Painkiller

by Dreamcatcher

Product Features

• Intense gameplay - The player will be constantly outnumbered, fighting against seemingly insurmountable odds
• 3D PAIN Engine capable of pumping out 100X the polygons of some of the latest shooters
• Minimum System Requirements - Windows 98\ME\2000\XP; 1 GHz Intel Pentium III or AMD Athlon processor; 256 MB RAM; CD-ROM or DVD-ROM speed - 4x; Hard Drive space - 1.2 GB available; Video - 32 MB Direct 3D compatible video card; DirectX 8.1b or better compatible sound card
• Play with keyboard and mouse

Product Details

• Shipping: Currently, item can be shipped only within the U.S. and to APO/FPO addresses. For APO/FPO shipments, please check with the manufacturer regarding warranty and support issues.
• ASIN: B00008QOL6
• Item Weight: 13 ounces
• Media: CD-ROM
• Release Date: April 12, 2004
• Average Customer Review: 3.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (82 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #19,139 in Video Games (See Top 100 in Video Games)
• Discontinued by manufacturer: Yes

Product Description

Game Informer Review

Certain jaded gamers have been known to complain that modern FPS titles are too complex and stray from their roots. Those people, along with many others, should be more than satisfied with Painkiller, a shooter in the grand old style. Puzzles are typically nothing more complex than killing everything in sight, and levels usually funnel you from one encounter to the next with barely enough time to reload. These frantic fights are the emphasis and strength of Painkiller.

The recent demo of Painkiller, though entertaining for a while, really doesn't do the full game justice. The retail version is vastly more engaging, with some of the best enemy variety around and lots of unlockable special powers. Complete a level while fulfilling a special goal, like a time limit or weapon restriction, and you'll receive a Black Tarot card. These can be equipped to add either a constant or one-time effect, and come in quite handy. Taking half damage or getting double ammo from boxes is as useful as you'd think, especially on the harder difficulty settings.

The ever-changing encounters that you must face are the saving grace of Painkiller. Developer People Can Fly uses 26 different enemy types (plus bosses) perfectly. Just when you start getting bored with annihilating the grunts of the first chapter, a 350-foot-tall boss appears. After that, enemies start having more ranged attacks and explosives, which totally changes the rules of engagement. Guys with swords aren't a big problem when you've got a shotgun, but charging a 400-pound chain gun-wielding demon isn't the best idea ever. Of course, using a rocket launcher is good way to turn the tables back around.

Brilliant level design is the other way that Painkiller remains minty fresh despite being a straight up run-and-gun fragathon. Killing the exact same five baddies can be an utterly different experience when you're in a tiny corridor rather than an open courtyard. The way the stages are set up, with both terrain and enemies, gives players plenty of opportunity to explore the potentials of the available weapons and figure out how to use them most effectively.

The weaponry (or lack thereof), however, is my one big knock against Painkiller. There are only five to choose from, and though the alt-fire modes are very different from the regular attacks, 10 is hardly a huge number of ways to blow stuff up. They're still fun to use, but I found myself defaulting to the trusty old shotgun a bit more than I'd like to. Additionally, they are horribly unbalanced for multiplayer – the combination chain gun/rocket launcher is approximately 378 times more effective than anything else. This makes all but one of the multiplayer modes (the one where everybody switches weapons at regular intervals) boring, and severely limits this title's replay value.

Sub-par online play is hardly fatal to Painkiller, though. The outstanding graphics, unparalleled physics, huge levels, tons of unlockable cards, enormous bosses, and gameplay variety make this a must-have for anyone who pines for the glory days of Doom.

Concept:
Explore the poignant moral dilemma of how best to mow down demons with various weapons

Graphics:
You'll need to expand your vocabulary to accurately describe how freaking great this looks

Sound:
With so many wailing guitars, you'd expect a bunch of ninjas to show up

Playability:
The fact that you can map Rocket Jump to a button says it all

Entertainment:
Perpetrating extreme violence against the hordes of Satan has never been so much fun

Replay:
Moderately High

Rated: 8.5 out of 10
Editor: Adam Biessener
Issue: June 2004

2nd Opinion:
Painkiller does exactly what I imagine the developers set out to do. This is a game for the trigger-happy killer in all of us, with little in the way of plot, subtlety, or characters to distract us from what's important. What's important? Shooting demons. Lots and lots of demons. With beautifully gothic-inspired environments, you'll wade through literally hundreds of enemies while gleefully popping them full of buckshot and wooden stakes. There are no puzzles and little in the way of exploration, but you might be too busy shooting to notice that you stopped thinking nearly three hours ago. The most original aspect of the game has to be the gargantuan size of the bosses. We're talking walking mountains here – truly mind-boggling immensity. Even so, the game may easily bore many players who would like to see a little more out of their FPS. Also, unless you love instrumental metal music, be warned that you'll be the one needing the painkiller.

Rated: 8.25 out of 10
Editor: Matt Miller


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Product Description

Painkiller is a first-person horror shooter designed to satisfy the gamer's hunger for intense fast-paced action. You are Painkiller a mercenary for hire charged with cleaning out nests of the undead. But an unholy pact with a demon unknowingly puts you square in the middle of a fight for control of the underworld... with the future of humanity hanging in the balance.System Requirements:OS: Windows 98\ME\2000\XP CPU: 1 GHz Intel Pentium III or AMD Athlon processor RAM: 256 MB CD-ROM or DVD-ROM speed: 4x Hard Drive space: 1.2 GB available Video: 32 MB Direct 3D compatible video card Sound: DirectX 8.1b or better compatible sound card Input: keyboard and mouseFormat: WIN 98ME2000XP Genre: ENTERTAINMENT Rating:  UPC: 625904391506 Manufacturer No: PC39150MB

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

26 of 27 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars As good as mindless action can get, June 7, 2004

By 

bayou_hannibal "bayou_hannibal" (West Virginia, USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Painkiller (CD-ROM)

I almost think of Painkiller like two games. One of them is pure, addictive, incredible-looking, adrenaline-pumping action Nirvana. The other is a dull and sometimes frustrating game when Painkiller deviates from its formula by trying to give you something besides mindless action. Thankfully, the former is what you get to play most of the time, which is why Painkiller is such a great game.

When Painkiller is on, it is really on. This game does "mindless action" as well as any game has ever done. Picture yourself running around the edges of a room, never standing still, shooting at stuff like there's no tomorrow, trying to gun down and blow up dozens of enemies while dodging their punches, axes, swords, and bullets. A wide variety of enemies exists for you to blast into bloody chunks or stick to walls with your stake gun. The generally have simple behaviors. They rush at you, shoot stuff at you, or shoot stuff and then rush at you. There is just enough variety in the enemies though to keep you on your toes and force you to use all of the game's 5 well-balanced weapons. There are enemies that poison you, enemies that slow you down, enemies that take 3 shotgun blasts to kill, enemies that zig-zag when they rush at you, etc. You will quickly learn the hotkeys and alt-fire modes for your weapons and switch back and forth, based upon what situation you are facing at any one second.

The game only has five weapons, but don't be deceived into thinking that this is some kind of shortcoming. They are all really cool and useful, and each has a meaningful and useful alt-fire mode. Thus, the game effectively has ten weapons, all of which you will use frequently throughout the game. The game's namesake weapon, The Painkiller, is like a chainsaw on crack. The shotgun has an alt-fire mode that freezes enemies in their tracks so that you can blast them to bits with one blast. The stake gun is a powerful weapon that showcases the game's rag-doll physics by letting you impale baddies onto walls. The fourth weapon is a powerful chain gun/rocket launcher combo, and the fifth weapon can create a miniature electric storm that fries anyone who comes near it.

A couple of minor upgrades in this game make it slightly different from other run-and-gun shooters. The most notable is the collection of souls, which come from the bodies of your fallen enemies. The souls only stay on the screen for a short time, so you have to run and collect them. When you collect 66 souls, you morph into an indestructible demon for a short time. Thus, the game actually rewards you for not running backwards all day. Another feature of this game is the tarot card system. Tarot cards are basically power-ups that you can use once per level, and that you unlock by accomplishing certain tasks (like finishing a level using only one weapon).

The graphics for this game are gorgeous, and they exist across a wide variety of scenery and environments. Everyone one of the game's 24 locations looks different. All of the scenery is inspired and creative. Painkiller shows an astonishing level of polish and attention to detail that I don't think I have ever seen in a first person shooter. One little example of this is in the game's fantastic Opera House level. All over the Opera House, there are at least a couple dozen paintings on the walls. And all of those paintings are highly detailed and unique. None of them repeat. This is different from most games, where scenery such as this repeats the same five or six items. As I said, this is a minor detail, but it is one of many, many little things that prove that an enormous effort went into this game.

The game's audio is also impressive. Most of it is consistent with the bizarre afterlife setting that the game tries to convey. In most areas you can hear low-pitched moans, whispers, creaks, etc. The exception might be the game's heavy metal action soundtrack, which isn't bad, but seems a bit out of place.

That's the great part. Then there's the "other" game-the one where Painkiller tries to do other stuff, like forcing you to break open a hundred containers on every level looking for gold. Yes, that's right. The game is like Diablo when it comes to breaking open boxes and chests to find treasure. You have to do it, because you need gold to use your Tarot cards. This stuff isn't much fun in RPG's, so it is TOTALLY out of place here. To make matters worse, a lot of the gold and ammo are hidden in secret areas. These areas are insanely hard to find, and just as hard to get to once you do find them. I was able to find over 50% of the secrets in Serious Sam, but I couldn't find 10% of the secrets in Painkiller without help from the message boards. You could spend 2 hours searching a level for the secrets and only find 2 out of 4 of them. Occasionally, the levels are set up in a way that makes it hard to find an exit. Once again, this is when the game is NOT fun. Painkiller would have been better without the material that disrupts the fast-paced action.

The end boss for this game was a huge letdown. I spent a frustrating hour trying to figure out what "magic trick" I needed to beat him. Then I went to the message boards, found out the trick, and beat him in about 2 minutes.

Painkiller takes the old Quake and Serious Sam formula to a new level. While doing so, it also provides an experience that is different from those games, and in some ways, better. If you enjoy defeating swarms of enemies in fast-paced shooters, then you can't go wrong with Painkiller.

10 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Most of these folks are right...., April 15, 2004

By 

J. M Quiggins "Sole_Fish" (Owensboro, Ky. USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Painkiller (CD-ROM)

I agree 100% that this program is everything it should be. A fierce battle to the end. Lots of levels. Over a dozen hours of gameplay (on medium difficulty) , and some excellent AI. The levels are sprawling and the 'baddies' are very eclectic. A huge assortment of very intense battles with one very powerful weapon named 'The Painkiller'. This thing could slice through solid steel. And, it leaves quite a mess behind. Especially when you pull out the blade. The weapon selection is limited to , i think, 6 weapons. But, they all have a secondary fire, and that comes in quite handy. So, there's really a dozen weapons. Yes, it's a lot like what we are to expect Doom 3 to be. Much more shallow than we expect Half-life 2 to be. And, a definite stepup from Serious Sam. A blast all the way through ,if you're someone who believes that a shooter should be just that. Only a shooter. No side-missions that have you running around doing RPG stuff. Just direct, messy, in-your-face blastin'. I love this game.

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Entertaining, May 17, 2004

By A Customer

This review is from: Painkiller (CD-ROM)

I was unsure whether to give this 3 or 4 stars. First, I never played Serious Sam, but I did play Will Rock, and I can say that this game is exactly the same type of game. You move along, hords of baddies pop up, and you run around blowing them away. And of course, at the end of each level, is a boss to a kill. It is as simple as that. For me, although I did enjoy this game, it does get a little boring, I prefer a litle more depth to my games.

As for the good things, the graphics are excellent. This is the by far the best part of the game, so I hope you all have a good system. The baddies are very cool, and there are loads of different kinds. It sounds good, and the background music is a nice touch.

The biggest problem I have with the game, is that it is limited by only itself. This game could have been really awesome if there was more too it. The story behind it is unique, and the game sets a very compelling, and dark mood. The 4 or 5 cutscenes are very well done. This game has all the tools and potential to be great, really great, but lacks any substance to get there.

All and all, this is a good game, worthy of purchase as long as you know there is nothing more then running around shooting things, and from time to time that can be relaxing. I also have had no problems technically with this game, and I know a lot of people are complaining about it. I will not say the game is technically perfect, but for me it works fine.