“I have started my boycott of Homegrown Games.” The BFG

Overview

Painkiller Resurrection is a direct sequel of Painkiller by People Can Fly (the good Painkiller). Painkiller Resurrection was developed by Homegrown Games and tells the story of William “wild bill” Sherman an ex CIA agent used in black ops operations. In William’s last mission he was killed trying to save a bus of innocent people from the bomb he planted in a car next to the bus. After Williams’s death he is transported to purgatory where good and evil use his skills for their personal gain.

Gameplay

When I found out last month there was going to be a new painkiller I couldn’t wait. I was as giddy as a school girl. I also found out that People Can Fly wasn’t going to have a hand in its development but Homegrown Games was in charge and I have to say I was hesitant but was willing to except that.

BFG SMASH

I finally got a hold of a copy and started playing the game and almost broke down in tears. How could you mess up a game as simple as Painkiller? It’s an FPS in the purest form with a simple story, a bunch of cool guns and a ton of bad guys now go kill them. The original Painkiller had structure story and professional game design Painkiller Resurrection looks like a college freshman school project. The worst part of this game was the level design which is in most cases probably the worst level design I’ve ever seen. There is no critical path in any of these levels even though they are sort of open to explore it’s almost impossible to find out which way you are suppose to go. How do you not put a critical path in a game? It’s one of the corner stones of level design and game design in general. This bothered me so much I ran out of my Phase2 Studio issued cave jumped to the moon and wrote Homegrown Games sucks in giant letters so people can see from earth how much they really do suck at game design.

Bacon

The only good thing to come out of this new Painkiller is the weapons. They carried over the weapons from the first Painkiller and kept to the original design and that’s the only design feature that’s original. The weapons from the first Painkiller were amazing and something new that no one was doing but everyone was thinking. The best known weapon from Painkiller is the stake gun it literally shoots stakes at enemies pinning them to walls or the ground which is funny as hell. Other weapons are a gun that shoots shuriken and lighting, and I’m dead serious. You can’t get any better than that and you get your basic shotgun that also can freeze enemies.

Graphics

The textures in this game were very well done as it was in the first Painkiller and the models were also very well done. The one design element that was the main selling point was dynamic weather effects.

Look, Pretty.

In the first Painkiller the skies were basic and were not animated plus there were no weather effects. Painkiller Resurrection has weather effects that are decent but nothing amazing. That’s all the good I can say about this game most of the levels were designed badly and there were a lot of problems with model geometry causing me to get stuck sometimes forcing the angry BFG to restart the game. Other times I would explore the level and just fall through the world.

Sound

The music was ok the first Painkiller had better music it was more metal sounding and harder. The other problem with the music is that it wouldn’t work sometimes. There are two different songs per map one for not being in combat and the other when you’re in combat. Half of the time the music for combat didn’t start. How does this get pass QA? Something that noticeable should have been spotted.

Final Thoughts

Homegrown Games I’m only going to ask you guys once please for the love of god do not make any more games just because you’re nerds and think you know how design games doesn’t give you the right. On your website you even say “Due to the fact that we are nothing but enthusiastic amateurs” you’re amateurs and that’s all you will be. You took a perfectly good FPS game and just destroyed it. If I was Jowood Entertainment I would cut all ties with these guys before they make you lose any more money. Painkiller Resurrection is a perfect example of how not to design a game it’s unpolished, full of bugs and just awful. I’m sure People Can Fly are just crying after seeing what their series has become a giant pile of crap. I give Painkiller Resurrection a 1.5 out of 5.

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