Serious Sam HD: The First Encounter is not only a good game, but an absolutely great game, and definitely the best game to ever come out of Croatia (sorry, Doodle Jump). It has all the bombastic action and weapon/encounter variety of 2016's DOOM (our modern watermark FPS) in a 2001 game. It created a "horde management" niche that has to this day been largely untapped in the arena of campaign FPS games. You even see its influence today in releases like MachineGames's "Call of the Machine" campaign for Quake II.
In Serious Sam, each enemy is visually distinct and has a specific way you need to deal with it. Certain weapons make short work of certain enemies, and mixed hordes are common. You will use all of your arsenal pretty consistently throughout the game, which sets it apart from a lot of shooters. Some enemies lunge at you when they get a certain distance. Some shoot slow moving projectiles. Some will charge mindlessly, locking you into a matador duel regardless of whatever else you're currently contending with. The sole hitscan enemy is all but stationary, making him incredibly avoidable with proper footwork. Shooting is key in this game in that you need to always be doing it, and movement is key in that you need to always be thinking about it. Levels are universally wide-open arenas, some of them literally featureless, and all with an ancient Egyptian theme. There are health/ammo pickups littered about in seemingly random spots, and you are going to need most of them to make it through. The series is famously characterized by the sheer number of enemies thrown at you at once. Even Painkiller pales in comparison--you slay entire armies in this game. There were multiple times I just lost it, cracking up at how ridiculous the on-screen action was. In terms of game mechanics, it feels like a game designed by geniuses. In terms of tone, style, and level design, it feels like a game designed by five year olds. The juxtaposition is so sincere in its presentation that I can't help but love Serious Sam.
If the entire game was designed like the first half, this would unquestionably be my favorite FPS game. Unfortunately, in the back half the cracks really start to show in the formula. The sheer number of enemies the game throws at you combined with the openness of the arenas leads to mindless save scumming as you frequently find yourself in unwinnable scenarios. These levels need to be designed with a healthy respect for the mechanics that were crafted with such care. The final level in particular is so poor and thoughtless that I'll admit I would have rated the game five stars if it ended one level earlier. The final boss left a sour taste in my mouth--in a game with fantastic boss encounters, he was the worst part of the experience. I am fairly certain a scripted event bugged during my playthrough as well, and I had to cheat to proceed.
That aside, I'm certain that the 2016 DOOM developers played and studied this game, and now I have as well. Serious Sam: The First Encounter demonstrates that you can design a first-person shooter so well and make it so fun to play that you barely need to have levels. It makes me think back to the early id Software games that are actually held back by their level design, and how differently I might have felt about a Sam-style Wolfenstein 3-D.
In Serious Sam, each enemy is visually distinct and has a specific way you need to deal with it. Certain weapons make short work of certain enemies, and mixed hordes are common. You will use all of your arsenal pretty consistently throughout the game, which sets it apart from a lot of shooters. Some enemies lunge at you when they get a certain distance. Some shoot slow moving projectiles. Some will charge mindlessly, locking you into a matador duel regardless of whatever else you're currently contending with. The sole hitscan enemy is all but stationary, making him incredibly avoidable with proper footwork. Shooting is key in this game in that you need to always be doing it, and movement is key in that you need to always be thinking about it. Levels are universally wide-open arenas, some of them literally featureless, and all with an ancient Egyptian theme. There are health/ammo pickups littered about in seemingly random spots, and you are going to need most of them to make it through. The series is famously characterized by the sheer number of enemies thrown at you at once. Even Painkiller pales in comparison--you slay entire armies in this game. There were multiple times I just lost it, cracking up at how ridiculous the on-screen action was. In terms of game mechanics, it feels like a game designed by geniuses. In terms of tone, style, and level design, it feels like a game designed by five year olds. The juxtaposition is so sincere in its presentation that I can't help but love Serious Sam.
If the entire game was designed like the first half, this would unquestionably be my favorite FPS game. Unfortunately, in the back half the cracks really start to show in the formula. The sheer number of enemies the game throws at you combined with the openness of the arenas leads to mindless save scumming as you frequently find yourself in unwinnable scenarios. These levels need to be designed with a healthy respect for the mechanics that were crafted with such care. The final level in particular is so poor and thoughtless that I'll admit I would have rated the game five stars if it ended one level earlier. The final boss left a sour taste in my mouth--in a game with fantastic boss encounters, he was the worst part of the experience. I am fairly certain a scripted event bugged during my playthrough as well, and I had to cheat to proceed.
That aside, I'm certain that the 2016 DOOM developers played and studied this game, and now I have as well. Serious Sam: The First Encounter demonstrates that you can design a first-person shooter so well and make it so fun to play that you barely need to have levels. It makes me think back to the early id Software games that are actually held back by their level design, and how differently I might have felt about a Sam-style Wolfenstein 3-D.