Video Games : Painkiller
Amazon.com's Price: $19.99 Prices subject to change.
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Amazon Minimum Age: 204 months
Binding: CD-ROM
Brand: Dreamcatcher
EAN: 0625904391506
ESRB Age Rating: Mature
Format: CD-ROM
Item Dimensions: 65
Label: Dreamcatcher Interactive
Legal Disclaimer: Warranty does not cover misuse of product.
Manufacturer: Dreamcatcher Interactive
Model: 625904391506
MPN: PC39150MB
Number Of Items: 1
Platform: Windows 2000, Windows 98, Windows Me, Windows XP
Publisher: Dreamcatcher Interactive
Release Date: April 12, 2004
Studio: Dreamcatcher Interactive
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
Accessories:
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Editorial Review:
Product Description:
Dreamcatcher Painkiller - Painkiller is a first-person horror shooter, designed to satisfy the gamer's hunger for intense, fast-paced action. Players take on the role of Painkiller, an unusual mercenary who makes a living by exorcising vampires and other dreadful beasts from their lairs- abandoned prisons, private castles, deep caves in the mountains, extravagant haciendas hidden in the jungle. "Cleaning" those places is excellent money and helps our hero live a decadent lifestyle, until the day he is tricked into a war between two competing clans of the undead. An assignment to retrieve a religious artifact from one of the nests provokes a furious battle, and he realizes he might have to play his own cards. Meanwhile, a young female journalist runs her own investigation and tries to uncover the mystery behind the witty, captivating Latino who is the legendary Painkiller.
Amazon.com Review:
When it comes to first-person shooters, there are two schools of thought. One harkens back to the original Doom--frantic action, scary monsters, big weapons, and story is given short shrift. The second school is best exemplified by Half-Life: strong narrative, consistent real-world weapons, consistent monsters, and settings. Doom's heirs up until now have been Quake and Serious Sam, but now Painkiller comes onto the scene leaving bloody footprints, and … let the carnage begin!
You play a man who dies in a pathetic car crash (he's distracted because he's holding his girl's hand) and has spent a long time in purgatory. He thinks this is unfair because, despite being well-schooled in the art of killing, he maintains that he's done nothing wrong. Heaven makes a deal with him. Take care of a little invasion problem concerning Hell, and our hero can enter those pearly gates.
Weak storyline aside, Painkiller basically amounts to a brilliant series of arcade-style levels and challenges. The settings include darkened monasteries, graveyards, a horrifying asylum, a medieval town under siege, and even H-E-Double Hockey Sticks itself. The level design is brilliant, varied, and jam-packed with enemies. There seems to be no end to the amount and variety of cool monsters to fight, and they each explode into chunks of blood and gore in a most disturbingly satisfying manner. At the end of each level is a challenge, such as collecting a certain amount of gold or killing a Boss within a time limit. Winning the challenge gives you tarot cards you can use to make the game easier. The different cards bring haste, double-damage, invulnerability, and so on. This simple mechanic makes the game far more replayable than your average shooter.
The graphics are first rate, which means you need a powerful PC to run the game with all the detail settings maxed out. The only other problem is a CD-copy protection bug that makes the game unplayable for some (a patch is available).
Painkiller may seem a bit silly at first glance. But the gameplay mechanics, replayability (full multiplayer is also available), variety, and brilliant level design make it one of the finest and most satisfying shooters ever made. -Andrew S. Bub
Pros: - Superb gameplay and game balance
- Excellent level design
- Strong replayability
Cons: - Poor, unnecessary storyline
- High system requirements
- Problematic copy protection
Average Rating: 
Rating:  -
Intense gameplay with heavy metal music playing in the background.
Nice graphics and sound effects.
Overuse of the following - you enter a room, the door behind you slams shut behind you and a large number of enemies appear.
Rating:  -
This is a simple shooter done right.. it doesn't try to bog down the gameplay with needless ties to situational realism or plot lines. No need for enemy AI or anything. Just hordes of zombie evil demons swarming from all directions to kill you. Not only are the standard weapons great, the base weapon that never runs out (called the Painkiller) is one of the best weapons in shooter history. This game is a one trick pony that does what it does well and doesn't try to do more (and risk failing, as so ... Read More
Rating: -
Painkiller is a return to what matters most: the simple act of shooting hideous things.
The game is divided into discrete levels that are related only by a loose-fitting story. The levels are carefully laid out and are built to be played on, rather that admired. It is a triumph of level design that they're so varied.
You only get five guns, but the weapons have multiple firing modes, not one of them useless or redundant. And although we've seen a million rocket launchers ... Read More
Rating: -
I believe that playing Painkiller might be likened to eating an anchovy pizza--for a person who loves pizza but hates anchovies. The bulk of the game is very good and fun to play, but the parts that aren't fun are just plain annoying.
Painkiller has great graphics and very good level design. If you lob a grenade at a wagon, for instance, that wagon will fly apart in a very realistic fashion. The game's engine renders smoke very well too. Many of the levels are superbly designed and include ... Read More
Rating: -
Ah, how refreshing is this game? What better way to wind down from a long day at work than to watch some basketball (March Madness does start soon, forgive me) and mindlessly pin guys against a wall using a 5-foot stake fired from a stake gun? There's few better ways. Painkiller is, in every right, a first person shooter. Notice I did not say tactical shooter, as this game simply requires collecting enough ammo to blow everything away. And since ammo is plentiful in this game, feel free to blast away. ... Read More
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