'"Seriously, is that the best you can do? Uh oh."'
Serious Sam is a wild *** game. In a good way! This series should be placed right next to Duke Nukem in the realms of macho mascots for old-school FPS series, and while its level design is extremely repetitive, the gunplay and amount of on-screen chaos is something few games can match!
The premise of this game is simple: shoot stuff, save the world, be a bad***. Sam can wield many powerful weapons, some mainstay FPS classics, others a bit more "alien". Or you could just launch cannonballs at everything too I guess! What was really fun (and pretty hilarious) about this title is how many enemies will attack you at once. I played solo during my time with the game, and when I reached the Canal section, it made me laugh out loud. I was rushed by at least two hundred enemies, and somehow managed to scrape through by the skin of my teeth! I don't know many games that can throw that at you while your character makes wisecracks the entire time!
The enemy design itself is good, but a flaw with the game is how they place certain enemies. the game will spam enemy spawns on you while you pick up nearly any item in the game, and sometimes it will be in an enclosed space where you're forced to eat up damage from them. Other times, an enemy with player-tracking projectiles or hitscan machine guns will be spawned across the map in a spot that the player wouldn't think of looking at. It gets old really fast, and these cheap forms of player damage are even more difficult to deal with when playing solo.
There are many secrets to find that mostly just give a new weapon/more ammo, health/shields, and occasionally a funny quip from Sam. However, it isn't necessary to hunt these down unless you want these items really badly, or are a masochist like myself who just can't help but look everywhere in games like this.
Overall, I think Serious Sam: The First Encounter does enough to stand on its own compared to titles like Duke Nukem, and I would Recommend it to anyone looking for a fun mindless shooter to play with friends. I would highly suggest playing with friends, as the game "seriously" calls for it!
Final Verdict: 7/10 (Good)
Serious Sam is a wild *** game. In a good way! This series should be placed right next to Duke Nukem in the realms of macho mascots for old-school FPS series, and while its level design is extremely repetitive, the gunplay and amount of on-screen chaos is something few games can match!
The premise of this game is simple: shoot stuff, save the world, be a bad***. Sam can wield many powerful weapons, some mainstay FPS classics, others a bit more "alien". Or you could just launch cannonballs at everything too I guess! What was really fun (and pretty hilarious) about this title is how many enemies will attack you at once. I played solo during my time with the game, and when I reached the Canal section, it made me laugh out loud. I was rushed by at least two hundred enemies, and somehow managed to scrape through by the skin of my teeth! I don't know many games that can throw that at you while your character makes wisecracks the entire time!
The enemy design itself is good, but a flaw with the game is how they place certain enemies. the game will spam enemy spawns on you while you pick up nearly any item in the game, and sometimes it will be in an enclosed space where you're forced to eat up damage from them. Other times, an enemy with player-tracking projectiles or hitscan machine guns will be spawned across the map in a spot that the player wouldn't think of looking at. It gets old really fast, and these cheap forms of player damage are even more difficult to deal with when playing solo.
There are many secrets to find that mostly just give a new weapon/more ammo, health/shields, and occasionally a funny quip from Sam. However, it isn't necessary to hunt these down unless you want these items really badly, or are a masochist like myself who just can't help but look everywhere in games like this.
Overall, I think Serious Sam: The First Encounter does enough to stand on its own compared to titles like Duke Nukem, and I would Recommend it to anyone looking for a fun mindless shooter to play with friends. I would highly suggest playing with friends, as the game "seriously" calls for it!
Final Verdict: 7/10 (Good)