Painkiller Black Edition includes the expansion pack Battle Out of Hell, featuring 10 additional single-player levels and many new villans.
Also in series
Reviews View More
Painkiller is a game that I've attempted to beat many times, and I can confidently say I've played through at least 80% of this game, but could never push myself to complete it. I think I've always wanted to like it because there are many reasons to, but at its core it's just an extremely basic and poorly thought-out shooter.
I remember when Serious Sam came out, most people called it a Doom-clone, which couldn't be further from the truth. Then Painkiller came out and people were comparing it to Serious Sam. I suppose because both games feature big crowds of enemies. But there's a major difference here.
Serious Sam often places you in big and open environments that sometimes have buildings or other obstacles laid out in a manner that lets you maneuver and strategize. It also gives you diverse rosters of enemies and weapons, each of which perform different functions. Certain weapons are more effective against certain enemies, which incentivizes you to constantly switch between weapons to target enemies that might be more dangerous or closer to you at that point in time. There is a lot of complexity to Serious Sam, which I feel often flies over people's heads (maybe even the developers' heads sometimes).
Painkiller has none of that. Most enemies function the same, the roster of weapons is very small and aside from range, there's no significant difference between most of them. You have your shotgun, your rifle equivalent (nailgun) and your machinegun/grenade launcher. The rest are just variations. Each room functions as a tiny arena that you're locked in with respawning enemies. In most cases enemies spawn from 1-3 same places and you can easily just stand there and shoot at the same spot. Or find a place they have trouble getting to, let them congregate there and do the same. The entire gameplay is dead simple.
That being said, I'd be lying if I said it wasn't fun. Mainly due to the physics. But of course after a while you get tired of doing the same crap over and over again. The devs tried to spice things up with atrocious boss battles, which only make it worse.
I have to give this game props for how it came across in 2004 though. It was one of the best-looking games of the year, and ragdoll physics at the time were still a new and exciting thing. In addition, it has a pretty cool art-design, especially with some very creatively-designed (from a visual standpoint) enemies.
But in the end it's more of an artifact of the era. It was getting rave reviews at the time, and you can kinda see why, but in retrospect it's clear that the graphics were one of the major contributing factors to this. Whereas, when it comes to the gameplay, you can do much better within the same genre.
P.S. Forgot to point out: this Black Edition includes the first expansion, Battle Out of Hell, and it's terrible. It has some creative locations and designs, but gameplay-wise it's noticeably worse than the original game.
I remember when Serious Sam came out, most people called it a Doom-clone, which couldn't be further from the truth. Then Painkiller came out and people were comparing it to Serious Sam. I suppose because both games feature big crowds of enemies. But there's a major difference here.
Serious Sam often places you in big and open environments that sometimes have buildings or other obstacles laid out in a manner that lets you maneuver and strategize. It also gives you diverse rosters of enemies and weapons, each of which perform different functions. Certain weapons are more effective against certain enemies, which incentivizes you to constantly switch between weapons to target enemies that might be more dangerous or closer to you at that point in time. There is a lot of complexity to Serious Sam, which I feel often flies over people's heads (maybe even the developers' heads sometimes).
Painkiller has none of that. Most enemies function the same, the roster of weapons is very small and aside from range, there's no significant difference between most of them. You have your shotgun, your rifle equivalent (nailgun) and your machinegun/grenade launcher. The rest are just variations. Each room functions as a tiny arena that you're locked in with respawning enemies. In most cases enemies spawn from 1-3 same places and you can easily just stand there and shoot at the same spot. Or find a place they have trouble getting to, let them congregate there and do the same. The entire gameplay is dead simple.
That being said, I'd be lying if I said it wasn't fun. Mainly due to the physics. But of course after a while you get tired of doing the same crap over and over again. The devs tried to spice things up with atrocious boss battles, which only make it worse.
I have to give this game props for how it came across in 2004 though. It was one of the best-looking games of the year, and ragdoll physics at the time were still a new and exciting thing. In addition, it has a pretty cool art-design, especially with some very creatively-designed (from a visual standpoint) enemies.
But in the end it's more of an artifact of the era. It was getting rave reviews at the time, and you can kinda see why, but in retrospect it's clear that the graphics were one of the major contributing factors to this. Whereas, when it comes to the gameplay, you can do much better within the same genre.
P.S. Forgot to point out: this Black Edition includes the first expansion, Battle Out of Hell, and it's terrible. It has some creative locations and designs, but gameplay-wise it's noticeably worse than the original game.
Recommended
7.9 hrs at review time
Nightmare difficulty
Gameplay 5/10
Music and sound 7/10
Screenplay 5/10
Technical 4/10
7.9 hrs at review time
Nightmare difficulty
Gameplay 5/10
Music and sound 7/10
Screenplay 5/10
Technical 4/10
This review contains spoilers
Amazing game with included expansion, and one of the best First Person Shooters I have played.
Painkiller is just Epic. In the core it is just a First-Person Shooter in which you shoot monsters and progress to the next stage, classic stuff that Doom, Serious Sam and Duke Nukem did before, but this game feels different somehow. It has a unique style of playing and some mechanics that are different in a way that it offers a fresh new concept.
You play as Daniel Garner, a happily married dude who dies, along with his wife Catherine, in a car crash. Catherine goes to heaven and lives happily ever after, but not you. You are sent to Purgatory and are trapped there. Then, an Angel called Samuel makes a deal with you. If you can wipe out the four generals of Lucifers army, to prevent a battle between Heaven and Hell, you will be purified and can join your wife in Heaven. You accept and go off to war. On your journey, you meet a chick named Eve, who is also trapped in Purgatory. She aids you with information on the whereabouts of the next generals and other useful tips.
The graphics in Painkiller are great. The environments are beautiful and detailed, and every level has some sort of Gothic theme that enhances the graphics even more. I especially liked the “Town” level and the “Opera” stage. The animations are perfect too. Enemies have Ragdoll and you can blow them away with your shotgun or nail them to the wall with your stake gun. Explosions and fire effects are really well done too. There are some clipping issues tough, but I take that for granted. Every level is completely unique with different themes, environments and enemies, keeping the game fresh.
Some unique mechanics in this game is the soul collecting when killing enemies, which increases your health by one for each soul collected and let you enter demon rage mode, killing everything you point at. You can also earn Tarot cards that give you a bonus in each level if you selected that specific card for the level. You first earn those cards by completing a challenge in a level, for example, kill fifty monsters with explosions, or kill all enemies on the stage. When you earned the card, you need to buy it so you can use it. This can be done with gold, which you can collect and scavenge throughout the levels. I really liked this mechanic, and it gave some kind of RPG feel.
What sets this game apart for me is the sound and music. I think I can say, without a doubt, that this game has the best music that I have experienced so far, even better than Serious Sam. Every level has a unique Heavy Metal fight track that really gets you pumped up. Combine this with the excellent sound effects of your weapons and the enemy grunts and it makes for one epic experience. It is just a masterpiece.
The included expansion, Painkiller: Battle Out of Hell is an amazing addition to the main game. Just when I thought that I seen everything in the main game, this game blew my mind again.
Painkiller: Battle Out of Hell offers a new campaign with, once again, ten completely unique levels, enemies and weapons. Although it is still the same principle of the first game, the new levels were amazing.
The biggest plus for this game is the excellent new level design and, once again, the mind-blowing music that is not just metal tracks this time, but all kinds of mixed orchestra, combined with electric guitars. I do not know who came up with this, but this man or woman is a genius.
I loved Painkiller: Battle Out of Hell and I thought it was even better than the main game. It was long ago that I could enjoy a game/expansion as much as I did this one.
You really need to play Painkiller at least once in your lifetime, in my humble opinion.
Painkiller is just Epic. In the core it is just a First-Person Shooter in which you shoot monsters and progress to the next stage, classic stuff that Doom, Serious Sam and Duke Nukem did before, but this game feels different somehow. It has a unique style of playing and some mechanics that are different in a way that it offers a fresh new concept.
You play as Daniel Garner, a happily married dude who dies, along with his wife Catherine, in a car crash. Catherine goes to heaven and lives happily ever after, but not you. You are sent to Purgatory and are trapped there. Then, an Angel called Samuel makes a deal with you. If you can wipe out the four generals of Lucifers army, to prevent a battle between Heaven and Hell, you will be purified and can join your wife in Heaven. You accept and go off to war. On your journey, you meet a chick named Eve, who is also trapped in Purgatory. She aids you with information on the whereabouts of the next generals and other useful tips.
The graphics in Painkiller are great. The environments are beautiful and detailed, and every level has some sort of Gothic theme that enhances the graphics even more. I especially liked the “Town” level and the “Opera” stage. The animations are perfect too. Enemies have Ragdoll and you can blow them away with your shotgun or nail them to the wall with your stake gun. Explosions and fire effects are really well done too. There are some clipping issues tough, but I take that for granted. Every level is completely unique with different themes, environments and enemies, keeping the game fresh.
Some unique mechanics in this game is the soul collecting when killing enemies, which increases your health by one for each soul collected and let you enter demon rage mode, killing everything you point at. You can also earn Tarot cards that give you a bonus in each level if you selected that specific card for the level. You first earn those cards by completing a challenge in a level, for example, kill fifty monsters with explosions, or kill all enemies on the stage. When you earned the card, you need to buy it so you can use it. This can be done with gold, which you can collect and scavenge throughout the levels. I really liked this mechanic, and it gave some kind of RPG feel.
What sets this game apart for me is the sound and music. I think I can say, without a doubt, that this game has the best music that I have experienced so far, even better than Serious Sam. Every level has a unique Heavy Metal fight track that really gets you pumped up. Combine this with the excellent sound effects of your weapons and the enemy grunts and it makes for one epic experience. It is just a masterpiece.
The included expansion, Painkiller: Battle Out of Hell is an amazing addition to the main game. Just when I thought that I seen everything in the main game, this game blew my mind again.
Painkiller: Battle Out of Hell offers a new campaign with, once again, ten completely unique levels, enemies and weapons. Although it is still the same principle of the first game, the new levels were amazing.
The biggest plus for this game is the excellent new level design and, once again, the mind-blowing music that is not just metal tracks this time, but all kinds of mixed orchestra, combined with electric guitars. I do not know who came up with this, but this man or woman is a genius.
I loved Painkiller: Battle Out of Hell and I thought it was even better than the main game. It was long ago that I could enjoy a game/expansion as much as I did this one.
You really need to play Painkiller at least once in your lifetime, in my humble opinion.
There is some fun to be had, but the level design can greatly obfuscate the way forward, and the boss fights are total dogshit. There are loads better boomer/arena shooters to be played
Boomer shooter feito pra vc tacar o fodase e matar demonios a doidado até a ultima fase, jogo bom demais recomendo
this is another game that just does not work on windows 11