PAIN Review

  • Posted January 14th, 2008 at 17:41 EDT by
  • 6,472 views
  • 16 Comments

Review Score

PAIN

PSU Review Score
6.5
Avg. user review score:
7.2

Add your rating

Summary

PAIN had a lot of potential but chose to not take advantage of it. Demo it first, because it may not be your type of game.

We like

  • Great physics
  • Zany comments
  • Good downloadable content

We dislike

  • Sluggish feel
  • Repetitive qualities
  • Awkward delay

See PSU's review on Metacritic & GameRankings

Welcome to a crash course review of the entertainingly funny PlayStation Network release, PAIN. We’re not sure if any PSN title has been given as much content for download after release, as quickly as PAIN has. From wallpapers to extra characters, this game isn’t anything but updated. It’s too bad that the potential this title had, never was reached.

Right off the bat you’re going to notice that the game offers a sluggish feel. It’s almost as though the game itself can’t keep up with some of the actions taking place. This doesn’t take away from what little the game is offering; however, it does annoyingly present itself every time you pick up the controller to play.

The game revolves around you taking aim with your character who just so happens to be strapped into a man-sized slingshot, and your purpose is to sling him across the environment to cause as much damage as possible. You’ll multiply your score for hitting multiple collisions and creating more pain for your character.



The first environment based around a downtown atmosphere, is neatly designed. It gives you a little bit of everything, from billboards to coffee shops. This just means that it gives you a lot more stuff to destroy. Idol Minds will be releasing further locations to wreak havoc upon in the near future.

The game modes in single-player are Mime Toss, Spank the Monkey, and Paindemonium. Each game mode offers a unique experience that quickly loses its appeal. With the repetitiveness of them, you’ll probably lose interest pretty fast.

Mime Toss has you launching yourself towards an awaiting mime that you’re then supposed to grab and throw through several panes of glass. Don’t miss the mime and send yourself hurling through the glass or you’ll have a 20 second penalty placed on your time. Each benchmark is designed for you to complete the task before a certain time. Though the idea sounds good, the game itself is a challenging yet frustrating experience.

Spank the Monkey is probably the most repetitive game mode offered. A monkey will sprout up somewhere in the environment and you must launch yourself at him to knock him over. That’s pretty much all there is to it. After the 30th monkey, the game gets a little excessive and boring.



Paindemonium revolves around creating as much havoc, pain, and damage that you can. You’re placed inside the downtown environment and just let loose. This mode is also benchmarked with scores.
 
As for multiplayer, it too leaves a lot to be desired. Multiplayer revolves around three game modes as well: Bowling, Horse, and Fun with Explosions.

Bowling has you trying to destroy the environment while your opponent tries to score points by knocking pins over. Horse is your typical horse-style game; you perform a manic slingshot of destruction and your opponent must best you. Fun with Explosions has you trying to set off all of the explosions in the downtown environment. Only Horse has any sort of lasting appeal.

The controls are pretty basic and easy to get a hang of. The tutorial that happens before you can play the actual game will demonstrate how to do everything necessary to become a pro.


There are two characters you can play with on the full game, Jarvis and the Cow. If you choose, you can buy two additional characters at $0.99 each from the PSN store. These characters involve a scantily clad Mrs. Clause, named Cookie, and Santa himself. Each character comes with different costumes that you can unlock, as well as their own lineup of zany and ridiculous lines of dialogue for when you’re throwing them face first into billboards.

Overall, PAIN is just that, a pain. The game lacks any real substance or any staying power whatsoever. With repetitive elements and sluggish gameplay, not even the outstanding physics or regular downloadable content can help save it.

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Comments

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What are your thoughts?

  1. D3v1lwqer23

    • 5:47pm GMT - January 14th, 2008

    I found it intriguing...for an hour or so.  Hopefully the gameplay will get deeper as more updates come.

  2. yoboyrob9041226 | BIGROB904

    • 5:59pm GMT - January 14th, 2008

    the game looks fun i might get this when the ps cards come to america

  3. iToke

    • 6:45pm GMT - January 14th, 2008

    Yeah....spot on.....it is PAINful.

  4. Deldwen | Deldwen1

    • 7:04pm GMT - January 14th, 2008

    lol this game looks soooo funny

  5. Uncool | Admodistrator

    • 7:09pm GMT - January 14th, 2008

    Must be a pain in the a** to review this game lol.

  6. Falanx13 | Falanx13

    • 7:20pm GMT - January 14th, 2008

    I dunno, the game of HORSE can be awesome with a few friends and a few beers. But in single player you're spot on with the low replay. We'd better get updates to this game like we've been promised.

  7. DeadOnArrival06 | DeadOnArrival06

    • 7:42pm GMT - January 14th, 2008

    It's a good thing I don't listen to reviews to decide what I purchase. I personally enjoy this game.

  8. Chronus | Chronus

    • 8:31pm GMT - January 14th, 2008

    is this out only in the us network?

  9. DaveW | Chronus

    • 9:48pm GMT - January 14th, 2008

    DOA, it's definitely a hit or miss title, that's why I suggested demo'ing it first.

     

  10. nickjd331 | nickjd331

    • 4:31am GMT - January 15th, 2008

    you mentioned 2 characters, and multiple maps. How many maps? Someone on here told me only 1 map and 1 character. Secondly, i would like to demo it. How do i go about doing that?

  11. ohshutyourmouth | ohshutyourmouth

    • 12:12pm GMT - January 15th, 2008

    lol this game came out months ago.......why do they do their reviews so late?

  12. DaveW | ohshutyourmouth

    • 12:40pm GMT - January 15th, 2008

    This site was created years ago, why do you join so late? Alright.

  13. Eric2929 | Eric2929

    • 3:39pm GMT - January 15th, 2008

    Nickjd311 - you have to unlock the 2nd one (there's only two total atm), and I believe Dave means that you should go over to a buddy's and try it out before buying it yourself or something.

  14. tegesh

    • 6:25pm GMT - January 15th, 2008

    dave whats up ur a*s? y do u tackle everything so aggressively, cmon lighten up mate

  15. T-Dogg400 | T-Dogg400

    • 4:51pm BST - July 11th, 2008

    You need alot of humour to play this game lol.

  16. Intervention

    • 4:23am BST - June 18th, 2009

    I made the mistake of buying this game a few days ago, yeah it has been out a few years. I figured why not the premise sounds good, boy was I wrong. It comes with one level and two characters. You have to pay for the other 4 levels that are available, but trust me after 10 minutes of playing this game you will have known that you would have had more fun lighting the $9.99 on fire. The trophies are next to impossible to get. One of the biggest ripoffs ever! I hate this game more than I think any other. There I feel better now.

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Related information

  • Related game: PAIN

    Release date (US):
    November 29th, 2007
    Developer:
    Idol Minds
    Genre:
    Misc - Arcade
    Rank:
    111 of 1,470 Games
    Up 0 places (in last 7 days)

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