First person shooters must be the most popular games ever since Wolfenstein 3D (followed by Doom) 'revolutionized' 3D computer gaming in 1992 and 1993. Recently we had our fair share of military related versions, a short-term departure from the traditional theme. With the training of the Super Soldier almost complete, it's time for a detour - back to fantasy and slaying the Undead.
Sure, the genre will get reinforcement with
DOOM 3 (August) and Half-Life 2 (November) but until then, Painkiller is a serious offer and not to be discarded. In fact, it may not look too bad against those ultra-hyped mega games. After all, at $29 Painkiller costs only little more than half of any of the other two big games - and it's in stores right now.
Quick Orientation:
Objective of the Game
Key Features
How does it play?
System Requirements
Summary
Online Resources
THE OBJECTIVE(s)
Everybody who knows about the grandfather of all shooters ('Wolfenstein 3D') and its offsprings ('Doom' etc.), doesn't need an explanation what Painkiller is all about. For everybody else, objective and gameplay are pure to first person shooter standards: Survive vicious attacks of the Undead and kill them all in return! Throw in a few secrets to find and you got the basic idea of the genre.
Anyway, as Daniel Garner you get trapped in a world between Heaven and Hell. Waiting for your time to join one or the other, you're asked to do heaven a few 'favors'. And that's where your job starts ... kill all monsters to prevent an imminent unholy war. This and only this will grant you entry into heaven.
Caution: Painkiller (the game) is not suited to relief headaches for gamers of any age. In fact, it might inflict photosensoric induced epilepsy and headache over the intense gaming experience.
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KEY FEATURES
Painkiller is not setting foot on too much new ground. Most of it is refined shooterware and basically more evolution than revolution.
Worth mentioning, however, is the new graphics engine by the name of PAIN and the use of the Havok 2.0 physics engine. PAIN allows to render polygon-rich models (3000-4000 polygons per monster) in impressive quality and speed, while Havok 2.0 contributes to the realism of interacting with environment. All this is marketing lingo, and what it means is that Painkiller looks good and feels quite real.
The design of the 24 singleplayer levels and monster variety show very little repetition -- despite the basically same objective in any level. In fact, secret areas are by no means obvious and some of them a true challenge (to the degree that average skilled gamers may get frustrated with them). Instead of blindly destroying every object on sight, it sometimes pays off to study the area first. Some objects are required to reach certain secret areas and once they are destroyed it's impossible to get there. (Each level has usually 3 - 4 hidden areas with at least half very hard to spot.)
The overall gameplay is intense in fight scenes, and puzzling when trying to find all the secret areas. Changing objectives from level to level (in order to unlock Tarot cards) bring decent variety to a single-minded game design (as all shooters are). Once Tarot cards are unlocked they can be played to improve certain aspects of your skills (like increasing speed or reducing damage etc.). Think of it as official cheat codes. Nevertheless, the level design is very streamlined.
A noteworthy innovation is the so-called Demon mode which is activated whenever 66 souls have been collected. It's fun to wreak havoc while being invincible. If one just could control when to use it since it may be just at the end of a level or wear off right before entering a big fight. In those situations it's pretty much useless.
Multiplayer mode received harsh criticism upon its release and much progress has been done in the meantime. Update version 1.3.1 sports reasonable multiplayer experience in basically 5 different game types and 7 maps:
- Deathmatch (last player standing wins)
- Team Deathmatch (last team standing wins)
- People Can Fly (deathmatch w/ scoring only when airborne)
- Voosh* (everybody gets the same weapon with unlimited ammo)
- The Light Bearer (Grab the 'quad' and hold it as long as possible)
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HOW DOES IT PLAY?:
Manual: Good looks and good detail for most aspects of Painkiller. However many things seem to be left for the gamer to find out, like the double jump and any impact the 'painkiller' weapon might have on movement (jumps). Secret areas are kept just that ... secret.
Graphics: Following the recent trend of making better use of established technologies, Painkiller looks great with all options set to maximum. Lighting is amazing and particle effects are quite impressive too. Hires Textures (1024x1024 px or 2048x2048px) simply look great (hence the need for at least 64MB of video memory). The biggest graphics innovation may be the Demon mode (when reaching 66 souls). The vision turns for some time into B/W (enemies are red as in a heat map) and great power is handed to you along with invincibility. (Limited time only.)
Violence: This game is M-rated for good reasons. It's certainly nothing kids should play (that includes mentally unstable adults as well). Be prepared for blood stains everywhere and dislocated limbs, but that's to expect with an objective like "Kill to Survive (and kill them all)". The 17 rating is based on the graphic nature of the gore. Games like this don't make serial killers, but they might lower the threshold for critical individuals to dangerous levels.
Controls: Simple enough to concentrate on the game rather than trying to find that important key in a heated battle. Everything pretty much happens via the standard move keys (W-A-S-D), the mouse and a few additional controls to directly select weapons (1-5), the flash light (L) and quicksave (F5) and quickload (F9) and so on. Easy to learn but difficult to master -- especially for many of the jumping puzzles (to reach secret areas). Most of which require extreme precision even in normal difficulty and frankly some of them turned out too hard for me (even after consulting the walkthru). Painkiller does not worry about 'specific' moves like crouching, leaning and climbing. It's all about head-on collisions and the basic controls to survive those.
Sound: Simply great and on par with the best performer. In fact, in one instance I paused the game in a dungeon and went off to do something else. A little later I sure wondered if there is water dripping in the other room. Fighting noise and background score are crisp and dynamic. Music picks up when monsters are imminent and calms down when all are killed. Voice sampling is clear and realistic, though only the cut scenes to have actual spoken words. In normal gameplay that would be more like alien sounds. ;-)
Animation: Painkiller doesn't give you much time to envy the fine animation of each of your enemies or the environment for that matter. Motion of most monsters is very pleasing to the eye, at least in a 'anatomically correct' kind of way. Taking treasure bearing objects apart (coffins, boxes etc. stuffed with gold coins) is just as fun to watch as it is to actually invoke the damage.
Physics: The game uses the Havok 2.0 physics engine and objects move realistic with only very few exceptions. (Trash cans appear extremely light and are hard to move in small increments.) Overall it's impressive how damage is different depending on your distance to the object and gravity seems all present for most objects that get blown up, moved or simply fall due to impact of other objects. Physics are also applied when practically skating on the icey Snowy Bridge level.
Weapons: What were they thinking, only 5 weapons in total and most of the time you'll have to do with 3? Well, it's not quantity but the balanced quality of those destruction instruments. Each is significantly different and how many different ways of killing do you need anyway? The standard "Painkiller" is the only weapon that does not have to be replenished. Unlike most games' basic weapon, this one can be quite damaging and useful at many situation in any of the 24 levels (exception maybe the level bosses). The remaining 4 must be found to be used and they have limited ammo too. Either one has a distinctive alternate firing mode, and that essentially allows 10 basically different ways of getting rid of monsters. The other weapons are (in the order they're found) shotgut/freezer, stakegun/grenade launcher, electrodriver (2 modes), and the rocket launcher/chaingun. So, not too many weapons, but each is quite different and a somewhat fresh take on the standard arsenal. (Note: there is no 'flame thrower'.)
Progress: Excellent. It's all there, automatic checkpoint saves and the option to save at any time if so desired. Maybe the makers of
Halo and
XIII in particular should have thought about that. Painkiller's save system is excellent and pretty much on par with shooter primus
Call of Duty.
Enemy AI: Well it's ironic to talk about (artificial) intelligence in a 'dumb' shooter. Enemies charge whenever you get close and have no mercy until eliminated or victorious. However, there are many different types of enemies and each has their own strengths and weaknesses. Each on their own is pretty much fierce and has only one goal: to get you before you get them. (Dumb does not mean they're harmless.) Some of them combine their strength and become even more dangerous. Most monsters don't use much strategy other than run-in confrontation but that's probably to expect from the genre. Need more 'intelligent' enemies? Check out
Call of Duty,
Thief: Deadly Shadows, and Far Cry.
Difficulty: There is basically 4 different levels of difficulty. Unlike most other games, the 2 highest levels must be unlocked via certain milestones in standard difficulty. And the easiest doesn't contribute to that goal either. In essence, there is only one difficulty and its name 'Insomnia' holds already true in some situations like level bosses and some secret areas. The rest of the game is well balanced, and what feels sometimes too easy might turn out too hard the next time around. It's no cake walk but not impossible either. Level bosses, however, are always very tough 'cookies'.
Longevity: Streamlined levels and single solutions per level provide little incentive to go back and try it again. However, each level is significantly long and backtracking your way for more treasures after killing everything that moves prolongs game fun. This is not a short game! Once you're done, give multiplayer a try to extend fun a little bit.
Locations: Amazing variety and excellent level design. A total of 24 different levels in SP leads you thru cemeteries, dungeons, abandoned mansions, factories, the opera and so on and so forth. The variety is quite impressive and a far cry from
Halo's repetitive map design.
MultiPlayer: Currently exploring this mode and will update once I have actual test data. However, Painkiller MP can be played via internet and LAN.
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SYSTEM REQUIREMENTS
Not unusual anymore, Painkiller requires DX9 and a compliant graphics board even though it's not specifically spelled out the choice of compatible boards suggests the need for T&L hardware to handle the detailed models and effects. In other words, similar restrictions to compatible hardware as in Enter The Matrix,
Tron2.0,
Midnight Club 2,
Need for Speed: Underground,
Thief: Deadly Shadows, and
Halo apply. If that's too steep for your system, take a look at
XIII.
Minimum Requirements: Codemasters/'People Can Fly' call out a Intel Pentium III 1.5GHz or AMD Athlon as the minimum and 2.4GHz P4 as the recommended system. The minimum memory requirement for RAM is 384MB and 64MB for video memory to run the game. Nobody said it will be pretty or quick at or below minimum. Installation of the 3 CDs requires 2GByte of HD space despite the listed 1.2GB. A CD-ROM Drive or DVD-ROM Drive is also required (copy protection needs the disc to be present to play). Notice the list of incompatible CDs that can be found in the FAQs.
http://painkillergame.com/content/en/faqs/tech_faqs2.php#19
Based on the need for DirectX9.0b (included), the
OS is limited to Windows 98/Me/2000 and XP.
My system (2.4GHz P4, 1GB RAM, Radeon 9700 Pro, ATA133, WinXP) runs the game quite smoothly with video options set to 1280x1048, 32bit, 2xAA, and all of the game's options put to maximum. (Much faster than
Thief: Deadly Shadows.)
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DO YOU FEEL THE PAIN?
Even though I have concerns about the morale, I also enjoy Painkiller immensly as it allows to escape reality and kick some serious **** for a while. That's all fine as long as it stays out of reality.
With that in mind, Painkiller may not be surrounded by as much hype as DOOM 3 and Half-Life2 but it sure is a great game of the genre. If you're looking for brain gymnastics, this is not for you. However, as a shooter it is one of the best recently released games and the release of mentioned ueber-games will not change that.
In fact, Painkiller most likely is kinder to medium level hardware and even at maximum settings quite playable on top technology from 2 years ago (i.e. Radeon 9700). I am not sure how much of that will be applicable to
DOOM 3 and Half-Life2. In the end it sure is kinder to your wallet with currently $29.
Either way, don't forget to turn your brain back on after you're done playing. ;-)
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ONLINE RESOURCES:
Official Site:
www.painkillergame.com
Walkthru and Hints:
www.painkillerhell.com
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