Game Reviews

Hell, by Painkiller's estimation, is other people running endlessly towards you. Mad axe-monks, skeletal WW1 soldiers in gas masks, children splayed in two by shotgun blasts and men eternally trapped in their duvet covers come laundry day: all desperate for a meet and greet with hero Daniel Garner's whirring blade.

Hell & Damnation is a modern reincarnation of what Polish developer People Can Fly, now responsible for Gears of War: Judgment, ushered onto our mortal plane back in 2004. Theirs was a deranged shooter that saw Serious Sam infused with equal parts of Hieronymus Bosch and Bill and Ted's Bogus Journey. Lunatic fire-and-forget gameplay, back-flipping hoodlums, goliath bosses and some astoundingly beautiful panoramas of the underworld all conspired to create a game that was, arguably, a more direct successor to Doom than the (then forthcoming) Doom 3.

Opinion was split over the relative charms of that first Painkiller (your correspondent sometimes felt quite alone in his worship of the stake-gun) but a loyal fanbase and the longevity granted by back-to-basics twitch multiplayer gave it an extended lifespan. If a pact was signed to keep the Painkiller brand alive, however, it must have been a little Faustian. It's been roughly abused by a range of different developers in the likes of Overdose, Resurrection, Redemption and Recurring Evil - so, this Halloween, The Farm 51's Painkiller: Hell & Damnation is out to right former wrongs with an Unreal Engine cover version.

It certainly looks and feels the part. 14 iconic levels from the original game (and its excellent expansion pack Battle out of Hell) have been reconstructed and filled out with a wide range of creatures from the Painkiller menagerie. What with the march of progress, meanwhile, these daisy-chains of oncoming bodily nightmares can be sliced, diced and impaled in far more gruesome ways than one's mind could contemplate a decade ago.

From the initial graveyard skellingtons through to the witches rocking out on stage in the Opera House, knife-wielding urchins in the orphanage and Battle Out of Hell's epic rollercoaster ride, Painkiller HD is chewing gum for the eyes and repetitive strain injury for your click-finger. The game's giant bosses now loom over early levels with pleasant menace, while the way circular saws fired from the new Soulcatcher weapon wedge into enemies is, more often than not, a delight. It's basic, stupid stuff - but it still works.

However, as Dorothy once said (perhaps having impaled a wicked witch right through the face): "Toto, I've a feeling we're not in 2004 anymore". Once upon a time, a primary appeal of Painkiller was its riotous use of physics. The remarkable stake gun, the clouds of flying bodies after rocket launcher strikes and the sheer marvel of truly explosive scenery could bring true shock and awe. With time, however, the 'wow' factor has been watered down to 'oh'.