With the Xbox’s life span dwindling faster than a Hollywood marriage, finding a new game for the big black box is getting harder. Still, finding a good new shooter game is even harder yet. Thankfully, People Can Fly’s console rendition of Painkiller has managed to renew the shooter genre for the Xbox. The game offers well over 20 levels, 6 weapons, and 70 distinct enemies to dispatch -- any way you like.
Unless you’re already familiar with the back-story in Painkiller, it may take several play-throughs to even understand what is happening. The basic plot follows a man named Daniel Gardner who died with his wife in a fatal car accident. Instead of going to heaven with his wife, Daniel is sent to purgatory. Sammael, an agent from above, approaches him. Sammael tells him that heaven and earth are in danger and that four of Lucifer’s generals, and all their henchmen, must be destroyed to restore a balance. Daniel agrees and sets out to try and prevent the Hell wars and get himself out of purgatory.
There are five chapters with five levels per chapter. After each chapter players will get sub-par cinematic sequences, which explains some small bit of the story (the non-humans are the best rendered models in the CGs). After short descriptions of what Daniel must kill next, players are thrust back into the stages to continue the demon-killing spree. Honestly, the story is completely meaningless next to the gameplay; it’s obviously there to make players feel like they need to complete something. Surely though, I think gamers could have sufficed to have the story told with a couple of text boxes and a few 3D photographs. The story and CG aren’t terrible; they just don’t do much to help the plot. Yet then again, this game isn’t about plots and storyboards.
If you’re familiar with Unreal then you’ll be right at home with Painkiller. There’s no reloading in this game and all six weapons are poised to dish out extremely violent deaths to the victims. What keeps Painkiller from being “just another shooter” is the exceptionally well-adjusted physics and weapon effects. Doom 3, Farcry and Pariah all had odd mishaps with their rag-doll effects. The enemies in Pariah and Farcry had a jiggling issue after they died. In Doom 3, oftentimes enemies would inappropriately blast off into the air when hit with certain weapons in various positions. Painkiller, however, utilizes the rag-doll physics to maximize the effect of the weapons. For example, when shooting enemies with the stake-gun, enemies appropriately blast back from the force of the weapon and cling helplessly to the surface in which the stake has penetrated. Bodies hang limp, slump, and fall over or tip back according to the force of impact -- it's great to see in action. All the weapons effect the enemy according to their firing rate, etc., but the stake-gun's pinning ability makes it dangerously fun to use. Daniel can even go into a demon rage mode and eject enemies around the play area with a special “push”. Again, the game's physics make this game extremely fun.
Out of the six available weapons in Painkiller, though, the stake-gun really showcases the game’s said physics system. The rest of the weapons also performed up to par; they just weren't as incredibly effective and entertaining as the stake-gun. Each weapon comes with a secondary attack. The stake-gun has a grenade launcher; the shotgun has a twin-freeze rifle; the blade-thrower has an electric shocker; the rocket launcher is mounted to a mini-gun and the flamethrower is attached to an SMG. The painkiller is the weapon players will start the game with and is about the weakest weapon in the game. The painkiller weapon is more like a cross between the Shock rifle from Unreal (without the vaporizing effect) and the blade-saw from Redline (except you can’t fly). Nevertheless, the designers did an excellent job of having players use combos to make the most of each weapons’ specialties. For instance, it’s cool being able to freeze some bad guys and then quickly switch over and electrocute them. Players can even use explosives to propel enemies high into the air and quickly use a fast firing weapon to shoot them while they fall. The game’s playing style is insane. Unreal, Quake and the original Doom fans will be right at home with Painkiller’s gun mechanics; they are very smooth and extremely well-tuned.
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