Now, don't get me wrong, I'd rather have a good sequel to Painkiller, but this is still looking seriously awesome. I'll definitely be putting the splitscreen to use, too.
Have you seen Hard Reset? While it has nothing to do with Painkiller, some of the people from People Can Fly who worked on the original PK game worked on Hard Reset. Take a look it seems to have some similarities with PK in a dystopian cyberpunk setting. It's out in a few weeks too.
Thanks for getting me interested in a game now. Saying it has similarities to painkiller is like telling......I don't even know.
Still cant wait for BFE though....Which makes me wonder if I'll be able to run it.
M A G I K A Z A M
0
DrakeEdgelord TrashBelow the ecliptic plane.Registered Userregular
I'm just excited in general!
Serious Sam 3, Hard Reset and Red Orchestra 2 are going to scratch all of my FPS itches. I get my whacky, hectic co-op fix with SS3. I get my PK/Doom II style single player fix with Hard Reset from what I've seen in previews. And RO2 gives my frightfully realistic historic wargaming fix. I'm just full of joy about all this goodness.
Oh, yeah, I've seen Hard Reset and it's already gone on the ever-expanding "games to buy" list.
Thing is - in addition to the gameplay - I love Painkiller for its level design and architecture. As great as the upcoming games may be, I doubt they'll be able to wow me on that front.
I saw this video hoping for a quick laugh but this looks way better than a faux-retro tie-in game has any right to be. It's a part turn-based, part real-time RPG parody with bullet hell elements, a genre that I am now fully convinced needs to be explored more actively by the game industry. It's scheduled as far as I know to go on sale today on Steam for $5 (can't find any hint of a steam page so take that for what you will).
I saw this video hoping for a quick laugh but this looks way better than a faux-retro tie-in game has any right to be. It's a part turn-based, part real-time RPG parody with bullet hell elements, a genre that I am now fully convinced needs to be explored more actively by the game industry. It's scheduled as far as I know to go on sale today on Steam for $5 (can't find any hint of a steam page so take that for what you will).
All the footage in all the trailers is Alpha, right? Because the Quicklook on Giant Bomb said their version was Alpha. I mean, things kinda look awful. The animations are terrible and the blood looks like a $2 blood pack from a toy shop. It felt really obvious in the all-weapons trailer.
Cripes almighty, this game looks like it's amping up the brutality factor by 100%. Sam has always been about wanton carnage, but the level those melee attacks goes to is absurd. It's like somebody (or EVERYBODY) on the Croteam staff wanted to see a big-budget retail release of the "Brutal DOOM" mod: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QLKZhu_dgxA&feature=related
(It's wicked fun, by the way.)
Serious Sam 3 for shooter of the year? I'd be afraid NOT to say so.
COME FORTH, AMATERASU! - Switch Friend Code SW-5465-2458-5696 - Twitch
0
TetraNitroCubaneThe DjinneratorAt the bottom of a bottleRegistered Userregular
edited November 2011
I'm definitely interested to see what people have to say about stability and smoothness of the game, as well as gameplay opinions! I won't be able to download until later tonight, sadly (any idea how big it is, GB-wise?), so I probably won't be able to play until tomorrow. Still, 16 player co-op sounds wicked awesome.
Edit: Also, I can't seem to find information about this online, but is the game running in OpenGL? If so, is that comparable to DX11? My computer's got a nasty hardware glitch with DX11, so OpenGL would be perfect if I can use it. I seem to recall Croteam loving OpenGL.
Started playing, the controls and guns feel very tight and comfortable. It feels just right.
As for performance Tried survival on high and the game ran great, started the campaign and the first area forced me to drop to medium but now it's always above 30fps. I have an i7 2.6GHz with an nVidia GTX260.
Swapped between medium and ultra and even though there is a difference, it's not that noticeable.
This game is still Serious Sam, the first time you hear multiple "AAaaaaaah" coming you just smile.
-There are definitely some classic Serious Sam parts with wide open lanes, all about prioritization, picking the right weapons, and backpedaling when other options are exhausted. Feels pretty good although the weapons that require reloading can be annoying here (in particular I think it was unnecessary to have the pump shotgun need reloading).
-At least one really intense boss fight. edit(TWO. Don't play on hard if you're prone to breaking things when you get mad. Talking about Under The Iron Cloud.)
-There are also some less action packed parts. The second level is pretty slow overall although you can make part of it really hard on yourself if you want to (you'll see what I mean).
-The majority of what I've played is somewhere in between. What they like to do is have little grids of streets in the city with enemies and items scattered liberally throughout, that you roam through freely. In these parts you have the most fun if you keep moving and shooting instead of slowly clearing out each block. It is of course a linear game though, so those sections are connected together by the more traditional one-directional waves of enemies. Not sure how much of the game fits this pattern.
-Maybe it's just my graphics settings, but there's SO MUCH DUST. Like, BF:BC2 levels of dustiness anytime something explodes or gets shot. Genuinely makes it hard to see enemies and I've 'aimed' by swinging my gun around until the crosshair changes color more times than I can count.
-So far I think too many enemies have hitscan weapons, especially machine guns. Most of them do super low damage, but it's annoying not being able to dodge and encourages waiting behind cover so you can pop out and catch them during their reaction time delay. Obviously not a good thing. Hopefully once I get out of the city there'll be a lot less of this.
-The sledgehammer is easily one of the best weapons just because you can use it while sprinting. Does a ton of damage too, at least as much as a full blast from the double barreled shotgun.
-Melee attacks are neat for finishing off the last enemy in a group quickly. If you use them with other enemies around you'll probably take more damage than it's worth. The range at which the prompt to melee comes up is pretty far and there are definitely situations where you teleport into place to start the animation.
-C4 is the best contemporary weapon to put in a game like this. It's a lot of fun.
-The dialogue is cringe-worthy at times, probably because it's dialogue instead of Sam just spouting one liners to himself.
-The use of bulletproof vests, kevlar helmets, etc. to represent armor is to be expected, but after stocking up in secret areas and before big fights, I can't help but envision Sam with six or seven helmets stacked on his head.
There's a Croteam dev over on the Steam forums offering help to numerous people with the same problem. So far verifying the game cache through Steam solves the issue for some. There's little insight beyond that at the moment, unfortunately.
TetraNitroCubaneThe DjinneratorAt the bottom of a bottleRegistered Userregular
edited November 2011
Some (speculative) rumblings indicate that Zone Alarm may not be playing nice with the game. If your game won't start and you're running Zone Alarm, shutting it down (ISWSVC.exe) may help.
Some (speculative) rumblings indicate that Zone Alarm may not be playing nice with the game. If your game won't start and you're running Zone Alarm, shutting it down (ISWSVC.exe) may help.
...
...wait, Zone Alarm still exists?
COME FORTH, AMATERASU! - Switch Friend Code SW-5465-2458-5696 - Twitch
0
TetraNitroCubaneThe DjinneratorAt the bottom of a bottleRegistered Userregular
Alright, got it working. Had to uninstall Zonealarm and switch to offline mode.
So, what's a better free firewall? I'd been using ZA since forever.
0
TetraNitroCubaneThe DjinneratorAt the bottom of a bottleRegistered Userregular
edited November 2011
Got things downloaded and running. Managed to just barely get into the game before I had to quit out due to time constraints. Certainly looks pretty! Everything defaulted to Ultra on my system, but I think that's a bit optimistic of the game, as the frame rate does chug a bit. I think I'm finally going to update my horrendously out of date video drivers and see if that does anything for performance...
Alright, got it working. Had to uninstall Zonealarm and switch to offline mode.
So, what's a better free firewall? I'd been using ZA since forever.
What's your OS? If you're using a hardware router, the default firewall with Windows 7 is pretty solid. If you're worried about outbound protection, it's a bit more cumbersome, but it's still a solid option.
Yeah, I'm using Windows 7 home 64, and I'd like something as convenient as ZA for outbound protection.
Aaaanyway, about the game: it's good stuff, but I totally agree with the guy who said there's too many hitscan enemies. Those sections kinda drag the pace of the game down, and make it feel like a shitty version of Call of Duty. If their AI was more active, it might be a decent change of pace.
The graphics have a lot of neat features, but there's a really busy look to the textures, combined with less-than-totally-crisp resolution even on maxed texture settings. I feel like I'm missing some shader or lighting setting that would make the enemies pop a bit more - they look really good in the Netricsa previews, not so much in-game.
Being able to sledgehammer Kleers feels like some kind of years-overdue cathartic vengeance. COME AT ME, HORSE.
The urban environments are really great. I'd say that's the best part of the game - levels that have waaaay more playable geometry than they could possibly have fit into the originals.
Posts
Have you seen Hard Reset? While it has nothing to do with Painkiller, some of the people from People Can Fly who worked on the original PK game worked on Hard Reset. Take a look it seems to have some similarities with PK in a dystopian cyberpunk setting. It's out in a few weeks too.
Penny Arcade Hard Reset thread.
Still cant wait for BFE though....Which makes me wonder if I'll be able to run it.
Serious Sam 3, Hard Reset and Red Orchestra 2 are going to scratch all of my FPS itches. I get my whacky, hectic co-op fix with SS3. I get my PK/Doom II style single player fix with Hard Reset from what I've seen in previews. And RO2 gives my frightfully realistic historic wargaming fix. I'm just full of joy about all this goodness.
Thing is - in addition to the gameplay - I love Painkiller for its level design and architecture. As great as the upcoming games may be, I doubt they'll be able to wow me on that front.
http://steamcommunity.com/id/idolninja
http://steamcommunity.com/id/idolninja
http://arstechnica.com/gaming/news/2011/10/the-weapons-of-serious-sam-3-bfe-all-of-them.ars
http://steamcommunity.com/id/idolninja
If the minigun dominates slightly less here than in HD, this game will be perfect. I see 16-man coop in our future.
http://www.giantbomb.com/serious-sam-the-random-encounter/61-34402/
I saw this video hoping for a quick laugh but this looks way better than a faux-retro tie-in game has any right to be. It's a part turn-based, part real-time RPG parody with bullet hell elements, a genre that I am now fully convinced needs to be explored more actively by the game industry. It's scheduled as far as I know to go on sale today on Steam for $5 (can't find any hint of a steam page so take that for what you will).
It's on steam now. $4, being 20% off.
http://steamcommunity.com/id/idolninja
I want this soooo much.
Every time you post news and vids on this game Idol, I end up playing the SS HD games all day!
I'm really hoping that's all Alpha stuff.
Holy shit 00:46!
http://steamcommunity.com/id/idolninja
Cripes almighty, this game looks like it's amping up the brutality factor by 100%. Sam has always been about wanton carnage, but the level those melee attacks goes to is absurd. It's like somebody (or EVERYBODY) on the Croteam staff wanted to see a big-budget retail release of the "Brutal DOOM" mod:
(It's wicked fun, by the way.)
Serious Sam 3 for shooter of the year? I'd be afraid NOT to say so.
edit: nvm, on the Steam store page: "Available: 22 November 2011This game will unlock in approximately 5 hours"
I almost forgot that was today! Awesome!
http://steamcommunity.com/id/idolninja
AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHH
COME FORTH, AMATERASU! - Switch Friend Code SW-5465-2458-5696 - Twitch
Edit: Also, I can't seem to find information about this online, but is the game running in OpenGL? If so, is that comparable to DX11? My computer's got a nasty hardware glitch with DX11, so OpenGL would be perfect if I can use it. I seem to recall Croteam loving OpenGL.
COME FORTH, AMATERASU! - Switch Friend Code SW-5465-2458-5696 - Twitch
Thanks much. That's not too bad. Sonic generations was larger than that. I might be able to play a little bit of it tonight after all.
As for performance Tried survival on high and the game ran great, started the campaign and the first area forced me to drop to medium but now it's always above 30fps. I have an i7 2.6GHz with an nVidia GTX260.
Swapped between medium and ultra and even though there is a difference, it's not that noticeable.
This game is still Serious Sam, the first time you hear multiple "AAaaaaaah" coming you just smile.
-There are definitely some classic Serious Sam parts with wide open lanes, all about prioritization, picking the right weapons, and backpedaling when other options are exhausted. Feels pretty good although the weapons that require reloading can be annoying here (in particular I think it was unnecessary to have the pump shotgun need reloading).
-At least one really intense boss fight. edit(TWO. Don't play on hard if you're prone to breaking things when you get mad. Talking about Under The Iron Cloud.)
-There are also some less action packed parts. The second level is pretty slow overall although you can make part of it really hard on yourself if you want to (you'll see what I mean).
-The majority of what I've played is somewhere in between. What they like to do is have little grids of streets in the city with enemies and items scattered liberally throughout, that you roam through freely. In these parts you have the most fun if you keep moving and shooting instead of slowly clearing out each block. It is of course a linear game though, so those sections are connected together by the more traditional one-directional waves of enemies. Not sure how much of the game fits this pattern.
-Maybe it's just my graphics settings, but there's SO MUCH DUST. Like, BF:BC2 levels of dustiness anytime something explodes or gets shot. Genuinely makes it hard to see enemies and I've 'aimed' by swinging my gun around until the crosshair changes color more times than I can count.
-So far I think too many enemies have hitscan weapons, especially machine guns. Most of them do super low damage, but it's annoying not being able to dodge and encourages waiting behind cover so you can pop out and catch them during their reaction time delay. Obviously not a good thing. Hopefully once I get out of the city there'll be a lot less of this.
-The sledgehammer is easily one of the best weapons just because you can use it while sprinting. Does a ton of damage too, at least as much as a full blast from the double barreled shotgun.
-Melee attacks are neat for finishing off the last enemy in a group quickly. If you use them with other enemies around you'll probably take more damage than it's worth. The range at which the prompt to melee comes up is pretty far and there are definitely situations where you teleport into place to start the animation.
-C4 is the best contemporary weapon to put in a game like this. It's a lot of fun.
-The dialogue is cringe-worthy at times, probably because it's dialogue instead of Sam just spouting one liners to himself.
-The use of bulletproof vests, kevlar helmets, etc. to represent armor is to be expected, but after stocking up in secret areas and before big fights, I can't help but envision Sam with six or seven helmets stacked on his head.
- Game crashes on startup every time.
There's a Croteam dev over on the Steam forums offering help to numerous people with the same problem. So far verifying the game cache through Steam solves the issue for some. There's little insight beyond that at the moment, unfortunately.
http://steamcommunity.com/id/idolninja
Raptr profile
...
...wait, Zone Alarm still exists?
COME FORTH, AMATERASU! - Switch Friend Code SW-5465-2458-5696 - Twitch
And apparently some people still use it! I was surprised as well.
Welp, off to start my download! I'll report back with impressions if I get that far tonight.
So, what's a better free firewall? I'd been using ZA since forever.
What's your OS? If you're using a hardware router, the default firewall with Windows 7 is pretty solid. If you're worried about outbound protection, it's a bit more cumbersome, but it's still a solid option.
Aaaanyway, about the game: it's good stuff, but I totally agree with the guy who said there's too many hitscan enemies. Those sections kinda drag the pace of the game down, and make it feel like a shitty version of Call of Duty. If their AI was more active, it might be a decent change of pace.
The graphics have a lot of neat features, but there's a really busy look to the textures, combined with less-than-totally-crisp resolution even on maxed texture settings. I feel like I'm missing some shader or lighting setting that would make the enemies pop a bit more - they look really good in the Netricsa previews, not so much in-game.
Being able to sledgehammer Kleers feels like some kind of years-overdue cathartic vengeance. COME AT ME, HORSE.
The urban environments are really great. I'd say that's the best part of the game - levels that have waaaay more playable geometry than they could possibly have fit into the originals.
:P