Zero Punctuation: Painkiller
- Thread starter Yahtzee Croshaw
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Another great review, and like some others i now consider buying a little known game on the recomendations of Yahtzee.
I remember finding this game at a Future Shop and seeing a price tag of only 10 dollars, I decided to purchase my first FPS ever.
Imagine my disappointment when I didn't own a PC that could run it until 4 years later.
Despite that, I must say that everything Yahtzee described is spot-on. Brilliant weapons, simply enjoyable gore-filled levels of non-stop death, and the puzzle-y aspect with the god-damn hardest 'acheivements' to get those bloody cards.
Believe me when I say that having the ability to travel to a monastary, freeze some Satan monks solid and quickly dissecting them with hot lead, then jumping to the evilest military base ever to do battle with GIANT DEMON TANKS (well, I assume demon because everything else in this world is just that) is a little bit of a mindrape. Also, the Opera Hall and Sanitarium levels genuinely scared me a bit.
Oh, and yes, the shuriken/lightning gun [AKA ElectroDriver] is quite possibly on par for awesome with the chainsaw gun from GoW.
If you ever happen to find this game in a bargain bin somewhere, do yourself a favor and pick it up. It probably won't be worth any more than 10 bucks anyway.
EDIT: forgot to say, I have had no issues with this new video setup. I got almost immediate playback. *shrugs* Not sure why they altered it in the first place, to be honest.
Imagine my disappointment when I didn't own a PC that could run it until 4 years later.
Despite that, I must say that everything Yahtzee described is spot-on. Brilliant weapons, simply enjoyable gore-filled levels of non-stop death, and the puzzle-y aspect with the god-damn hardest 'acheivements' to get those bloody cards.
Believe me when I say that having the ability to travel to a monastary, freeze some Satan monks solid and quickly dissecting them with hot lead, then jumping to the evilest military base ever to do battle with GIANT DEMON TANKS (well, I assume demon because everything else in this world is just that) is a little bit of a mindrape. Also, the Opera Hall and Sanitarium levels genuinely scared me a bit.
Oh, and yes, the shuriken/lightning gun [AKA ElectroDriver] is quite possibly on par for awesome with the chainsaw gun from GoW.
If you ever happen to find this game in a bargain bin somewhere, do yourself a favor and pick it up. It probably won't be worth any more than 10 bucks anyway.
EDIT: forgot to say, I have had no issues with this new video setup. I got almost immediate playback. *shrugs* Not sure why they altered it in the first place, to be honest.
wow, this review is SO awesome that I want to go buy painkiller on steam right now, thats how great you are at selling something you ACTUALLY LIKE Yahtzee, 4 minutes watching a completely impersonal video where part of the time you rip on the games bad features and I want to fucking buy it!
People like you and I are going to prove my fiancee wrong when Duke Nukem Forever comes out (in 2017) and EVERYONE buys it. She thinks it'll fail because videogaming is too sophisticated now. I say, "Always bet on Duke!" and vaguely hip-thrust in her direction. Then she pelts me with loose change until I stop.VMerken said:
Anyway, painkiller sounds pretty great - if there's one thing PC gaming has that console gaming doesn't, it's cool shit like dismemberment. I mean, I was able to play a copy of Soldier of Fortune back in High School, and I'd play through entire levels with just the desert eagle because a) it was the best gun in the game, and; b) there was nothing as cool in 1998 as blowing off some guy's leg at the knee and watch him fall to the ground screaming in a pool of what's probably meant to be his own blood except there's waaay too much of it, then dragging himself determinedly towards you leaving a trail of blood behind his mangled, flailing stump until you either put him out of his misery, or walk away knowing he is no longer a threat to you.
*masturbates*
As for somewhat unusual weapons in FPS', I sadly never played a game as ambitious as to have a tree cannon or lightning-shuriken launcher, but I remember the first time I played Shadow Warrior and realised I had a katana as a usable weapon. Was this the first ever sword in an FPS? Who cares man, you could cut enemies in half!
I LOL'ed and now have a sudden urge to murder tons of dudes...in a game, anyway.
Is anyone else going to try hunting this one down in the bargain bins?
Is anyone else going to try hunting this one down in the bargain bins?
Holy crud! Yahtzee actually reviewed a game I own! That hasn't happened since Orange Box!
Painkiller (and the add-on, Battle Out of Hell) are pretty much a one-trick pony... but it's such a fun trick that you can enjoy it for quite a while. The architecture really is good (I don't know if I'd use the term "stiffy", though) and there really are a ton of enemies (though you won't see more than a few in any given level). The boss fights? Well, they're all much larger than you- one of them is literally skyscraper-sized- and all require a combination of "discover the weakness" and "pour on the firepower" gameplay. It's all a nice retro throwback painted up nice and pretty, with what could laughably be called a "story" slapped on via (thankfully skippable) cutscenes.
However, a friendly warning: DO NOT BOTHER WITH PAINKILLER: OVERDOSE. I've played the demo for that and was revolted. It's as if they took all the fun out of the game, threw in weapons that don't make sense, and replaced Daniel with some half-demon, half-angel character who spouts idiotic one-liners that even Duke Nukem wouldn't touch. I mean... ugh.
That'd ROCK.
Painkiller (and the add-on, Battle Out of Hell) are pretty much a one-trick pony... but it's such a fun trick that you can enjoy it for quite a while. The architecture really is good (I don't know if I'd use the term "stiffy", though) and there really are a ton of enemies (though you won't see more than a few in any given level). The boss fights? Well, they're all much larger than you- one of them is literally skyscraper-sized- and all require a combination of "discover the weakness" and "pour on the firepower" gameplay. It's all a nice retro throwback painted up nice and pretty, with what could laughably be called a "story" slapped on via (thankfully skippable) cutscenes.
However, a friendly warning: DO NOT BOTHER WITH PAINKILLER: OVERDOSE. I've played the demo for that and was revolted. It's as if they took all the fun out of the game, threw in weapons that don't make sense, and replaced Daniel with some half-demon, half-angel character who spouts idiotic one-liners that even Duke Nukem wouldn't touch. I mean... ugh.
But what if the magical hand shot lightning bees? And what if the lightning bees had hands that shot magical shurikens?cheesemaster said:
That'd ROCK.
As always a great review. I'm glad to see Yahtzee giving time to a lesser known title. I'm the sort of gamer who has had a lot of great experiences with lesser known and niche games (Painkiller being one of them) so I hope he reviews some more in the future.
That was fantastic. I enjoyed the review and hope that he goes back to review older titles instead of giving in to the massive outcry of Mario Kart fans and other such popular games...
I think I'll look into painkiller, it looks quite good, I mean, rampant slaughter in a video game hasn't been seen in ages, even in FPS games. Pfeh. Softies.
I think I'll look into painkiller, it looks quite good, I mean, rampant slaughter in a video game hasn't been seen in ages, even in FPS games. Pfeh. Softies.
I personally like the new lay out, and after playing the demo for Painkiller, I noticed it was a game Yahtzee should review. I played it kinda dazed at two in the morning, and I had fun. Not the chore that most gaming is for me (leveling up and what not) but I was able to pick it up, nail some guys to walls and call it a day.
Only complaint about the review was the store section. My only response is "Wait.... Painkiller had a story?" guess thats what I get for gaming at two in the morning
Only complaint about the review was the store section. My only response is "Wait.... Painkiller had a story?" guess thats what I get for gaming at two in the morning