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.