It's interesting to see nostalgia bring back genres of games that were forgotten about. Boomer shooters, Roguelikes, 2d Metroidvanias, the list goes on. One genre that is yet to receive a revival is the 3d person lock on shooter genre. Perhaps it died with Resi 4 or with better aiming controls but even in the 360 generation we didn't see many games like Jet Force Gemini any more. So, when I booted up G.I.Joe and saw it was a coop 3rd person lock-on shooter, I was pleasantly surprised. The game has a fixed camera and when you encounter enemies you just lock on and fire, using the right stick to switch between enemies. This enjoyment lasted all of about 10 minutes until I remembered that these type of games kinda suck and are extremely repetitive. G.I.Joe is basically that, a crappy repetitive shooter than isn't even really much fun with a friend. There are collectables, there are different character classes, there's a half-baked story and voice acting lines but none of this can save the bad gameplay. The most frustrating part is that it is pretty easy to die and then you need to start the whole level all over again. I don't mind this difficulty, but there is not much you can do about getting killed. There is very little cover and any cover you do find explodes 3 seconds after you hide behind it leaving you feeling frustrated. Let's not bring back the lock-on shooters, they are not good. If you want proof of how much they suck, play this.

For the uninitiated, Painkiller was a pretty rad FPS that came out back in 2004. Not dissimilar to boomer shooters like Doom and Quake, the game was an action packed FPS with a focus on speed, explosions and gore. Its basically remembered for its enemies, setting and excellent weapons. Now according to wikipedia, this is both a remake of and a sequel to that game, which doesn't really make any sense to me, but oh well. It's more of the same fast paced secret filled FPS fun and is a nice addition to the library of COD clones that make up the majority of the console's FPS games.

You play as a dude named Daniel who makes a pact with the devil to go and collect souls in order to save your wife. You are then thrown into various levels with the soul aim of killing all demons in sight. The simplistic gameplay style is really nice. Your character moves quickly and has an excellent array of weapons to take down the demons. There is the famous stake gun, which fires giant wooden stakes that pin enemies to walls. There is a spinning blade weapon, which cuts off limbs and there's some more standard guns like shotguns and miniguns. What makes this even more enjoyable is the alternative fire. The shotgun is a great example. While the standard fire mode is pretty boring, the alternate fire mode freezes enemies so that you can take them down in one quick standard shot.

The enemies themselves remind me a lot of the enemies in Quake. Medieval knights, Lovecraft style beasts and even evil children, delightful. You also have a boss fight at the end of each chapter. They aren't anything revolutionary, but fighting against giant beasts 30 times your size is pretty epic. The levels themselves are fun and varied, ranging from train stations, swamps to abandoned orphanages. Another nice feature is the inclusion of the unlockable tarot cards which give you upgrades that can be used with the press of a button. These cards are found by achieving special level based conditions, such as killing 50 enemies with a certain weapon or finishing a level particularly quickly. It is an old school style of unlockable which tells you everything you need to know about this game, it's really quite retro feeling.

Now it's not without it's flaws. The campaign is incredibly short and really left me wanting more. I do appreciate that it is replayable, especially with the challenges, unlockables and different difficulty levels. I would have liked a few more chapters though. The other issue is that certain levels can be a bit confusing. Now the enemy AI isn't great, and I'm kind of OK with that for this style of game. The issue is more down to how the levels are set up. A lot of levels require you to kill all enemies before moving on. With the shitty AI, I frequently found myself searching for the final enemy to kill and this really ruined the flow of the fast paced shooter. It's a game that I really like, but one that I wish there was more of. With the multiplayer now long gone, it feels a little lacking in terms of content and I have a feeling its going to shoot up in price. With that in mind, If this sounds like your type of game, pick it up ASAP.