DreamCatcher Painkiller

Painkiller is a great throwback to...

Strengths: Sharp graphics, highly realistic physics, varied and sometimes disturbing enemies, tons of gore, lots of HUGE spaces

Weakness: Not much variety in gameplay, boring cinematics.

Painkiller is a great throwback to the days where FPS games were all about blowing stuff up. There's a story lurking in here, but to call it pointless would be an understatement. Likewise, the method for beating a level never varies. There are no codes, no stealth, and no sneaking around, the only real determining factor is the size of your gun. This is what gives the game a refreshing...
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Painkiller is a great throwback to the days where FPS games were all about blowing stuff up. There's a story lurking in here, but to call it pointless would be an understatement. Likewise, the method for beating a level never varies. There are no codes, no stealth, and no sneaking around, the only real determining factor is the size of your gun. This is what gives the game a refreshing simplicity. Wander into a room and start shooting, the more destruction the better, and that's where this game shines.

Graphics: A small step below Doom 3. While it's not as visually attractive, it's very sleek and polished. Enemies and objects are highly detailed. Environments are typically drab and cold, but intricate and, most impresively, HUGE. There's very little of that 2D scrolling background effect here. If you see an object in the distance, it's quite likely a fully 3D shape that convincingly moves in relation to the character. Several moments in the game will hit you with their expansiveness, and you just can't help but sit and stare. Complementing this is an amazing physics system courtesy of the Havok engine. Items are blown around by bullets and explosions, and bodies realistically fly from a shotgun blast. One of the most impressive uses of the physics is also one of the game's most gruesome effects. Firing your stake gun into an enemy will often fling them back and pin them to a surface. If they're above you when you fire, fully expect to see the now deceased bad guy swinging in the breeze halfway up the wall with a stake through his chest. Despite all this detail, the game is suprisingly forgiving on hardware. A modern $600 system with a medium end graphics card should run it with maxed out detail and a good framerate.

Sound: Solid, but not exceptional. The guns all sound mean and loud, and some of the associated damage sounds are pretty disgusting (especially the stake gun). Environmental effects range from spooky to pretty bland.

Gameplay: Point and click. Nothing elaborate or especially challenging.

Final roundup: This game has a special magic that most FPS shooters don't have anymore. It's technically advanced, but has a breezy old school mentality to it. Whatever shortcomings the gameplay may have, it is more than compensated for by the slick graphics and impressive physics.

By dentj - Nov 12, 2004

I had problems loading the game at...

Strengths: Graphics, gameplay, and physics.

Weakness: High end system needed. Not enough weapons.

I had problems loading the game at first because I had virtual drive software on my system. I uninstalled the virtual drive software now it works properly. The game also take a lomg time to load some stages of the game. The game play is great lots of action and the enemy bosses are huge. This games physics are outstanding. I believe the game would load much faster if I had more memory and a...
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I had problems loading the game at first because I had virtual drive software on my system. I uninstalled the virtual drive software now it works properly. The game also take a lomg time to load some stages of the game. The game play is great lots of action and the enemy bosses are huge. This games physics are outstanding. I believe the game would load much faster if I had more memory and a better cpu currently running a 1.6ghz P4, 512mb pc2100, and an ATI AIW 9800 Pro.

By Ducalv - Aug 31, 2004

Painkiller is for sure going to...

Strengths: Very good graphics, fast gameplay, good level and character design, dark scary environment, and great physics system.

Weakness: From what i've read there is only gonna be 5 weapons available in the game but with alternative fire. The weapons are nothing new, I've seen similar weapons like those in previous FPS games.

Painkiller is for sure going to rock. It reminds me of Doom and the first Quake but with super updated graphics, physics and gameplay. I love the variety of character that the developers created for that game, they look awesome. I'd say the same about its environments, they're amazing. The physics system which is very important to me is just gonna be outstanding. I can't wait to buy my own copy...
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Painkiller is for sure going to rock. It reminds me of Doom and the first Quake but with super updated graphics, physics and gameplay. I love the variety of character that the developers created for that game, they look awesome.
I'd say the same about its environments, they're amazing. The physics system which is very important to me is just gonna be outstanding. I can't wait to buy my own copy of Painkiller once it's realesed.
From what i've seen the developers (People can fly) have done an excelent job on this game so far and I hope they'll improve it even more until it's finaly in the stores sometime in january 2004.

By bicho - Oct 3, 2003

Waste of Money!

Strengths: none.

Weakness: environments repeat and are small in scale. weapon makes you virtually invivceable. BORING!

this game sucks so bad. i sure wasted my money on this one. would have been better off buying a bf2 expansion instead. try DOOM3 if you want a good deamonic dark game.
This stuff sucks so bad. they only make sales from people making poor judgement.

By anonymous; - Mar 18, 2006

Painkiller

Painkiller receives an overall TopTenREVIEWS rating of 3.33 out of 4.00. It is ranked the #1,121 game of all time, #31 game of 2004 for the PC and #297 PC game of all time. The rating and ranking is based on an average of 99 critic scores, awards and other criteria. To see a breakdown of the game ranking, read individual critic reviews, or see how other games ranked, click on the link below.
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By TopTenREVIEWS.com - Mar 17, 2008