"A Worthy Expansion That Improves In Some Solid Ways"
I was pretty surprised to discover that this expansion improved on some factors of the original Serious Sam game rather than running its core gameplay loop into the ground. While this title still has segments that struggle with repetition and a lack of interesting environments, there are more interesting levels and gameplay sequences to fight through in between these chaotic level-sprawling brawls.
Serious Sam Classic: The First Encounter struggled with one very big thing - repetition when it came to large-scale, open-area fights. This game does little to improve upon that formula. However, the parts between these fight are what has improved in this expansion, alongside a few interesting enemy additions and weapon choices.
Levels are now built around special traps or gimmicks, including but not limited to - wall-running, anti-gravity, death traps, giant/miniature enemies, and loads of entertaining secrets to uncover, among many others. These all result in much better levels than the original game, at least in terms of design, which was a nice surprise since I was expecting more of the same. However, the actual environments are improves as well. Instead of one static desert environment, there are snowy villages, creepy gothic-inspired castles, ancient ruins, grassy mountaintops, and lava-filled caverns. With more things to actually look at, it becomes less of a slog to play through the game!
The new enemies and weapons are neat as well! The chainsaw-wielding pumpkin-headed lumberjacks are pretty scary to fight against, and the skinless red aliens with blasters are a nice addition to add in some more static enemies. Additionally, the new sniper rifle and flamethrower give some more options for dealing with both large and small foes, respectively.
The humor in this game is much goofier as well. There were more instances where I stared at the screen in disbelief over a really strange joke or a weird secret, and that made me want to explore each level even more!
My biggest complaint is similar to the first game, and it comes down to the giant open-level fight that occur pretty often in this game. Sometimes they are fine, and have a nice balance of interesting environments and a ridiculous amount of enemies to kill. However, it is more often than not that a fight will stretch out way too long and leave me feeling frustrated at the length and repetition of each one. This was especially true of the the final level, which essentially consisted of only these fights taking place over more than an hour of gameplay.
Despite a major flaw still not being addressed, I saw this title being a nice improvement over the original. It didn't take any real leaps in terms of innovation or spectacular changes to gameplay, but it added enough into the experience to keep things feeling fresh. I can Recommend this title pretty easily!
Final Verdict: 7/10 (Good)
I was pretty surprised to discover that this expansion improved on some factors of the original Serious Sam game rather than running its core gameplay loop into the ground. While this title still has segments that struggle with repetition and a lack of interesting environments, there are more interesting levels and gameplay sequences to fight through in between these chaotic level-sprawling brawls.
Serious Sam Classic: The First Encounter struggled with one very big thing - repetition when it came to large-scale, open-area fights. This game does little to improve upon that formula. However, the parts between these fight are what has improved in this expansion, alongside a few interesting enemy additions and weapon choices.
Levels are now built around special traps or gimmicks, including but not limited to - wall-running, anti-gravity, death traps, giant/miniature enemies, and loads of entertaining secrets to uncover, among many others. These all result in much better levels than the original game, at least in terms of design, which was a nice surprise since I was expecting more of the same. However, the actual environments are improves as well. Instead of one static desert environment, there are snowy villages, creepy gothic-inspired castles, ancient ruins, grassy mountaintops, and lava-filled caverns. With more things to actually look at, it becomes less of a slog to play through the game!
The new enemies and weapons are neat as well! The chainsaw-wielding pumpkin-headed lumberjacks are pretty scary to fight against, and the skinless red aliens with blasters are a nice addition to add in some more static enemies. Additionally, the new sniper rifle and flamethrower give some more options for dealing with both large and small foes, respectively.
The humor in this game is much goofier as well. There were more instances where I stared at the screen in disbelief over a really strange joke or a weird secret, and that made me want to explore each level even more!
My biggest complaint is similar to the first game, and it comes down to the giant open-level fight that occur pretty often in this game. Sometimes they are fine, and have a nice balance of interesting environments and a ridiculous amount of enemies to kill. However, it is more often than not that a fight will stretch out way too long and leave me feeling frustrated at the length and repetition of each one. This was especially true of the the final level, which essentially consisted of only these fights taking place over more than an hour of gameplay.
Despite a major flaw still not being addressed, I saw this title being a nice improvement over the original. It didn't take any real leaps in terms of innovation or spectacular changes to gameplay, but it added enough into the experience to keep things feeling fresh. I can Recommend this title pretty easily!
Final Verdict: 7/10 (Good)