Painkiller (PC)

This is a concept that could have gone badly wrong, but what makes the game so cool is the implementation. Although the game is a straight shooter, it has just the right blend of superb graphics and physics, good level design, frenetic action, puzzles, humour and storyline to keep it interesting.

Only downpoint is that some of the levels dont really connect to each other (there is no interlinking cut scene between many of the levels, so you just 'appear' at the start of the level and work to the end) so I sometimes felt that I was going through a set of seperate levels rather than a single seamless game (but I suppose thats just one side effect of being based on the old skool!)... in any case, thats the reason for 4 insttead of 5 stars. If you dont mind the disjoints (to be honest, they dont affect gameplay, but perhaps weaken storyline a little) them award the game a 5.

All in all a good antidote to some of the other games available at the moment(such as Splinter cell or hidden and dangerous 2). Less of the cerebral, more of the visceral and hilarously over the top violence. It remains to be seen if Painkiller will still stack up with some of the other shooters soon to appear (the HL and Doom sequels). At the momnt though, its in a class of its own.

Im not sure why people are experiencing problems playing the game, but if its any help to you my system spec is: P4 2.6ghz, 1 gig ram, radeon 9800 pro, with fully updated drivers and windows service pack 2 etc. Enjoy... now for the expansion pack.... mwuahahahahaha.

So I start with the downside of Painkiller. The original version 1.0 ( which is what is still being sent as 'new' ) is....to put it politely....buggy. Especially on Windows XP. It also tends to crash far too often.

Now for the GOOD news ! If you go to www.painkillergame.com ( the manufacturer's web site ), you can download a patch that takes you to version 1.3.5. Oh blessed relief - almost all of the bugs are then gone ! And you even get an extra level to play !

And then when you finally get down to playing the game......it is just sheer brilliance ! Yes...it's unashamedly a ' blast anything that moves ' gore fest. I'm not sure why some reviewers have found that a problem, as the game reminds me somewhat of the original Doom....which so many look back on with fond reminiscence. If I want smart AI, I've got Far Cry and Half Life 2 for that. If I get home from a bad day at the office, I'd far rather play Painkiller !!

The graphics in Painkiller are superb. Maybe not the utter realism of Half Life 2, but they have that same excellent quality and lighting effect that one finds in, for example, games by Konami ( who make the 'Silent Hill' series of games ). Painkiller also has a range of monsters that I think probably exceeds that of any other FPS.

Some have commented on the 'limited' weapons. Whilst it is the case that you 'only' get 5 weapons......they all have amazing dual functions that are very innovative, so your arsenal is actually pretty impressive.

Most of all, Painkiller is just sheer fun to play. Not since Doom and Quake have I had so much fun just blasting the hell out of things !

I've given Painkiller 4 stars. But for the initial problems with bugs I'd have given it 5. If you like the old style ' shoot anything that moves ' FPS, and want a Doom equivalent for the current day that has far better graphics than Doom but is every bit as much sheer fun to play, then Painkiller belongs in your collection.