And you thought Purgatory was going to be a nice, relaxing time with nothing to do. by Patrick Evans

July 31, 2006 - DreamCatcher Interactive thinks that FPSs are too slow these days. Painkiller: Hell Wars, developed by People Can Fly, does away with many of the usual modern FPS tendencies towards puzzle solving and squad-tactics and brings you back to the old school. Painkiller strips the genre down to its bare-essentials and staples together a single-player mode, but really shows its strength in its online multiplayer offerings that can keep you busy for weeks.

Gamers step into the undead shoes of Daniel Garner, killed in a car accident during a rainy night on the highway. Instead of following his girlfriend into the gates of Heaven, poor Daniel has spent his time in Purgatory, left pondering what he did to deserve his fate. To secure his place behind the Pearly Gates, Daniel will have to hunt down and eliminate the four leading generals of Satan's army before they can organize an assault on Heaven itself. That, of course, means that he will have to wade through wave after wave of disfigured demonic constructs wielding all manners of weapons and magic.

And that is exactly what you will see in Painkiller- wave after wave after wave, with each stage sporting only two or three types of enemies. Early on in the game, skeletons and other manner of creepies from a graveyard will fly at you without reason or sophistication. A large majority of the enemies you will come across will simply run straight for you instead of using any sort of cover or tactics, leaving you to easily rip them to shreds with a shotgun. As you continue through the second and third chapters of this five-chapter blast-fest, enemies will start using firearms, grenades, and rockets instead of axes, but they are still incredibly dumb and easy to eliminate.

While the action may be simplistic, there is something wholly satisfying about ripping through hundreds of demonic soldiers with bayonets and handguns with ease. Enemies within any given stage are redundant, but when looking across all of the stages the variety is enough to get by. Action is fast, with the foot speed of the player and his adversaries much quicker than standard FPSs out today. The action here is throwback, but not necessarily in a good way. It feels like Duke Nukem or old Doom more than it does an FPS released in the 21st century. Players travel from one room to the next, wait for the enemies to appear, blast them all, and move on. After about three chapters, players that have gotten accustomed to depth with their gunplay will probably move on. Fans of the constant run-and-gun will be right at home, especially with the ridiculous physics engine that sees enemies splatter from a single wooden stake. It's a bit of a treat to see an enemy spiked on a wall with a stake in the chest, but the nostalgia doesn't last forever.

There are a few aspects of the game that attempt to add a little extra to the constant running and shooting for the single player experience. Every stage has its own special objective to complete, like killing a boss in a specific time frame or by completing the level with a specific weapon. By accomplishing these objectives, players can unlock Black Tarot Cards that grant special powers like added resistance to damage at the cost of gold found throughout the various stages. After blasting an enemy and separating his limbs from his torso you can collect his soul, and after collecting a couple dozen souls you can transform into an unstoppable demon and open the unholy can of whoop-ass on the remaining bad guys. These little extras to the gameplay help a bit, but don't save the game from the eventual tedium that you are guaranteed to find after playing for six or seven hours.

Graphically, Painkiller is both impressive and disappointing at the same time. Full of atmosphere through lighting and creepy looking monsters, players playing in a dark room will certainly be jolted more than a couple times. The framerate is crisp a majority of the time, stuttering slightly during the most intense firefights and monster-blasting action. At the same time, the environments that you travel through are bare and unimaginative. Sure, there are planes and trucks on the abandoned army base, but the rest of the environment is bland and could be confused for anywhere else. I don't feel like I'm trudging through purgatory, but rather a pieced together representation that lacks that evil or threatening character and personality. The gigantic boss battles are a perfect example of both situations at the same time. During the fight, these generals of Hell's Army look intimidating, but when you get up close these guys look jagged and boxy. The level of detail that is found on PC with high-end graphics cards is lost here, and the experience feels cheap.

The biggest saving grace found on this disc is the Xbox Live support. The PC Painkiller was featured as a competition title for the CPL, and the super-fast action translates well to the Xbox. Deathmatch and Team Deathmatch are excellent time-killers, but the other quirky modes are worth their share of time as well. "Voosh" keeps the playing field level by forcing all players to use the same weapon for a set period of time, while "The Light Bearer" sees one player with a damage-boosting power-up playing keep-away from the other players trying to kill him. Just about every mode has support for up to eight players, so there is always another player around the next corner just asking for a shotgun blast to the sternum.

Painkiller will cater to fans that want their action simple and lightning-quick. The weapon selection is limited but versatile, while the body count is astonishingly high right out of the gate. Fans of the PC version will find themselves right at home here on Xbox, but the game performs better on the computer altogether. Meanwhile, the only new fans to the series will be those that think Halo 2 is too slow and tedious. If you are one of the few, be sure to check Painkiller out. At the budget price of 29.99, it won't hurt the bank too badly, and at the same time you can visit the genre's roots in a present-day release.

Features:

• Intense gameplay: The player will be constantly outnumbered, fighting against seemingly insurmountable odds.
• Includes Xbox Live Multiplayer action!
• Next-generation graphics: The game uses the proprietary 3D “PAIN Engine” capable of pumping out an unbelievably high polygon count, while adding increased texture quality and the latest lighting and shadowing techniques.
• Combo weapons: All weapons come in pairs, with a primary and secondary fire.
• Morphing: Your unholy pact gives you the power to morph into a powerful possessed creature with every 66 souls collected.
• Lasting replay value: Painkiller features a standard single player campaign, with additional modes to encourage replay. The game also features full multiplayer Xbox® Live support.
• Physics Engine: Painkiller employs the Havok 2.0 physics engine, allowing for inverse kinematics ("rag-doll physics") and deformable, interactive environments.
  

By Patrick Evans
CCC Staff Writer

Rating out of 5 Painkiller: Hell Wars (Xbox) 3.8 Graphics Solid frame-rate for the most part, but the environments feel bare and unimaginative 4.5 Control The PC controls translate well here to the Xbox controller, through there is no substitute for the keyboard and mouse. 3.4 Music / Sound FX / Voice Acting Generic metal for every fight starts to grind away very quickly. The monsters sound pretty convincing though. 3.9 Play Value For a game that values simplicity, it holds its own for quite a while by highlighting throwback speed with rag-doll physics. Xbox Live support helps a ton too. 3.7 Overall Rating - Good Not an average. See Rating legend above for a final score breakdown.