|
|
Painkiller
When Daniel Garner is killed in a car accident along with his beloved wife he is denied entry into heaven and is instead told that he has to fight an army of demonic soldiers to prevent an imminent holy war. Only by killing Lucifer's four generals and their hordes of minions will he be judged pure enough to be with his wife. With no other choice Daniel sets out on a one man crusade to cause some serious pain to the minions of evil.
Ok so the storyline is beyond corny but at least it tries to be original and gives you an excuse to kill all kinds of weird creatures in a variety of interesting locations. The gameplay is as simple as the storyline however and anyone that has played Serious Sam will know what to expect since this game is almost exactly the same as Sam's adventure only a bit more, well, serious. Daniel starts each level with no goal other than to kill every creature in sight. There's no keys to collect, puzzles to solve or any kind of interaction beyond blowing up whatever stands between you and the next level. The action can become a bit repetitive aftera while since basically all you do is walk into a new area, kill all the monsters that suddenly spawns around you, follow your compass to the next area and repeat the process. This happens over and over across all the stages. To make things a little bit more interesting there's "tarrot cards" to be earned which will then grant you special abilities like extra health, more speed or whatever. The twist is that these have to be earned by achieving certain requirements on each stage. These can be anything from killing all the monsters on the level to not using any armour or only using a certain weapon. Once you earn the tarrot cards they can then be placed before going into a stage but be warned they cost money to place, you can only have a certain amount, and most can only be used once per level. It's not exactly a groundbreakingly original feature but it does at a little something extra to the game. The biggest draw of the game however is definately the graphics. It might take a decent computer to run it at full speed with all the effects enabled but the result is quite worth it. The levels feel rather disjointed with not much in common but every one of them is a visual masterpiece with awsome special effects and detailed textures. Even the enemies look awsome and there's so many different types you'll hardly see the same onces as almost every new level has new monsters. The game also has some of the bigggest bosses I've ever seen and fighting these behemoths is quite a rush. Besides the excelent graphics the game is also powered by the HAVOC phsyics engine making everything look that much better. Watching enemies go flying in ragdoll style after you blast them or huge structures crumbling when a boss stomps through it is a sight to behold. The detailed graphics are also quite evident in the extremely detailed weapons but while each one is truly unique and has duel firing modes the fact that there is only five in total is a bit of a letdown. You'll find yourself using all of them a lot instead of just moving up to the more powerfull weapons as they become available but still.. At least you get to collect the souls of any enemies you kill and once you have enough of these you turn into a super powerfull demon for a short while which allows you to lay waste to any nearby foes. It can be a real life saver in tight spots but still doesn't make up for the lack of weapons. The audio is just as nice as the visuals and once again the Serious Sam influences is clear. Walking around without any enemies in sight you'll hear lots of ambient sounds like the wind or the spurs on your boots clinking but as soon as the monsters make their appearance the heavy metal music kicks in and all hell breaks loose. Daniel is unfortunately a very quiet character so dont' expect any wisecracks or quips as he kicks ass. The sound effects are very nicely done and even the voice overs during the cut-scenes are bearable. While Painkiller might seem like little more than a advertisement for their new game engine it's still a fn game to play and ideal for when you just want to relax and blow up everything in sight without worrying about puzzles or plots. The game also has some nice multi-player modes to keep you playing and you can even go back and find all the tarrot cards if you want to see the "true" ending. While i won't call it a classic it's still definately worth checking out. |
System Requirements
TAGS: Painkiller, Daniel Garner, Hitman, Heaven, Hell
|
Copyright © 2010 GAMERamble. All rights reserved