Painkiller

Publisher: Dreamcatcher

Developer: People Can Fly

Author: Alex Petraglia (Anubis)

‘A’ and ‘D’ keys everywhere: rejoice!

Now hang on just a minute. I’ve seen this before.

Oh, yes. It’s March of 2001. A little-known Croatian studio, Croteam, releases a title that doesn’t bring anything new to the gaming world and certainly doesn’t revolutionize it. But, my god, it’s one hell of a ride. I refer, of course, to that beautiful, whacky, and chaotic shooter known as Serious Sam.

Now, not to be outdone by the success of the Croats, Poland is contributing to the scene. Enter People Can Fly(’s): Painkiller. Boasting gorgeous visuals and physics, frenzied first-person gameplay, and a multiplayer mode to boot, the resemblance between this and Croteam's title is uncanny. It truly is Sam, three years later.

SURPRISE #1! There’s a plot! I know; remarkable for a shooter, really. The game opens with a cut-scene of our hero, Daniel Garner, just heading out for dinner with his better half on one dark and stormy night (ooo, foreshadowing). The conversation that transpires in the car reveals little of the plot at first, and seems innocuous enough. And then Daniel makes his grave mistake. As he turns for but just a moment toward his wife, the car crashes head-on with incoming traffic. Their pulverized bodies are shown trapped in the gnarled wreckage. (I do have to pretend to be a competent writer once in a while, you know.)

Well, it can’t be much of a game if the lead character is already dead. Or can it?

It seems that Daniel’s wife gets the easy ticket, and is admitted past the Pearly Gates to Heaven. Name musta been on the guest list.

Daniel, however, ends up in (*gasp*) Purgatory, which I hear is quite lovely this time of year. He meets with a mysterious albino who gives him his mission: Destroy the army of Lucifer and his generals before he does something really, really bad. Then he explained why, in a rather lengthy conversation, which I must admit, I really didn’t pay much attention to. Something about “it would make a smash-hit computer game”, I think I heard. Whatever.

So, Daniel gets a variety of unique weapons to lay waste to hordes of colorful, oversized monsters sent straight from the bowels of Hell itself. Come to think of it, maybe I should check if the Church provided funding for this title? Hmm…

Anyway, the game features a unique levels menu. It looks like some sort of satanic board game (in original builds, it bore the Parker Bros. logo, which was later removed for authenticity purposes; everyone knows the Devil only buys Milton Bradley). Buttons bearing Roman numerals select the chapter (of which there are five) and an outer ring turns to reveal specific levels within that chapter. Levels need to be unlocked progressively, but old ones can be replayed here. There’s also a button to open the Tarot Card screen (more on that a bit later).

If you’ve played any first-person shooter since their original incarnation, you’ll have no problem picking up Painkiller. Like Serious Sam, and the vast majority of other shooters out there, you’ll run around levels, firing away at the baddies with an assortment of guns, run over pick-ups, touch something to activate it, and repeat ad nauseum. It’s a formula far too many to count have attempted, whilst only a few have succeeded at keeping it fun. Add People Can Fly to that minority. Through many different character models, unique weapons, varied level designs, and some interesting gameplay additions, Painkiller doesn’t bore for a moment.

There are twenty different characters in the game; each more grisly than the last. PCF boasts that each one sports between 3,000 and 8,000 polygons, and we’ll take their word on this one. The devil monk sports a staff with a blade at one end, and a globe that emits toxic gases at the other. The incredibly cool evil monk dons a monk’s habit, and carries an immense axe. Skull, a demonic soldier trapped inside a human corpse, will take other enemies hostage and use them as a human (unhuman?) shield. There are zombies who will fling themselves at you to attack, gargantuan juggernauts, skeletal soldiers who look like they were picked straight from the battlefields of World War I, and ferocious, armor-clad hounds, to name but a few. Like in some other shooters (Quake comes to mind), some enemies will pick fights with each other, so use that to your advantage. The AI is fairly simple; save one or two characters armed with pistols, most every character will attack you head-on. While it’s not the ideal approach, it makes for frenzied gameplay. Besides, when was the last time you met a smart undead?

At the end of each of the game’s five chapters, you’ll face the dreaded boss monster. These towering foes all have a weak point, although finding it may take some considerable time. For example, the impressive Swamp Thing can only be destroyed once the bubbles around him explode.

Every one of the five death dealers you receive in the game has an alternate-fire mode, as well as a special combo when both are used. The first weapon is the Painkiller (from where the game derives its name…or maybe it’s vice-versa). In primary fire mode, fixed blades spin at outrageous speeds to make sushi out of the monsters. As powerful as this thing is, you’ll need to run into the enemy to kill them, so it might not be the best in every situation. Next up is a double-barreled shotgun, which packs a whallop. The alternative fire is a beam of ice that will momentary freeze enemies in their place. For some of the more difficult foes, I found freezing followed by a shotgun blast to the chest was quite effective. Numero three is one of the game’s coolest weapons. Primary fire will launch stakes (think Dracula) at the monsters. Depending on where on the body they are hit, they’ll be skewered and fly backward, explode, or be pinned up against a wall. Alt-fire will launch a grenade. And finally, there’s a unique electricity weapon, and a rocket launcher/mini-gun combo gun. While five might not seem like a lot, as you make your way through the game, you’ll realize that it’s plenty.

Levels are well varied, and nothing short of spectacular. You’ll battle in an insane asylum (one of my personal favorites), graveyard, palace, swamp, church, a shipping yard, castle, and many other locales. Some levels are sprawling, while others call for close quarters combat. Levels feature both static and some incredible dynamic lighting (shoot some hanging lanterns and see what I mean). The final level is absolutely stunning; I’ve included a few shots, but don’t want to give too much away.

As I mentioned, there are a number of gameplay “perks” that keep things interesting. Several of these revolve around collecting souls. The corpse of every enemy you kill will lie on the ground for several seconds, then go up in flames, and a green (or red, for some of the tougher baddies) will appear. The soul will float for several more seconds, giving you the opportunity to run through it and pick it up. Captured souls will increase your health by a small amount, but there’s a cooler purpose behind getting them. In the top right-center of the screen, there’s a bar that keeps track of the souls you collected. Once that number hits 66, you will morph into an unstoppable super-demon. In demon mode, the background will appear black and white, and enemies will glow fiery red. One shot dead on will kill any enemy, and you scoot around the level at a super-fast pace. While it only lasts a few seconds, you can take out large numbers of enemies if you time it right.

The second is tarot cards. In the game, you can press ‘Tab’ to bring up a scoreboard type menu. Not only does this provide information about how many enemies you’ve killed, how many souls you’ve collected, and so on, you can see what you need to do to unlock that level’s tarot card. These objectives range from collecting all the ammo, killing all the enemies, and finding all the secret places, etc. Obtained tarot cards can be put into the tarot card cue from the game menu, and provide certain benefits, like increased health or damage. Some are placed permanently, and are activated throughout the level, while others last temporarily, and are only activated when the ‘Use Tarot’ is pressed.

Other than that, gameplay is as straightforward as can be. You rush around the levels (you do remember how to circle strafe, don’t you?), blasting everything in your way, and running over armor and souls and checkpoint auras (see: next paragraph). Doesn’t get much simpler than that folks. Any hardcore FPS player will get nostalgic when playing, and recall days when merely pushing four keyboard buttons and two mouse buttons meant hours of fun.

Crytek, take notes now. Painkiller features the most extensive and forgiving save game system I’ve seen in quite sometime. There’s the typical quicksave and quickload (bound to ‘F5’ and ‘F9’, respectively). But there’s also autosave points scattered throughout the map. When you pass through these glowing red aura’s (and there are more than a few throughout levels), the game will save for you and replenish your health. Because of this, I rarely died (aside from the bosses, who, as I said can be quite tough), which kept things fast-paced. Most experienced gamers will start out on Insomnia or Nightmare difficulty. Once these are beaten, Trauma is unlocked, featuring more levels, and an alternate ending.

Not only does the game feature some jaw-dropping visuals, sound is also top-notch. From the deafening blast from the shotgun, to the crisp shredding of the Painkiller weapon going through flesh, every weapon sounds incredible. In addition, the sounds given off by characters are done quite well, most notably the undead soldiers, whose battle cries can be heard reverberating as they charge at you. The ambient music is so good, with a nice mix of rock, chilling instrumental, and ethnic themes based on a particular level, that I’ve spent several days just listening to all the MP3’s in the game’s Music folder. While voice-acting isn’t superb, it’s certainly not bad by any means.

Multiplayer is included with the game, but it is seriously bland with only a handful of maps and skins. There are five gameplay modes including the typical deathmatch and team deathmatch, as well as the People Can Fly mode, where everyone is armed with rocket launchers, and frags can only be made while the victim is airborne. Cool at first, but it quickly wears off. The game lacks the oomph some of the first shooters had. Thankfully, the single player is as good as it is.

Painkiller suffers from surprisingly few in-game bugs. However, some have encountered major problems with the game upon launch. The game didn’t seem to work with many types of CD drives due to copy protection systems. There was a fix for this released several days after launch, and there’s another patch due out Monday (19th) for some other random issues. So, I’m only taking a single point of stability for this.

Some bad stuff? Not too much. There are some long load times, including quickloads (oh, the irony!), even with 1GB of RAM and a speedy 74GB Raptor. Also, I was able to make my way through the game in about 8 hours. Some may find this a bit too short, while others may say it’s just right for a game such as this. And finally, there’s no co-op mode for the multiplayer. One thing it doesn’t share with Sam.

So pull down the shades, turn off the lights, and pump your speakers as loud as they’ll go; it’s the way Painkiller is meant to be enjoyed. Just don’t expect anything too mentally challenging, and you’ll be good to go.

Pro’s:
-Awe-inspiring visuals, sounds, and music
-Some interesting gameplay “perks”
-Cool enemies, weapons, and level design

Con’s:
-Multiplayer is lacking
-May be too monotonous for some
-Disappointing ending

Graphics: 18/20
Gameplay: 27/30
Sound: 15/15
Lasting appeal: 13/15
Originality: 13/15
Interface/Stability: 4/5
Total: 90/100

Primotech’s Rating: 90%