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| You've got to see Venice by air... |
The game’s engine also supports location based damage. Wing a demon from far
off and you’ll notice his shoulder flinch. Blow the arm off of a nearby demon
and you will see his weapon go bouncing across the floor. Unleash the pain up
close and personal and there will be demon parts flying everywhere and blood
spatter on the wall. Now multiply this by twenty or thirty as you are attacked
from all sides and you get some adrenaline-pumping mayhem, to say the least. Did
I mention that Painkiller is an M-rated game?
The physics engine affects more than weapons effects - the laws of physics
apply to everything in Painkiller’s world. Suspended rope bridges will bounce
and sway when you cross them and exploding barrels will send twisted pieces of
wooden shrapnel flying and bouncing off of objects. You can even push one of
these barrels around, send it bouncing it down some stairs, and then blast it
when it rolls to the feet of some demons. One level early on requires you to
shoot an explosives crate to clear a pile of boulders blocking your path. When
the explosives go off it is amazing to watch the individual rocks fling into the
air and bounce around the ground before coming to a rest. Heck you can move
around the rocks before blasting the crate and I think it just may be possible
to dig your way through without setting the explosives off.
Painkiller is not the first game to pit players against demons from hell, but it
does have some creative ideas on the form of demons. Sure you’ll face various
horned and skeletal apparitions, but you’ll also encounter battleaxe throwing
monks, brutish bikers, spectral scythe-wielding crusaders, and ninjas just to
name a few. And then there are the bosses. The bosses in Painkiller are massive
terrors that will really put you to the test. The first time you see one of
these thirty foot plus brutes coming for you, pushing columns out of the way and
collapsing the ceiling and floor around you, you’ll certainly freeze for a
second as you slowly utter your favorite expletive deleted.
To fight the armies of darkness you’ll have five weapons at your disposal. Each
weapon also has an alternate fire mode that is somewhat different than the
primary mode, effectively giving you ten weapons. For example, there is a bolt
shooter which can impale enemies and stick them to walls whose alternate weapon
is a grenade launcher. All of the weapons are useful and there aren’t any
throw-away weapons included just to increase the number of available weapons.
Even your default weapon is pretty cool – instead of a knife or weak pistol you
have a spinning blade device that is great for making scrambled demon guts. Ammo
is plentiful for the weapons primary mode, but secondary ammo is a little harder
to come by. This adds a little strategy to the game in deciding the right time
to use your secondary attacks.
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