Nostalgic but original blast fest (2009-06-22)


I was almost tempted to name my review "What Doom 3 should have been" but I realized that is not an accurate representation of this game. Painkiller is clearly it's own game but it does awaken certain nostalgic feelings of Doom & Doom 2. Initially I was put off by the strange combination weapons but after a few levels i grew to love the shuriken gun's grace, the chaingun's power and the Stake Gun's pure coolness and usefulness.

It'd non-stop action shooter with a game engine capable of rendering dozens of characters on screen simultaneously with no lag. And it's Vista compatible which is a feat in and of itself it seems. You have to be mindful of your weapons, spatial location and enemy capabilities at all times or you'll get chewed up.

The game adds a layer of depth and replayibility by having a type of reward system. In each level of the game there is a black tarot card that the player must unlock by meeting certain goals and conditions like finding all the secrets or killing all the enemies or not taking damage for the entire level. Black Tarot cards are activated a limited number of times and only last for 30 secs once activated.

For me this made the game fantastic because on every level I was constantly checking to see if I was on track for getting the Tarot cards which are very cool ranging from slowing down time, increasing damage to making the character temporarily invulnerable.

The game is pretty easy on standard difficulty but actually becomes hard on nightmare or trauma (which is rare these days) making acquiring the Black Tarot cards almost a necessity.

Anyone who liked the thought of a lone marine combating the armies of hell will like this game. The cut scenes are great and i had alot of fun with this game.

Oh and there is no DRM. I will not buy a game with DRM.

Great time Blasting Sh@$! (2009-06-06)
Once I loaded this onto my laptop, it was nonstop shoot-em up! Great mindless fun to kill some time. The real treat is in Overdose. I loved the music videos and the making of was decent. If your a fps fan looking for something engaging I highly recommend it.

Painkiller Black is good, But Overdose sucks! (2009-02-13)
I give 5 stars to Painkiller Black Edition but i'll give 0 stars to Painkiller Overdose.

Painkiller Black is so much fun, music fits in the game and non-stop action.

Painkiller Overdose the loading time take up to 10 min on high-end PC's, the music is boring, and many other bugs. Avoid OVERDOSE at all cost.

Overdose...good name (2009-01-24)
Overdose is an epic update of an epic game. If you did not like the previous game, this one will not necessarily appeal, but it has lots of replayability tied up in the Tarot system.

Awesome Game (2008-12-29)
A great anger reliever. After you kill a certain amount of mobs you go berserk for a bit. You hear nothing but white noise, everything slows down, you see darkness except the glowing souls of those around you. One shot and those guys explode into paste. An awesome game where you mow down anything in your way. The game looks great even though its quite a few years old. The level designs and monsters are wonderful giving you a nice comic book feel. If you enjoyed the first F.E.A.R you'll love this.