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GameSpot editors' review
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CNET editors' rating:
stars
OK
Detailed editors' rating
- Reviewed on: 10/16/2009
- Released on: 10/12/2009
- Originally published on GameSpot: Dreamkiller (PC) Review
Psychologist Alice Drake has a special talent: She can enter the dreams of her patients and cure them of phobias by shooting the meanies that infest their brains. But Alice also possesses another amazing talent. While holding a minigun, she can contort her left arm into the most uncomfortable position without ever suffering from shoulder cramps. You'll get past the visual oddity of Alice's freaky arm in time, but Dreamkiller's other problems are less easily forgotten. This run-and-gun first-person shooter grows tiresome quickly and fails to make good use of the intriguing premise, which is a shame considering its virtually limitless potential. Some of the enemy and level designs display plenty of life and creativity and hint at the great shooter Dreamkiller might have been. Unfortunately, wonky game mechanics make this throwback twitch shooter more of an ancient relic than a welcome blast from the past.
Greenpeace won't be happy.
What a great idea: As Alice, you jump into your patients' dreams and blast manifestations of their phobias. Is the patient arachnophobic? You take on hordes of spiders with your flame-spewing fingers and a helpful minigun. Does the subject have issues with machines? You clear his head of mechanical monstrosities by shutting the robotic infiltrators down for good. You may even learn about phobias you didn't know existed. Did you know that ponophobia is the fear of working too hard? Or that maniaphobes are afraid of going mad? Sadly, the potential for a cheesy-awesome story goes untapped. Levels are preceded by scantly written case descriptions, and while the still-image story scenes are beautifully drawn, they don't tell a tale worth hearing. The setup is simply an excuse to let you unload lead into crowds of weird demonic enemies a la Painkiller or Serious Sam.
The early levels are disappointing and conventional, featuring ho-hum level design, predictable enemy behavior, and all-too-familiar hyperactive shooting. And in many cases, the levels fail to capitalize on the phobia that inspired them. It makes sense that you would be shooting creepy-crawlies in an arachnophobe's nightmares, but why are there spiders in the dreams of the guy afraid of making decisions? Too many levels feature the same old corridors and arenas you've experienced countless times before, filled with enemies that are easily outwitted as long as you stay on the move. You clear the area, a door opens, and you move through it to the next area, where a bunch more meanies await. Thus, the more typical levels get tedious quickly and don't offer much in the way of challenge, so blandness sets in long before you've moved to the next nightmare.
How long could you hold your arm in that position?
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