wouldn't recommend it, but I *cough* had to do it for the sake of the article (Save it for the judge -Ed).

Finally, the third map has you facing off with a huge, winged, boss creature. The level is conceived in such a way that it reminds me of a three tiered wedding cake. Each time you seriously hurt the monster one of the platforms will shatter until you both tumble onto the baseline level set amidst ancient ruins. About the boss creature, that sucker is truly humongous! We've already had the chance to check out a similar boss creature in the previous build, but it never ceases to amaze me how People Can Fly can manage to cram such a huge creature on screen and still ensure that the frame rate stays relatively smooth throughout the epic battle.