I have been playing computer games a lot these days but it is necessary too with all those mighty fine first person shooters available at the moment. Buying a new video card really changes your life as I had a lot of catching up to do and I wanted to do it all immediately. First one up was Max Payne 2, followed by Call Of Duty and its expansion pack, Far Cry, Mortyr 2, MOH:PA and so on (I did not mention Half-life 2 because I did not like one bit of it and I hate it when I do not finish a game). However, it seemed that I had skipped another important game but once again luck was on my side as they released a collector's edition of the game and its expansion. My hopes were high and my expectations even higher, will it be competition for the old Quake 3?

Let's start with the beginning, shall we? Although this is a collector's box you should not expect a T-shirt, poster or stuff like that. It is just one DVD with both Painkiller and Battle Out Of Hell on one disc playable from one neat-looking menu. Fragland already has these two games reviewed, I agree a whole lot more with Zwan than with Fraeco, therefore I will not go into all the little details.

These games are old school, mouse-button destroying first person shooters without any tact or puzzling what so ever. No, even finding a keycard to open a door so you find another keycard is not necessary. You get to see a good looking cut-scene which gradually tells you part of the story and then you rush through all the extremely intensive, atmosphere-breathing locations. You see, it is hell but you will have locations like snowy bridge too so it is not all dark and red which I find a tremendous advantage. Nevertheless, the objective in all the levels is the same: kill everything you see as fast, as bloody and as violently cool as you can imagine (Crucifying an opponent keeps making you feel powerful).

In that way, it is Quake 3 but with a decent single-player and somewhat updated which does not mean there are no bugs at all. It happened two or three times that I ran into an environment but changed my mind and went back to see what weapons I wanted/could use but then the part of the level was closed. I went in too far but apparently not far enough to prevent me from escaping the area. Such a part only opens again after you have killed all the zombie-creatures but as it was impossible to reach them, I had to restart the level from the previous checkpoint. Not that it was so bad but such mistakes just make a game feel less professional. Another time I passed a checkpoint without using it and I just kept on going, yes like a complete mad man and that does not restrain itself to the in-game part. On a certain moment I got stuck so I went back thinking it would be another zombie which I forgot to crush, kill and destroy and that now is bouncing into a wall or something, as that had happened before. However, now the checkpoint was gone so I had to restart the level. Another unbelievable bug I encountered was that all my saves, except for the auto ones after a level, got deleted after I installed the two updates (unfortunately those two combined were five hundred megabytes in size and, probably because of their recent release, not present on the DVD). Once again, not the end of the world as you can easily play a level again just for fun, which the games suggests you do, but it just is not polite do simply erase them.

I should not spend too much words discussing its few flaws though because the fun factor surely makes up for them. Painkiller is not the game you play only to finish the single-player, no this you can play for fun and except for some boss-levels, it was never quite frustrating.

Playing on only a mid-range system, the loading times were long, too long but you do get something in return. Even on less powerful machines, Painkiller will run very smooth while still being pleasant to look at which is very important as, besides the amusing, brainless, non-boring gameplay, there is also the atmosphere aspect. It has to be said, Doom 3 was good at it too, but what Painkiller does with the smaller share of resources is even more praiseworthy. It really knows how to create the creepy feeling which makes you panic but still it has a lot of typical humor too. Great job!

The patches are not on the disc but you do get a very well made making of/developer interview, the Xbox version's trailer and the music video from Mech. To be honest, the powering music in the game is very good and accentuates the action and the fear for the not yet turned up legion but damn that lead singer's baby face and overacted gestures are completely ridiculous. I tried finding their website but eventually realized that I had to face the facts: google has not heard of their site yet. Seeing that video reminds of the opening scene in School of Rock, if you have seen it you will know what I mean (Dewey Finn rocking like hell on stage).

Not only does Painkiller have a single-player, you get a worldly renowned multiplayer too which is really fun but if you have not played games like these in quite some time, you will be faced with the very harsh truth: you will suck so hard you can get an elephant through a straw. Obviously, as most gamers are already playing this more than a year, but the feeling of such a instant respawn action remains indescribable and it will surely make my RSI get worse but as you know, that is a sacrifice I am willing to make (for now).

The packaging is probably finished properly but as I only received the black DVD, I cannot praise the sweet feeling of opening a new smelling box. Everything else I have seen and tested is very much okay: two extremely good games in a genre which became somewhat taboo as today everything has to be complicated, if not it is boring. Painkiller proofs those people wrong and shows it good as sound, graphics, gameplay and low system requirements are all mixed into an ideal blend of instant single and multiplayer action. If you have not bought the game yet, this is the ideal opportunity to make up for that cultural loss and you can do it for the relatively low price of about forty euros! That's all folks, got to go kill some pain.