Gaming Insider
By Michael Wenzel
IV Leader Columnist, Oct. 16, 2008
THE GOOD: TROPHY SUPPORT GIVES YOU SOME REASON TO PLAY
THE BAD: GETS OLD FAST
BOGUS: PAYING EXTRA FOR MORE THAN ONE LEVEL
“Pain” was released on the PlayStation Network a few months ago and comes in the form of digital distribution for the PlayStation 3. Your goal in this game is to rack up a high score by causing as much havoc as you can.
You do this by launching your character out of an extremely over-sized slingshot and into various people and objects to cause yourself bodily harm--hence the name, “Pain.”
While the game is mildly entertaining at first, it gets relatively old after the tenth launch or so.
Although there are plenty of opportunities to unleash your inner masochist, you feel no sense of completion afterwards, and for that reason, there is little to no replay value.
To further aggravation, there is only one level included with the game, making the feeling of boredom ensue much sooner than it may have were their multiple places to play.
On that same note, yes you can get additional levels, but not without forking over extra money for them.
Because of the nature of digital distribution, there is the opportunity for micro-transactions, but charging an additional two dollars for another level is, quite frankly, ridiculous.
A second level should have been included with the initial purchase! Now, granted the game is only ten dollars, but nonetheless, there should be more than just two characters and one level included in the purchase.
The most recent free (surprising) update adds trophy support, which makes this game slightly more tolerable, but alas, you need to buy multiple expansions to achieve nearly half of them. Overall, you would be better suited and more satisfied were you to spend ten dollars on PlayStation Network games like “Pixeljunk Eden” or “Monsters,” or the recently released “Mega Man 9.”
“Pain” is a title that is best reserved for those with a miniscule attention span or those prone to redundancy. I give Pain a 4 out of 10.