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Pain Preview

Scheduled release date:
Q1 2008
Publisher:
Sony Computer Entertainment
Developer:
Sony Computer Entertainment
Number Of Players:
1-2
Genre:
Action


You know, it's surprising when you think about it, but Jackass-like games never came to fruition. I mean, the recipe for fun is all there, and the concept is incredibly easy to turn around into a videogame. After all these years, only now are we getting an actual Jackass game, but can you believe we're getting another game in a similar vain from Sony?

I didn't know what to expect from Pain from when I first heard about it. But once I saw it in action and read up on it, the idea is quite novel, especially for a downloadable game. The entire point of this game isn't to enthrall you; on the other hand, it's to make you burst out laughing. So the premise of this game is to explore the genre of comedy, in a videogame nonetheless. As opposed to experiencing scripted comedic events in a game, Sony wants you to create your own.

As you can see from the screens, you load yourself into a human-sized slingshot, strong enough to hurl you as far as the eye can see. Your mission will be to cause as much destruction and to string along as many combos as possible…using your body. So in the process of deforming yourself, you'll also be destroying parts of your locale, and all of that adds up to a score. Think of how Crash mode works in the Burnout series, but take away the car and use a human propelled by a slingshot, instead. Yeah, there's lots of fun to be had here, guys.

Pain will be a downloadable PSN title only and it will feature an online community where you'll be able to upload and share your personal slingshot catastrophes. Each video can be ranked and commented on. Now of course there'll be multiple characters, the final total is unknown at the moment. Each character has different traits, so not all characters will cause the same amount of damage, too.

There are nine ways to play the single-player mode, such as Spank the Monkey and Mime Toss. Meanwhile multiplayer stuff consists of Horse and various other online competitions. Sony emphasizes real-time destruction as a component of the game, touting that the entire environment is fully destructible and completely physics based. And speaking of which, the physics engine is based on ever popular Havok engine.

Sony doesn't plan to release Pain as just a regular release. Instead, they'll be updating it with downloadable add-on content, such as more characters, themes, modes and so forth. Visually, Pain continues the par that Sony has set for their downloadable titles. So you won't be seeing half-baked visuals, but instead a really clean and smooth picture running at a solid framerate. The game is intentionally cartoon in its aesthetics, and that lends to its charm.

Sony has yet to announce a concrete date for Pain, but we're predicting it to arrive sometime in early 2008.