Painkiller is a game that in my opinion took the First Person Shooter genre back to its roots.  Action and violence are really the two main ingredients that started the FPS genre.  You controlled a character that ran around and blew things up.  Whether it was space aliens, demons or nazis you blew up in the game it was almost a given that it was violence for the sake of violence.  But just as in every other genre there has to be room for improvement and growth.  Soon it just wasn’t enough to blow things up and run around shoot demons anymore.  There had to be puzzles, dialogue and limitless multiplayer options included in a FPS before anyone would take notice. 

Painkiller is a combination of old with a heavy mixture of action & violence along with a whisking of new by including some incredible technology features in the game.  As the saying goes “Everything old is new again” is rather fitting for Painkiller.  The action of the old style FPS is evident but the technology of the physics engine and graphics thrust the game into the new school.  If you’ve become jaded with the amount of FPS games being released that seem to require a master’s degree in puzzle solving then Painkiller is your game.  However if you want a game that has some amazing graphics and technology behind it then Painkiller is still the game for you.

With the release of the gold edition of Painkiller gamers are treated to a nice package of everything that is Painkiller.  The original game, along with the expansion pack Battle Out of Hell, are both included in the gold edition.  Several exclusive videos are included such as the making of the game, the Painkiller music video, making of video and the trailer to the upcoming Xbox version of the game.  For anyone that has been waiting to get Painkiller then you can wait no longer.  The gold edition includes everything you will need to get hooked into the Painkiller experience. 

Now since this is a re-release of a game I will keep the duplication of information to a minimum.  Check out GameZone’s review of Painkiller right here  . The expansion pack Battle Out of Hell keeps the excitement going with even more levels and creatures.  I felt the design of the levels in the expansion pack were much better than the levels in the original game.  The first level in the expansion pack, an orphanage, had me creeping out.  During the making of video for the game there was comment made about how no one should get offended or disgusted by the levels and designs since there are touches of humor in the game.  Maybe they haven’t even played their own game or I’m becoming soft as I get older.  With the original game and the expansion pack the gold edition offers over 30 different levels. 

The biggest attention grabber of Painkiller has to be the graphics and the physics engine.  The graphics are just unbelievable with wave after wave of enemies attacking you, incredibly detailed locations and bosses that fill almost the entire stage.  But add to the graphics the incredible capabilities of the physics engine, Havok 2.0, and you get a game in which the stages seem to come alive.  The Havok physics engine allows for creatures to fly across the room after being hit.  Pieces of jars, barrels and other objects react almost naturally to weapon fire or damage generated by other objects.  For those that have seen and played games using the Havok engine can appreciate it more than words can describe it.  If you’ve never played a game that uses the Havok physics engine before then Painkiller is a great introduction to the spectacle created during the game.   Even with the incredible graphics and physics engine there is a price to pay when it comes to performance.  The game isn’t a graphically taxing as say Doom III might be but Painkiller still might be too much for their current graphics card.  I had to turn down or off almost all of the built in graphical features in order to get the game to run smoothly on my machine.  My fellow reviewer Tha Wiz couldn’t even get the expansion pack to run at a decent frame rate on his computer even after upgrading to a slightly more powerful graphics card. 

The game itself is all about action and nothing else but action.  It’s an almost endless wave of monsters that will come after you in the game.  There are no puzzles to solve in the levels and the story line is only mentioned during cutscenes between the stages.  This isn’t a thinking man’s FPS.  This is a game that will wear your trigger finger out by forcing you to fire repeatedly.  The game rarely gives you a moment to catch your breath which is simplicity of the game makes it shine.  If you want another Half-Life or Deus Ex then stay far away.  If you want a game that has roots to the original Doom then this is the game for you. 

Painkiller Gold Edition is a great collection for gamers who’ve been waiting to take the plunge with Painkiller.  Both the original game and the expansion pack are included along with some nice bonus material.  If you already own the original game plus the expansion pack then there really isn’t much of a need to purchase the gold edition.  For gamers that didn’t give Painkiller a glancing look when it was released before should definitely give the Gold Edition a once over and purchase.  Remember my motto GameZone readers “Games are supposed to be fun.”  Painkiller is a blast to play and sure was a lot of fun.
 

Gameplay 8.6 

The game controls great and veterans of FPS will have no problems jumping right into the game.  The standard keyboard and mouse layout of other FPS games is present in Painkiller.  As I’ve mention earlier this game is all about action.  The enemies are non-stop and relentless.  You might see one creature coming after you a first and then before you know it 10 to 20 creatures are chasing after you.  This is charm of Painkiller since it’s almost never ending cycle of gunfire and weapons being used to hold off the enemies.  You don’t have to worry about puzzles or special secrets that require a certain pattern to enter.  Just blow the enemies up and keep on running!  But since this is the point of the game some gamers could get bored with the repetitive gameplay after a few levels.  Another area that might be a turn off is the number of weapons in the game.  There are only a handful of weapons available in Painkiller which when compared to other FPS games seemed rather small. 

Graphics 8.7 

All of the levels and stages are strikingly detailed.  The spooky nightmarish look of the levels is well done on both the original game and expansion pack.  The expansion pack levels offer more variety to the look of the stages when compared to the original game.  The physics engine is unbelievable as always.  It’s hard to imagine playing a FPS without an incredible physics engine now.  The system requirements of the game might be too much for some systems to play.  Also seeing the same enemies over and over again will get a little old after a while.  A little variety in the creatures for each level would have been nice.

Sound 8.6 

The sound effects and music are top notch in the game.  The sound effects of the weapons were the first thing I noticed about the sound effects.  All of the weapons sounded great and added a nice kick to my subwoofer.  The music in the game was heavy on hard rock/heavy metal music mix but that’s OK by me.  If you don’t like metal then you can always turn the music down.

Concept 8.5 

This isn’t the most original game out there when in comes to story lines but the game more than makes up for it.  This really is the game that mixes the old school aspects of FPS games with the new school of technology.  It’s a great “show me off” piece to people that don’t play PC games that often because of the graphics, physics engine and ease of gameplay.  Some more variety in the gameplay is something that could have helped but it could have hurt as well.  

Difficulty Medium 

The game can become tedious at times because of the number of creatures that keep coming after you.  You might run out of ammunition on certain weapons after a while but the game usually provides enough ammunition for at least one gun.  The game does offer several choices of difficulty when starting the game.  So if you want to be really heroic and try it on the hardest setting then go right ahead.

Multiplayer 8.5 

Painkiller has several gameplay modes available via multiplayer.  All of the multiplayer modes are available to play over the internet or on a LAN.  The first mode is Free-For-All which is the classic Deathmatch mode.  Team Deathmatch is also available.  People can Fly is another mode available that is a little different.  The stipulation to this mode is that you can only damage another player while they’re in the air.  Voosh is another mode available but the settings in this mode have everyone using the same weapons at all times.  At certain intervals during the game everyone’s weapons are automatically changed.  The Light Bearer is a mode in which there is one Quad Damage power up available on the map.  The person who grabs the power up first can use it until they’re killed, then the power up becomes available again.  The player with the Quad Damage power up at the end of the frag limit (or time limit) is the winner.  Capture the Flag is the standard CTF mode but instead of flags, token skulls are used.  Last Man Standing is where you have a set number of lives to play the mode.  After you run out of lives then your game is over and you get to watch the rest of the match.  The internet portion of the game is powered by Gamespy and played great.  I didn’t notice any lag when playing online but there were rarely a large number of players online.  Most of the servers were empty and the most I noticed in one game was 4.  The gold edition is going to be the official game of the 2005 CPL World Tour so hopefully more players will be online soon. 

Overall 8.6 

Painkiller Gold Edition is a worthy addition to anyone’s library that has a taste for some FPS action.  If you’ve waited as long as I have to play the game (I was still waiting for the Xbox version) then the Gold Edition is the way to go.  Great gameplay, incredible graphics and stellar sound effects and music add up a great game.  The bonus features included are nice but nothing to make this a must purchase if you already have the original game and the expansion pack.  Hopefully there will be more to come in the Painkiller franchise.