PAIN, The New Soother

I came across this game while browsing the online Playstation Store. It cost me $9.99 to download the full version, and it was worth every penny! You select your character, place them in a giant slingshot, and launch them into the environment.

Environments will differ depending on which stage you select, from a bustling down town, to a large city scape, where everything is interactive with your flailing body. You can gauge your launch strength and angle, pick your destination, and release. As you sail through the air, you can aim yourself towards your target, pull off different poses ranging from helicopter spins to a cannon ball shaped pose. The longer you hold the pose, the more points you get.

When you hit your target, you get points for the impact as well any other objects you collide into.
At one point in the game, I launched myself full strength towards a distant skyscraper, took out a lit up hotel sign, struck a box of explosives that sent me flying in the opposite direction, slammed into a construction worker, which demolished a scaffolding, and I ended my trip by landing on a flatbed truck of plate glass windows! I then began tapping on the "Ooch" buttons, causing me to spasm and jerk into other surrounding objects for more points.

The Ooch meter can be charged every time you impact with something, proper timing can send you flying off again, as well as using the sixaxis feature of the controller to charge up the Ooch, and getting even more air time. Add in the score system and awards won by how you impact and what you impact, it's a challenge! You can also grab onto objects, either flinging them as you fly about, or holding on for the ride. I sent myself flying into a distant bowling advertisement, complete with a giant bowling ball and pins. I latched onto the bowling ball, and rode it to the street below, screaming the entire way as it rolled over me, racking up even more points. When the ball slowed, I released myself and flew into a passing taxi cab, which bounced me into a restaurants outdoor patio, scoring more injury points!

But what fun would all of this be if you couldn't do a replay? At any point during your flight, you can tap a button that will instantly reset you back on the slingshot. Tap another button, you can replay your wild journey, while in real-time, slow-motion, and you can even manually move and steer the camera as you watch. Nothing is quite as fun or funny as watching the point of impact, as you do a groin plant onto a swinging steel girder, which then sent you spinning madly into a giant cereal bowl advertisement.

Rated "T" for Teens, for suggestive themes and mild violence, some people may be sickened by the bone crunching, skin splitting impacts the character makes with everyday objects.