Serious Sam: The First Encounter

One of the old guard, but like Barristan Selmy, he can still kick some serious butt. It's as old-school as they come, focusing on constantly being on the move, emphasizing twitch shooting over cover firing in most occasions, and just being alert as all heck as you never know where the next enemy will come from. But that does mean that it can get exhausting if played for hours at a time. Had to play it a bit at a time for how frantic it got, sometimes you just need a break from always being on edge. But that's the point of it; fast, frantic, furious action! And it does it damn well. Arena-like locations, wide, outside warzones, cramped quarters; a bit of everything and backed up by solid controls. If the controls weren't good, then there would be no saving it. If anything, it's my fault that I couldn't remember the pause button for whenever I ALT-TAB out of it, but that's what quick save/load is for, which is definitely needed. It's not an easy game. The ambushes can be unfair at times and it will plant hitscan chaingun scorpions at the worst possible locations and sometimes that kamikaze will spawn right behind you. I saved countless times, quick-save and regular saves, and had to reload almost just as many times. But it's the kind of difficulty that makes you want to try again, if not at the time of death then later. It got me coming back to try again and eventually reach the end. Pretty satisfying overall, and some nice set pieces along the way. For a twitch shooter, I can ask for nothing more. It being pretty funny at times certainly helps, and it runs hella well. Minor puzzles, barely there, and just so much carnage and action.

The developers were defintely high on something to create this awesome senseless FPS

Got this game on sale for like $2, and fell in love with it. The game is well worth a playthrough and is extremely entertaining. It's fast paced, full of secrets, and has a very rewarding difficulty progression. I will say that the atmosphere and theme can be a little repetitive but it's an older game with a heavy emphasis on its arcade play style. Overall the game is extremely engaging with a great on the edge of your seat intensity. You will mostly be running around in arena type square rooms with some verticality facing off against increasingly difficult waves of different monsters while trying to dodge hundreds of projectiles. Definetly buy this game if you are a fan of FPS games.

Maybe it's just the nostalgia talking, but I love this game and it's humor

Essentially every level is a collection of a few large completely flat and open areas that spawn monsters and every now and then ammo and health. Clear an area, go through the now open door, go to the next room and repeat. There are some levels, especially early on, that play around a bit more with geometry and making interesting looking maps. Unfortunately it seems they decided to only do large open areas with waves of the same enemies afterwards. Hard pass on this unless you really love FPS games... and maybe even then.