It's aiight... Reminds me of Quake 1 but with much better graphics! I dig it...

A rather unusual mix of horror and fast action gameplay, Painkiller is gory and atmospheric, but really all it is is just action. The Purgatory setting and in fact the idea of fighting demons is very great. However the idea itself simply is not enough. It requires the correct execution and a plot, and that was where Painkiller fell down. Still though, as an FPS game, it is forgiveable if it has a weak story, which is why I still found the game fun. Painkiller features a big variety of areas, but I felt that only about half of them were breathtaking, whilst the other half were boring. Areas such as Asylum and Town were fantastic due to being incredibly atmospheric and actually scary in a very twisted way. Likewise there were areas which simply had beautiful locations and were a pleasure to travel through, areas such as Train Station, Military Base, The Palace and City on Water. However most of the other maps were rather repetitive and boring. The game allows the player to use 5 weapons, but each one of these weapons has 2 very different modes of fire, so in a way the game has 10 different weapons. The weapons are very original and enjoyable to use. This was perhaps the strongest aspect of the game. The enemies, well they were nothing special. Although most were demons in various disguises, it was uninteresting how at times they just looked like people, for example in the level Docks, which was perhaps one of the worst stages in the game. The boss fights were terrible. It was impossible to know what the hell you were supposed to do to defeat most of them. For one of them you had to attack the boss' hammer rather than him. How would you know to do that? You wouldn't. The final boss fight was a huge disappointment too and really ruined the game for me. Just terrible. Lastly the cinematics and cut scenes in between some of the missions were pretty good, although I wish some of those characters were developed in greater depth. Painkiller has some really great features and it has some very strong weaknesses. If only Painkiller didn't have some of these weaknesses, it could've been a fantastic game. But for now I think a score of 7 is appropriate. I can't give it any more than that.… Expand

BEST GAME EVER!!!!!!!!!!!

Good game, good graphics. If anyone ever played serious sam they will love this game. gameplay is the same but sooo much more demented...

Sublime graphics and gameplay. Even in 2007 there are few games that match it visually. The music is fantastic, the atmosphere can be horrific, psychadelic and demonically humorous. A must buy for anyone with a pulse.

Fantastic game. Oozes atmosphere with superb graphics and sound. Very simple arcade gameplay and with great 'pick up and playability. Absorbing environments and enemies, coupled with some amazing weapons make this my all time fav horror game. Love the clowns in the expansion!

Painkiller is simple and focused, and although its niche gameplay will turn off some, those who can appreciate its deliberate repetitive and un-complex gameplay will find it to be surprisingly deep, polished, and thrilling. My only objection is the game's story, which is unneccasary, and depressing. However, since the story doesn't actually enter into the gameplay, and all cutscenes are skip-able, so I don't feel the need to deduct points for it. Think of it as a diamond that has a piece of ugly rock embedded in it. Once the rock is removed, you still have a diamond.… Expand

Boring ! The idea is : You make few steps door closes behind you . You fight DUMB monsters. Door opens . Make few steps door closes behind you again. You fight DUMBER monsters . Door opens . You make few steps and gues what happends ? Yes it is a Horror game . It can terrify you by monotonity . "the horror, the horror"

Yes, the game is fun, but what about the damned technical problems?! I can't even start the game! There millions of problems, just log on to the Dreamcatcher forums and you'll see...

Great title with involving story.

Very good game. The graphics are great, and monsters look great. It's also nice to see those skeleton guys takin those fatso shooters as shield. And, it's fun to watch when enemies suddenly begin to fight each other. Well, anyways this game is great.. But those who want something more than a brainless shooting, leave this game in the shop.

Painkiller has beautifully rendered environments, wonderful sound and music, its gory, fast paced and best of all requires absolutely no expenditure of mental energy. In fact, the hardest part was getting it to run in the first place. A problem solved after downloading and installing a third-party no-cd patch.

Well, what can you say, what's more fun than killing demons at night while wetting your pants? How about deleting a game off your computer. When I say that, I mean a game called Painkiller. In fact, I wish I took some painkiller before I got a migraine headache playing this game. Overall, if I had three thumbs, I'd give this three thumbs down and no bag of chips. Why does it suck you ask? Well, if you like bland and repetitive gaming then this is your cup of joe. I'm gonna go take a bath with my ol' friend Mr. Toaster now.… Expand

This game is sooo coool.The graphics are awesome,the physics are awesome and the weapons give you a sense of power over your enemy and are very unique.The bosses are so cool and so fun to fight and there are so many variations in the enemies.I think painkiller did what Doom 3 tried to.What I mean is that the first doom games were frantic and fun but Doom 3 was all dark and spooky and the most enemies I fought at once was only like 5.Painkiller brought the old school FPS that the original doom games and quake games started and simply made the graphics,physics,and gameplay funner and better.Pretty cool game overall,worth checking out and probably buying.And the thing that doesnt make it repetitive is the new levels,new bosses,new weapons,and new enemies.Very fun game in my opinion!… Expand

supreme graphics and physics, supreme soundtracks and music, variety of total free action (not like in doom3), big landscapes, fastest multiplayer ever created, original levels based on real structures in this world, insane bloodfest - monsters gib very naturaly, high potencial of making all sorts of trickjumps and other things, plus unique features like painkillerjumping, gibing, tarot cards and demon morph and of course - the bigest bosses ever seen in FPS. Forget Serious Sam.… Expand

Mindless violence perfected, who wouldnt love it?

Perfect. Just perfect, Taking out an entire army of demons to save yourself and get into heaven, killing giants, The blood lust is perfect.

I downloaded the demo, and I hardly could play. The FPS was very bad, and my video card is really good. The game froze then unfroze, froze, etc. The game crashed also. And the speed changes were everything went fast. The game to me looks horrible. Aside from the FPS, I found the game bad. The ragdolls were horrible, and they say its awesome. I do not understand how this game is great.

I never played the full game but I just bought it. Anyhow, The demo game is truly amazing! The giant bosses stay in your head so you can't stop thinking about them! They might give you nightmares as well! The game is incredibly fun. I am shivering because I can't wait to try the full game! IT'S A MUST HAVE!

Seriously - I'm not joking: Painkiller may be one of the best action games ever made. Most people describe it as a more serious and darker Serious Sam... but in fact Painkiller is much more. The epic story about Daniel Garner who is being abused to fight for heaven is... not really important since there is no direct connection between the cutscenes and the levels but it's still a fantastic backbone for those weird worlds the player is about to encounter. There is graveyards, caves but also military bases, a medieval village and even a cathedral and an amphitheatre where you fight the weirdest kinds of demons ranging from skeletons armed with clubs to fat punks with machineguns. The game is a really surreal experience and has a high artistic value. And you can be sure to find some of the greatest bosses in this game. Anyway: Painkiller is simple. It absolutely sticks to simplicity and that's its strong point. Every single one of the six weapons is perfectly designed and every enemy has his own ways of attacking you - if you're not too ignorant to accept this simple kind of action you will actually even be surprised how perfect the gameplay is. And there is some unique features that make Painkiller really special such as the demon transformation gained by collecting enemies' souls and unlockable tarot cards which give the player some bonusses. And these tarot cards can only be achieved by fulfilling special tasks such as only using a certain weapon, not being hurt once in a level, collecting all gold, killing all enemies etc.. These special tasks make the action actually quite varied. Also the multiplayer mode is plain fun. It's one of the most entertaining deathmatch games ever made. The fast pace and the very different kinds of weapons are making it really special - and the fact that the game was represented at the World Cyber Games speaks for itself. Also check out the official addon Battle out of Hell which is almost as great as the main game. But don't even think about playing Overdose which is actually just a fan made production that somehow got turned into a commercial addon - it simply sucks. Btw: By now there is sort of a sequel to this game called NecroVisioN. It has been made by some of the original developers and it's even using an improved PAIN engine. Unfortunately the developers didn't stick to the formula of Painkiller but tried to combine the story with the actual gameply and make the fighting more "interesting" - which actually made NecroVisioN just another average shooter. That's why I even more recommend Painkiller and its addon Battle out of Hell. The gameplay won't get old and the graphics are still nice to look at.… Expand

Great looking game..shouldb e a goody.

Wow..movie looks great..and leaked demo is sh.t loads of fun!!

Great Game! Stylish and packed with adrenaline!

Hello? this is the BEST GAME EVER!

I give 1 because it has realy some good graphics . But that was all . It has the most boring gameplay I have ever seen in a so called "hit" game . You can find a corner switch the first weapon and hold the mouse key. Eventualy everyone will get killed . Where is the AI of the enemies .they are slow and DUMB as rock . THIS GAME SUX .

I absolutely hated the repetitive nature of this game. Basically, walls appear, you shoot everything, walls go down, & repeat. No innovation. Save your money.

pretty... and pretty repetitive. It'll drop down to $20 in a couple months probably, and then it might be worth buying. Or not.

Great to play after a session of Farcry. No more lurking in the bushes. Lets get simple-minded and go banging away with your big guns on those baddies.

I wanted to give this game 1 point for some nice graphics in some places, but refused to do so. The gameplay is simply awful and the main character is the most clumsiest character I've ever controlled. Did I already say that the gameplay is awful? Well, saying it again doesn't hurt. Also, after 1 hour of fragging skeletons jumping from the ground and seeing that the game is nothing else, you don't wanna continue playing, you want to delete this crap from taking the space from your harddisk. I HAD high hopes for the multiplayer and well.. The only time I had fun, was exploring the map. The fragging itself was the most awful multiplayer experience I've seen. Only a few very boring weapons and did I mention the awful gameplay and character control? Oh yea, third time. Doesn't hurt to mention it again. Let me put it this way, AVOID THIS PIECE OF JUNK!… Expand

Game of the year.

It's very good. Not better than far cry but in this year it is in best ten FPP.

Kix ass !!!

This is a great action game in the tradition of the Doom games. It has great graphics and awsome cut scenes.

I really really tried to like it!!!! But failed. Point, shoot, point, shoot, point, shoot... ok it's not quite that dull, but it's just not captivating enough. Horror effects are good, but they don't carry it. There are better shooters out there - Call of Duty, whilst short, is just awesome, UT2004 is the best multiplayer online game, Far Cry gives you a new outdoor dimension. Painkiller unfortunately feels like a pretty version of the original Doom. You'll probably not get past the first handful of levels before you get really bored. Sorry!… Expand

[***SPOILERS***] It happened. After all these years of saying no to my Doc, I finally took a Painkiller, and it was good. You are a normal man, Daniel. You die in a car crash and Gabriel (an angel of heaven) tells you that you need to do some mass murdering for heaven in a world called Purgatory. Okay, storyline-wise, I won't argue, this game is very poor. Why an 8 if I begin on such a low tone? Well... A while ago, Doom was born. Doom 1, I mean. Doom 1 was all about opening a door and finding a room full of frenzy beasts awaiting to fester or plant bullets on your flesh. Painkiller takes that back and blends it together for an exotic cocktail of gore and action. There is nothing to be scared of, nothing to be impressed about (aside from the towering bosses). Only, every once in a while ,you might get a satisfied smirk from blowing some ennemies to bits and finding nothing but gibs and blood on the walls around you. Purgatory is set out in five different worlds with different chapters. Every world puts you through great graphic architecture and endless killings of ennemies. There is absolutely NO story-telling aside from the introduction. You run around, shoot stuff and watch the ragdoll physics do their job on them as you've either taken them down or blown them to whatever hell they came from. This game reminds us old-school FPS fans of what FPS were a while back: Continuous massacres of hundreds of hordes of demons that just keep coming. All in all; This is by no means a deep game, nor something close to F.E.A.R or anything with a scenario and intelligent ennemies. But it -is- a true FPS in the likes of Serious Sam and games where you spend most of your time just killing and NEVER asking questions later. If you're the kind to not want to play a game but just see what happens around it, don't play Painkiller. But if you're the kind to enjoy being the "center of attraction", you'll love this game.… Expand

To all the whiners who say this game sux... Get a life... Painkiller takes the meaning FPS to a whole new level, of course its just running around shooting stuff, but thats what most of us like, its like the good old Doom games, and Duke Nukem, just with a twist of speed, and better graphics... There no thinking theres just slaughter, and thats what makes this game so special old school... Painkiller gets 10 from me awesome game.… Expand

Mindless violence sure, but Serious Sam did it better, and everyone else did it more fun. This is just lazy, with boring graphics, lousy boss fights, piss-poor enemy layouts (they're just scattered, instead of being planned like the Sam series), and a totally non-existent story. Save your money and your time and go get a Croteam game and have fun.

You know, when a game comes packaged with your video card, you know the game is terrible. Games like that are supposed to show the potential of the video card, nothing more. This is that type of game. I tried to enjoy the game, but what is there to enjoy? At least the earlier Doom games had atmosphere. This? Yeah...Sure, if you just enjoy nonstop slaughtering, this may work for you. On another note, when I had this game a year ago, when I downloaded the five bajillion official patches for the game just to get it to work properly, I found that they were often riddled with cheats that gave you things like super speed in multiplayer. Overall, it was just a bad experience.… Expand

Good game, yah sure it gets a lil repetitive, but the ambient sounds are the shit, and the guns are cool. the gameplay is pretty fun and multiplayer is fun 2.

This is a cool game. Great phisics engine, and nice to look at. Most importantly, this game reminded me of Serious Sam, one of my all time favourite games. It is mindless violence, and like Serious Sam, is a throwback to old games like Doom, but with better graphics. If you loved Doom, Serious Sam, or any other similar game (Quake, Heretic, etc), you should buy this game now.

Worse FPS ever, repetitive, poorly concepted and drab, this game is ok for maybe 5min but when you have completed one level you have completed them all.

Painkiller is one of the most straightforward games of all time. That isn't saying it's bad; after all; Pacman was straightforward; yet it's made of win. Painkiller offers hours of fun killing, the attention to detail is superlative in every level; and you can see how much work was really put into it. Don't bother listening to the people who say it's boring or mindless. While it doesn't actually have THAT good a story; the missions are different enough from each other to play and have fun in. Unlike some modern FPS games; it's not trying to boast its physics. It's just there for FUN; something which a lot of people seem to have forgotten how to have.… Expand

Stupid repetitive game, ideal for all the grapic-whore pc gamers. Calling it creative is an insult to your upbrining. Sshh..tt!!

Jaw dropping graphics and....... well, i cant really think of anything else to add, shame really.

It's not perfect, but playing it is fun, and creepy :)

Very very addictive!! Highly recommended to all Quake1 fans!!

Simply the best shooter of 2004 so far - if, of course, you prefer shooting to hiding in bushes...

Suuuuuuuuuch cool, gr8 weapons, physic, and suuuuuuuch interesting... :D ...and polish 8) (I'm proud of it!)

OK i've read all the comments on this game and I must say that there is some misunderstanding. I have the game an think that it's great if u want to KILL thousands of monsters and have just pure fun out of it. I also love the demon transformation feature, which kicks ass:). Ofcourse the graphics are great too but the thing that really made me smile:) was those HUGE, MONSTROUS bosses! and my favourite all-time weapon the one that shoots those big sharped sticks:P. Oh and I don't supose that a skeleton or an undead zombie could be that intelligent... C'mon they're just a pile of meat (& bones)! Buy It if you like to EXTERMINATE and have fun:)… Expand

[***SPOILERS***] Great graphics, physics and soundtracks. If the normal single player isn't enough, try to obtain all the tarot cards or other records. You need to go through the game atleast 2 times to get all tarot cards (or all levels).

I am a fan of first person shooters. My favorites are 1.Crysis, 2.HL2, 3.FEAR, 4. Quake4, 5.Painkiller and all others come after that. Painkiller ist pure fun playing. It has some of the best weapons of all shooters and defenitely the best shotgun i ever played. And it has huge bosses. It can be played more times than only one and doesnt get boring, because the final target is to play it on hardest difficulty, and that`s really hard. You must practise a lot, to get skilled enough for that. Also try the add-ons: "Battle Out Of Hell" is stunning, "Overdose" is not that good as BOOH, but is still good enough.… Expand

Great game, biiig boss and super guns! POLISH GAME!!!

Thats the best ego shooter ever.

*Warning I only played the DEMO* What I played of the demo was quite dumb. You walked into a room. The doors behind you closed. The doors in front of you closed. Then wave after wave of mobs came at you. When you killed them all then the doors opened and you went into the next room and did the same thing. Was really disappointed and definitely will not be buying it. Even though it is several years old it is still a very pretty game. The monsters were pretty cool looking. Just got boring after awhile. In one level it told me I had killed 353/353 mobs. Nearly four hundred mobs in one level. If you enjoy just masses of mobs coming at you with not much else to do then this game is for you. Personally I prefer a little bit of a story line and a few less mobs which are more strategically placed.… Expand

Don`t be fooled by ppl who have no idea. If u love fps , if u love action and straight forward shooting you u r right here. NO lame "we are so great we have a physic" stuff from HL2. Pure FPS Fun.

Do Not waste your money on this garbage, unless you want to wait longer for the game to load than to actually play it. It is mindless, random, repetitive, nonsensical violence -- about 5 minutes worth for every 10 minutes spent loading the crap. Enough said.

Intelligent beautiful and bloody, hell...

A game that isn't ashamed to be what it is. A really simple, over the top deathathon, with great and varied weapons. A flashback to the good old days, and I applaud it for that.

There are already enough positive reviews here to already mirror what I am going to say. Another classic that somehow still has it's appeal to this day; the spiritual story, the mysteriously fantastical areas, the crazy enemies, special abilities, myriad of treasures or secret areas, and the crazy weapons. It's enough to make any lover of Quake or frantic shooters drool. I for one, don't think this game deserves such a high score like a 9 or a 10; but, it comes close to being a classic which will withstand the test of time!… Expand

It's a fairly fun game, though since it's basically a celebration of what gaming lost when it made the transition from the fast and competitive/challenging gameplay-centric Deathmatch to the slower, realistic plot-centric FPS games, it certainly doesn't innovate much. It's fairly fun, though the target audience will probably still prefer the original Quake.

This is one of the two games that Yahtzee or Zero Punctuation likes over at the Escapists means it's actually good.

To quote him "The story can go **** itself... (more problems with the game) ... But any criticism I find is immediatly squashed when I remember there is a gun that shoots Shurigans and Lightning.

The way I felt about it.

Fast paced, Voilent, and above all good mindless fun, I found myself yelling warcries at the enmies as they flew across my monitor like meat filled water balloons.
Will not thrill you if you're looking for a story driven game, but it makes up for that by being just plain good.
Given the choice get this and 'battle out of hell' but not any of the other expansions or additions as this is the best it gets.… Expand

Genial música, física muy buena. Me encanta ver como despedazo a los monstruos. Un buen surtido de armas, cada una con sus pros y contras. Jefes finales... cinematicas....Esta traducido a varios idiomas incluido las voces. Para mi es un FPS 10.

If there is any Painkiller game in the series that holds its water, it is this one and the expansion Battle out of Hell. The original more or less gets the formula right with plenty of action, ambiance when not battling and massive bosses. Recommended if new to the series.

Though it has its bugs and frustrations, I really can't say enough good things about Painkiller. At least the first two, and Overdose (included in Black Edition) is awfully cool too, but lacks some of the charm of the first. It's probably still my favorite after five years and countless other games. The fighting is insanely cool, though a bit repetitive. But mostly, its atmosphere and creep factor can't be beat. Incredible, awe-inspiring maps. Pretty darned creepy monsters. Finding secrets is quite an interesting challenge as well. It scares you. It thrills you. It awes you. Wish the subsequent sequels lived up to the original. But alas, Painkiller was a landmark - and still seminal and stand-alone in the horror world. Plenty of good sci fi games. Only one good horror one - and that's PK… Expand

Serious sam-like with less open spaces and less crowds of monsters. Great levels atmosphere (switching between medieval, cemetery, churches, city, Asylum, etc), great bestiary, hilarious physic engine (monster literaly flying when you shoot them), epic bosses. On the less shining side, the scenario and cut scene are so lame it's embarassing (but who cares in this type of game really), some really bad design at some point (you can't guess what to do without watching solution on the internet). All in all a really decent game, especially after work when you want some brainless entertainment.… Expand

FPS the way it should be! At least according to old-school fans.... Considered by many to be more deserving of the name "Doom 3" than the actual one, this game takes everything that made up the classics, and pushes them to 11! ___Extremely vast choice of weapons, each of them more impressive and satisfying to use (that is, slaughter with).

Also, impressive architecture, but just as the "no punctuation" review says, if you spend longer than 30 seconds without shooting, you're doing it wrong.… Expand

The story behind Painkiller is simple, it has a good dynamic soundtrack, many monsters and weapons, boss fights are good but soon you realize that strafe-jumping is the only way to play.

Painkiller doesn't pretend to be anything other than what it is- its a level based mob combat FPS in the spiritual vein of Doom or Serious Sam. The plot is incomprehensible- and what little sense it does make has little to do with the enemies and levels it throws at you.

But as a pure mindless shooter it is an awful lot of fun. The levels are varied and well designed. The weapons are distinctive and well implemented- especially the eponymous … Expand