You want some? Come get some!
This game is all about encountering thousands of enemies and killing them. You want some hardcore, mindless bloodbath - "Painkiller" is just for you. The fact that gameplay is totally mindless doesn't mean the game is stripped from design whatsoever. Most of the levels are quite well designed both from artistic and gameplay point of views and some of them are pretty much extraordinary like the creepy mental asylum with enemies crawling on the ceiling. Ahh, enemies... That's another strong point of "Painkiller". There is a wide variety of creatures to slay here. Every one of them have different attack and what's quite obvious (maybe not?) different appearence. The only common feature about all of the enemies is that they always come in hordes. And hordes in "Painkiller" are not five or ten enemies at once. Hordes in "Painkiller" are as many enemies at once as you can count. It's just ridiculous, you enter an area and suddenly you are attacked by dozens of monsters craving for your blood. And frankly that's awesome.
There are couple of additions to straightforward gameplay like tarot deck system which is set of special powers you can use in your way to total annihilation of hell's spawn and ability to shift into demonic form after eating 66 souls. From the "traditional" weapons you have several guns including one firing stakes, every with secondary fire mode. They are quite nicely balanced and sufficient for every situation.
Between chapters there are classic boss fights. There are not the greatest fights I've ever seen but they are fine especially that every boss is totally huge, sometimes it's hard to see where in the hell he has his head.
Gold Edition (or so called Black) comes with "Battle out of Hell" expansion which is a nice addition to the core game and gives player more of the same first person shooting. There are also several bonus materials like Making of and trailers. Quite good, just don't expect superb Collector's Edition or something like that.
"Painkiller" is an FPS that delivers a lot of fun and can be recommended for every old-school gamer looking for some blood-stained, fast-paced gameplay experience.