Painkiller: A simple bloody rampage with none of that 'plot' jive.

In the beginning, there were classic games like "Quake" and "Doom", in which you ran around a large level and killed anything that moves. Then you'd find the exit, look at your score, then proceed to do the same the next level.

Since then, games have matured into more than mindless killfest such as the Grandfathers of the modern First Person Shooters. Games like "Deus Ex", "System Shock", "Half-Life" gave FPS's a new meaning in life. Intead of killing everything that moves with the biggest gun you have, now you have to solve puzzles. Instead of finding the red key card that unlocks the red door, now you have to hack computers, find notepads, and ask local NPCs for clues. The shooters of the days of old were nearly long gone, until one game brought back the fun of killing endless hordes of monsters:

"Serious Sam".

Inspired by "Serious Sam"s frantic gameplay, People Can Fly brings to you "Painkiller", a story about a man who loses his wife and his own life in a car accident on a rain-slicked road. The wife made the trip to Heaven, however you are stuck in a place between Heaven and Hell for your past sins, and in order to see your wife in Heaven you must kill Lucifers' lieutenants who are posed to begin the epic apocalyptic battle between Heaven and Hell.

The game mainly goes like this: Run around, get locked in area, kill all enemies inside, proceed to next area. Yup, that's it. No NPC's, no keycards, no nothing, this game is as mindless of a shooter as you can get. Even though you might be saying "You can only shoot stuff? How boring!", bear with me, because that is what makes the game fun. Blasting groups upon groups upon groups of enemies while head-bangin' rock music blares as you let your rockets fly is what its all about, and its such a pleasure to do so.

While you only have 5 weapons in the game, they do double duty so its really 10. Your first weapon is the Painkiller, equipped with a deadly spinning blade used for melee, and a projectile that emits searing hot lazers at your foes. The next is the shotgun (cause what would any FPS be without one?) which obviously shoots the normal rounds, but the secondary however, fires a freezing arrow that temporarily stops an enemy. Unless you blow him apart with your gun, of course. The others include a Rocket Launcher/ Minigun combo, a Ninja Star tossing gun that can fire bolts of electricity. The next weapon, is the star of the show: The Stakegun. True, it reloads really slow and has somewhat decent range, but it will kill nearly all normal enemies in one shot. And pin them against the wall.

The Stakegun showcases the great physics of Painkiller, which is definately what makes killing so much fun. Launch a rocket at their bodies, they blow up. Hit their feet, they fly into the air and land with a thud. Stake them in the face, they'll fall backward while they move forward. Thanks to ragdoll physics, the death animations are varied and entertaining.

No frantic shoot-em-ups ever went without bosses, and these ones are the biggest you'll see in almost any game. Standing several stories high, one hit from these behemoths will devastate you and even awe-strike you. Every boss has different ways to fell them, from all out shooting them, to destroying life giving statues. These guys will be the highlight of the game for you more than likely, because they are so huge. And Cool.

Painkiller is a little more than killing things. After you destroy an enemy, you can collect their soul. These souls give you life, and after collecting 66 of them, you transform into a demon. In Demon mode, the screen turns white and your enemies appear in red, just run your crosshairs over them and click, and they explode in a huge red mess.
During the course of the level, you'll come across gold coins. These gold coins are used to set cards onto your tarot board. To gain cards, you must complete levels by following the mission statement. They can be as simple as 'Complete the level' to demanding as 'Collect No Souls'. When you gain a Tarot card, you can use them in the middle of a level to sway odds into your favor. While this is a cool feature, its sadly not needed very often, other than to help complete other objectives.

The graphics in "Painkiller" are extremely pleasing on a decent machine. Textures flesh out all the levels and creatures extremely well. The particle effects light up the screen in a flashy manner, the levels all have their own unique feel, and the monsters are just as detailed. Hit detection is on the mark, if you spike a creature in the chest it'll stick right where you aimed. All in all, "Painkiller" is a pretty game.

"Painkiller" isn't without its downsides, however. The plot (the small one they do have) only gives you a reason to kill. Many holes are left by the end of the game that leave you wondering 'What happened?'. The game features nearly 20+ levels, but after playing through the game, it feels like a chore to do so again. The game could have also benefitted from a more diverse array of weapons. Shotguns, Rocket Launchers, and Miniguns are all standard procedure in the FPS world. A tad bit more originality would have been nice. The Tarot cards should have been more powerful, you can go through the entire game without using a single one. Also, "Painkiller" should have incorporated a co-op mode, That alone would have increased the replay which is something this game is seriously lacking.

"Painkiller" is a game dedicated to those looking for a fun shooting spree. It can provide hours of demon blasting entertainment and look good while its at it. However the game lacks replay, and near the end the game begins to feel like a chore to get to the next boss. The lack of thrilling multiplayer modes hurt as well, while "Painkiller" does indeed have multiplayer, none of the modes can even compare to games like "Unreal Tournament 2004".

All in all, if you're looking for a fun single-player, mass killing spree fun time, "Painkiller" can give that to you. However it can be like a drug, its high will wear off over time. Wait until the price goes down before buying this, because for 39.99 US, its not worth it currently.