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Machinima
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Digital Art Appreciation
If you’re like me, you remember the simpler times. The times when right-click was bound to “jump” and not “turn gun sideways and shoot and somehow do more damage” (name that game!). Times when plot wasn’t as important as how many bad guys there were on the screen at once. When the quality of the blood spewing from aforementioned foes was even more important. If you, like me, remember these simpler times and think of them fondly, this week’s cheap game is for you.
The game is Painkiller Gold Edition. I feel like it got overlooked when the original game was released by Polish developer People Can Fly in April of 2004. It came out long enough before Half-Life 2 that I don’t think that played a role in my skipping it. Truth be told, I was probably super-jumping around Paragon City in City of Heroes at the time; a bit distracted. It popped back up on my radar when I saw some 1 vs. 1 CPL matches using Painkiller and a mod designed for competitive play. When the game and its expansion dropped to a near-nothing price on Steam a year or two later, I couldn’t resist picking it up.
Earlier, I mentioned a plot. Painkiller does have one, and it’s pretty cool, albeit simple. At the beginning of the game, the main character is driving with his wife to her Birthday dinner. He looks over at her for a moment and then unwittingly slams the car into oncoming traffic. They both die. While his wife makes it to Heaven, he lands himself in Purgatory. The next scene takes place after he has apparently been in Purgatory for quite a while. He is in a large hall and is approached by a mysterious figure who hands him a scroll and tells him simply: “this is who you need to kill”. He is tasked with killing 4 of Lucifer’s Generals before he can earn his way out of Purgatory. Once that’s done, you’re dropped right into the action. We’ll get to that in a minute.
There is an expansion on top of the original game when you buy the Gold Edition. I’m not sure what it’s about as I have not gotten to it yet, but it’s titled “Battle Out of Hell”, so draw your own conclusions. I do know that it has gotten favorable reviews, so I am looking forward to it and feel safe recommending it.
As I mentioned earlier, the game also has multiplayer, but that didn’t interest me much; not that I’m sure many people still play. What I am focusing on is the classic Doom and Quake style singleplayer FPS action. Hoards of enemies and really big guns - hell yeah. Though I did lie a little bit when I said the game had right-click jumping. It really is reserved for alternate firing modes, but that is a welcome conceit to modern FPS design as the original game features only five different weapons: the Painkiller, Shotgun, Stakegun, Chaingun and Electrodriver. These are all fairly self-descriptive except perhaps for the Painkiller, but I’ll let the following video clue you in on that one.
This is a play-through of the entire first level. Feel free to skip it if you would rather experience the carnage first-hand.
I’m not going to recommend you purchase this game anywhere but through Steam as it is the cheapest I have found. It will cost you $9.95 and will net you the Gold Edition which includes the expansion. Alternatively, if that isn’t your thing, you can find the same package new on Amazon for $9.49, but that price is subject to change as you wouldn’t be purchasing directly through Amazon. Lets face it, you should be using Steam anyway!
