Pain is not a game that you spent hours and hours perfecting your skill on, nor is does it have a plot, endearing characters, or a final boss. However, Pain is a pretty good game regardless of all that stuff, because it takes one concept – causing massive carnage – and executes it very well. You’ll be using a cartoon-like elastic catapult to launch humans into a world of hurt, and that’s about all you’ll be doing. Really, Pain is more of like a sandbox toy than a full ahead game. If you’re in the mood for some funny, physics-based action, this Playstation Network game is a good fit, but don’t surprised if you find yourself a bit short on things to do in the game’s single, small environment, especially for the steep 10-dollar price tag that goes along with it.
As was hinted at, Pain is all about launching a dude out of a weird catapult-like device and making him hit (and get hit by) as many things as possible. Crash into people, through plate-glass windows, through scaffolds, explosive barrels that in turn propel you forward; anything you see can be collided with and destroyed. A very good physics system makes things bump and crash around like you’d want them to, and it’s certainly satisfying for a time to watch everything react to your character flying through the air. An after touch mechanic lets you bump your character around in different directions and into mayhem, while the face buttons let you either strike a pose in mid-air or grip onto and pull around objects you smack into.
Trying to orchestrate ridiculous chains of carnage is, of course, the heart of Pain, and where all of the enjoyment comes from. You can try and do things like launch off your start point, smack into a subway and tear it off it’s tracks, get run over by a car, and slide into some explosive propane tanks, all in one go. Everything controls well, and some replay options let you relive your best smash-ups (although sadly, you can’t save them or upload them online). It’s not the gameplay that mucks things up here, but rather, a different glaring flaw.
Pain’s city area is small and cramped; you can pretty much see the entire thing from the lone starting point the game gives you. Reaching certain milestones of destruction or clobbering certain characters around the map will unlock more starting points, which do prolong the fun as you’re now facing things you couldn’t see before. In all, though, there’s just not a lot to see in Pain; certainly not enough for most to spend 10 bucks on.
You’ll probably have fun for a little while, smashing things up, unlocking new launch points and chuckling as your character sustains all sorts of injuries and shouts ridiculous, cheery phrases as he soars toward the next hazard. However, such fun is short-lived, and after a few hours you’ll be tired of the single, small level whose secrets are easily discovered.