My first person shooter Every gamer, contemporary or hardcore has their âfirst gameâ. Depending on how many years ago youâve gotten into the hobby, it may not even be the actual first game but a cherished, nostalgic memory instead. One way or another, something did get you started â a turning point, if you will. For me that game is 2004âs Painkiller, first completed during a streak of afterschool sessions at a friendâs house before I even had a computer of my own. What a blast that was â endless hordes of enemies, unique guns with seemingly infinite ammo and one of my first ventures into heavy music â all in a single package. While a lot of people prefer to leave their childhood favourites untouched in a bid to keep the memory pristine, I opted to revisit Painkiller as a veteran gamer. To be entirely fair â passage of 20 years wasnât particularly kind to this title, especially if we were to take its accursed track record as a franchise into account. On the other hand, if one is willing to turn a blind eye to the janky parts, Painkiller is a plain, yet extremely fun action piece holding up strong as ever. It has also made me realise that my gaming preferences have, in a sense, gone full circle over the years. https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3197105997 Heavenâs got a hitman In terms of plot, Painkiller is as simple as they come. The player embodies a black leather jacket of one Daniel Gardner, a victim of a car accident sent to purgatory. Indeterminate amount of time later, the protagonist turns out to be remarkably resourceful lad â to the point an angel descends from the heavens with a job offering. Hell is gathering forces for an attack and Daniel is uniquely deniable option for heavens to respond in kind. Kill 4 generals of hell and the gates of paradise will open, or so they said. In short, the story is there primarily to tell the player which way the gun is pointing and it doesnât need to be anything more. Having no frame of reference, little did I realise that despite its stellar (for the time) graphics, Painkiller already back in 2004 was following dated design principles, which were about to give way to a wave of more realistic, narrative driven shooters. Throwing both realism and storytelling to the wind, this title drops you off to a cemetery to fight hordes of skeleton knights as a warm-up activity instead. Painkiller has all the makings of Doomâs descendant â health and armour counter, ammo packs, distinct arsenal and level-based structure, allowing for all the environmental variety in the world. Tour de Purgatory Level design of this title is a beast of its own. While some chapters of the game follow a visual theme (e.g. first one has a distinctly gothic aesthetic), others are completely disjointed, opting to provide a distinct scenery for the mayhem instead of... well, coherence. Taking into account this gameâs selling point is delivering a crazy ride with guns blazing, I appreciate the design choice of prioritizing stylish looks over a more restrained approach. https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3197295034 Therefore, a crooks-filled Prison makes way to an Opera House, only to be followed up by insane Asylum. Does it make any sense? No. Is it fun to have a major fight in the middle of a grand stage as enemies leap into action from audience lodges while distorted aria wails in the background? Absolutely. In turn, the following Asylum introduces a complete tonal shift. All the firepower in the world wonât protect you from the uniquely oppressive atmosphere, proving against all odds, that Painkillerâs premise has the room for a sprinkle of horror. Lots of angry dudes No matter whether it is a military base, a twisted amusement park or the tower of Babel itself. They all would mean very little without an equally vivid enemy cast to fill the room with bodies. Granted an average enemy count per level goes easily into hundreds, available space can become uncomfortably crowded awfully quick. Especially taking into account that Painkiller is an arena shooter, with walls frequently springing from the ground behind the player in order to keep the combat up-close and personal. Luckily, most of the enemy numbers consist of cannon fodder, with only occasional heavy hitters looming in the background. Usually indicated by a greater stature, they are the ones to watch out for, while the chaff makes its best suicide charge impression, wearing down the ammo reserves in the process. To be frank, enemy pool of Painkiller is far too numerous to be covered in anything else than the broadest of terms. Instead, I would like to turn the spotlight to a number of unique enemy interactions, which introduce a surprising level of finesse to the killing field. Say, in the very first level, undead knights can behead a skeleton, triggering an animation where headless corpse starts spinning the blade around wildly, hurting both friend and foe. A variant of this interaction occurs in Catacombs, where knights can straight-up revive their lesser allies. Such details can be easily missed during regular course of play, however they spell surprising level of forethought put into what ultimately is the meat for the grinder. https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3197295031 Double-barrelled doom More than deserving a separate mention is the said grinder itself. Painkiller boasts a uniquely distinct arsenal, with each weapon having at least two fire modes. Nothing could quite highlight the absolute confidence this game has in its guns as the fact, it is named after the default weapon in the playerâs arsenal. This title has a dedicated hotkey for painkillerâs ranged attack, leaving the player with backup option regardless of currently held weapon. It is also extremely useful for breaking open the multiple loot containers found throughout the purgatory. However, the primary plowhorse of the game is an old-fashioned shotgun â not only it has ridiculous fire rate, its freeze beam secondary mode puts a stop to all but the mightiest of foes. There is only more to come â stake gun, delivering a meter-long piece of sharpened wood directly to your foesâ abdomen. Rocket launcher? Coming right up, with a minigun as a secondary. Or electrodriver â a shuriken gun, doubling up with coiling lighting because awesome. Certain guns even combine the two, to form ammo-hungry tertiary shot, supplying the player with quite a few tactical options. The other side of the coin For all my fondness for Painkiller, I need to acknowledge that as a franchise it has aged like milk, left in the blistering sun. For a premiere oldschool experience, go no further than Black Edition, which includes both the base game and Battle out of Hell expansion pack â the only entries by original developer, People Can Fly. Every instalment afterwards was a mod pack which eventually received official endorsement of the publisher, DreamCatcher, with only Painkiller: Overdose being any decent. Furthermore, even at its strongest, Painkiller hits a 20-years anniversary at April 12th, making this venerable title at best a loveable piece of jank for modern audiences. Should you have any love for âboomer shooterâ I cannot recommend it enough. As for my personal take â only several years into gaming did I realise that my first love was developed in my own country of origin, Poland, a place where precious few games were made back in the day. Nowadays, hundreds of games later, I find myself continuously enjoying the high tide of retro-shooters which persist as one of the most enduring trends among the indie developers. Looking back, letâs just say I couldnât have placed my initial bet any better.
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