Painkiller: Resurrection should've stayed in its grave. Detailed review featured here.
However, I will make an exception with Painkiller: Resurrection - mainly because a flawed game like this deserves to have a waving red flag hoisted above its buggy carcass. In other words: Painkiller: Resurrection is a failure in every conceivable way. There is no point in denying it: From the original game to now, the series has only been heading in one way - down to inner sactums of software hell.
Being a graphic designer, I often take a few moments to consider the logos of the developers. Take Valve for example - clean logo, clear message. Id Software, Blizzard and Rockstar - ditto. Then look at Homegrown, the developer responsible for this outburst of disappointment, from the getgo their logo says something about their products. Its a hand in a circle - the corny name says a lot about their grassroot heritage, and they don't even try to deny their amateur workmanship by adding the embarrasing line: Fan_Made_Product. Yes, this is the work of fans without talent and without the capability to polish the final product sufficiently - in effect giving the customers a broken mod.
And the logo says it all. I should've been warned.
If it weren't for the fact that I purchased the game as a part of a package deal on Steam, with the original and all the other (and way better) expansions for a reduced pre-order price, I might've feel ripped off as well. As it is, I at least got the other games - with the original Painkiller still being one of the better old-school shooters on the market.
But what makes this heap of broken promises so bad? Well, the Gamespot review says most of it, but here is my version:
When you start the game (ignoring the fact that Steam gives you an error message the first 5 times you try to load the game in Win7 - a bad omen, if any), initally it feels like you're back in the painkiller universe - at least the menus look the same. Should you decide to start the game however, the pain begins. Loading the first level with anything below 4 GB of RAM will take forever. With 4 GB+ RAM it will just take an eternity, give or take. The original Painkiller performs great on newer GPUs, Painkiller: Resurrection, however, is barely playable on a 2 GB system, no matter the GPU or CPU - lots of stuttering and slowdowns. With 4 GB of ram - you still get the slowdowns whenever more than a few enemies are on screen, but the stuttering, for the most part disappears. In case you are wondering what kind of hardware I have on my system - is a HD5770, Q6600 system - running the game in 1360x768 - not a taxing resolution. To compare, Crysis Warhead runs smooth in mixed Gamer/Enthusiast settings, but Painkiller: Resurrection barely manages to have playable fps.
Surely, with that kind of performance, you must get great graphics? Unfortunately no. The graphics aren't ugly as such, but they are not a definite improvement over the original Painkiller neither. Considering the 5 years age difference between the games, that's not a good sign. The art direction is so-so - but you'll see a lot of recycled monsters from the original Painkiller, with only a few (and poorly designed) new monsters.
Another bad sign is the map design - apart from being large and confusing, you'll often be stuck in the clutter of debris on the levels. Considering this is a fast paced action game, the idea that you'll not be able to dodge very well without getting stuck in tombstones, boulders, vegetation or being trapped in narrow canals is another example of poor game design at its worst. Add to this an AI, that must've been coded in the late 90's - making the AI of the original Serious Sam look like a chess champion - you'll find the battles in this game both frustrating and simple at the same time.
The original Painkiller masked the poor AI with great level design - without the latter element Painkiller: Resurrection is just a hollow experience. Devoid of fun as well as intelligence, as the poor story and annoying voice acting exemplifies. (Please rid these games of one-liners, it hasn't really worked since the days of Duke Nukem)
Oh, and let's not forget the bugs, the crashes, the lack of co-op - but at this point they are to be expected of the lackluster developer. One has to wonder if theres has been any siginificant playtesting under the whole development process. My guess is: Nay.
Perhaps the most telling signs of the poor quality of this homegrown-user-mod-sold-as-a-full-priced-game, is the fact that I missed the old Painkiller game right off the bat. Painkiller was, and still is, a great old-school shooter with excellent handling and atmospheric environments, whereas Painkiller: Resurrection should've stayed in the grave, leaving us with the fond memories of the days when Painkiller actually meant something in the gaming world.