Pain (our original review here) is the very definition of a love or hate game. Even with the limited scope of the original release, people who loved it (me) spent 20+ hours causing havoc, racking up points, and no doubt chuckling at the physics heavy, Jackass-style gameplay. On the flip side are those who just didn't get it, and probably spent no more than 2 minutes messing around with the game before wondering what the point was. It must be a purely genetic thing, so if you fall into the latter group, it's okay. Anyway the big expansion pack, Pain Amusement Park, is here and it more than doubles the size of the game and adds a nice dose of variety. For $5.99, if you are a fan, it's a must buy. For those not into the puzzle + physics + Jackass gameplay or style, the "Abusement Park" is not going to do much to change your opinion.
Not counting the rather feature-packed free update and Trophies which were released at the same time, the Pain Amusement Park will undoubtedly keep Pain players busy for a good while. While the original Pain took place in a small slice of a busy downtown city, the Amusement Park is centered around a large indoor amusement park. Uncle Jimmy's Fun Spot is no ordinary fun park however; Somehow he has squeezed a roller coaster, a pirate ship ride, a log flume, a go kart track, a number of barf-worth spinning rides, a huge slide, and a massive working volcano, not to mention concession stands and various customer amenities, into one freestanding domed building. It's clearly the work of a forward thinking architect, or maybe a madman. Either way, it's a well designed level that takes a decidedly different approach than the Downtown area. Most of the iterations of the Downtown layout were fairly linear. You launched into it, did some damage, and once you hit the street you were sort of better off staying within the same area to keep your combo going. Once the traffic and action died down, you were more or less stuck and the launch quickly came to an end. The Amusement Park is much more circular with a lot more motion, interactivity and methods of keeping the chaos going almost indefinitely. Thanks to the positioning and action of the rides, as well as strategically located air vents, there is an obvious flow from one area to the next, which can be perpetually repeated with practice. Not only does this lead to even greater amounts of destruction, chaos and pain, it also leads to much higher scores. Those struggling to hit 2 million points in Downtown, can easily break 4 or 5 million without much trouble here.
Besides the point-based standard gameplay modes, Amusement Park has a few new time-wasting, single and multi-player modes. HOT n COLD is a treasure hunt of sorts that uses exploding teddy bears as hints; Clown Toss requires you to fling an annoying jumping clown into a number of strategically placed exploding barrels within a time limit; Call the Shot is a HORSE-like multiplayer mode that allows players to challenge each other by pulling off difficult combinations, and then betting whether or not they can be repeated; And lastly, Trauma puts players head-to-head in causing as much pain as possible. Some modes are more fun than others, and some are more difficult than others, but the variety is there. I personally just love to mess with the regular Abusement Park/After Hours modes the most. On top of the game's plethora of in-game awards and trophies, the Amusement Park also has a selection of XMB Trophies to unlock. As you'd expect, most are not exactly easy to earn without investing some time into the game.
As with the original Downtown area, Pain is still an impressive physics sandbox, whether or not you like the style or theme of the game. Simple actions can trigger insane chain reactions of chaos, which can sometimes take a couple of minutes to play out. Visually, Pain Amusement Park is still chock full of production values, with a lot of detail and obvious work put into the level creation, assets and humorous gags. Even with the physics models working overtime, and reactions happening in parts of the level that can't be seen (which is often), the game rarely has any performance issues.
What can I say. I have a juvenile sense of humor, and have an appreciation for the physics programming going on in the game. Amusement Park is a great addition to the game, it's priced fairly, and fans will no doubt get a kick out of the new and chaotic environment. And for those who still can't get enough, don't worry, we hear more Pain is coming soon.
