Video Games: Pain, PS3

One of my passions in life is gaming.  I love most genres and can appreciate a wide array of games.  And, at times, the sort I like is just a simple destruction game.

Pain is that, and more.  Developer Idol Minds targeted a genre, and hit it dead on.

You may have been piddling around the internet and stumbled across a slingshot game.  One where you launch a character at some combination of angle and power and see how much damage they cause.  Some offer subtle amounts of control.  Others have highly interesting graphics in their objects.

Pain is worlds above these games.

The setting of Pain is a small city block populated by street mimes, monkeys, and explosives among other things.  With beautifully interactive elements all throughout the zone, and the ability to glide slightly and control your flight, you can spend hours just trying to find more and more objects to target.  The inclusion of some excellent multiplayer modes, including bowling and horse, give the game a party oriented purpose that keeps the game from becoming entirely monotonous  as you spend hours of doing the same thing over and over.  It's still entertaining.

The game may have a small number of boards which are just rearrangements of the objects on the original city streets; but as I already stated, just one board could keep you searching for targets for hours.  And the ability to add more content through download promises to keep the fun coming.

My only major concern with this game is the camera.  For the most part it does a fair job of getting you an optimal view of your carnage position.  However, if you bounce backwards off of something landing under, say, an elevated train railing, all you will see is that track.  Trying to nudge out into traffic blindly is just too difficult.  Also, when you get near the far edges of the maps, the camera just wants to stay in the center.  This isn't too bad since there is almost nothing to interact with out there; but getting around the corner of one of these buildings could put you in front of a car if you can properly place yourself.

At a $10 price tag, it should be everything you expect from it and more.  I rate it at 9 Cramped Fingers.

The Point Blank Critic