Painkiller Review

Another interesting (though minor) addition to the single-player game are the tarot cards. Think of it as PCF's stab at adding an RPG element to the game. At the beginning of each level you will get a task like finishing the level without picking up a single soul (your character collects souls and gold as tokens), or killing all the monsters just by using the default Pankiller weapon. If you perform the task successfully, you are given a tarot card that can increase your character's speed, dexterity, the amount of damage the weapons inflict and so on. In order to "play" the card, you must have a certain amount of gold. As I said, this is hardly a major thing in the game, but it kind of helps to keep you focused on a particular goal as you make your way across the map annihilating everything in sight.

Everything I've said about the game so far clearly seems to indicate that I've thoroughly enjoyed it. That is, sadly, not entirely true. There are certain aspects that I didn't care about. While there are levels that feature rather spectacular scenery, some of them will just feel too generic and repetitive. Consequently, the game may lose some of its pacing, but the effect won't last for too long. Throughout my time with the game, I never felt so bored with it that I wanted to quit. I would feel exhausted maybe and my pupils would widen to the point where my wife would accuse me of doing drugs, but overall I had a good time with Painkiller. Level design as well as some of the monsters can get a little too bleak and featureless, but that's only a sporadic occurrence.

On the upside, there will be areas in the game where the 3D technology behind it will truly dazzle you with excellent use of pixel shaders that are responsible for blurring effects and so on. Likewise, I found the sound to be very good for this type of game. The musical soundtrack; though cheap sounding at times; is something you'd easily associate with Doom. So, yeah, musical purists will call it crap, but to me, hard rock guitar riffs and exploding demons carry a great sentimental value.

The biggest disappointment regarding Painkiller, however, has to do with the relatively steep price tag and the lack of any real replay value. The lack of replay value is closely tied to the fact that the multiplayer mode doesn't really offer anything that we haven't seen in so many other FPS games. Aside from a few minor variations in gameplay, multiplayer comes down to classic DM shootouts that simply belong to another age of PC gaming. Bearing in mind the rather dated feel to the multiplayer matches, and the fact that it will take you around a day and a half or possibly two days tops to finish the single-player campaign, it becomes painfully apparent that not even painkillers can alleviate the effects that the forty dollar price tag might have on this game. Let's face it, the multiplayer is forgetful and the game costs twice as much as Serious Sam. That makes little sense in my book.

Painkiller has accomplished exactly what the fine development team at PCF set out to achieve. They created an extremely fun, fantastic looking FPS in the vein of Doom, Quake and the like. Those of you who enjoy mindless arcade FPS action will get a kick out of playing Painkiller. There's plenty of good fun to be had in this one and what's more, the gameplay is backed up by some very smooth and solid 3D code. The level design is not always top-notch and occasionally, the game might lose some of its pacing, but in the grand scheme of things, it all balances out nicely with the unique and fun bosses and some frantic over-the-top shooting, slashing, breaking and stabbing action. The biggest problem with this game, as I said, is that it doesn't offer enough content to warrant playing it a second time around. This means that in all likelihood it will end up collecting dust on one of your shelves the minute you're finished with it. Now it's up to you to decide whether or not the single-player component is worth the 40 bucks. If I were you, I'd buy it, but then again, I like a bit of over-the-top mindless shooter action once in a while. Ultimately that decision rests squarely on your shoulders.