This is my (modified) Steam review of the game, when I played it in late 2018. It's like they took some of Seiken Densetsu 3, made the combat faster paced, removed magic, turned the limit break dial to 11, added a ton of puzzles that usually involve richocheting projectiles. Then slapping an MMO theme on it with tons of sidequests, materials to trade for gear, etc. The combat has equal focus on melee and ranged, melee being more damaging, staggering enemies, while ranged is safe, but weaker, also getting out of reach enemies. It's satisfying to beat up everything in sight, while also building up a chain to increase drop rate as you keep chaining enemy aggro. Then there's the element system, you get 4 different elements that exploit enemy weaknesses to take them down faster. CrossCode has a FF10-esque sphere grid skill/stat system, although less complex. Progression is like this: After the big tutorial/prologue, you explore an overworld area, while fighting wandering enemies at your own pace (most of them only aggro if you attack them) and optionally traversing all sorts of hidden and obscure platforming paths, sometimes filled with puzzles, that unlock shortcuts, or a path to a chest, or someother. Also, beating up all the local destructable plant life, to get about half of the games trading materials. Then you come across towns filled with quests, traders and the like, as well as the main quest eventually leading to a dungeon. Dungeons are typically filled with platforming, tons of puzzles, enemy gauntlets, and a boss. Rinse and repeat several times, with things switching up every now and then to keep it interesting, especially midgame, and towards the endgame. I'd say it's definitely worth 20$ for the amount of gameplay you get out of it (at least 25-60 hours), not to mention the game took seven years to make, the dedication for the game really shows, as it's pretty damn polished and great overall, minus some frustrating flaws and technical issues.
I generally like to call this game "Mexican Max Payne", because it kind of is. Well, a bit of GTA in there to, and I do mean *a bit*, because it's kind of the weakest aspect of Total Overdose. There's a bit of open world and driving bits here and there, but mainly the game is generally a silly over the top third person shooter. So you go through levels shooting the place up and completing objectives, as well as using ridiculous powerups, like one where you charge like a bull knocking people over, and one where you pull a guitar case machine gun out of nowhere and gun everything down. Then every now and then, you do a bit of open world faffing around. There's also some acrobatic stuff you can do (think Max Payne + Prince of Persia in a way) like side wall jumping, backwards wall rebound, etc. The game does have a bit of an autoaim problem, not even sure you can turn it off. It reminds me of Turok 2 autoaim a bit, where it can either help, or screw you out of headshots. I wouldn't mind a sequel, and I mean a true sequel. I know there was a bit of a sequel on the PSP (Chili Con Carnage).
But it's slightly janky in a fun, charming way. You go through levels shooting stuff up, and completing objectives. It has a Deus Ex/RE4 style waffle (grid) inventory. You research items like it's friggen Starcraft to gain bonuses and whatnot. Also I remember this game kinda running like beans at times, but then again that's Source 1 and it's 32bit shenanigans, among other stuff. So if it chugs on your 5000$ PC, don't worry, it's just Source 1 freaking out at open areas and badly optimized LOD. You buy/get equipment from a vending cube thing... I think. It's been a while since I played this game. A soulless vending machine that gives you gear, reminds me of Tribes. Yo GoG, put all the older Tribes games on here, yknow the games with the exploding plasma disc gun launcher and massive, absolutely massive levels. Especially that one with the singleplayer campaign. Or was that a mod...? I remember playing a demo of it a hundred million years ago... Anyway, again, you have limited space, so you have to pick your loadout carefully. If I remember correctly the inventory was kind of OG X-Com style, where you have a standard backpack space, then you have like 2-4 pockets or someother. Fit pistols and grenades there, etc. Did I mention there's a two handed sword that explodes on physical contact? There's a sword that explodes when it meets an enemy's face. I call it the Exploder Blade. You can also wear heavier armor, but it encumbers you, as well as carrying more stuff in general also encumbers you and slows you down. Then there's a bunch of augments to aquire, as well as powers, etc. I think this is the only Source engine game on GoG, other than Vampire. Put more Source games on here, like Dark Messiah, please. I need my Arx Fatalis - Thief - Stings like an RPG - Lite.
You are Mondo. Suit and tie wearing hacky slashy spectacle fighter assassin in the Suda51 Killverse. As a vampire*?, you use blood for ammo to use your sub weapons (Shoot, drill, etc), heal, and perform instakill execution moves on weaker enemies, and to finish stronger ones. I dunno, he uses blood like it's thaumaturgy magic. He has red eyes. He's a vampire. Then there's this optional Yakuza-esque dating minigame, where you shower ladies in (very expensive) gifts, and if you do it right, you are rewarded with a new subweapon. Soft boiled eggs? Think this is the first I've heard of them. Apparently it's an inbetween of a hard boiled egg, and a sunny side up-fried egg... or something. Definitely one of the weaker Suda51 games, but still worth playing. It clocks in at about 6 hours if you just focus on the main missions, it also has a bunch of side missions. Mondo has the last name of Zappa. Wonder if he's related to the blacksmith from Chrono Cross.
...and it's on steroids. Probably the most bombastic top down ARPG I've ever played. It has a multiclass system, similar to Titan Quest, where you start with one class, and can choose another class skilltree at level 10 or so. Then it has an optional Devotion tree system, which is kind of like Path of Exile's massive spheregrid looking skilltree system, except it's kind of like the constellations looking perk tree from Skyrim, except this is just an extra thing, and you can aquire devotion points from restoring shrines found throughout the land, by either offering it an item, or destroying a bunch of baddies the shrine summons. This game also has goofy ragdolls, just like Titan Quest. And also a massive, upgradeable inventory, again, just like TQ. This game is just pure, chaotic fun. I liked it more than I thought I would, gonna grab the expansions later. The game is a bit on the easy side by default, never died once, came close several times. But that's completely fine, I prefer it to some of D2's shenanigans at times. There's always harder difficulties you can choose from, that will most likely end up pulverizing you at some point. And the Blitz ability doesn't even glitch out, like the Paladin's charge does in D2! AND IT DESTROYS. EVERYTHING.
What's wrong with you? GMDX is one of the best improvement mods of all time. This isn't.
As good, if not better than the original.
And it even has a better shotgun than Doom 3, and isn't an RNG Rubber Chicken. Once again, whoever is in charge of patching games for GoG couldn't be arsed to modify a few lines of code to fix an issue with the game not knowing what to do with GPUs with more than 1GB of ram. Go into the q4base folder within the Quake 4 folder, open Quake4Config.cfg with notepad, and replace the appropriate lines with this: seta image_downSizeLimit "1024" seta image_ignoreHighQuality "1" seta image_downSizeBumpLimit "1024" seta image_downSizeSpecularLimit "1024" seta image_downSizeBump "1" seta image_downSizeSpecular "1" seta image_useCache "0" seta image_cacheMegs "256" seta image_cacheMinK "30" seta image_usePrecompressedTextures "0" seta image_useNormalCompressionLoadDDSForPal "1" seta image_useNormalCompression "2" seta image_useAllFormats "1" seta image_useCompression "0" seta image_downSize "1" seta image_lodbias "0" seta image_anisotropy "8" That's more or less high/ultra settings. Game still runs mostly fine, also it chugged in a few areas. Only crashed once I think, hilariously while looking at a dead soldier with a very indifferent look on his face after shooting him once. That dead soldier was so indifferent to being dead, it crashed the game. I think they should have played up the player being stroggified thing by giving the player different powers and abilities, as well as upgrading them, like a super sprint, super jump, or a devastating melee attack, or bullet time, etc. Well, at least you do upgrade some of your weapons throughout the campaign. Also, *some* of your weapons have flashlights on them, unlike Doom 3. The Pistol and the SMG. This is something Doom 3 should have done, have flashlight on a weapon or two, but have it be a smaller light radius than the handheld flashlight, letting you use some guns in the dark, but still leaving you vulnerable if you want to use a more powerful weapon without a flashlight.
Not as good as The New Order and The Old Blood, but still good. The gameplay is shootastic as ever, with some new mechanics later in the game. Mostly good level design, and some entertaining setpieces and sequences. At least it doesn't have some glaring balancing issues and MANDATORY STEALTH like Return to Castle Wolfenstein does. The game is about 8-12 hours long if you focus on the main campaign, and maybe 12-16 if you do side stuff as well. I'd say the worst thing about the game still, is how demanding it is. Those recommended specs are nothing to sneeze at, even today. Thankfully I have decent hardware and it ran fine. Get it on sale, you won't regret it.
In short: The Bad: - The stamina bar does not belong in this game, throw it away. For example, the final boss very much needs you to sprint like a madman at all times to avoid a very annoying, blinding homing attack. You're better off bunnyhopping. - Underutilized item system. I got a portable healing item. Once. And it's underpowered and it blinds you when used. Also it was a secret. - Stubborn, unstaggerable, inconsistent, etc, enemies. Soldiers eating miniguns to the face without flinching, sometimes shooting you with seemingly perfect accuracy while sprinting at you, those electric enemies that throw themselves at you and kill you within seconds, that can also hurt you through ceilings. The tesla super soldier boss. The bosses generally aren't very good. I guess the last boss is the best one, but even that is ruined by the stupid stamina system. - All of the mandatory stealth parts. Stealth should always be optional in a Wolfenstein game. This series is about kicking down doors and making nazis eat shit in the loudest and most lead filled way possible. Not about tiptoeing around and making sure the enemy doesn't spot the tip of your shoe from 2 miles away. - Once again, GoG are too lazy to change 2 lines of code to allow modern resolutions to be selectable. Oh well, at least the game ran fine otherwise. Also the mouse aiming/sensitivity just feels off in general. - USELESS TREASURE THAT HAS NO PRACTICAL USE. Just for the shits and giggles and completion I guess. It would have been cool if getting a certain number of treasure upgraded your max health/armor/ammo capacity, etc. Also, armor pickups are insultingly rare a lot of the time. - And a bunch of other stuff I can't think of. The Good: + Schut nazis. + Game still looks decent for it's age. + Occasional humor Verdict: Just play The New Order or the original. Or at the very least mod this to the point where it fixes all the stupid frustrating bullshit, unpolish, unbalance, and other jank.
