We left Daniel Garner in somewhat of a predicament at the end of Painkiller. Having managed to stop the invasion of Purgatory by the armies of Hell, defeating the Generals that lead them and even vanquishing Satan himself, the only prize Danny boy got at the end of his adventure was a day trip to the very place he was trying to hold back. Yet another army has been formed and a new leader is controlling them, ready to follow in the footsteps of his predecessor, but will you really care?

Painkiller didn't need a story and it still doesn't need one for this expansion pack, yet there is one in there and I'm still not caring. It's played out through mammoth cut scenes that last longer than they should, giving you details of locations and characters you'll never be bothered to follow up on. And why should you? You'll spend much of Battle Out Of Hell doing the same things you did in Painkiller, namely running and shooting a lot.

As an expansion pack, Battle Out Of Hell doesn't differ too much from the structure of the game it's expanding. You're still a lone gunman fighting the forces of evil, you still find yourself up against odds so great that even Arnie would flinch and you still jump from one location to another through a variety of twisted levels. Linearity and repetition are very much a part of the game, yet so too is that oddly addictive charm that makes this expansion far more enjoyable than it should be.

The level structure remains the same; start at one location, battle through thousands of monsters in specified zones and repeat to fade. There's really no more variety in the game than that. The action is non-stop and very one-note. It seems Hell didn't learn its lesson after the first failed attempt at invasion and as such there's no change in their tactics. Actually, I'm being kind by calling their mass suicidal charges tactical, as they really offer no challenge and pose little threat.

So again, the game is won by constant shooting and endless strafing, yet for all its ills and repetition, it's still fairly enjoyable. Again, much like Painkiller, you'll get the most enjoyment from Battle Out Of Hell by switching your brain to numbing mode and just going with the gratuitous flow of the carnage. The over-the-top (if slightly old looking by today's standards) physics engine makes for a far more enjoyable experience than in similar games like Serious Sam. You may just be shooting endless waves of generic bad guys, but seeing dozens of them fly and bounce off nearby objects after peppering them with explosives, well it never gets old.

Yet while the game may lack any real kind of variety in gameplay terms, levels and enemies alike still boast an impressive and interesting amount of detail to them. A spooky children's orphanage, an eerily silent and massively open city and the twisted fairground complete with on-rails roller coaster section, lacking in interactivity perhaps but these differing levels do make progression through the game all the more interesting. Their inhabitants too make for a curious mix of deranged looking hell spawn, all unique to whichever setting they find themselves trapped in. It's a pity their lack of intellect doesn't make them as unique to fight as they appear.

Other, light additions from this expansion include a couple of new weapons, including a slightly weedy and not that impressive assault rifle/flamethrower combo and a much more impressive five shot stake gun with little bouncy explosive balls. Added to that a sniper scope placed onto the multi-firing stake weapon and you have a new favourite weapon for Painkiller, adequately suited to the hoards you have to battle. Beyond these latest additions however, there's little that's been improved on the original game. It adds an extra chapter, some new and interesting levels and monsters while upping the armaments count a little, but beyond that it's still the same repetitive shooting game it was before. But it's an expansion, it wasn't meant to do anything new, just add to existing content, and that it does to the letter.

A standard expansion pack for a game that's now looking a little dated, adrenalin junkies who couldn't get enough of the original's non-stop, pulse pounding action will find satisfaction with what's offered in Painkiller: Battle Out Of Hell.

Reviewed by Kieron Giacopazzi for AceGamez (All Rights Reserved).