Painkiller

After spending weeks and weeks playing nothing but flash games and rock band, waiting for a decent fps to surface, one can sometimes find themselves looking at past games to whittle away the time. This past week, I was reminded of a game I had played a few years back, and decided to give it another run. Painkiller is by no means mainstream, made by a small no-name company, and yet somehow seems to surpass any fps that has come out in a while. The game plays similar to what a seven-year-old redneck child might envision his first hunting experience to be like, that is if he was pitted against evil hell-spawned demons. The main character is handed a gun (there is a story, but like any fps, who cares?) and pitted against hordes of stereotypical undead-zombie-demon things, which he dissembles limb-by-limb.

However, unlike most fps games, Painkiller stands out in its ability to not put anything in the way of you expressing your inner most emotions in the art form of a large destructive firearm. In fact, if you're in the artsy mood, the starting weapon is enough to satisfy any flairs. This weapon beats anything ever given so early in any game (wrench, fists, etc.) in being a combination of a chainsaw, and a hook shot. Yes, the weapon literally could not get any cooler. Now the question may be raised of why would such a destructive force be given to you so early, and many might see that as a ruiner of game play. But when the whole point of the game is to redecorate the maps of the game with as much blood and guts as possible, there is really no reason not to have such a beastly starting weapon.

And for that matter, Painkiller succeeds in not having a single sucky gun through-out the entire game. From a shotgun that doubles as a freeze-gun, to a combo shruiken-lightning shooter, all the guns will tickle you in that special place only fps players can understand. You even get a grenade launcher that is disguised as an overly large nail gun, allowing you to attach demonic organs to the walls and ceilings. And so armed with some of the most devastating weapons imaginable, you go from level to level exploring worlds for baddies to decapitate.

One of the best parts of the game is its content. The enemies, for example, have not just been copy-pasta’d from one level to the next, and seem to actually be spread out enough to be enjoyable. Also, the game doesn’t drone on for hours and hours of mindless play. You go into a level, enjoy it, and then you’ve beat the level. There’s very little bs stringing the game together, which by no means detracts from the length of the game, but instead just helps to make the game actually enjoyable for the player.

Painkiller does have its issues, example trying to include a storyline, something that seems inevitable in this day and age. However, the cut scenes are only every five levels, and God made a skip button for a reason. Also, there are challenges that make some aspects of the game somewhat annoying. While optional, most gamers will find it necessary to unlock all the in-game “cards” which are used as power-ups during future levels when equipped. These “cards” however, are no walk in the park ranging from incredibly easy to something that seems like an impossible badge on Kongregate, and sometimes after a few hours, you just need to relieve some tension. Now if only you had a big gun and lotsa dudes to kill….

Anyways, this game can be played straight-through without much complication, the AI is a little on the Helen Keller side on the easier levels of difficulty, but a quick change to “Trauma” difficulty fixes that issue for all the hardcore gamers. Be forewarned that some levels of the game are only playable on certain difficulties, but hey, why not add a little spontaneity to a game? Another “interesting” twist in the game is that there is the option to not just rape the dead bodies of your enemies, but afterwards, you can steal their souls for health and to charge this games version of hell-on-earth where you simply point and click to destroy anything in your path in the given amount of time.