Painkiller + Battle out of Hell

Doubtful…

Either you didn't play much of the game or missed many of the secrets. Probably both.

Well I just told you how much I played, and no, I didn't miss many secrets.

Not sure why you would doubt what I'm saying. Is it that hard for you to comprehend that not everyone finds things the same difficulty?

Ah ha, so now you admit that may have missed some secrets. That makes more sense now. And it has everything to do with difficulty. I don't appreciate your snarky backhanded insults. So if you don't have anything nice to say, please keep it shut.

Thanks!

I'm going to assume you're kidding. If not, then I actually feel embarrassed for you.

I see your pointless snarkiness is never ending, and false sense of superiority is beyond your comprehension....

I honestly get a kick out of your ignorance, Thrasher, I really do.

It wasn't my intention to sidetrack this thread though, so if you want to continue this, I'll be more than happy to... in a seperate thread.

Why would anyone want to continue anything with you?

I see that once again Lucifer has spread his influence beyond the Gates of Hell. Do not succumb to his desire for chaos! Resist my friends! Take comfort that I was born for this task and I, Daniel, shall cast down the unclean BEAST!!!!

Chapter 3 map 2. Overdose is amazing fun. When I end up barely alive and gib a miniboss with this nasty nuclear waste weapon he yells "WHO WANTS A OMOLETTE?" ROFLMAO!

Finished Overdose. Very difficult ending. Great game and quality held out the whole way. Some amazing levels and brilliant art direction IMO. On to Resurrection and the conclusion of my PK binge.

OK so I realize this is turning into my own personal diary since nobody is commenting anymore on this thread but that's OK. I have to finish this, its my mission now. So on to the next set of impressions you luck dogs.

First off some may recall that Resurrection is not the critics darling. Lots of criticism on bugs, level load times and level design being random and inconsistent, lacking flow etc. I can't comment too much on the bugs because I'm patched. No lockups, crashes, or anything of that sort reported is affecting me. The only bugs I've encountered are because of level design (more on that in a sec).

The big difference here, and its a huge one, is the ambition behind this project. There are only six levels in this expansion. At first I thought it was a ripoff, but these levels are absolutely HUGE. Normally it takes about 25-35 minutes to rip a Painkiller level. I'm on the 3rd level and I haven't completed it after 1:33. That is why the load times are long. The engine improvements are nice. Volumetric fog and HDR a bit are a bit abused, but the levels themselves are the big difference. Not only are they massive, and the ARENT LINEAR which is a major departure for PK. High level detail and massive verticals are a norm for Resurrection. I have to sort of feel bad for the level designers here, they really busted their asses creatively. There is true inspiration in the twisted abstraction of reality and the lack of linearity lends to the immersion. Unfortunately, it can also lead to bugs. Creatures get can get stuck in the cluttered areas exposing the weakness of the AI, and you'll notice a quite a few monsters taking the plunge off cliff faces. That may not pose a problem for you, since the devs throw endless hordes at you. I'm talking over a 1000 here. The game is pretty difficult and for the first time, like the Serious Sam series, you'll find yourself thinking twice about how "lucky" you are you stumbled upon those nice caches of weapons and armor. Just like the Serious Sam series, taking said goodies results in all sorts of hell breaking loose often leaving you off worse than when you stumbled upon the goodies. Also like the Serious Sam series, the devs will throw some "fan service" at you sending exploding barrel carrying monsters at you in a constant (read you can't miss) stream so you can enjoy the ridiculous volumes of exploding limbs and misc gore. That my friends, is a hoot.

But overall it is fun? It is a strange and twisted combination of exploration and frantic, carnage ridden gameplay. It does work, but the beauty and inspiration of the levels does take away from the core gameplay mechanic, not much, but a little. PK was always a much simpler game. Resurrection adds a new dimension I find interesting but if it was hot off the heals of the original PainKiller game I might be miffed the core goals of the game had been altered. But, luckily for me, I'm not!

Sounds interesting Todd. Thanks for the rundown!

Thrasher said:

Sounds interesting Todd. Thanks for the rundown!

Click to expand...

Its worth the playing IMO. I still can't believe I spent 1.5 hours on the last level and I'm still not done. Crazy stuff. I fixed some grammatical errors in my rambling, my gf was yelling at me as I was trying to write it...something about too much time on the computer. What the heck is she talking about anyway?

I saw a new(?) retail package called Painkiller: Pandemonium at Gamestop yesterday. It was all 4 games + the development kit on DVD for $19.99.

Pandemonium sounds like a steal at that price. I'm officially done with Painkiller. I can't say Resurrection rose to the levels of the original or other expansions but it was a worthy addition to the series. When map 5 (Haunted City) weighed in at 2 hours, 11 minutes I had had enough. In a game like PK I find myself wanting a change in venue, new creatures and a new setting far more frequently than that. The series spoiled me and I always found myself eager to see the next outrageous setting. 2 hours is just waaaaay too long in one area, no matter how creative.

All said and done, PainKiller is a fantastic game with an absurdly addictive core gameplay mechanic. It will have a permanent spot on my hard drive for a map run here and there. Thanks for reading!