Pong and Beyond

128th played so far

Genre: Action
Platform: Playstation 3
Year of Release: 2007
Developer: Idol Minds
Publisher: Sony

As we have seen in recent years there has been a move towards downloading smaller, cheaper games on the likes of PSN, WiiWare and XBLA. The list also reflects this with a sizable number of entries between 2007-2010 being from this group of games. We have already reflected on Bastion and From Dust being possible future entries on the list but for now here is the first such game we have covered; Pain.

Our Thoughts

There are some games that we have covered so far that are on the list because they have achieved the status of an all-time classic. In contrast to this there are games like One-Dot Enemies and Line Rider where the games are unique or take a simple idea and do it very well; it doesn’t take a genius to realise that Pain falls squarely in the latter group.

That is not to say that Pain is not a fun distraction (because it most surely is) but due to its fairly limited gameplay it is able to achieve some form of focus which many games (some of which we are yet to cover) could only dream of having. This focus is very simple; use a giant slingshot to fling your character into a cityscape in order to cause maximum damage by knocking over giant  bowling balls, derailing trains, knocking grannies down stairs onto tube tracks, blowing up things… you get the idea. The graphics are not ultra-realistic but are comically styled in a way which reminds me of the humans in Second Sight and because of this the game is able to get away with things that many games would be chastised for. InGrand Theft Auto and it’s subsequent games you are able to blow up old women and derail trains and people (usually in America or Australia) get angry and call for it to be banned. In Pain, however, it’s very funny and socially acceptable.

Seeing how you can get this game for under £7 (I got it on a PSN sale for £3.19) it also has its limitations. There was originally only one area available for flinging (a second was added which was sponsored by a deodorant company) and there are many things (including characters and landscapes) that are reliant on future transactions. However, there are many things to recommend buying the vanilla version of the game such as it’s sense of humour and the joy of flinging a mime through sheets of plane glass.

It’s nothing complex but, at the same, the sheer number of different throws are amazing to try out and the many different features in the game are brilliant. It’s comparable to Burnout 2: Point of Impact‘s crash mode in simply revelling in the glory of destruction. I know it’s fairly simple and straight forward, but boom…

Final Thoughts

This game will always occupy a special place in my heart since it was the first game that I ever bought on one of these online stores. For now I will get back to flinging a Fat Princess through the centre of a donut.