Never has a title felt so entirely appropriate as it does for 'Painkiller Purgatory'. Despite its theme, playing the game is easily one of the more numbing, soulless experiences you could have that not only manages to poorly represent the series it comes from, but also the genre of classic over-the-top First Person Shooters.

The Painkiller series has typically been defined by two factors that add up to huge amounts of fun - clever and varied weaponry and power-ups that provide a multitude of ways to dispatch creatures in any way that takes your fancy; and a multitude of creatures willing to throw themselves at you with abandon while attempting to overwhelm your firepower with sheer brute-force. The addition of various beautiful Gothic environments that run the gamut of dark and brooding to airy, open and exposed only manages to emphasize the different strengths of your weapons and your enemies, adding a further dimension to the gameplay that helped to prevent it from feeling stale.

While it's unfair to expect all or indeed any of these elements in the iOS release of the franchise, the game players are give is more akin to a tech-demo in its early stages of development than a truly playable game. Without even taking in to account the bland, gray/brown visuals and amateurish special effects, the game itself lacks life as players simply spam their attack button while wrestling their player through doors to each 'new' area.

Two control variations allow players to either move and shoot with dual virtual sticks or via a single stick and swiping to look around, however both control setups utilize a console-like acceleration system that makes your view slide around uncontrollably. Strangely the need to even bother to look around is made almost entirely redundant by an auto-aim system that only requires a vague direction to result in a dead enemy. The end result is a complete lack of confidence in the controls that only works against the player when facing off against larger 'boss' creatures that require some level of agility to out-maneuver the massive attacks sent your way.

When the basic, core elements of being able to move and shoot can't be done without feeling labored, it's a safe bet that the rest of its gameplay is going to fall flat on its face. Recognizable elements of the Painkiller franchise may exist in 'Purgatory', but you're better off avoiding this title and sticking to the 2004 original.