Painkiller + Battle out of Hell

[ToddMcF2002]

I know there are some other Painkiller posts but I just wanted to highlight Battle out of Hell, the first Painkiller expansion.

Steam sells the "Collectors Pack" which includes all Painkiller Black Edition (Painkiller+Battle out of Hell), 2007's Painkiller Overdose and 2009's Painkiller Resurrection for $29.99. Not particularly cheap, but Resurrection does include significant updates to the core engine and the package includes tons of content here. Its everything you ever wanted as a PK fan. Personally, I can't wait to see Resurrection, but I've got a bit of journey to get there.

Battle out of Hell takes off hot off the heals of the PK original plot. No snickering now, there is a plot. The original has a good 15 minutes of cut scenes in total and it is interesting enough to pay attention to. Now sadly BooH makes no sense plot wise, since you are not in Hell, but once again looking for the entry to hell. No sense in dwelling on it, its PK and in the end you are going to carve, explode, inflame, gib and otherwise creatively eviscerate litterally 1,000's of hosts from hell. The levels are creapy as... well... Hell so it make little difference what side of it you are on. You are still on the "other" side and dead right? The cut scenes have taken a significant nose dive quality wise with this release, but... am I still talking about this?

Level design is inspired on this one. I was shocked by the quality. Leningrad alone is worth purchase BooH for. BooH continues the theme of a perpetual battleground for Hell. Anyone who played through the first PK and saw Hell rendered by People can Fly would not fail to take notice. It was stunning in my opinion. Leningrad is just as stunning in BooH. Its just creepy, especially the ambient sounds which PK always excels at. It feels like Hell should, pure and simple. Amazingly done. The continue to follow the theme of mass death venues with Coluseum, where you get to do battle in a very well modeled version of the arena. Worthy stuff. PK has atmosphere that is for sure.

Combat is pure PK. Not too much to say here, other than there are more combat puzzles than the original and... a flame thrower. More of the same but the added focus on puzzles keeps it pretty interesting. Who ever thought bunny hopping could be the basis of a puzzle? That's PK for ya.

So its great, that's my long winded message. Thanks to Thrasher for convincing me to pick it up. :)

[JemyM]

I posted my opinions on Painkiller on gamefaqs forum and got a warning for "trolling".

[Dagon]

I love Painkiller and Battle Out of hell.
Sadly the other two expansions never reached the quality made by People Can Fly.
Right now I'm very curious about Bulletstorm, the second game by the same studio.

[zakhal]

A game with name like "painkiller" cant be good. I got the game free once and it was proven right.

[Alrik Fassbauer]

Honestly, I never understood the sense of the term "painkiller".

You kill pain by killing beings ?

Wouldn't do a pill do the trick, too ?

I have a similar problem with a gun called Peacemaker (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Colt_Single_Action_Army)

And violence and religion ? Not good, imo.

[Dagon]

I'm pretty sure it is a homage to the awesome classic Heavy Metal song by Judas Priest:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nM__lPTWThU

[Thrasher]

Todd, although Overdose and Resurrection were panned by most reviewers, you got me thinking maybe I should pick them up anyway, at least Overdose… :)

What did you think of the final Hell level design on the original? I though it was pretty amazing having all the most evil moments in history portrayed visually…

[Jack]

Honestly, I never understood the sense of the term "painkiller".

You kill pain by killing beings ?

Wouldn't do a pill do the trick, too ?

I have a similar problem with a gun called Peacemaker (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Colt_Single_Action_Army)

And violence and religion ? Not good, imo.Painkiller refers to these:
http://hometestingblog.testcountry.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/01/painkillers-150x150.jpg
They kill the pain.
And yeah, I'm pretty sure that the title in this case pays homage to the song by Judas Priest.

[ToddMcF2002]

Todd, although Overdose and Resurrection were panned by most reviewers, you got me thinking maybe I should pick them up anyway, at least Overdose… :)

What did you think of the final Hell level design on the original? I though it was pretty amazing having all the most evil moments in history portrayed visually…

I thought the original snapshot of evil moments was stunning. I rambled about it above:
BooH continues the theme of a perpetual battleground for Hell. Anyone who played through the first PK and saw Hell rendered by People can Fly would not fail to take notice. It was stunning in my opinion.

After I killed Lucifer I wandered around checking out the missles and trenches. Leningrad was just like it. After you kill everything the screams and sounds of war and crying children continue with the backdrop of the Russian Anthem. Creepy stuff. Like I said lots of atmosphere. As an aside Dead City was a total riot of fun!

Folks can dismiss this game if you like, it only serves a singular purpose as did Doom, Quake 1 and Quake 2, etc. Killing with adrenaline. It just does it with great style and atmosphere that, in my opinion, eclipses Serious Sam. Its just a game folks, don't take it (or yourselves) so seriously :)

Many shooters today are weighted down with plot and polish and at times forget to be fun. PK rarely does that. It is NOT for everyone. If you enjoy pure run and gun, PK delivers!

BulletStorm eh? I'm going to have to check into that!

[Thrasher]

Oh, I almost forgot about Dead City! Yeah, that was one of my favorites. I think I replayed it 3 times! :)

[ToddMcF2002]

Oh man BulletStorm! Totally PK! Spiritual successor no doubt. Thanks for the heads up.

Back to Overdose and Resurrection though, sure they were criticized for offering nothing new, but is that a problem? ;) Just give me open space to do the dance and I'm happy.

[Thrasher]

I'll have to re-read the old reviews to be sure, but I remember reading the quality was less than PK and BooH.

[ToddMcF2002]

Well I'll have to let you know. Just finished BooH so its time for Overdose.
That was awesome, great final battle combat puzzle. Took me a bit to realize you had to distract Alistar too.

[Thrasher]

Yep. It was a great finale! I seem to remember MANY rockets were required. ;)

[JDR13]

Folks can dismiss this game if you like, it only serves a singular purpose as did Doom, Quake 1 and Quake 2, etc. Killing with adrenaline. It just does it with great style and atmosphere that, in my opinion, eclipses Serious Sam. Its just a game folks, don't take it (or yourselves) so seriously :)


I have to say Serious Sam wasn't just about killing though, at least for me. It was about the secrets. It had some of the best, and hardest to find, secrets I've ever seen in a first-person shooter. To me, that's what sets it apart from other run&gun shooters. Yes, I know the other aforementioned games have secrets, but they didn't seem nearly as plentiful, or as well thought out, as the ones in SS.

Of course I understand not everyone cares about that sort of thing, but I've always had a thing for secrets and easter eggs in games. SS was the best FPS since Duke Nukem 3D in that regard.

I still plan on giving PK another try though. If only there were more hours in a day. :)

[skavenhorde]

Loved the first one. The cards were a nice addition as well. I would sometimes redo the levels just to get the card. The variety of ways that you had to get those cards was a nice touch.

[ToddMcF2002]

Played a bit of Overdose and it rocks. So far its about big arenas and tons of mobs. How can that be a bad thing? The first level is HARD. I think that turned off the reviewers. Now I recall the comments on GameTrailers about dying alot and the screens showed this particular area where I died a few times as well. Guess what? It was a combat puzzle! The reviewer didn't get it:
- You have no armor at this point (unless you are VERY good)
- you have limited weapons but lots of secondary ammo that stops enemies hearts (and lots of ammo for that in the arena)
- there are SEVERAL mini bosses.

So, if you know anything about PainKiller the mini bosses yield significant soul health when they go down (20HP). You can continue to take reasonable mob damage and farm the mini bosses if you balance staying on the run with concentrated fire on the mini bosses, farming the health. Then mop up.

Another point - Its not Daniel but the main character with his stupid repetitive one liners are sometimes its funny because you anticipate the line when it gets delivered. The weapons are pretty similar as reviewers noted but I've always loved the weapon set. The demon head is a nice add.

Go get it Thrasher!

Tastes like Chicken.

[Thrasher]

I liked the secrets in PK better than Serious Sam. I found them harder to find and harder to get. They required in some cases EXTREME jumping skills. The SS secrets in some cases had more elaborate and clever setups, without a doubt. But they just weren't as fun and rewarding to me... Of course, I like a good frustration more than most. ;)

[Thrasher]

@Todd - You're testing me aren't you. ;)

I wonder if there is a cheap DL of Overdose and Resurrection somewhere? I've run out of shelf space...

[JDR13]

Interesting... I didn't find the secrets in Painkiller all that challenging. At least not in the 2 or 3 chapters that I played. Different play styles I guess. :)

[Thrasher]

Doubtful…

Either you didn't play much of the game or missed many of the secrets. Probably both.

[JDR13]

Well I just told you how much I played, and no, I didn't miss many secrets.

Not sure why you would doubt what I'm saying. Is it that hard for you to comprehend that not everyone finds things the same difficulty?

[Thrasher]

Ah ha, so now you admit that may have missed some secrets. That makes more sense now. And it has everything to do with difficulty. I don't appreciate your snarky backhanded insults. So if you don't have anything nice to say, please keep it shut.

Thanks! :)

[JDR13]

I'm going to assume you're kidding. If not, then I actually feel embarrassed for you.

[Thrasher]

I see your pointless snarkiness is never ending, and false sense of superiority is beyond your comprehension....

[JDR13]

I honestly get a kick out of your ignorance, Thrasher, I really do.

It wasn't my intention to sidetrack this thread though, so if you want to continue this, I'll be more than happy to... in a seperate thread.

[Thrasher]

Why would anyone want to continue anything with you?

[ToddMcF2002]

I see that once again Lucifer has spread his influence beyond the Gates of Hell. Do not succumb to his desire for chaos! Resist my friends! Take comfort that I was born for this task and I, Daniel, shall cast down the unclean BEAST!!!!

[ToddMcF2002]

Chapter 3 map 2. Overdose is amazing fun. When I end up barely alive and gib a miniboss with this nasty nuclear waste weapon he yells "WHO WANTS A OMOLETTE?" ROFLMAO!

[ToddMcF2002]

Finished Overdose. Very difficult ending. Great game and quality held out the whole way. Some amazing levels and brilliant art direction IMO. On to Resurrection and the conclusion of my PK binge.

[ToddMcF2002]

OK so I realize this is turning into my own personal diary since nobody is commenting anymore on this thread but that's OK. I have to finish this, its my mission now. So on to the next set of impressions you luck dogs.

First off some may recall that Resurrection is not the critics darling. Lots of criticism on bugs, level load times and level design being random and inconsistent, lacking flow etc. I can't comment too much on the bugs because I'm patched. No lockups, crashes, or anything of that sort reported is affecting me. The only bugs I've encountered are because of level design (more on that in a sec).

The big difference here, and its a huge one, is the ambition behind this project. There are only six levels in this expansion. At first I thought it was a ripoff, but these levels are absolutely HUGE. Normally it takes about 25-35 minutes to rip a Painkiller level. I'm on the 3rd level and I haven't completed it after 1:33. That is why the load times are long. The engine improvements are nice. Volumetric fog and HDR a bit are a bit abused, but the levels themselves are the big difference. Not only are they massive, and the ARENT LINEAR which is a major departure for PK. High level detail and massive verticals are a norm for Resurrection. I have to sort of feel bad for the level designers here, they really busted their asses creatively. There is true inspiration in the twisted abstraction of reality and the lack of linearity lends to the immersion. Unfortunately, it can also lead to bugs. Creatures get can get stuck in the cluttered areas exposing the weakness of the AI, and you'll notice a quite a few monsters taking the plunge off cliff faces. That may not pose a problem for you, since the devs throw endless hordes at you. I'm talking over a 1000 here. The game is pretty difficult and for the first time, like the Serious Sam series, you'll find yourself thinking twice about how "lucky" you are you stumbled upon those nice caches of weapons and armor. Just like the Serious Sam series, taking said goodies results in all sorts of hell breaking loose often leaving you off worse than when you stumbled upon the goodies. Also like the Serious Sam series, the devs will throw some "fan service" at you sending exploding barrel carrying monsters at you in a constant (read you can't miss) stream so you can enjoy the ridiculous volumes of exploding limbs and misc gore. That my friends, is a hoot.

But overall it is fun? It is a strange and twisted combination of exploration and frantic, carnage ridden gameplay. It does work, but the beauty and inspiration of the levels does take away from the core gameplay mechanic, not much, but a little. PK was always a much simpler game. Resurrection adds a new dimension I find interesting but if it was hot off the heals of the original PainKiller game I might be miffed the core goals of the game had been altered. But, luckily for me, I'm not!

[Thrasher]

Sounds interesting Todd. Thanks for the rundown!

[ToddMcF2002]

Sounds interesting Todd. Thanks for the rundown!

Its worth the playing IMO. I still can't believe I spent 1.5 hours on the last level and I'm still not done. Crazy stuff. I fixed some grammatical errors in my rambling, my gf was yelling at me as I was trying to write it...something about too much time on the computer. What the heck is she talking about anyway?

[JDR13]

I saw a new(?) retail package called Painkiller: Pandemonium at Gamestop yesterday. It was all 4 games + the development kit on DVD for $19.99.

[ToddMcF2002]

Pandemonium sounds like a steal at that price. I'm officially done with Painkiller. I can't say Resurrection rose to the levels of the original or other expansions but it was a worthy addition to the series. When map 5 (Haunted City) weighed in at 2 hours, 11 minutes I had had enough. In a game like PK I find myself wanting a change in venue, new creatures and a new setting far more frequently than that. The series spoiled me and I always found myself eager to see the next outrageous setting. 2 hours is just waaaaay too long in one area, no matter how creative.

All said and done, PainKiller is a fantastic game with an absurdly addictive core gameplay mechanic. It will have a permanent spot on my hard drive for a map run here and there. :) Thanks for reading!