I’ve enjoyed PAIN since it was first released on the PlayStation Network almost a year ago. The hilarious ways you could inflict pain and destruction made a very fun gameplay experience. But the amount of content that shipped with the game wasn’t huge. Only one environment, Downtown, was available. Now, Sony and Idol Minds have released a new level, the Amusement Park.
The Amusement Park has a plethora of places in which to hurl your character for some destruction and hurt. You can go for the roller coaster, the log flume, the pirate ship, or any other cool rides strewn about the park. There’s literally so much there for you to do that it will take you a while just to explore everything and get an idea of the best lines for your run. Do you try to catch a ride on the roller coaster or shoot down the log flume? Personally, I love the log flume and getting that all jammed up. Makes for a good time.
To go along with the new venue, a bunch of new game modes have been introduced. On the single player side of things, you have HOT n COLD, where you have to find a hidden target by detonating teddy bears in the Amusement Park. Every time you hit one, the game tells you if you’re Hot or Cold, so you can narrow down your search. Clown Toss is also available, which is basically Mime Toss brought over to the Amusement Park, only with a clown on a pogo stick instead of a Mime. For multiplayer, Fun with Explosives is available in the Amusement Park as well as new modes Trauma and Call the Shot. In Trauma, you go head to head with a friend to see who can inflict the most damage. Call the Shot is what it sounds like, where you pick two to four objects that you plan to hit in one shot and your opponent has to match your goal.
The new location and modes are pretty fun, but if you didn’t really enjoy PAIN to begin with, it’s hard to recommend spending $5.99 to buy this extra content. With the game still not supporting online multiplayer, unless you have a bunch of friends around, this is mainly a single player experience. If you played a lot of PAIN before and liked it, pick this up. It’s a decent amount of content for the price.
Verdict: Buy it only if you really like PAIN
