Painkiller: Battle Out of Hell

The Good
I never enjoy expansions that much these days, maybe because most are produced just to rake in more cash of it's parent game cough cough Half life episodes cough. But there certainly are some expansions that still pack some punch if you're still thirsty for more and some that almost reach the excellence of it's original, Painkiller: Battle Out Of Hell is surely in the middle of that.

It's simply the fun simple gameplay from the original PK expanded for 10 levels. You got the tarot cards from the original PK and ten more are added to the game. Not to forget 2 new weapons and a whole lot of new bad guys to destroy.

The first thing you will notice is that the cutscenes have improved greatly in terms of visual quality. While the original had pretty good output in the cutscenes for it's time, Battle out of hell's improvement in this department is clearly visible. Graphics and sound are still the same which is a good thing. Performance does take a hit in certain levels like the start of the Orphanage, but trust me it's nothing to worry about.

The monsters are still designed with quality, still do their job well too. This time you've got smaller bosses as compared to the record breaking size the original had. Not to mention demonic children, which I should admit, enjoyed blowing off with my shotgun. There are preachers which are invincible until you fulfill the prerequisites to destroy them. These goals are not specified in the game. Tarot card conditions from the original are still present and I'll get to them later.

The level design is still phenomenal, it's not as good as what was present in the parent game but still quality work. The Orphanage is a great opener, it's dark and pretty scary not to mention the creepy kids and spirits that linger around. The Colosseum surprises us with traps reminding me a bit of Tomb Raider and Prince of Persia, it's one of the levels to look out for. While playing Painkiller I did say to myself, there's a lot of variety and all that's missing is the Carnival/Circus type theme and Bam! We've got Looney Park. The level fits the whole crazy circus theme perfect and tops it off with a little surprise towards the end. Underworld and Stone Pit are similar to each other in theme, underworld has cart rides here and there. The details are just sexy in those levels. Leningrad is a WW2 themed level and is one of the toughest in the game, another one to look out for. The rest are above average to mediocre.

The Bad
One of the gripes I have about this expansion is that the Tarot Card conditions can be a pain in the arse! You'll be pulling your hair out trying to get the one at Underworld, Looney Park or Dead City. And the new tarot cards aren't very interesting either.

Painkiller did have it's small share of above average levels like the “Train Station” and “Cemetery”. BOOH has even worst, “Dead City” is just frustrating and boring. And the worst has to be “Lab”. It's thrown into the box just for the heck of being a filler. Half the level takes place in this room with a portal in the middle. It's not very attractive and the busty nurses don't make up for it either. The boss levels are “Pentagon” which is locked on the regular difficulties and the final takes place in “Shadowland”. The Panzer Spider boss is no where near the Impressiveness of the Necrogiant or Guardian. And the final box Alestor which was a boss in the original is even weaker despite the fact that he is a King or something here. He can be taken down in minutes. I had more fun with the mini bosses, which isn't really a compliment. And how does the final level “Shadowland” look compared to “Hell” from the original? Well it's so bland that it doesn't even deserve to breath the same air as the “Hell” level. Major disappointment in this area.

The new weapons are fair but the Bolt gun despite being fun really eliminates the need of a Stakegun. SMG/Flamethrower is an okay addition but the chaingun and shotgun can do the same thing. On a lighter note the Boltgun's alt fire is decent and sometimes did come in handy.

The Bottom Line
So yes, it's pretty obvious by now that the expansion doesn't take the game ahead and in no way was it supposed to. But the disappointment lies in the fact that the game goes limp in areas where the original was strong. The weaker aspects of the original depreciated even further. That doesn't mean this is an expansion to avoid, it still maintains a lot of the good PK qualities. If you enjoyed the original, just pick this up without any further thought because you'll have a blast in many of the quality levels just as long as you can forget about the tarot card conditions. If you have a thirst for more Painkiller or FPS games in general you'll find some fun even in the more boring levels such as the lab.