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PainKiller
by Jolex Del Pilar
Friday, August 8 2003
PainKiller brings back memories of the shooters of old: violent, fast, and furious.
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Title:
PainKiller
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Platform:
PC Windows
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Publisher:
Dreamcatcher Interactive |
Developer:
People Can Fly |
#
of Players: 1 + 32 in Online Play |
Genre:
First Person Shooter
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Origin:
United States
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Expected
Release:
Q2 2004 |
Grapevine:
PainKiller features a very gothic, roman-esque, graphics style with levels that sometimes resemble the inside of churches. |
Dreamcatcher's first person shooter, PainKiller, had the unenviable task of being at the same E3 show that was also showcasing Half Life 2, and Doom III. Due to that fact, and perhaps other factors such as trying to make it to the media luncheon before all the food ran out, none of the staff realized the game existed until the beta landed on our desk. Having played through the preview levels, it's obvious that a big mistake was made in NOT covering this game during E3. For what it's worth, the game plays smoother than Doom III in their "beta" forms.
PainKiller has a back story to it, but don't expect it to be indepth or have any bearing on the actual gameplay. Its not trying to be the next Deus Ex nor does it pretend to be. PainKiller reminds us more of an older shooter, when the only interaction between the player and an NPC was the buisness end of a 12 gauge shotgun. Some of its luminaries include Doom, Doom II, and more recently Serious Sam. These games are shooters from the days of "action" instead of interaction. PainKiller delivers a very similar experience to the games mentioned above, but it brings something that most new shooters like to have as a feather in their caps; a fancy, dancy, propriety graphics engine.
The PAIN Engine seems to have the goods. The game features levels that regularly top 400,000 triangles(Polygons), a variety of graphical "wows" such as realistic lighting and shadowing techniques, advanced vertex and pixel shaders, including water, glass, volumetric lights and fog, the whole 9 yards. It seems to handle more than just scenery too. The beta code included a boss battle with a giant monstrosity that can be best described as a cross between a bull, and the Stay Puff Marshmallow Man. This towering monster also carried a war hammer the size of a 5 bedroom house. The boss character (about 22 stories tall, give or take an inch) would move around the stage knocking over huge towers of rock. It was amazing seeing such a large, and highly detailed character move around the screen. Trust me when I say you've never seen a boss this big before.
Although it might be a little early to tell, it seems to me that PainKiller is going to fill a niche that caters to gamers who require 100% action, nothing more, nothing less. The vicious gun battles, and variety of weapons, definitely show the game has the potential to be mentioned right up there with celebrated shooters like Doom.
The game is due out in the Fall of 2003, and we are eager to see how the game measures up as a whole.
--- Jolex Del Pilar
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