Painkiller Redemption (PC)
Studio: JoWood
Size: Downloadable (about 2 gigs)
Release: February 25, 2011
Prepare thineself to go to Hell… And fuck some bitches up!
Painkiller Redemption is the newest title in a line of run-and-gun shooters that have you going to hell to correct some shit. The tagline for one of the games was “Heaven has a hitman.” In the Painkiller universe, you play through hoards of blood thirsty demons. By play of course I mean rip their fucking heads off. This game is gory, gritty, violent, and very satisfying.
Much like its spiritual siblings (Serious Sam, DreamKiller, etc..) Redemption consists of you playing through arena style, wave based combat with an armory of guns stored in your ass. You can flip through your guns at any time as you start out the game with all of them. All you really need to do is collect ammo, souls, and cash… I have yet to figure out what the cash is for. Redemption sports some of the most incredibly intense wave-based combat I have ever seen. You can literally kill ten-thousand enemies in one level. Its like a fucking mosh pit. Explosive weapons come in handy… The main upside to this game verses its predecessors is that you get to play as both the past heroes (or vilains depending on your religious affiliations). Thats good because each dude has his own set of weapons to fiddle with. Double the weapons, double the carnage!
Painkiller Redemption is hard. Its very hard… Ney, challenging even! I had to play it on Normal difficulty (I’m usually a Hard player). I feel shame over this. This game hath shamed me…
There apparently is a story that goes along with this game, but who really gives a shit? Apparently not the developers. They focused all of their attention into level design and spawn points. The graphics in this game are like something from the cutting edge of 2006. It doesn’t matter though. They are good enough. The pollies don’t jump out at you, and it goes up to 1920 x 1080 and thats all that matters. There is little to no dialogue or cutscenes to speak of. Likewise, there is very little cinematic effect in the game. No filters, no environmental traps or scripted assets, nothing fluffy. Its pretty bare bones. What is in the game is a chugging heavy metal soundtrack that morphs to the action at hand. I like that.
The gore in this game is pretty gratuitous, even though the bangles are not very detailed. If this game WAS to be highly detailed, the graphic gore would turn your stomach. But like I said, its 2006 gore. The enemies are kind of spooky, but not really disturbing. some are quite repulsive, but not scary. The concept is a bit blasphemous so if you are a bible thumper, you probably don’t want to play this game. The weapon design is solid. All weapons have primary and secondary function which is fun, but you have to collect separate ammo for both functions.
Demo: Not yet, but almost all the other Painkiller games have one
Fucked-0-meter: [******____] 6/10
FU Rating: [******____] 6/10
Final Verdict: This game isn’t exactly coming from a classic franchise. It isn’t exactly up-to-date. It isn’t a greatest hits kind of game. It IS however worth playing. That and its only five dollars on Steam!
