Abusement Park add-on for the PS3 game Pain

Abusement Park is a downloadable add-on for the Sony PlayStation 3 game called Pain. It is available from the PlayStation Store for just $5.99, but it does require that you have the Pain game to play. I actually found this add-on more fun than the original game, because there’s so much more you can do in it.

Pain is a crazy game where you put a guy on a catapult and launch him out into an obstacle course of a world where he uses his body to destroy and knock things down. It was built using a fairly realistic physics engine to calculate gravity, resistance, and more. The fun of the game is finding all the hidden little things you can do in the game, as it is packed full of surprises. The original game only has one main level to it, and that’s a downtown city scenario.

This add-on is called Abusement Park because it is meant to resemble an amusement park, complete with carnival rides and attractions, plus a ton of hidden extras. In the center of it all is a volcano, there’s a roller coaster overhead, a log ride, race cars, and more. Just like in the first game, everything is interactive and you can pull of some really weird combo moves by playing off items in the field.

For example, there are two ‘rides’ that spin around pretty quickly. If you launch your character into one of them and he hits just right, he will be thrown to the other side of the park. With a little luck and good timing, you can rack up all kinds of points just by hitting as many items as possible. There’s also plenty of built-in challenges, like finding items or hitting things. The fun is in exploring this new map. I liked being able to fall into the water and ride the current around the map.

Just like in the original game, the developer included a ton of easter eggs. You have to take the time to explore the map and literally try every little thing that looks interesting. I noticed a few levers spread around the board, so I started trying to pull them and got some really interesting results. In another part, I found a hidden area behind a stack of hay bales.

If you liked the original Pain, then you will get a kick out of this Abusement Park add-on. For the $5.99 price tag, I think it is a little too expensive for the whole package. In my review of Pain, I complained that there just wasn’t enough to the game, and I think this add-on should have been either free or a much lower price. Either way, it adds a wonderful new playing field to explore, and you could easily spend hours tossing your character around in it.