The kingpin of Pain

Fancy a flight from a giant rubber band catapult? What about discovering why you'll never need to go to a real bowling alley again thanks to the SIXAXIS Wireless Controller? PSN has it all, just for you.

Pain

Famous comedian, director and general all-round movie bigwig Mel Brooks once quipped: "tragedy is when I cut my finger. Comedy is when you walk into an open sewer and die". Pain is where this delicately subjective line of morality is explored... and subsequently slammed, smashed and run over. All for the fine art of comedy.

Your mission, should you choose to accept it, is to launch your character from a rubber band catapult and steer the hapless victim into a number of objects and hazards littered around an open cityscape, to generate as much damage as possible for points. By taking advantage of the wince-inducing physics and creating painful combos, your avatar will bounce, crash and generally turn the environment into something out of a whacky cartoon.

It's this slapstick quality of Pain that instantly makes it stand out. Lining up your poor patron of pain for a score-ramping demolition spree is incredible fun. The scenarios that can occur from your exploits are utterly hilarious as you seek to develop the largest chain reaction possible - you can aim for an oversized bowling ball which will subsequently fall on top of a car, causing the car to crash into an exploding crate, which derails a train, knocks over a girder and... well, a giant novelty doughnut will probably fall on you just to add insult to injury. It's classic animation comedy and brilliant for it.

With six different game modes to try out as well as trophy achievements, unlockable characters, costumes and more, Pain offers something refreshingly different that's not just addictive but extremely funny, too - in a totally harmless, side-splitting, gut-busting way.

High Velocity Bowling

If you've ever been bowling you'll know that there's a lot more to the modest sport than just throwing a large glossy sphere at ten pins down a lane. Power, accuracy, spin and judgment all make a difference - and now these vital elements can at last be recreated at home through High Velocity Bowling... and a large throw of SIXAXIS Wireless Controller motion controls.

From the off, High Velocity Bowling is different from many other games of its type. Instead of the typical pressing of buttons to guide and fire your ball, power and aim are handled by the way you angle and gesture your own hand. Tilt the Wireless Controller to the left or right and your character will aim that way, while swinging your arms in a typical bowling motion judges the amount of force the ball will have in its destination to the pins (or, if your aim is particularly bad, the gutters).

This creates a whole new dimension to playing as your actions are translated on-screen with impressive results. Your individual style of bowling becomes the signature for your success or failure across ten themed alleys and various challenges of skill and accuracy. It takes a short while to get into the swing (sorry) of things, but it soon becomes a comfortable pursuit, especially when competing against up to four players.

With the added spice of eight colourful characters to pick or play against (each with their own style, from the four step shuffle of Beatrice to the arrogant swagger of Barry), High Velocity Bowling is an entertaining package that's bound to bring a smile to your face, and a great party game to boot. Unassuming yet innovative, even if you're not a fan of the sport this iteration is likely to leave you bowled over with joy.