Author: Gabriel Vega
Editor: Howard Ha
Publish Date: Thursday, June 19th, 2003
Originally Published on Neoseeker (http://www.neoseeker.com)
Article Link: http://www.neoseeker.com/Articles/Games/Previews/painkiller_firstlook/
Copyright Neo Era Media, Inc. - please do not redistribute or use for commercial purposes.
A new era of shooters are on the horizon, games such as Doom III and Half Life 2 are making a huge showing in the FPS arena with impressive levels of graphic development and game play styling. They are greeted by another though; the name of the game is Painkiller presented by Dreamcatcher Interactive. Painkiller features massive levels full of architectural details and massive hordes of monsters to accompany them while the player searches to make it out alive through all of the chaos.
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The story consists of a couple once enjoying a prosperous life. Upon a bad hand of fate the couple is killed in a car accident and the two are sent to the afterlife, the wife is greeted into the gates of heaven where she goes on. The Husband is faced with a different trial, his past sins did not go un-noticed and heaven has placed him into purgatory where it is revealed to him that heaven and hell are in the midst of yet another war for dominance and he has been chosen by heaven to fight on their side so that he can gain admittance into the gates. With such an offer the deal is signed and the player is introduced to the massive warfare within purgatory.
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At such an early state Painkiller is not something where we can truly predict the outcome of the title, in our test copy the game is in pre-alpha leaving lots of overhead for optimizations, levels, enemies and more mass destruction. The models are running with high levels of polygons and detailed textures although at this current time it's said that we're only seeing the initial development of these textures. If so then we have a lot to expect to say the least as it's running with the HAVOK 2.0 engine found in titles like Deus Ex 2 or even Starsky and Hutch. I'll let the initial pictures show some of these details.
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As many can see the images give the impression that this isn't just another standard shooter where players shoot a handful of enemies and move on with little effort. Groups of gun crazy enemies fill the level throwing everything that they have at you. This doesn't mean things are impossible though as there are various escape methods to get free such as blowing up enemies with barrels nearby or even a self sacrifice using a grenade to get rid of immediate enemies. Painkiller offers easy control and balanced game play where players are required to clear out the enemies in the sections of the level before proceeding further as if they don't then they face a giant cement wall blocking the pathway. It might seem like a pain but it prevents many from just running through the level in hopes to clear it in record time without firing a shot. It's all about the massive groups of enemies coming from all sides be it across a floor or in a hallway with little room to escape.
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The effects used in the game are quite impressive and compliment things well, the cathedral level uses quite a bit of dynamic lighting effects to create a misty light flowing through the various window pane designs featured. Other effects that are easy to spot are the torches and explosions found from the grenades and barrels each item of fire flows well with the game rather than seeming out of place like past titles usually suffer from. A notable feature in the development of these characters is that of the rag doll physics applied to each model which allows for free form movement as players blow enemies up off of rooftops or other places. Bodies have a relaxed motion allowing for some vicious falls to take place especially when they nail the ledges on the way down. A very interesting set of features are the water effects. Splashes from bodies or crates make seemingly real reactions when they collide with the water while maintaining a fluid form free from texture breaks. All of these items make game play appear quite smooth. The only thing that wasn't completely able to be experienced was that of the shadowing. It's quite impressive but with a large bottleneck that kept me from getting too far in for multiple shots of it in action. With all of these in action the game moves nicely and gives a feel of nonstop mayhem as glass shatters and souls are released for collection after the bodies expire on the floor.
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The sound system seems to be on a good pace. The game offers various mellow tracks for cruising around and a more hardcore background song for when the chaos starts and bodies go flying. Right now 3D audio isn't mentioned in the current setup but it's appreciated to have the sound swapping side to side depending on the position of the character to where the action is coming from. It makes narrowing down where items are flying from a bit easier especially when getting caught up in a gunfight and molotov cocktails start falling from the sky only to sap away your energy like mad. So while it may be in development it's definitely on the right track as the sound track switching saved me more than once when taking screenshots.
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Enemies are always an interesting choice in titles. Players find a nice change of pace here as flying demons, druids, bikers, twisted knights and other creatures all chase players down through the levels. This isn't all though, the team was sure to include towering monsters such as the ever so famous hammer swinging giant at E3 this year. The chaos cathedral packs another punch game which I hadn't seen before at the expo, a massive creature rocking the entire level by pulling on the pillars and letting boulders fall from the sky often resulting in death if I was lucky enough to be caught in the middle of the action. The overall feel is that while enemies may not have the best AI at this point. With the sheer amount that around right now many will be lucky to make it out alive.
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Online play wasn't available at this point in the release. Painkiller is still under heavy development and so our First Look includes what has been done so far. Do note though that Painkiller is set to have various modes of online gaming though, Death Matches and even a People Can Fly mode will be available among other options. With the huge levels and weaponry it seems like it will be almost a given for online play success.
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As a gamer I'm blown away by what People Can Fly and Dreamcatcher have brought to the gaming public, fast game play, massive environments, and endless amounts of enemies at every corner. Items like this make it hard to deny that Painkiller could develop in the coming months to become a combatant in the FPS arena this fall. Painkiller is set for a fall release on the PC platform with a release due out on the XBOX gaming console shortly after. Chances are XBOX fans can expect the same performance and extensive levels as well as XBOX Live! online madness for all. We'll keep everyone posted as the game develops into further stages. In the meantime I leave you with this.
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