Hi all,
As an Overthinked mod creator I feel kind'a obligated to put my two cents in ;)
To get it out of the way first: both mods feature enhanced graphics and hi-res textures, being different just in a few key areas - mainly the look of some monsters.
Audio design is a bit different, too.
However, the most important difference between Overthinked and Perfected is, in my opinion, the gameplay itself.
Perfected features a "power fantasy" kind of approach; you're given massively overpowered weapons, dual wielding, three or four alt-fire modes for each weapon and so on, and so on... It's similar to Project Brutality for Brutal DooM in some aspects, if you catch my drift.
Thing is - you either love it or you hate it. AFAIK Perfected mod receives equally much praise and criticism alike, and there's almost nothing between one-star and ten-star ratings. Almost like in the political spectrum ;)
The novel gameplay mechanics are certainly interesting, but many folks point out the balancing problems and the fact that "power fantasy" gameplay doesn't really fit the third DooM game all that well. Also, many of the featured gimmicks - which you're supposed to master in order to have a good time - are not that straightforward or clear to grasp (which, I believe, Doommarine_maxi summarised above as being "general nonsense").
Personally, PD3 it's not my cup of tea. But the team behind the project are very competent people and I think that they've achieved something amazing nevertheless. Very high rate on ModDB backed by 145 votes is a testament to that, and I believe that PD3 popularity is well deserved.
If you like dynamic action or you just wan't to check out what idTech4 engine is capable of, you shouldn't be disappointed. Also, I believe that some technological solutions presented in PD3 will serve as a base for most (if not all) future DooM 3 modifications, so it's somewhat of a milestone for idTech4 modding scene, trumped only by the SikkMod (IMHO).
Overthinked takes a 180 degrees turn in terms of design. You should expect limited ammo supply, more near-death scenarios, slow manual healing, and so on...
In my opinion original DooM 3 was designed to be first and foremost a showcase for the idTech4 engine and it's lighting system.
One one hand, guys at id company wanted the players to take their time and enjoy the dynamic lights and interactive panels; a goal which they wanted to achieve via slower shootouts in tight corridors against lesser number of enemies. At the same time they wanted to cater to the old-school DooM I and II fanbase who wanted fast-paced action and some good 'ol ultra violence.
Too bad that somewhere in the process both approaches clashed together resulting in a rather underwhelming experience. The shooting wasn't really all that exciting (the shotgun, ugh! How could they break such a hallmark weapon so badly?!), and there wasn't enough tension for the horror elements to kick in. As a result we've got a product that worked excellent as a tech demo, while it was helluva boring as an actual game.
Overthinked is an attempt to fix it by tipping the balance in favour of the survival-horror approach. DooM 3 was never a scary game, but it plants the seed of a slow burning paranoia. OD3 tries to enhance this feeling.
As for the complaints I've received, the most common one is much higher difficulty. With the latest release I've rebalanced some aspects of combat, so the difficulty curve should be much smoother now, at least in principle. But it's still harder than the vanilla game.
Some people also don't seem to like "realistic reloading" mechanics. I've tweaked this one a bit too for bullet-based weapons, but it's still present, so be aware.
Most importantly: this mod rewards more cautious gameplay and some folks complained about not being able to rush-in Rambo-style, dooming everything out of existence. You're supposed to take your time, bunker somewhere safe and listen to audio logs or read emails (some of which allow the player to figure out various gameplay mechanics), stroll around while looking for secret areas... If you're not into this kind of thing, obviously you'll be bored as hell ;)
To sum things up a bit:
- Perfected: insane, non-stop havoc action.
- Overthinked: slow, tense fight for survival.
Shoving away my obvious bias towards my own mod, I genuinely think that Overthinked is more suitable for the first playthrough, though.
On the other hand, I had a great time with Perfected Resurrection of Evil. I'd even go as far as to say that PD3 should receive it's very own map-pack, as the mod is definitely underutilised in the regular D3 campaign.
In the end, you should try both mods and see which one suits your gameplay style better. They're both free, after all.
I hope I've given an objective opinion. Let me know what you guys think. Also - maybe VGames has a take on that? Are you here somewhere, buddy? ;)
Cheers!
0x29a
Edit: If you want to play something as close to vanilla as possible, while having more modern graphics and better audio design, go for the Redux mod. It's really good in this aspect.
