You know what?... This is what I think of the game.

The gameplay is similar to that of Serious Sam, albeit in more closed encounters with a darker theme to it.
During my first couple of levels playing through it I just thought of it as an edgy knock off of Serious Sam with it's simplistic gun-play; yet as I progressed the game had became more complex, throwing puzzles at the players that is thought provoking to say at least.
This is where the game begins to crank the difficulty and truly tests the players might. When you get to the boss battles they're not as easy as to just point and click.
Each boss fight provides unique ways to be defeated, whilst each boss progressively gets harder.


The story is... OK at best. Even though the story isn't the highest of quality it is still nonetheless interesting and has (SPOILER ALERT) several plot twists.
I personally think the story is somewhat cliche and cheesy, with the Mary Sue and how many plot twists there are.
But this doesn't make it a bad game at all; hell it's a great game!
The arena shooter gameplay is nostalgic and kept me through the entirety of the story.
Not to mention the soundtrack is absolutely badass and always makes fights far more enjoyable.


I also would like to mention about the graphical fidelity in this game.
For a 2004 game this game really kicks ass when it comes to the attention to detail in graphics, such as the lighting, effects, and shadows in this game. (Almost makes it feel like if it was real!)
The optimization in this game is phenomenal; You can run everything at ultra and wont have to worry about any frame drops.


All in all; this was a fun experience for me and kept me on my toes through the entire experience.
If you haven't gave this game a go then you should at least try it.
(Haven't played any of the expansions but I heard they were ♥♥♥♥. Heard BOOH was good and might try Overdose out as well.)





edit: I've played through Battle out of Hell, and here are my thoughts.

There's only 10 levels through the expansion but that alone is about 3-4 hours of gameplay.
The levels have more enemies, tougher than the base game, and extended playtime.
There really isn't much story telling throughout the expansion and there's only two cutscenes through the entirety of it.
The story isn't much better than the base game, but the plot twist is actually interesting for once.


Despite the lack of story the gameplay makes up for the majority of the expansion.
There are some flaws with some of the enemies like how there's a lot more unavoidable hitscan enemies and some levels randomly spikes in difficulty. (I'm talking about the 8th level.)
My biggest gripes is how some of the levels are made; they're not as easy as to just walk from point A to B.
You're going to need to jump through certain areas, especially ones with a large amount of enemies.
Along with that the final boss can feel a little inconsistent, especially with how difficult he is.


Besides all that, the scenery of some of the maps are absolutely phenomenal!
I was most impressed with the 2nd and 9th levels where the landscaping was enormous! (Just like traditional Painkiller!)
I've must of spend a majority of my time just looking for secrets because of the enormous scale of these maps.
If you're the type of person that likes to explore, then there's plenty of secrets to find albeit it isn't required.



Long story short; play the expansion for extended gameplay and maybe even the plot twist after the final boss.



edit 2: After miraculously having over 35 hours on this game I've decided to give it another go with this review.



This game is addicting... That is, if you're willing to go through the repetitiveness this game offers.

The game is fast paced, always surrounded by hordes of enemies, and plenty of kick-ass ways to kill your opponents.

I had stated previously that it's more closed encounters; but that could be farther from the truth.

There's a lot of maps that are enormous and have a unique and amazing atmosphere.

The only real complaint beside the repetitiveness is the confusing story that doesn't really make much sense.

Especially how the main protagonist, Daniel Garner, has to fight his way through purgatory and hell just to see his beloved wife Catherine again.

Not only that, one of the characters you meet has no context of why he's there and what makes him important. (besides the plot twist)

But lets be real here... The gameplay makes up for the uncompelling story-line.

So if you can get past that there's no doubt in my mind that you should give this a go!

And one more thing... I've played through BOOH, Overdose, and Hell & Damnation.

BOOH was absolutely amazing for only having 10 episodes for it.

Overdose is redeemable compared to the other expansions such as Redemption. (get it? redemption? redeemable? funny)

Hell & Damnation is just a compilation of what's already pre-existing from the OG Painkiller, but I will admit there's some interesting features that separates itself from being just a ripoff from the original.

And I don't even want to talk about Redemption.
I only played the first map and, judging a book by its cover, was complete and utter garbage.

So if you're willing to give any of the Painkiller games a try, you should check out Painkiller: Black Edition / Battle Out of Hell, Painkiller: Overdose, and Painkiller: Hell & Damnation.