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Dreamkiller is short on depth but long on pure, frenetic, arcade-style shooter fun. It may not PC gaming 'literature' but it's a damn good guilty-pleasure pulp novel of exploding mayhem.
As Alice Drake, you are a gifted
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psychic and psychologist. Alice cures mental illness by entering the minds of her patients and blowing the crap out of a few hundred of their "inner demons".
It's not about story
The story in Dreamkiller is pretty much a threadbare idea that could probably fit on a cocktail napkin at Denny's. The writing and voice acting are decent and the graphics are respectable if unspectacular.
The game is utterly linear and highly predictable -- enter area, kill hordes of enemies, door opens, enter new area, repeat. With the exception of the occasional secret areas, there is little to explore beyond moving into each area and awaiting the inevitable onslaught of enemies to spawn and mindlessly pursue you with their virtually nonexistent artificial intelligence.
It's about lots of big dumb fun
In truth, Dreamkiller has all the hallmarks of a crappy FPS game -- but what it lacks in brains it more than compensates for with pure, adrenaline-junky popcorn-movie style arcade fun. Dreamkiller isn't a game built on depth, character development, or story -- it's a game built on the pure thrill of blowing sh*t up -- and lots of it. It's basically an FPS version of the arcade-classic Smash TV. 
"It's all in the reflexes," as Jack Burton would say -- and Dreamkiller is sure to serve as an entertaining diversion from more 'heady' games and give your circle-strafing skills a good workout to boot. There's little break in the action as you mow down countless enemies with Alice's bizarre looking "dream weapons" -- which bear a remarkable resemblance in function (if not form) to standard FPS weapons like shotguns, miniguns, and other implements of destruction. Alice is also armed with psychic powers -- telekinetic and 'flaming hands' abilities, for example -- that she can also use to smite enemies.
Because it's a dream world there is no ammunition to worry about, so you can spray fiery death and destruction almost nonstop . Alice's outlandish-looking 'dream weapons' are fueled by her concentration (a depleting meter that slowly recharges), and weapon cool-down times will occasionally force you to pause briefly in between the virtually nonstop vomit of firepower that is yours to command.
Your enemies are utterly bizarre and stupid as rock salt -- but they'll shoot at you and pursue you relentlessly from all sides until you lay waste to every single one of them. After clearing an area of enemies, a door or path will open into the next area of the level, where you'll repeat the process all over again until you reach the final boss for a particular mission. Every level ends with a statistics screen of total enemies killed, number of deaths, and other game stats, and you can earn a variety of Steam achievements.
There is a little occasional "physics wonkiness" with some of the enemies from time to time, and some levels make it a little to easy to plummet to your death -- but neither of these issues ever dampens the fun too much. 
Some twists keep it interesting
Dreamkiller adds a few interesting touches to its basic formula that prevent it from becoming monotonous. For example, some enemies can only be killed by entering portals that carry you into the subconscious -- basically a realm where you can only remain for as long as Alice's concentration holds up -- if it depletes, she starts taking damage -- so you'll need to move in and out of the subconscious, killing enemies in both realms until...well, until everything everywhere is dead.
And while the weapons are built on fairly standard FPS 'templates' (rocket launcher, minigun, shotgun, etc.), each has an alternate firing mode. The shotgun-like weapon, for example, also fires a projectile that freezes an enemy (who can then be shot and shattered).
Alice can also enter a 'berserker rage' mode when she scores enough kills. Rage mode increases her movement speed, adds health, and makes enemies easier to see -- basically everything turns black and white and enemies are outlined in red for a short while before her 'rage' meter returns to normal. Alice can also teleport in short bursts around the map to keep from getting cornered.
All of the game's flourishes add just enough to keep the game interesting, but the overall formula remains much the same: kill, strafe, run, kill some more, etc -- and in Dreamkiller, the formula works to near perfection. Even death -- which you'll likely experience often -- is handled well. You get 3 "lives" per area of each level. When you die, you are quickly restored and the fight continues. You can die three times before the game resets you back to the beginning of your current area -- but you're never sent back any further than that.
Multiplayer offers the same type of experience with human players, although it is limited 8 player deathmatch and CTF style games. Very old school and fun, but not enough to tear you away from top-tier multiplayer shooters like Left 4 Dead or Team Fortress 2 for long.
Overall
Dreamkiller may not be long on story or smarts, but it's surprisingly fun and a worthwhile diversion from more 'heady' FPS games. And the PC version of Dreamkiller is a mere $30 (vs. $40 for the console version) on Steam. Dreamkiller is furious, fast, fun, and frugal -- a dream to play and a great way to kill some time.
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