Date: |
May 10, 2004 |
Price: |
$39.99 |
Sponsors: |
|
Author: |
|
Editor: |
|
Score: |
9/10 |
Painkiller PC Game Review Gameplay Gameplay
Painkiller, as previously stated, is a First Person Shooter. This means you play the game from the first-person perspective, seeing the world through Daniel's eyes. No, Purgatory is not a pretty place, but you aren't on a vacation, either!
There are four levels of difficulty you can choose from when starting a new game in Painkiller, although not all are available when you first load the game. Daydream is the easiest level and is always available. Insomnia is the "normal" difficulty level and is also always available. Nightmare is next on the list and is unlocked only after collecting all 23 Black Tarot cards in Insomnia mode. Trauma is as hard as Painkiller gets and is unlocked after you beat the game in Nightmare mode.
The arsenal you have to work with in Painkiller consists of five weapons, each with a primary (left mouse button by default) and secondary (right mouse button by default) mode of fire. This effectively gives you 10 weapons to work with, as the secondary mode of fire is completely unlike the primary mode. For example, one of the weapons in Painkiller is a Stake Gun, which fires sharpened wooden stakes as its primary mode of fire, as you would expect from its name. The secondary mode of fire for the Stake Gun is a grenade launcher, which launches a grenade in a parabolic arc a medium distance away. The grade then bounces around for a few seconds before exploding, damaging enemies (and you, if you're too close!) in a small radius. The grade will explode on impact if it directly hits an enemy when launched.
    
There are also some "combo" effects that can be achieved by combining the primary and secondary modes of fire, such as the effect gained by first setting Pain, the bladed claw good for close combat, whirling and then hitting the secondary fire button on the mouse to send it out to do a little slicing and dicing at a distance. Another type of combo that works well in many instances is using the secondary Freeze Gun mode of the Shotgun to turn an opponent into ice and then blasting them to frozen shards with the primary Shotgun attack!
Besides all of the different ammunition containers you'll find, there are also several types of barrels, all of which explode like a grenade when hit, and many sizes of crates and urns, which contain varying numbers of gold coins. The gold coins are required to use the Black Tarot cards that can be gained by finishing a level in a particular fashion. This can be anything from finding all of the Secrets (places on the map that are difficult to find and enter) to finding all of the Holy Items (which have a significant gold value) to finishing a level without using any armor. Each level has its own criteria and this can be found by pressing the Tab key, preferably right at the beginning of the level.
There are two types of Black Tarot cards in Painkiller, Silver and Gold. The Gold Black Tarot cards are temporary in nature and can be activated once per level. The Silver Black Tarot cards provide permanent effects once placed. Black Tarot cards can not only be gained by completing the various levels in a particular fashion, but some are hidden on the levels themselves. Because the Black Tarot cards are so powerful, they are not easy to find.
If you have any comments or questions regarding this review, please post them in this thread on our forums.
|
