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Originally released in 2004 for the PC platform, Painkiller was one of the top first-person shooters made that year. While much of the shooter-development community shifted its focus to create heady, cerebral, and stealthy games, People Can Fly used today’s technology to make yesterday’s shooter. The results were excellent and refreshing. Painkiller for PC was a modern-day run-and-gun shooter and an absolute blast. The original game and the expansion pack levels have been brought to the Xbox in Painkiller: Hell Wars. Console gamers that aren’t familiar with this PC franchise should pay attention, because this game is one hell of a ride.

Yellow Dancer vs. Hell

Painkiller: Hell Wars tells the story of Daniel Garner (voiced by the excellent Cam Clarke). This seemingly ordinary man is driving with his ordinary wife on an ordinary day when they suddenly get into a fatal accident. Instead of living happily ever after past the pearly gates with his wife, Daniel is in purgatory and is selected to play a pivotal role in the war between heaven and hell. Naturally, Garner prances off to destroy hell’s minions and trounce some of Lucifer’s generals.

The gameplay style is straight out the ‘90s. Think back to the days of Doom and Quake, and more recently (but still ancient history in videogame years) Serious Sam. You won’t need stealth, you won’t need strategy, and you won’t need guile in Painkiller. You just need to blow the crap out of everything and anything in site. In a day where many games make you think too much, it’s nice to see a run-and-gun shooter for the Xbox.

Although the point of the game is to shoot the hell out of everything and anything, People Can Fly made the carnage feel fresh and exciting throughout the game with its strong level design. It’s quite easy for a game like this to get repetitive, but the level design keeps you engaged. That said, the levels from the original game are noticeably stronger than the ones taken from the PC expansion pack.

Old-School Carnage, Modern-Day Feel

Just because the game utilizes and older play style doesn’t mean that you won’t find modern touches in Painkiller. The physics are particularly impressive. As you’re making minced meat out of hell’s minions, you’ll notice all kinds of interesting things happening on screen. You’ll marvel as body parts bounced around realistically. You might even have to hit the pause button, take a step back, and think if you’ve ever seen entrails behave in such a manner. People Can Fly should be commended for implementing modern sensibilities in an old-school first-person shooter. The physics and graphics impress, though the latter comes with a caveat….

Visually, the Xbox version of Painkiller holds up reasonably well to its PC counterpart. There are some framerate issues when the action gets heavy and there are loads of enemies on screen, but overall this is a pretty good PC-to-Xbox translation. However, if you’re new to the series and have both an Xbox and a stout PC setup, we have to recommend the PC version. While the Xbox version’s graphics are more than acceptable, Painkiller looks and performs better on a powerhouse PC.

Like its gameplay style, Painkiller’s music is also a bit of a throwback. Instead of a moody, ambient, and filmic score found in many of today’s games, you have a raucous, head-banging, and visceral soundtrack. You can almost see John Romero (mid-‘90s Romero, that is) playing Painkiller, rocking out to the music, maniacally lashing his hair, and threatening to make someone his bitch.

Going Out with a Bang!

As the Xbox’s lifespan comes to a close, DreamCatcher serves up an excellent way for Microsoft’s Might console to go out with a bang. There isn’t much new or innovative with Painkiller: Hell Wars, but innovation isn’t the point here. It’s just flat out fun (in a messy, bloody sort of way). This is a fantastic and enjoyable way to blow off some steam, shoot tons of baddies, and, ultimately, satisfy the bloodlust that strikes the best of us.

Article by: Raymond M Padilla
Video produced by: Michael Benson