Painkiller Series PC Game Review

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Painkiller is a first-person shooter video game released on April 12, 2004. It was developed by Polish game studio People Can Fly and published by DreamCatcher Interactive. It is notable for using the Havok 2.0 physics engine extensively.
The game is inspired by such classic titles as Quake and Doom, with the emphasis on killing large numbers of monsters. The game is divided into five chapters, each about five levels long. The player's objective is to get through each level, from start to finish, by slaughtering hundreds of monsters. One of the game's most important aspects is its diversity. Each level presents a new location with various themes and art styles. The levels include castles, monasteries, an opera house, Venice, graveyards, and more. Monsters are also very different, with new ones almost every level. There are five "boss" levels where the player fights a boss. The game presents an option to complete a special task each level, which results in the player getting a "tarot card", a rare, hard-to-obtain bonus. Each equipped card provides different bonuses for a small amount of time, like powered-up weapons or slow motion. The game features multiplayer, which includes classic modes like Deathmatch and Capture-the-Flag.

[@Butmunch666]

One thing you didn't mention is that the first game had some of the most beautiful architectural level design ever.

[@rozza1903]

jernej tojersu it's like anor Londo from dark souls except it's designed for humans and not giants

[@UnrelatedAntonym]

I go back to play the game sometimes just to show some of the buildings in the game to a friend, lol.

[@Butmunch666]

@@UnrelatedAntonym It's fucking true...like the design gives me an...paraphrasing here..."an architectural stiffy". :D

[@bigbruno2232]

@@Butmunch666 Ah yes. Good ole Yahtzee

[@brpadington]

I agree

[@OffTheSpot22]

Who needs sequels when you can make expansion packs for 7 years and then remake the game

[@megadeath308]

To be fair hell and damnation was pretty good

[@OffTheSpot22]

megadeath308 But it's a more expensive version of the same game with less content Woo graphics Except they aren't much better looking

[@outrageousvideos]

+megadeath308 Why do I run into your comments everywhere? also hell and damnation was terrible they cut out more than half the levels and barely improved the graphics.

[@megadeath308]

I don't know

[@sernoddicusthegallant6986]

*with half the missions gone

[@lukebowman7513]

i thought this was a game where you play as a painkiller trying to hide from max payne.

[@LightTrack-]

Nice...lol

[@patrickyoung7101]

That's the scariest fuckin game I've EVER heard of

[@SayakMajumder]

😆👌

[@RussellRadio]

Prophunt, Max Payne edition

[@SkyTied]

Paynekiller

[@Hr1s7i]

When I first played this, I was still using a 1024x768 monitor with a geforce 4. Never felt a FPS dip. First Painkiller and BOOH are the best of all. Fricking awesomeness.

[@duskdev]

Painkiller is easily one of the best FPSs of the last decade.

[@asais1024]

Oh hi David

[@BatGear.]

100th

[@mrt445]

deserves a next gen remake

[@deus_nsf]

You paid it a serious homage with Dusk, great job!

[@notashw1n]

what a nice man, i sure hope he doesnt create one of the best games paying homage to painkiller

[@ale-lx9gp]

There is only 2 things I remember about Painkiller overdose: 1. Loading Screens. 2.Loud Screams

[@CynicalGamingBlogTerry309]

Don't forget the fact that every single enemy tastes like chicken... including the chicken houses

[@magnusm4]

Mh yummy, I LOVE the taste of evil souls in the morning. Dun dun dun, another one bites the dust. Taste like chicken That's the problem with fold demons, no STAYING power

[@CynicalGamingBlogTerry309]

magnusm4 Lead for free.... LEAD FOR FREE!!!!

[@CynicalGamingBlogTerry309]

Don't forget that souls taste like chicken

[@Rusiputki]

The only thing I remember about Painkiller is Fatal1ty vs Vo0

[@jr.elwood9326]

The original Painkiller was really good. I loved the dark and weird athmosphere, reminded me of games like Blood and Quake 1. I wish they would make more games like this today, but maybe I'm just nostalgic...

[@misterkefir]

nah, you're right and I feel the same.

[@exlibrisas]

Original PK and BOOH were phenomenal when I first played them. And then played them many more times. Even recently. Cultural references and mythology as well as demonology gave these games specific atmosphere.They were masterpeaces for me.

[@nowUknowTube]

Gggmanlives Nostalgia. That's what you've given me with all these awesome reviews of older PC games. Thank you for that sir.

[@CoolUsername69]

Painkiller is the first game whose physics made me shit.

[@ChrisGhysel]

Best to wear a diaper while playing then...

[@UnCreativeDeconstructionism]

..Is that good?

[@deathrow166]

@@UnCreativeDeconstructionism Hell Yeah !!!!!!!!!!!!!

[@Kyrkby]

I was hoping you were going to comment on the final level on the first Painkiller, the one where time was entirely stopped. That is, in my opinion, grade A level design.

[@CynicalGamingBlogTerry309]

In the original Painkiller, you had to get its card to unlock Trauma. They changed this in the black edition.

[@CynicalGamingBlogTerry309]

Vladimir Ilyushin wait that ending wasn't in the black edition?

[@CynicalGamingBlogTerry309]

Vladimir Ilyushin I've already beaten the game on trauma so I know the ending.

[@Vitor20XX]

Trauma ending is the Good Ending

[@michaelandreipalon359]

Add that with the heavy metal soundtrack rocking about in the background, and it's glorious!

[@PhysicsViolator]

this game had the best music ever

[@justinsane3909]

I never got tired of the shotgun sounds, and you just reminded me. Off to get this and replay it. The map where you took on those giants...omg, I was high and marveled at the spectacles.

[@RoughThief]

The good and the bad, delivered short and sweet, for the full series in one go. That's what I'm looking for in a review. Well done.

[@Metroid24242]

One thing I learned when playing these games: Explosive barrels will absolutely ruin your health so do not be anywhere near them. Had plenty of rage associated with learning that one.

[@CynicalGamingBlogTerry309]

Yeah... explosives are not to be messed with in Painkiller.

[@parallax8207]

Me too

[@GUInterface]

I used to be extremely into Painkiller during its release. Even posted in the official DreamCatcher Interactive forums back in 2004 and was active there for a few years even after they were purchased by another company and the forums were eventually shut down. Here's some pointless trivia I remember from back then: Battle out of Hell was originally going to have some sort of underwater base level with siren enemies or something. There's text remnants of removed levels if you happen to open the game in the Painkiller map editor they released the same year. On the topic of custom maps, Painkiller never had much of a mod community and one of the very few SP maps released was one called Hills by Varus who was also active in the official forums. There's a bunch of other maps you can find but it's just official SP levels converted for MP deathmatch use. Painkiller's multiplayer was rather popular during its release. I remember it being part of one of those e-athlete multiplayer things in 2005 where they competed for real money. Painkiller was going to have a exclusive PSP version back in 2005/2006, I think it was still going to be made by PCF. Eventually once the whole DreamCatcher/PCF deal fell through, DC kept the assets and some of them were reused in Overdose. The franchise went to shit after that and passed hands through a lot of garage developers. Painkiller Resurrection was atrocious and it got even worse from there. To give you an idea of the depths the franchise fell into post-Overdose (or BooH depending how you look at it), circa 2011 the publisher that owned the IP at the time got a 16/18 year old to shit out yet another expansion pack, Painkiller Redemption (which you spared yourself from playing), that consisted of official multiplayer levels repurposed to be SP maps and filled with five million enemies. It was awful and the guy who made it spent a while on the Steam forums that year insulting anyone who didn't like it. That pseudo-remake by Farm51 released in 2012 was all right, but it showed that the series had run its curse and I don't mind if it never pops up again.

[@porkhill6665]

GUInterface Played this game when I was 5 and I still think about it from time to time. I hope someone can adapt a good movie. From what I know the guys who bought the rights made Elf :/

[@MetaL556]

@@porkhill6665 Well, trying to make a movie out of Painkiller is like trying to make a movie out of old Doom. Yeah, there's a story, but it's just an excuse to send you in to kill a thousand demons. We already know what attempts at making a Doom movie look like, and it's all awful and completely missing the point.

[@claudiucipriang.c.c5483]

Would've loved to see painkiller for consoles. , we have Witchfire will be coming out this year hopefully , it's gonna bring back old memories for sure. Imagine if '' The suffering '' got rebooted? 🤤 🤤 🤤

[@michaelandreipalon359]

...I think BOuH not having an underwater helped it, what with experience from Sonic the Hedgehog and The Legend of Zelda.

[@matthieutrollip9151]

This game had some of the most 'fun to figure out' secrets of any fps I've played in the passed decade or so.

[@mrnickbig1]

Painkiller had rave reviews when it came out because it had great graphics for the time, and was one of the first, or possibly the first game that used a physics processor. Remember, this came out way before graphics cards could be programmed to process physics and particle effects.

[@tiomachete3369]

I have to rebut some of the negative points you made about the first game, I hope you don't take it personally: 1.There are hardly any unavoidable attacks, specially the bubble monster you showed when you mentioned that, I was able to beat that guy without getting damaged at all from him, only got hit by the acid while grabbing an ammo box. Most attacks you can't avoid, is because you set yourself in a situation where you can't, mostly because of greed trying to get more damage than you should so you end up getting hit and the first chapter boss, the graveyard giant is designed specifically to help you understand this concept by having an enormous range and require you to keep your distance or die. 2. You are literally claiming that the requirement of skill and accuracy with some weapons is an issue, which is not, not all games need to be designed to make you feel like you are a better player than you actually are, learning and getting better at landing the stakes is one of the most rewarding gaming experiences I've ever had. Also the grenades you throw with the secondary fire, are not even designed for you land them on enemies, but to drop them on their path. You also show footage of the rocket launcher not killing the mobs, that's because they weren't close enough to the center of where the projectile hits, the explosions have falloff. 3. The "frame drop" when you get hit by melee it's not a bug or an optimization issue, and also you exaggerate when you claim it drops into the single digits, it goes exactly down to 24fps, that is an effect, which along with the visual FX, accomplishes perfectly its objective of being disturbing and make you want to stop it asap. 4. The demon powers triggering is something you have total control over: just stop collecting the souls, but yet again, greediness makes people try to pick up everything they see, specially if you are spoiled by modern games, holding back from going demon form and using it strategically is also a very rewarding thing. This game has way more innovations and design achievements, than what even its most avid fans give it credit for. what Half Life did for the narrative, pacing and level design in the FPS genre, is what Painkiller did for the genre's gameplay mechanics and weapon design, incredibly simple things like the demon form, the tarot cards, the ability to pull yourself up by using the alternate fire on the painkiller (the main weapon) unsure if it was an exploit or not until you notice the pattern of the objects you can use to do that and realize that the trash piece was put there for you to use it in such way, the requirements to unlock the cards for each level which made you suddenly change your playstyle and try to play differently than what you are used to. Aside from that, I can't even bother to watch, I think there is no sane person who has played the bastard expansions who thinks they are good.

[@CynicalGamingBlogTerry309]

You're not the only one who thinks this way, I'm still waiting for a game good enough to match up to Painkiller. It removes all the things I hate about FPS and focuses on the things I love. Painkiller is the single player campaign Quake 3 should have had.

[@Lucifierium]

I'm (relatively) sane, and I think Battle Out of Hell and Overdose were absolutely amazing

[@Jaayu28]

I reinstalled the game few days ago and I just remembered about this review. It's great, however there is some heresy between those lines Saying that the only Tarot Cards worth grabbing are the damage ones which is totally unfair. It's a system that rewards you and really makes the game easier, collecting all cards of the first chapter makes the "atrocious" Necrogiant battle a fucking child's play. Yeah, the requierements may be hard, but that's how you progress in this game. This game is designed to be a hardcore oldschool shooter with bunnyhopping, challenge (and i mean real challenge) in mind. BOOH was great, Overdose was worse, however it had it's fair share of pros like new guns, few atmoshperic levels and so on.

[@Cannibalizer93]

its sad how the video maker wont get it. I used to play this game for hours, up to the last possible difficulty level. At one point i remember i enabled cheat codes, and removed the despawn of enemies (in essence, i removed the health bonus from kills) to make it even more difficult and fun. just like you, The stake gun was my favorite weapon. Bunny hop + stake gun while moving = ultimate fun. Btw, there is a third weapon option in the stake gun. If you throw a grenade, then quickly throw a stake you literally create a rocket launcher with your stake gun.

[@thrrax]

The difficulty for the first game does scale up... Try heading into Trauma with no cards.

[@JUMBODEUCE]

"Glaring problems that stick out like a dogs balls" - Gggmanlives

[@FilleatUT]

I'd recommend Painkiller: Black Edition

[@AGMHF88]

Painkiller and Painkiller - Battle Out Of Hell were really good. Painkiller - Overdeose was also good for the most part. But the following games were horrible. First the enemies and weapons were all recycled from the first three games and the level design was really bad - again the same textures and object from the first games.

[@BMC2]

Love you videos bro. Nice accent, no bullshitting and straight to the point. Keep it up, I subscribed!

[@rodzandz]

You forgot to include the remake "Hell and Damnation".

[@AKhellbindeR]

This game was badass back in the day. Loved playing it online, reminded me of oldskool Quake World.

[@robogoku]

It's nearly Midnight but I had to watch this cause I remember how damn good your reviews are

[@GameplayandTalk]

This was a nice surprise! After watching most of your other videos I was really curious to know what you thought of Painkiller. The original game is my favorite FPS behind DOOM and Quake, easy. It definitely has some flaws (the horrible FMV for instance), but a lot of the other stuff you get accustomed to as you get better (for instance, never shooting rockets into crowds--shoot them into the ground for blast damage instead, it's much more reliable; also, learning the boss patterns so you don't take those seemingly unavoidable hits). The combat is just so satisfying though. The environments are also creative and the visuals and theme overall hold up pretty well, even over ten years later. The Tarot card system adds a lot of replay value, and it's one of the few shooters I can think of that alters how the final stages progress as well as the ending you receive based on playing on the hardest difficulty or not. There's just so much here to keep the player coming back. The expansions, yeah, Battle Out of Hell aside, they were mostly garbage. The final one you weren't able to try/review is better than Resurrection or Recurring Evil, definitely. Still, it's probably not going to impress. Overdose was probably the most disappointing for me because it was billed as a brand new, full-price game. The enemy design and placement was atrocious (shielded enemies on the early stages for instance that force you to aim the Painkiller-type weapon at the ground--seriously, why? This isn't a puzzle game). The load times are horrific still now, but were even worse back in 2007. The overall theme and one-liners are just awful as well. It wasn't the direction the series needed to go. Either way, the original is still awesome.

[@Gggmanlives]

Austin Mackert Nothing beats the original!

[@lancergt1000]

4:20 That's because Yahtzee blew the game out of proportion, which made everyone else also blew it out of proportion.

[@Gggmanlives]

Noir Suede Yahtzee is good at blowing there's no doubt about that.

[@oh_rhythm]

Gggmanlives ohhhhhhhhhhhhh shieeeeeeeeeeeet! :P

[@Terf1988]

Was Yahtzee bigger back then or now?

[@yarpen26]

@@Terf1988 Much bigger than he's nowadays, he also introduced the "PC Master Race" jab in his Witcher review from 2007. Back then it was refreshing to see a video game review that didn't feature grainy footage intercepted with shots on the reviewer captured with a shittyass camera.

[@Terf1988]

@@yarpen26 - did he popularize using the word "immersion" in regards to game design?

[@EldritchAugur]

Not sure if I agree, the only real problem I have is the boss fights which are pretty boring, but thankfully they are extremely easy and don't tax your patience that much. The bevy of enemy types and incredible art design for the levels is really what makes this game great.

[@ryanwood6754]

its why I hate this game. People seem to just like it because of its themes and music etc. But I care more about gameplay and it SUCKS in this game. Plus the bugs OHHHH the bugs and horrible AI

[@salokin3087]

Painkiller, Fuck Yeah! Love the new intro BTW! You summed up all of my problems with an otherwise great, good job! Recommend checking out the Marathon Series

[@Gggmanlives]

Salokin Sekwah Thanks bro!

[@Gggmanlives]

I can't comment yet as I haven't played H&D

[@kayeplaguedoc9054]

Mint Mag Compared to Serious Sam HD it's disappointing mainly because at least Serious Sam HD had EVERYTHING from the original games, where as Painkiller H&D cuts out many, many levels and the developers also deserve a bit of a smack because until after the release of the final retail product they said it would have the same level count as Painkiller Black (Which was basically just the first game and Batlte out of Hell bundled together) and instead they released a very short game and then had the gall to release the previously promised levels as DLC and they still haven't released all of them, though they do now at least advertise that it isn't a complete remake. Outside of that, Hell and Damnation isn't bad and I still recommend it for hardcore Painkiller fans but Serious Sam HD wins solely because of the fact it retained everything and was also cheaper on release.

[@HardenedMetapod]

Gggmanlives If you get the chance I'd really like to see your take on it. I can probably already guess what you'll have to say, but all the same, I always enjoy hearing your thoughts on these kinds of games.

[@GentleHeretic]

Someone say Marathon? I'm not the most learned fan of the series, but I would love to see Gggman talk about it. Have you tried to look for Marathon reviews online? Nobody even mentions it!

[@superbravo666]

Best Polish shooter :) next to Bulletstorm.

[@CynicalGamingBlogTerry309]

Made by the same guys too

[@Daedalus4]

Never forget that People Can Fly made this masterpiece for a flat fee and never saw a dime in royalties from the milking of their series.

[@ecmjr]

I remember this game. It was a cool game and visually pleasing especially for the time it was released. I had a crappy video card, but the fps never lagged that bad. Anyways, I'm gonna try to find the original discs and play it again for the holidays. Nice Video! Keep it up!!

[@MelStaub]

Love the new opening man! Also great review as always :D

[@xexun0010]

you actually do have control over it, its when you get 66 souls it activates, just get 65, dont pick up anymore until you want to use it then kill everything

[@Liev.H]

Didnt understand much at first but picked up his accent rather quickly. Very in depth review. I like this guy. Subscribed.

[@CynicalGamingBlogTerry309]

Painkiller is love it or hate it. If you love blowing up mindless enemies and great art design, it's awesome, if you want something with depth, it's not really for you. That being said, Painkiller is my favorite FPS of all time. I love the dark gothic atmosphere, i love the fast paced game play and i love the music. It just seems to work together perfectly. There's no other FPS quite like it, Doom felt more sci-fi, Quake also diverted into the sci-fi route, Blood and Rise Of The Triad were a bit too basic. Painkiller on the other hand has more varied themes, there's just something about shooting enemies in an Opera House that gives the game a certain charm. All the negatives don't bother me at all, framerate issues aren't that big of a deal, the dumb enemy AI isn't bad either as there's a pointer which tells you where they are. I'm glad they added that pointer because it can be so annoying when enemies get behind you and you can't see them. It's not often that i replay games but i can't help but replay Painkiller, it's just so much fun. In fact it makes Serious Sam 3 look like a joke in comparison imo.

[@outrageousvideos]

+brainjuice654 why are you everywhere?

[@CynicalGamingBlogTerry309]

Outrageous Videos I play a lot of games and so I watch a lot of videos about them.

[@the86kk]

Played some levels and didn't like the gunplay. When it comes to simple shooting games I prefer Blood 2, Serious Sam Series (even 3), Q3A, UT Series (all with bots).

[@D3filed7]

the first 2 painkiller are easily the best of the whole series, resurrection keeping in mind that it was fanmade by someone with probably very little expierence wasnt bad, and was only worth like 3.99. i liked the fact some fans "tried" to keep the game alive and took it upon them selves and took the time to do it. if the developers just kept on this game it wouldve been way better, but they instead went to make bulletstorm..

[@ryanwood6754]

so if you like goth themes and boring braindead AI this is the game for you!

[@SpecShadow]

"If you get hit in Painkiller - you're playing it wrong". I'm not that good in modern multiplayer shooters yet old PK is not that hard for me. That remind me - you heard about Hell&Damnation remake right? The devs who made H&D (what a name) are responsible for Necrovision games. Any though about them? Game is clunky but music, rifles and kick button make it a good game for me. And another titles/addons from PK plain sux. Then I found that some easterneuropean fan remade all addon maps (plus some fan made one) into one game, fixed problems and made it more enjoyable. It's called Painkiller: Supernatural 2.0

[@Gggmanlives]

+SpecShadow I bought H&D but haven't played it yet.

[@Dontreadthis0]

+Gggmanlives idk if you have yet to play through it yet but I finished it. It was 10 hours for the main stuff for me anyway, idk about any of the side stuff. It definitely looked great and kept all the mechanics from the old one. I think the only complaint I see about is it length. I can't speak for myself in that regard as I have yet to finish the original.

[@Thalanox]

+Gggmanlives I think it's basically an HD remake of the original painkiller with a few new things and a co-op mode added to it.

[@DoctorManiaMusic]

They butchered the HD remake, just warning yah. Basically, they stretch classic levels out FAR TOO LONG with their own shitty additions. Example, the military base level has a ufo boss fight at the end that clips through the environment and shit. It's really lazily put together and disappointing.

[@SpecShadow]

DoctorMania can confirm. Better play Painkiller Supernatural 2.0

[@mrvex6695]

Will you make a review on Necrovision + Lost company (Its DLC)

[@user-us6vg]

Honestly the game kind of sucks. I mean the design and idea is really cool but its utterly broken, both the engine and gameplay, similar to the horrible Painkiller addons like Redemption. Just feel like SHIET.

[@TheoreticalString]

When you bunny hop you don't just move faster, you build velocity. You can end up moving many, many times your "max speed". That's the key to handling a lot of the "undodgeable" boss attacks - if you're moving faster than the Doomguy, they are in fact amazingly dodgeable. Once you realize this, the destructable terrain in the boss fights makes sense - it interrupts your bunny hop velocity, and gives you a building challenge - easily dodged attacks become more and more dangerous as you get boxed in by terrain and risk losing your speed boost to a bad jump.

[@comedygold12421]

I first played this game when i was 6 or 7 years old and my uncle let me play it. Now I suddenly remembered this and searched it up. I only remember the battle at the church and graves. Man this is like a spiritual journey

[@quasarulas3968]

you should aim your rockets at the ground to avoid missing. most arena shooter players know aiming timed projectiles for direct hits work best with splash damage. also why dont you dodge and bunny hop through the boss fights? the methods for killing some are obtuse but once you know them they're easy. imo painkiller's close to being one of the best fps games ever. boh was good as well. overdose seems like it could have been way better with any kind of polish added. some guns don't even seem to have fire sounds. never had any problem with load times though.

[@spiderjerusalem100]

I like painkiller a lot because it's a no nonsense, balls to the wall shooter. The boss fights are dog shit though. I'd still rather play through this again over something like COD though.

[@element1111]

You might like Serious Sam, if you haven't yet played it that is

[@l0m-dev]

Dreadnought yes for sure

[@Kyezoar]

I know this review is like ancient but I find the "enemies can get stuck and you'll spend ages looking for them" hilarious because theres a giant ass compass on the HUD that always points to enemies or the next checkpoint if there is none. Banger Game btw, flawed in places but overal a fun time

[@CaptainDijango]

The first game was my first person shooter i ever played ngl probably the best shooter to start my fps games on

[@blacksamurai76]

Oh yes this game brings back very good memories, the sheer numbers of enemies and the way you can defeat them. Once I beat Fear 1 I'll will get Painkiller: Hell & Damnation.

[@ExValeFor]

I see you've finally improved in the video editing area, the footage now matches what you're saying. Used to be pretty silly how the video barely followed the points you were making, it felt a bit misleading and confusing.

[@MariusUrucu]

For as much as I love the shooting and weapons in Painkiller and how pretty the environments look, enemy composition in this game is kind of subpar. The enemy variety is nice, but that doesn't mean much, because the variety is limited to specific levels. Not only that, but most enemies are the same "charge at you" or hit-scanning type, which makes playing Painkiller pretty mindless at times. Compare that to say, Serious Sam or Doom, where enemy composition compliments the brilliant shooting. Still, Painkiller is a fun game to play. It's just this flaw that kind of leaves a bad taste in my mouth. And future expansion packs have that flaw made more obvious.

[@TheStaticable]

Do you think you could do more mod corner that would be cool Especially doom wads

[@Gggmanlives]

hazza connor brock matt sam I've got a new Mod Corner coming out this week. I'm going to be doing a Mod Corner on Grezzo 2 as well soon.

[@pyramideddie7813]

Gggmanlives Dis gon b gud

[@TheStaticable]

cool i saw eatmydiction play grezzo 2 im also a small doom modder i am currently working on a censorship mod so i can play doom at school without teachers hassling me

[@TheStaticable]

you lucky bugger but you dont go to a private christian school

[@nexusshark]

Overdose didn't have the loading screen problem when I played it recently. It loads almost as fast as it's predacessors. Resurrection on the other hand...doesn't. Redemption and Recurring Evil have less complicated level design and are more straight forward than Resurrection, but the huge legions of enemies make Redemption almost impossible to play. Recurring Evil feels like the developers didn't know what to do, it just feels random. I still play rather those than Resurrection.

[@Romanovich451]

I only started playing painkiller, and I love how over the top this game is, the bunny hopping though, you can just go insane speeds with it which is a lot of fun Great review btw ;) are you going to review hard reset someday?

[@Gggmanlives]

Roman Might do. I didn't enjoy it all that much though.

[@zeliph]

Is there multiplayer? If so, do many people still play it? The weapons kind of reminds me of Unreal Tournament where they have alternate firing modes.

[@D3usExMachina]

Painkiller will always be one of my favorite twitch FPS games of all time. And have you thought about reviewing Timesplitters: Future Perfect? It is possibly the best in the series and something to tide you over until Timesplitters 4

[@Gggmanlives]

Kimarough Yeah, I'm looking at ways to record PS2 footage, PS2 emulators have too many glitches.

[@EldritchAugur]

Gggmanlives Tell me about it, I have an i7 and a 970 and games run through PCSX2 don't even run at 60 for me. They aren't were they need to be yet.

[@this_connor_guy]

Wooden stake launcher - something that needs to make its way into vampire games.

[@thelaymaneveryman]

I think some of these reviews forget what impressions games like this left on a gamer when they installed it in the year they were made. We got Painkiller, Doom 3 and Half-life 2 that year can anyone name in the last 5 years where we got 3 fps games this vastly different from each other. Painkiller over the top action, Doom 3 dark horror(lite) and Half Life 2 story driven. All 3 great single player experiences. I do agree that serious sam was great as well.

[@kayeplaguedoc9054]

Good review, as usual. Painkiller is a fun ride, but good god there's a line between "Retail product" and "Fan made mod," I could maybe excuse Overdose even if it feels a bit too much like a total conversion but the other two have no excuse to be retail products sold for cash. It also sucks that Nordic is still milking the game. They announced an HD remake, and the beta was good so I was like "Imma buy the whole version! Yay, Painkiller with even better graphics!" and then I wait for the full product to come out... nope, sorry, turns out we weren't remaking the WHOLE game - you didn't think we were doing that, did you? Well, uhh, we just remade our favourite levels... but we'll make more! and charge money for it! Maybe I'm dumb for buying it but I felt pissed because otherwise its a great iteration and it plays perfect, has some fun new twists and looks wonderful. But its NOT THE FULL FUCKING GAME. Arrrgh.

[@Gggmanlives]

Kaye Faye I've heard mixed things about the remake. Or is it a reboot?

[@lobobbybobalot]

Gggmanlives remake and a sequel or something its ok but i never gave it much of a chance but i say the original one just feels right compared to the requel ........

[@SuikaIbuki]

Gggmanlives from what i know it'a a hd port of the original first 2 games and the collector edition is sweet :D

[@kayeplaguedoc9054]

Gggmanlives It's a remake/remix, I suppose. It remakes several levels though many of them have small updates like newer enemies, and there is a pretty cool new weapon called the Soul Catcher that you get from the start. It acts as a sort of laser and it can also suck up souls from a distance, and once you collect enough souls you can use a charged projectile to possess enemies that are caught in the splash radius and they'll fight for you. But it acts like a remake in that the levels are ordered the same and the boss order is the same though the main issue is, again, despite claiming it's a full HD remake they cut out several levels and the devs decided they'd sell the missing levels in sparseley released DLC packs. >_> Honestly if it weren't for that bullshit, I'd say it's a great update. It plays perfect to the original and there are tweaks, additions and fixes that improve the game while retaining everything that was good, and the game looks beautiful and for a late entry into the Unreal 3 engines lifespan not to mention a budget release it has a lot of detail and it runs smoothly and beautifully at high framerates. I just wish they didn't claim that it would be a full remake until the very last minute, they now mention the fact that it's more of a remix of fan favourite levels but up until shortly after the game was released they said it was ALL the levels from Painkiller and BooH. I do like that they've added co-op and steamworks though.

[@taylorday6244]

Wow getting a new mic was the best thing for your channel

[@AdamX21198]

Oh yeah, games that load faster when you uncap your framerate.. I've seen that a couple times...

[@theoldspiceguy7977]

I remember playing the demo of the town level multiple times simply because of how it showed off the stake gun and you can impale flesh throwing zombies to walls with giant wooden stakes.

[@traveller4434]

Same here 🤣🤣🤣😭

[@jankowalski1501]

Original Painkiller: art design - great Music - great Pace of the game (movement) - great Weapons - I would say also great, had lots of fun with them Secrets - great Physics, ragdolls etc - great AI - not too good Bosses - yeah, not too good Bugs - yap, too many for sure Storyline - is there any? :) Overall - solid 7/10 fps shooter, maybe 8 because I am from Poland :) If they put just a bit more effort into bosses and overall AI behavior, this would be 9/10 for me

[@Senior666]

Got it on release and still have my fold out cardboard box 👌. An amazing FPS 🖤

[@HeavilyGamer]

This game series is a masterpice!

[@ryanwood6754]

you havent played many games then XD

[@rudorot65]

Just sit back crank up some iron maiden and splatter some demons against the wall.

[@predabot__6778]

IN DOOM. ; ) *fixed*

[@adriankiel77]

"Painkiller: You'll certainly need one"

[@Quicksilver_Cookie]

I love this game to bits. Some of the most satisfying shooting ever. Just a stake gun alone with complimentary grenade launcher is quite something. Nail your enemies to the wall, or watch them decorate the interior with their blood and body parts?

[@Zenmuron3]

Come on ggmanlives I expected something a bit better for your original PK review. In your gameplay you didn't bunnyhop ONCE and didn't even go into any detail about its mechanics (simple and fun, yet hard to master). Many of your gripes about unavoidable damage seem to be from lack of dodging using the bunny hopping techinque. Remember this game was designed specifically for competitive multiplayer and had a decent span and a decent scene for it back in 03-04-05. It was the go-to game before Quake 4 came out and fought along side UT2k4 for tournament spots. The scene where you complain about firing rockets into a cluster of enemies and don't get a hit because of small hitboxes, you're shooting at the enemy with the smallest hitbox in the game and you did no compensation/prediction for their movement. My buddy once said that this is the DMC of FPS games, and I agree with him. This is a game where you replay it a lot and do all the fancy shit the game allows you to do just for fun. Fast and ridiculous movement, instant weapon switch for combos, and enemies that love to go in the air so you can do airshots. You hardly even mentioned these, and these are pretty obvious. The only part in the game which really really sucks even for hardcore painkiller fans is alistar. Thus far this is the only review I see as lazy, as I've enjoyed all of your other videos.

[@Gggmanlives]

Okay. Sorry I let you down.

[@CynicalGamingBlogTerry309]

RankAndFileGuy Painkiller's difficulty = Just right Serious Sam's difficulty = Stupidly hard for no goddamn reason I never understood how anyone could find Serious Sam fun, you have to be a masochist to enjoy it. Painkiller was still challenging but fair, Serious Sam was completely unfair, beating TFE on normal sealed the deal for me, Serious Sam is awful to play. Please tell me how it is fair to just spawn 100's of kamikaze guys 1 by 1 from every direction. What does that prove? It's all a guessing game as to which kamizake spawned first in real time. I think the difference between the difficulty levels of Serious Sam and Painkiller is that Painkiller is the perfect difficulty, Serious Sam is just a poorly designed mess. It doesn't help when you see 1000's of bulls appear out of thin air for no reason, at least Painkiller tried to be thematic with it's enemy spawns. At least Painkiller tries to be smart with it's placement so you have a chance to see the enemies, plus the compass at the top is a really helpful guide.

[@kuracpickagovno]

brainjuice654 /playlist?list=PL-L4-W3HYXp_vBaXPWTlld3_Wq-9OYyu7 i suggest you take a look at this, max difficulty with half invisible enemies, i dont agree with you, but i understand why you say this... and to quote famous gggman words about serious sam: "its not really a game thats for everyone" :D

[@Splozy]

Remember this is a guy who legitimately did a review for Quake 3 "singleplayer". He honestly has a blind spot to FPS games with roots in Quake. He's got quite a few reviews in games with cool movement systems where he's moving around like grannies shuffling through the post office.

[@this_connor_guy]

I'd like to see/hear your thoughts on the NecroVision games which were developed by a portion of the Painkiller team.

[@Gggmanlives]

Saibot216 Yeah I bought them in the Steam sale actually, they're just backlogged.

[@this_connor_guy]

Awesome! Hope to see a review sometime eventually!

[@THECABEMAN97]

I, like many I assume, are here because of Summer Gamesfest or whatever just trying to learn what the hell Painkiller is and... definitely room for potential here! Thanks for the vid!

[@aspyr5681]

Finding the last enemy stuck somewhere, I remember losing my patience over it, buuut overall the experience was so incredibly enjoyable and satisfying that none of these gaming period mishaps really matter, the truth is, if you played Painkiller, you liked it a lot, nothing will ever beat Quake 2, but this one comes closer than most

[@ryanwood6754]

I played painkiller and I highly disagree with you. Its one of the most boring and annoying games I have played from that era. I love older FPS games and in fact think that more games need to be made like that again but my god this game was bad

[@SuperLightHorse]

Hey gggman big fan and love the channel. Can I ask what Dpi you use? And seems like you use low sensitivity generally?

[@Gggmanlives]

What DPI I use?

[@SuperLightHorse]

Yeah you know mouse DPI, yours seems quite low based on the steadyness of your aim across your videos. Just wondered what you use/ would recommend for playing fps, same for mouse sensitivity options, or do you just use the default for games? (PC shooter newbie here)

[@Gggmanlives]

SuperLightHorse I've got no idea man. I always have sensitivity low though.

[@IntrepidSkin]

The pros use mostly 400 DPI, 1000 polling rate, windows mousespeed 6, raw input, markc mousefix and a huge mousepad if that helps.

[@gokudomatic]

Painkiller has one of the best Cathedral level designs I've ever seen.

[@manux2678]

Exelent review man! Now, besides u r a retro gamer (as me), you could do tons more of reviews with new games and other old games OR MODS!!! An exelent review would be the one for Doom 4, or Rome 2 Total Fail, i mean War. I know that a lot of the actual games are not worth it, but give us more opinions about more games! Like comparing the awesome CoD 1 and 2 with the stupid new CoDs (MW,BO,AW). I love your reviews!!!

[@sergiogouveia6702]

to fix the fps drops when you get hit, run the game in windows xp sp3 (compatibility mode)

[@RyuRanXII]

Fantastic review! What about Hell and Damnation? Does it worth buying?

[@GoreTorn16]

I remember seeing the box for this at a Circuit City store (long since gone now) and the game looked amazing! Glad I was right because this game rocks some serious "dog balls"!

[@SuperDracula1992]

will you make review on the darkness 1 and 2 sometime? also want to see necrovision and bulletstorm reviews

[@Pearcinator]

What do you think of the new Witchfire game reveal?

[@lancergt1000]

I saw The Darkness in one of the bits of the new intro. Are going to do a review of it soon ?

[@Gggmanlives]

Noir Suede Yes. Yes I am. Both games actually.

[@S-TeC84]

The idea for the ball barring and stake air guns in Metro might have came from the gun at 7:25...combined into one.

[@AceHalford]

Can you do an updated review for this series?

[@etherlords88]

Till this day, Painkiller is a fantastic run and gun game and that heavy metal sound is icing on the cake. Such adrenaline push makes you fearless even at boss fight! Volume up and feel even more rage against the bosses and enemies! As for the loading time, it never took me 2minutes, not even 1 minute, it was pretty fast on my p4 machine, phenom II with gtx8800 and radeon 6970! Don't focus on too much graphics in this game, this is run and gun not assassin's creed! You just enjoy killing monsters and bosses in massive scale with different fun guns!

[@Ganondorfdude11]

I picked this game up on GOG just before they removed their whole Nordic Games backlog. I thought the plot was laughable in its attempts to be serious but everything else was amazing. I thought the Tarot system added replayability to levels (I liked getting 100% in all levels in Doom, but there were no rewards for it at all) and the huge variety of enemies and levels were fantastic. I liked that the game didn't use the standard "Pistol/Machine gun/Shotgun/Sniper" stock FPS weapons and even when a gun seemed similar to that mold its secondary fire was something unique like the shotgun's freeze bolts. I didn't like how it would take forever for enemies to dissolve and leave behind souls. I would have to stand over a dead body for like 30 seconds until I got the soul, and in such a fast-paced game that 30 seconds makes a huge difference.

[@antoniofagarto2033]

Small easter egg about Painkiller - registrations of cars in the game are the numbers (and probably are numbers that belong to creators of the game) from the Polish communicator GG (Gadu gadu) Painkiller and Battle out of hell.

[@CynicalGamingBlogTerry309]

Don't forget the "Joker was here" easter egg in Opera House

[@FabsenDX]

Thank you for this awesome review. :)

[@shetto]

When are we getting the Muscle Relaxant sequel to Painkiller!?

[@gameragodzilla]

Are you gonna play the newest one Hell and Damnation?

[@Gggmanlives]

***** Yeah.

[@sergiosrrubio]

Excelent Review, but I wan to know something ¿What do you think about Painkiller Hell & Dammnation? I got on my 360 and, in my honest opinion ,Besides of the Serious Sam Franchise, is one of the best old school shooters of the system.

[@outrageousvideos]

+sergiosrrubio he hates it. it's money whoring

[@PlaySA]

How did your voice get more high pitched as you got older? Interesting mechanism

[@rowan7929]

i love the first one. even when it has its issues as you have mentioned. i got the black edition at some stage from steam that included the first DLC that is ok but i still prefer the original one. who cares about the story. kill everything in your way is what makes this game awesome and still is today.

[@oscuro8961]

yeah painkiller was awesome when it came out. Those bosses and the physics were pretty cool for back then and look pretty cool even now

[@CptCaretaker]

Oh yeah Painkiller awesome! I was waiting for this one!

[@InSayNayTay0137]

oh boy this game is fun and i have been playing this bad boy for years now and i still have it installed and i even played it on the original xbox when i was like 9 or something and blasting through these undead and knights and soldiers alike with the shotgun and painkiller chopping them up like me playing with figures that i made out of play doh since i like was 7 and dismembering them with a butter knife i stole from the kitchen and the soundtrack in this is wonderful but i think my top favorite song from this is town and favorite level and i love how it's playing in the intro of the video as well and i wish this game had a some type of proper remaster with all the maps enemies etc and or even a remake from the fans with updated graphics and such but this game overall is my childhood of violence and metal and gore and good video as well gman

[@Phantron]

Painkiller Redemption works on my PC and I have Windows 7. It's a fun game because it's so silly and has decent level design + the weapons from Overdose. Also it's cheap so it has the best value from any Painkiller game after Overdose. I have Painkiller Black Edition and Redemption. Did you leave out the remake on purpose?

[@Grim_Pinata]

This game looks awesome, how come I've never heard of it?

[@KreepKarnage]

Yeah man this game is pretty much a cult classic. It's fanbase- actually, even it's player base at/after release has always been small. This game was actually one of the first I'd ever played and is the reason I still play games today.

[@jascoolo]

On these old videos you sound like you were broadcasting from some distant place... from some world down under...

[@boothman9321]

Just out of curiosity, could I play old games like these on a laptop's integrated graphics (5000's series)? Because I don't feel like shelling out a lot of money a gaming laptop when I play counter strike and old games.

[@Gggmanlives]

Opjink I think so.

[@Vlad-1986]

+Opjink I use a laptop with the last integrated Intel graphics, and it is good enough for gaming. I was impressed when I actually played the last shadow warrior with no probs! But any game from 2010 and back, you should be able to play max settings with no problems, and modern games in medium/low with a 5000 series. I am using Linux though, I don't know how Intel drivers are for Windows.

[@AnticitizenOne93]

Ciao "GGG", There's Polish game called "Necrovision" that is an old school shooter (released in 2009) set in World War 1. Not only you fight against Germans but later in the game you encounter vampires, dwarfs and dragons. Sounds interesting? :)

[@Gggmanlives]

KomandorPirx I nabbed them in the steam sale, gonna review them soon.

[@jimmoviez]

Love the review! Hey any chance of reviewing the resistance series, I would love to know your thoughts!

[@Gggmanlives]

James Hustead Yeah I bought the entire series recently and will review them in the near future.

[@jimmoviez]

Awesome! I just played the third one and its surpassed all my expectations. Hope you enjoy!

[@Reloaded2111]

I remember secrets in this game defying laws of God and Logic. How can you get an item that has been put high above the ground with no ladder leading to it? The answer: physix! Headbang the chariot until it stands on its end and pulls you up right on the ledge. Most secrets in this game are like this, and some taro cards require finding them. If you just want to shoot ugly-looking bad guys, this game is for you. If you want to get all taro cards, you better have guide at hand. P.S. The Town battle busic is my favorite. Perfectly fits while shooting down those damn witches.

[@Gggmanlives]

Reloaded2111 Yeah there's a way you can destroy crates and then get propelled upwards by jumping off the crate as it breaks. It has lots of old school movement tricks like that.

[@antonioklaic4839]

The minilauncher is a creative idea.