mr_lahey

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

As a serious hardcore fan of Painkiller (yes I even liked Overdose), this one had so much potential but was in the end a technical trainwreck. The maps were fairly diverse (but way too few of them), and they had some imaginative and fairly creepy aspects. There was definitely some atmosphere here - which was half the charm of the originals. But the bugs here are horrific, and the poor thing sputters and crashes - like the engine was an amateur drunk on New Year's Eve or something. The graphics suffer because of it. The monsters are crappy and crude, and gameplay definitely lacks compared to the original - which had plenty of bugs on its own. The one saving grace is that you can play bots by yourself in the multiplayer mode, which is nice because PK is sooo buggy that you can never get online to play anyone else. Ever. As an avid fan, I enjoyed it just because it was painkiller and had that spooky thing. But for anyone else, I gotta say stay clear. If this crew got together w/ the developers of the latest PK (Redemption - which was dull but bug-free), they would really have something someday.

This one and the wacked out previous incarnation of PK (Resurrection) are two sides of the same coin. This new one does not have the bugs of many previous ones, especially Resurrection, but it lacks the interesting maps and spooky atmosphere of any of the originals and even the awful Resurrection. Redepemption has none of those mind-blowing, super creepy re-imaginings of what purgatory would be like: instead Redemption takes really bland maps from the originial Painkiller online deathmatch features, pretties them up a **** then is just nothing but mindless, repetitive killing. None of the elegant scares of the original - hell even Redemption is better at that. No brain strategy in how to kill these guys. It's just run around and around and fire at a bunch of bots. Part of the dark fun of the original two Painkillers was that sense of revelation and awe at this wild, disturbing world. While Redemption has none of the technical bugs of even the original or subsequent knockoffs - which really fills one with hope for the franchise's future - it has zero imagination. Now if only the crew that did Resurrection and the crew that did this one came **** might have something cool again.

I have a curious like/hate relationship with this game. I really do love playing it - it's great fun for endless, mindless killing. I can't explain why, except it's unusually satifsying to get that squishing noise when you crush them. But it's ugly, the monsters are dreary, it's repetitive, it's limited, and its controls are awkward as hell. Granted, these guys are new. I take that into account. Perhaps I was hoping for the jaw-dropping visuals and frights of Painkiller or Doom 3. So many little issues that screw it up - and yet it's a fun distraction and stress release with its very basic and sometimes goofy kill-fest. Unfortunately, that's all there is to it. No back story, no context, no cool hidden stuff to find, just a few maps (which aren't that interesting), hoaky monsters, ....and plenty of annoyances with the way you do battle. It's insanely awkward to aim your weapons, so you rely on kicks and punches. Those attack combos are odd and way too many of them to learn. The camera view - sort of third person, over the shoulder - is a bit wonky and headache-inducing. I far prefer the way the new Tron works in that regard, or even the latest Transformers. Misses the mark on so many levels - and yet it can still be a kick to play when you want something mindless. It's like craving and then porking out on bad candy - fun for a while, but you can get stomach sick and sick of it fast.