Painkiller: Plot; What Is It Good For?

Painkiller is a call-to-arms for every PC gamer who yearns to have those glory days of no-nonsense shooters back again. Yearning for those days when the plot took a backseat to the rampage. Serious Sam: The First Encounter and Serious Sam: The Second Encounter, respectively, did that well enough years back. But as we keep slippin' into the future, and as games get more in-depth and even more complicated, the "twitch" gamers (gamers who's sole purpose of playing is to blow the living shit out of anything that moves) can only hope for another such title. Enter Painkiller, a game where the only decision you have to make is deciding which gun to use next. It doesn't require any critical thinking, so if you're looking for the next Rainbow Six, you're definitely out of your league. Painkiller takes us back to the days of Doom when men were men and kids were scared. Back when that double barreled shotgun meant something and finding that hidden stash felt oh so wonderful.

There is a plot here if you look close enough, but when it comes down to it, it doesn't really matter. All you need to know is that you're a man who was once alive, now dead, and is stuck in a world between Heaven and Hell where a war between the two is being waged. Your primary goal is to defeat Lucifer, his army, and his Generals. The cut scenes don't really give you much incentive to sit through them. Truth be told, you could probably skip right over them and not really be too bothered by it. What matters is firepower, and believe you me, Painkiller’s got that in spades.

Saying that Painkiller is intense would be the understatement of the year. Enemies rush you in consistent strings, they never let up, and neither do you. Be worried not, however, as there are enough weapons and ammo to wage THREE wars between Heaven and Hell. One of last year's big shooters, Doom 3, is probably even more complex than this. At least there you could search through files on various computers, in-game, and eventually uncover the sinister plot. Here, it's all about reflexes. There are no doors to open; there are no buttons to push. Hell, the programmers didn't even throw in a key for crouching. That's old school for ya. Of course, not everybody wants to blow everything to pieces, and I respect that. But as one of the gamers who does, I can honestly say that I haven't played a game as viscerally rewarding as Painkiller in quite a while.

The weapons are big, the damage is mean, and the baddies are plenty. I can't be anymore blunt about it; all you do is shoot. That's it, nothing more, nothing less. Some could be turned off by this I suppose, but I grew up with games like this. Not to mention with the Havok physics engine involved, it makes blowing these demons away so much more rewarding. How tired have you gotten of finishing off a foe only to see them die in a few various, pre-determined ways? I know I have. Havok 2.0 allows for rag-doll physics and realistic interaction with objects such as coffins, trashcans, barrels, etc... If you haven't been clued in yet about the Havok engine's rag-doll physics, now is as good a time as any. It allows characters to move realistically depending on where they are hit. Shoot them in the arm and their weight shifts to whichever arm suffered the impact. Blast 'em in the chest with a shotgun and they sail through the air. Not only is it realistic, but it's cool as all get out. The Havok engine alone is what makes Painkiller so much fun to play.

Last year the game received a lot of attention for its graphics engine. A year later it’s still impressive, no doubt about it, but is also starting to show its age. The character models are great and the decals are perfect, but the level design leaves something to be desired, however. The colors are somewhat murky in places and don't look quite as good as they probably should. Some of the more grandiose levels, especially the ones taking place outside, do show off the power of the engine exceedingly well, though. A bridge covered in falling snow, for example, has never looked better than it does here; couple that with the insane character models and you have yourself a looker. A majority of the game is simply beautiful, and where it fails are only slight missteps. There’s plenty of other visual treats to make up for that.

And one of those outstanding attributes is the lighting. Though not the best by any means, it certainly makes some lazy visuals more attractive. And I can't really mention the character models enough. It seems all of the attention went into that and the architecture was just an afterthought. But then again, the levels themselves don't really serve a purpose; no switches to pull/push, no doors to open, etc... The characters look great, and what's even better than the horde of regular enemies you'll face are the mini-bosses and end-chapter bosses; I can't give them enough praise. You've probably never seen bosses like the ones you'll encounter in Painkiller.

You would also think that all of this would come with a price. For a game that looks this good, the requirements certainly aren't that steep. It plays well on a mid-range system… probably better than it should. Even though it may not be the most mind-blowing visual experience out there at the time, it's no slouch graphically either. It holds its own fairly well and excels for the most part.

What little attention I paid to the sound while playing impressed me enough. The weapons sound bombastic and harsh, as do the explosions and various sound effects. The countless enemy noises never seem to grate and, with the ferocity of the action, you probably won’t find yourself paying too much attention to the sound effects anyways. The same can be said for the decent heavy metal score. It works at upping the visceral nature of the gameplay when it needs to, which is really all one could ask for. There’s not much else here to worry about besides a good number of the enemies death screams (which you’ll here plenty of), environmental & weapon sound effects or the occasional heavy metal track that plays mildly in the background during those many moments where you’re graphically destroying something. As long as nothing really jumps out at me, good or bad, I’d say it works.

Controlling your character is no big issue, either. Loyal PC gamers probably know the keyboard setup by now. As well, newcomers shouldn’t have any trouble with it either. There aren’t a lot of keys that have to be put to use, which is definitely a plus considering how much time is going to be taken up by doing things such as staking, shooting, slashing, and blowing up the many various types of minions you’ll be squaring off with. It doesn’t get much simpler than this, ladies and gents.

The game’s stability is also something worth mentioning. While playing through the entire game, I hardly ever ran into slowdown (and even then, it was only minor), it never crashed on me or even had the nerve to freeze up. This is one of the few games I’ve played where just about every technical aspect of it was perfect. From the framerates to its aforementioned high system stability, the game ran flawlessly.

If you’re looking for a PC game that doesn’t require a lot of thinking, but certainly requires a quick trigger finger, there’s not much you shouldn’t like about Painkiller. It might not be as classy as other FPS’s, but damn is it fun. And what’s even better than that is you get most of the bells and whistles of higher priced games for only the mere $20 you pay for Painkiller. It even plays and runs great. If you’re looking for a good weekend of fun and don’t really want to be bothered with stealth-laden gameplay and elements of that type, give this a try. I highly doubt you’d regret it.