Frankly I was fascinated by the premise of Dreamkiller, because a shooter revolving around a concept as resourceful as the subconscious presents huge potential. You play as Alice Drake, a psychologist with the surreal ability of entering the patient's mind and confront his deepest fears. This may sound pretty glamorous, but what you'd actually wind up doing is shooting legions of demons in a confined space, at lightning speed.

High expectations lead to crushing disillusions, and even in the first stages I couldn't make my mind adjust to the reality that the alluring premise is nothing more than an excuse to blast demons with weird weapons. As you progress with the campaign, any hope of witnessing the revival of the storyline is trampled, as the repetitive nature of Dreamkiller takes over. Levels look different, but the action is pretty much the same, with demon infested rooms to be cleared before moving forward, and tedious boss fights before completing each mission.

Cutscenes precede each scenario, briefly presenting the patient's phobia, but you're pretty much kept in the dark about their condition, while the monsters populating these dreams make virtually no sense. It's a shame that the developers didn't consider a more subtle approach on this title, because simply wiping out various demons won't help the gamer immerse into the narrative. Furthermore, most of these fiends somehow manage to transcend levels and you'll be frequently killing monsters with no apparent connection to a specific phobia.

Since the storyline is underdeveloped, one would expect the actual shooting to be fun and appealing, at least challenging enough to keep players interested. Unfortunately this is not the case here, due to the repetitive nature of the gameplay, weak AI and tricky controls. Basically you are running through a maze, directed by a green arrow which turns red when bad guys enter the scene. Like in those second hand horror movies, a door closes behind you and demons swarm the room, giving you no other option but annihilating every single one.

Confronting dozens of fiends in these confined spaces is not an easy task, but as long as you keep moving the outcome of the battle is easy to predict. Put any tactics aside and simply focus on outrunning the enemies, shooting a haze of bullets and rockets, or incinerate them with your bare hands. They will inflict a lot of damage if they get the chance, but each successful kill can result the demon to drop a dream catcher that will replace health or energy. Once the area is cleared another door unlocks and you are allowed to move further to the next room, where a nearly identical challenge awaits.