Pain is all about what the title says. Shoot your character from a giant sling-shot into buildings, traffic, and anything else you can think of to rack up points. When I first saw trailers of the game, I thought it would get boring quick. Well, I was definitely wrong. I’ve never had a game make me laugh as hard as this. Here is a breakdown of some of the facets of Pain for the PS3:

Presentation and Graphics: Pain has terrific graphics for a $10 downloadable title. The environment has a huge amount of detail in every element. Since you can hit or break almost anything, the development team at IdolMinds made sure every element looked great. The Havok physics engine makes interacting with the environment a blast. No matter what you hit, grap, or break, it will have ramifications of other parts of the map. 4 of 5

Sound and Music: The sound effects in Pain will make you laugh time and time again. From characters farting when flying through the air to the crazy screams of the grandmas as you grab them while flying by, you’ll laugh out loud at Pain. Environment sounds are great for each different interactive element. Scaffolding sounds different when hitting glass or pavement, and the same goes for every other sound element of the game. 5 of 5

Gameplay: There are three single player modes in the game. In single player, you can play Paindemonium mode, which is freestyle mode to see how many points you can rack up and how much pain and damage you can cause. There is also Mime Toss mode, where you have to catch a mime suspended in mid-air and throw him through carefully setup panes of glass. This mode is timed and there are set goals to reach for each medal level. The same is the case with Spank the Monkey, where you have to find and hit a series of monkeys (usually 38 of them) in a set period of time. This can be quite difficult to master, which keeps you coming back for more. Every gameplay is fun and provides a lot to do. 4.5 of 5

Multiplayer: In multiplayer, you can play Pain Bowling, where you sling-shot your character into a giant set of bowling pins. Standard bowling scoring applies, so you need to see how many points you can rack up. However, the opposing player has explosives and other “weapons” in their arsenal to prevent you from scoring. Dropping a steel beam into your opponent will produce a laugh or two. There’s also a game of Horse, where you have to match your opponent’s hit targets and try to get more points. Finally, in Fun With Explosives, you have to bounce from one explosive box to another to see who can rack up the most points. Unfortunately, these multiplayer modes are offline only. The developers have stated they’re working on an online component to add to the game, but for right now all you get is leaderboards online. 4 of 5

Lasting Appeal: Pain is a lot fun, especially if you can find someone else to play the game with. IdolMinds has two new characters available for purchase now and has said that additional Themes will be available down the line. Characters don’t provide any enhancements, other than a different skin to look at it and some different sound effects. An in-game ad hints at an Indoor Amusement Park Theme coming soon, which looks interesting. IdolMinds has also indicated that an online multiplayer update is in the works, which sound really add the replay value of the title. 4.5 of 5

Final Word: If you’re a fan of hilarity and good times, Pain is definitely for you. That is to say, if you like to have fun, pick this one up. You’ll be amazed at the depth of the game for such a small title. There’s still new areas of the environment I’m discovering after a week of gameplay, and I’m sure it will be the same for you. I highly recommend this title.

Overall: 4.25 of 5

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