Painkiller Overdose

It is on sale currently on the Indie Gala. I've never owned a painkiller game. I think that I did have a demo that I played. So I'd like to ask, how is Painkiller Overdose as a game? What's good? What's bad?

Linear.

If you want to buy Painkiller then you should either buy the Black edition that comes with the original Painkiller+expansions or Painkiller hell and damnation.

The original Painkiller is in my own opinion the only one that is good. The others suck.

Painkiller Hell and Damnation is basically a HD remake that takes many of the best levels from the original Painkiller as well as the first expansion pack (Battle out of hell) and recreates them with much better graphics and also has a couple of new weapons.

Personally, I like the gameplay more in the HD remake (they made a few tweaks), plus the new sawblade weapon is awesome. The HD remake does suffer from the rather considerable flaw though that it is shorter then the original Painkiller. Like I said, it only remakes many of the best levels but not all of them. Its basically a sort of a "best of" of Painkiller and the first expansion.

I would pick either of those, but leave the rest alone.

Painkiller is Serious Sam in a gothicy setting with a much smaller scale (in both fight and arena size) and a lot less monster variety.

In other words, avoid.

Painkiller Overdose was the first game in the series not made by the original developers; it was a fan made total conversion promoted to commercial release.

Not to say that they aren't decent in their own right; but as Hardcore_Gamer says, if you want the game as envisaged by its creators, go with the original Painkiller and it's Battle Out of Hell Expansion; all the other PK games were made by other developers.

The bad - it's a shooting gallery throwing you into unrelated environments, in which every fight boils down to kill a bland enemy cast* with uninteresting (and in some cases, hardly effective) weaponry*.

*That is, bland and uninteresting as in, how it actually plays out. If you're one of these guys who goes "a burning midget with a knife? a chaingun that's also a rocket launcher? AWESOME!" and don't care one bit for the implementation or the gameplay, you might genuinely enjoy it.

The good - you can move around, you can shoot monsters that aren't infinitely respawning, you can shoot while moving, you're not assaulted by obnoxious screen effects as soon as a mosquito sneezes your way, and you don't have to take a dump behind a crate after a papercut. You aren't ever interrupted by QTEs, unavoidable cutscenes, pathfinding challenged NPCs or high-school level stories.

So as poor as it is, Painkiller Overdose is still better as a first-person shooter than most recent games claiming to be part of that genre, and can make for a decent diversion for 20-30 minutes at a time if you've got nothing else to play and know how to turn your brain off and enjoy.

Overdose features some really awesome designs (take a look at Haunted Valley and you'll realise what I mean) and stoned monster variations (it could be either good or bad depending on your attitude towards crazy approach). I still think it's not as fun as original PK games, and mouthy protagonist gets annoing really fast, but it's still a decent output. It's also quite challenging (on Nightmare difficulty, can't say anything about the lower ones), especially if you're determined to collect Tarot cards on the go.

I've heard numerous complaints about the music, though I find it to be appealing enough, if only a bit repetitive with all its ethnic influences and homogeneous instrument usage. B.o.o.H. was already a huge deviation from original's metal-based approach, so I see Overdose's music to be a logical continuation in this field.

hardcore_gamer said:

Painkiller hell and damnation.

I advise not to, it's pretty poor and the idea behind it is stillborn.

Jodwin said:

Painkiller is Serious Sam in a gothicy setting with a much smaller scale (in both fight and arena size) and a lot less monster variety.

In other words, avoid.

You got it wrong.

Painkiller has a good balance between being serious and being funny (in a dumb way).

Overdose is plain dumb (in a funny way).

Battle Out of Hell is somewhere in-between.

Jodwin said:

Painkiller is Serious Sam in a gothicy setting with a much smaller scale (in both fight and arena size) and a lot less monster variety.

No.

Demonologist said:

You got it wrong.

I'd feel sorry for your terrible taste in video games...if I actually gave a fuck. But feel free to point out all the many ways in which Painkiller isn't a ridiculously dull arena shooter with shitty level, weapon and enemy design.

Get Painkiller Black instead.

I saw a few video reviews and it looks very skippable. The Gametrailers review would be simply insulting if it wasn't true. I do remember the 2 hours I put into whatever Painkiller demo that I played and I kinda realized... circle strafe around 50+ enemies was the majority of the gameplay (in the demo).

Looking at my Steam lineup. I have a ton of FPS I have yet to even play. Like Bioshock 1 & 2, all the Serious Sams and so on. Shadow Warrior came out for free.

So I think I'll keep the $4, which always seems to be the way I feel about Indie Gala bundles.

Jodwin said:

I'd feel sorry for your terrible taste in video games...if I actually gave a fuck.

Looks like we got a badass over here.

Jodwin said:

feel free to point out all the many ways in which Painkiller isn't a ridiculously dull arena shooter with shitty level, weapon and enemy design.

I would... if I actually gave a fuck. You may think whatever you want about my tastes and my attitude.

@ geo: it depends on what you're in search for. If that's an old-fashioned game in [relatively] modern form, then you have to try at least (not necessarily Overdose, it'd be wiser to start with the very first game). And if not - that's indeed avoidable. And yes - circlejumping is the word, not circlestrafing. Imo PK's gameplay is much more fun among shooters nowadays even in its latter fanmade appearances (like Redemption and such).

kiss my shiny half-angel/half-demon ass.

kiss my shiny half-angel/half-demon ass.

kiss my shiny half-angel/half-demon ass.

kiss my shiny half-an- you get the point.

Jodwin summed it up nicely.

Personally I liked the weapons, but the rest was just too boring to bother.

What Red summed up is why I don't like it, the one liners pissed me off so much I stopped playing it after 2 hours.

Painkiller Black (and BOOH) were the only really reasonable Painkiller games that is out there I was able to complete.

Painkiller was fairly highly regarded for it's multiplayer. I never played that though so I can't speak for it. But the SP is pretty forgettable at best.

Captain Red said:

kiss my shiny half-angel/half-demon ass.

kiss my shiny half-angel/half-demon ass.

kiss my shiny half-angel/half-demon ass.

kiss my shiny half-an- you get the point.

Yeah all the video reviews were complaining about that too. Every time I see some complaint over 'randomized things' happening too frequently, I start to think, can't they program cool downs? Like so once you hear it, you won't hear it (A) back to back and (B) for X amount of minutes afterward.

All of this makes me want to buy the game (goes to charity) to see how bad it is. Oh fuck it. The charity needs the $4 more than I do. See... this isn't rewarding a bad game for being bad and getting my money. This is a charity getting money for a bad game being bad :-)

Installing.

Worst/best part of the banter dialog: sometimes the triggers overlap. Your guy starts saying a completely different thing midway through the first thing, and keeps going through *both* things at once. Bonus points when this happens while he's yelling like a madman.

Since this is only a fan made expansion, I shouldn't be expecting much more than a total conversion of levels, but as I played the game, I was just bored. My mind started to wander and here is that wander for a 6 year old expansion that could have done better comparatively to the other games at the time. >>

The story in the cut scene seems to describe the starting point of God of War: Ascension... 'held in captivity until...' Then the game starts and you're not in a prison? I was expecting a prison or something cooler instead of a burning city. Who'd have though Hell would allow cities? Like imagine a chess game on the back of a galloping horse. How would you even set up? Oh well. Who cares? A burning town is a burning town, doesn't have to make sense how you got here.

I like the whole burning Romanesque / Greek town, and I like things burning to the ground. Big areas remind me of the other Painkiller demo I played. Just one big room after another big room. Big rooms are good, but hallways are too. Good enemy use with shielded enemies require you to use timing when they open up their defenses to attack. That's some intelligence. But you can keep shooting them til they open up. They don't just stay shielded as you shoot them.

I can see under a lot of wall textures. Like the wall doesn't meet up with the floor. Maybe that's called tearing? But it seems to be happening a lot.

There is a glaring glitch of a problem really early on and that's the 'zombie' enemies are literally frozen in place until you walk out to a specific trigger that lets them move. You can't kill them. They're just laughably frozen there. Like they should be in a monster closet somewhere.... but they aren't. It just feels like poor game design. make them invisible if they're just going to be standing there.

Doesn't seem like there's a reload to any of the guns, I'd prefer a reload, but that's just personal preference. Nothing wrong with no reload. But it would add an element of strategy if I had to hide to reload. Oh who am I kidding? Just keep circle strafing while you reload. Reloading would only add more time onto the laps I run.

Instead of a run button you can bunny hop. It seems like the more bunny hops in a row that you do the faster you go!

There are plenty of pits with fire... I keep wanting to push enemies into the pits to see them burn, but alas, I just shoot them and the shots have no uh knockback, but maybe that's TF2 in me wanting variety instead of just shooting shit. The weapons don't feel like they have impact. Sure enemies blow up when they die, but when you shoot them, they just stand there with no reaction. They're slow to turn around. I'd prefer if the zombies just exploded into puffs of smoke to mask the area temporarily. But as the reviews have said this is just a reskin of what existed. No new programming.

The 'rollers' demons with a rolling body underneath them, it would be nice if when they die the rollers kept rolling and turned explosive when they are dead. So you have a choice... dodge them or shoot them and risk it blowing up in your face. But again, all of this is just my mind wandering.

With all of this fire, it would be nice if you could catch fire, but I guess you are half demon. Does fire effect demons? Yes turns out touching lava hurts you.

I'm also noticing none of the enemies really has an introduction. I don't even mean like their own cut scene, I just mean where its you vs them so you can stand in amazement wow something new instead of another battle. Circle strafing a boss monster. The boss monster that just felt like 'another battle.' Mancubus had their own arena. Arachnatrons had their own introduction.

The lava rock throwing cyclops make my mind wander that their rocks should stay on the ground and melt into the ground like some sort of temporary environmental hazard. Maybe that will happen later.

... yes it does taste like chicken. So did the others... and he loves the taste of evil souls in the morning. What about a little health sound instead of a 1 liner? Cyclops aren't better... uh-ah-oh uh-ah-oh

Now I'm in Japan. See they do have great environments. I like the flames to the rain. I like the whole idea of an entirely different area for the next level. If only they did that for the weapons though. If only I had some ancient Japanese shotgun. Finally, an alleyway, but an alleyway so big it can just be another big circle strafing room :-)

The 'ninjas' need more 1 liners when they jump in, or a less noticeable sword sound. The enemies all look good. Can't complain about that. This level seems to get the enemy introductions correctly.

I have the feeling I'll never get lost in this game. One room to the next. No buttons to hit, nothing to find outside of ammo along the walls of each big room. Maybe hitting a switch or having some area between big strafing rooms would be a little bit of diversity. This formula doesn't seem to deviate from.

There's this awesome misty waterway that I was really hoping I'd be forced to go across and enemies would raise up... but no.

2nd 'boss' reminds me of Wrack's giant smashing robots. Only in Overdose you have a lot more room to strafe. They're slow enough in Overdose that shooting them in the head instead of just the tanking body would have been good for variety sake not having to shoot something in the body to drop it. You can be so far away from them they should just blow up and kill anything near them instead of just disappearing into vapor. But yes, these are just reskins.

And now I'm in the desert. Wow the fans that made this did a lot of good work for the sake of variety. Seeing the giant bones just makes me hope to fight a living version of the creature :-) It would be cool to light the mummies on fire? They are carrying torches after all. I should stop focusing on what I can't do and start talking about what I can do... and that's shotgunning everything (wow shotgunning is a word according to Firefox). Why can't I laser enemies in half? Hmmm.... what about sky enemies? Haven't seen those yet. When do the caccos come in? I see a big clear sky, but nothing swoops down? I see there are enemies that hover, but they never hover far off the ground so it might as well be shooting a standing person.

Speaking of big sky. I have wings right? Why can't I fly or double jump or float jump? Or is that not FPS-ish? Come to think of it... why do half demon / half angels need guns? Well... I guess it wouldn't be a FPS, but I should just be 'some guy' if I'm not going to have any cool unique unto angels and demons superpower magic. I might as well be 'Bob Smith world traveler.' Imagine the cool hawk jumps over pits, imagine picking up enemies to drop them into pits (yes I know not very FPS). Or having holy powers to damage demons or heal yourself, but if you use demonic powers on demons, it only heals them. You can use demonic powers to damage angels that come to rescue you, to bring you up to heaven to be saved, but you don't need saving, so you kill them all and they get mad and send more angels to get you.

I've wanted to quit since the desert first started, it just keeps going from alleyway to alleyway, circle strafing, shotgunning shit down. My mind is just wandering.

Now that I think about it, there's another game that is just circle strafing around tons of enemies, but not linear. Its an old school top down thing.... called Smash TV. Maybe if they made your choice of rooms to go to next it would give a sense of some choice.

Sorry for typing this all out. I think that I'm done. Now I'm looking up who made Painkiller and oh shit Bulletstorm? Well good to see they evolved from what this was.

geo said:

Since this is only a fan made expansion

It's a commercially released game made by a Czech studio.

Vermil said:

Painkiller Overdose was the first game in the series not made by the original developers; it was a fan made total conversion promoted to commercial release.

My bad. Just going by this ^^^

But yes according to wikipedia >>

'Painkiller: Overdose is a Stand-alone expansion pack for Painkiller game. It was developed by Czech video game company Mindware Studios. Mindware originally intended it to be fan-made mod but DreamCatcher Interactive granted the project full financial and technical support. The expansion offers 40 types of monsters, 16 additional levels, and 6 additional weapons. It is the second expansion of Painkiller with the first being Painkiller: Battle out of Hell. Overdose was released in 2007.[1]'

Painkiller is Serious Sam with a better, more Doom-like atmosphere, neat physics, and monsters that don't look like they were designed by me when I was eleven.

In other words, at least pick it up when it's on sale.

geo said:

My bad. Just going by this ^^^

But yes according to wikipedia >>

'Painkiller: Overdose is a Stand-alone expansion pack for Painkiller game. It was developed by Czech video game company Mindware Studios. Mindware originally intended it to be fan-made mod but DreamCatcher Interactive granted the project full financial and technical support. The expansion offers 40 types of monsters, 16 additional levels, and 6 additional weapons. It is the second expansion of Painkiller with the first being Painkiller: Battle out of Hell. Overdose was released in 2007.[1]'

I have to admit that the wording out there is a bit vague and can be interpreted in many ways.

It could have originally been a free mod snapped up for retail, like TNT in Final Doom.

Perhaps they wanted a way to promote their skills in order to gain new contracts for new games and what better way than to create a TC for a game they liked.

It could have also been like SNES Doom where a group of people largely created the engine/port and then pitched the near complete item to ID.

Vermil said:

I have to admit that the wording out there is a bit vague and can be interpreted in many ways.

It could have originally been a free mod snapped up for retail, like TNT in Final Doom.

Perhaps they wanted a way to promote their skills in order to gain new contracts for new games and what better way than to create a TC for a game they liked.

It could have also been like SNES Doom where a group of people largely created the engine/port and then pitched the near complete item to ID.

I'd pay $5 for each Scythe TC and other TCs. If this was some unofficial expansion turned official, that's great. Its just money for everyone. Also... as it turns out... this dev studio made Dreamkiller, which seems to follow the Painkiller formula... but with less enemy diversity from what I've seen on youtube. Good voice acting though. They could have just done more with 'nightmare' environments.

I tried Overdose today from the start. Somewhere in the Japanese level... during an arena segment the enemies just wouldn't spawn. For 5 minutes. I'd die when they spawn directly ontop of you, and then have to wait 5 minutes again. It felt glitched and it never did that the first playthrough. This is really hazardous the enemies really do spawn right ontop of you attacking you.

The few one liners I heard felt less noticeable this time around, but maybe that's because I wasn't writing notes so I gave myself the proper time to play instead of berate.