why would Heaven need a hitman?

The Painkiller single-player demo quietly debuted last week, while most people were still recovering from UT2004. More accurately, I'd be willing to bet money on the fact that people probably didn't care enough to put the demo down, fearing that they might fall out of practice. I must admit playing Onslaught is not like the UT2003 I grew accustomed to. The battles seem to simmer with a kind of intensity, as if Unreal Tournament players were waiting for this mode of play since the original game's release.

But back to the matter at hand - the Painkiller demo. The ambient music at the menu screen made me feel like I was playing some variation of the Diablo-meets-Quake theme. Playing the introductory "Town" level made me forget for a second that there hadn't been any advancements in level design colour palettes in the past eight years. People Can Fly's PAIN engine is simply gorgeous, but the conventions of the genre become clear after about 3 minutes of playing. Using the Stake Gun versus the swarms of meat-flinging zombies was great for a while, I mean they really get impaled. There is visible recoil and if your target is near a wall they just kind of hang there until exploding to offer up their soul for collection. And those zombies sure know how to aim.

I was about ready to stop playing as I loaded the second level: "The Temple". Although consisting primarily of greys and uh...dark greys, some of the design elements are almost reminiscent of Act II in Diablo II or wouldn't be out of place in The Sands of Time. I can see what the developers were trying to do with this game, and I haven't decided if this is a spiritual successor of sorts to Quake or Doom. With the dark, satanic imagery and constant waves of monsters the designers want you to feel overwhelmed. But I just couldn't get into the game because I felt I had been there before. I can give Painkiller credit for inventing some interesting weapons: the default melee weapon "Pain" is a set of spinning blades you can cut through an angry undead mob with, and almost made me want to watch Krull. Almost.

The “boss” mission in the final level was a nice touch, and once again brought me back to fighting the Cyberdemon at the end of Doom. This time around the sense of scale is really there – this monster wields an enourmous fucking hammer. I watched him knock over pillars in his wake with little effort, while imagining new ways to bludgeon me with his massive weapon. Overall I can't say I was impressed, and I was kind of looking forward to this one. The lack of mid-level saves proved to be frustrating as well, and coupled with the overly familiar execution of a classic FPS theme, I fail to find a compelling reason to play this game.

I also tried out the demo of the first RPG from the developers of the Patrician series of RTS/Trading sims. Sacred is yet another Diablo clone, lodged firmly in the pigeonhole of "action RPG". It's a half decent imitation, but nowhere near being a replacement. The most unique feature being that you can ride a horse - if that's your thing - and attack enemies from horseback. There are a number of special abilities you can gain and combine to form your own "custom attacks", which is kind of a riff on the skill tree in Diablo II. The interface is simple enough; nobody is going to get lost. Combined with a decent engine this could be a good game for someone desparate enough for a PC RPG.

I'm of the belief that 2004 needs a solid PC RPG in this turbulent market, where consoles and PCs are constantly fighting for attention. I was expecting a lot from Sacred, but it just didn't come through for me, even as a clone of one of the greatest games of all time. If anything, this game got me to reinstall 2002's suprisingly excellent Divine Divinity, and got me looking forward to Dungeon Siege II (or even Beyond Divinity).

I picked up PC Gamer's annual awards issue, and as expected Knights of the Old Republic picked up top honors. You really know it was a bad year for PC gaming when a console port could achieve such a feat in a publication that has traditionally been such a stalwart supporter of PC games. I also caught some rumours about KotOR 2, the inevitable successor. Apparently Bioware has been in talks with Feargus Urquhart, formerly of Black Isle and currently the head of Obsidian Entertainment. He obviously brings a veritable banquet of experience to the table when it comes to developing a solid RPG, so if the rumour proves to be true, we can at least rest easy knowing that the series will be handled professionally. In the same issue, out of nowhere Gothic II gets RPG of the year. Usually PCG are content to let a game win its category and game of the year; I guess they think this game is deserving of the praise. I may have to put aside part of my current playlist to go back and check out this forgotten game of 2003.

As an awkward closer, I have to relay that I've seen Lost in Translation. I know now what everyone was talking about. Sofia Coppola has created a very thoughtful film, and not such a departure from The Virgin Suicides. Indeed, there were some laugh out loud moments, but there was always that underlying tone of melancholy and lonliness that left you really associating emotionally with the main characters. I suppose it will win some more awards on Sunday in the same ceremony that will praise Johnny Depp's performance in Pirates of the Caribbean while being hosted once again by the amazingly unfunny Billy Crystal.

when you got that spider bite on your hand