Serious Sam: The First Encounter

Serious Sam is probably the definitive Co-op frantic-shooter experience, the same way Unreal Tournament is the definitive deathmatch frantic-shooter experience. It's really a simple game, with just enough plot to make you chuckle before giving you a gun and telling you to shoot things, and if that sounds lackluster to you, you're missing the beautiful simplicity of it all. This game has no story, because it's not trying to have a story. It's just trying to make you shoot things, and you do that a lot. Single player is fine, and plays a lot like similar games (like Painkiller and whatnot), but if you're buying it for the single player, you're missing out. The place this game really shines is when you're playing with at least one other person at your side (but it gets increasingly better the more people there are). It's hard to describe exactly why it's so much better, but there's just something about running circles around a group of rampaging skeletons to cluster them together, as your friend goads a charging yak to burst through the enemies you've just corralled. If you want a game with a story, or one that makes any sense at all, this is not the game for you, and if you're planning on just playing the single-player, grab Painkiller or something instead. If, however, you think the only thing that makes frantic bullet-spasms and skyscraper-sized monstrosities better is sharing them with a friend, this is the game for you.

One of my favorite coop FPS' Sam is one of those games that just begs to be taken with a tank of laughing gas. I find that many games now a days lack a good sense of humor. Either they take themselves too seriously, or the humor is just flat out annoying (at least to me). This game speaks my laugh language. On top of the humor the gameplay is great. It is incredibly fast paced and colorful. Every world there is something different to see. Even today I still enjoy the graphics. The engine itself is great. I remember I could play it on all of my computers, even the ones with crappy GPU's. This is a huge plus for me, since my favorite thing about this game is actually the coop mode. There is nothing like running through a ridiculously colorful world with your brothers blasting away aliens with lasers and cannons. After I beat the game the first time with my brothers (non stop) we had to start it over again at a harder level. There are so many ways to make the game continually harder, which means that you can always get better :) I highly recommend this game for anyone who wants to have some laughs with some friends and doesn't really care about the competitive side of gaming.

Quite fun during the first two or three hours, then becoming dull and samey to the point of desperation, with an awfully tedious final boss to boot. I do not find the enemies particularly appealing, and knowing that they kept a lot of them pretty much the same in the following chapters makes me less willing to engage with them. Also, I do not know why you'd buy it here when a remastered version exists elsewhere. Sure I found it more fun than Quake 4, but the game's idea of fun is to throw waves of bullet-spongy enemies at the player, and it doesn't help that the weapons lack any element of realism like reloading, and generally feel not particularly satisfying to use. Sure Doom I & II do the same, but they do it much better and have 100% better, more varied and interesting levels to explore. I'd recommend it, but only if found at a very steep discount.

Serious Sam: The First Encounter is the first game of the Serious Sam series. In this one, Sam travels alone to Ancient Egypt to stop an alien invasion. I dub these kind of games as "one man army" games, because you play as one character with many weapons against hundreds, if not thousands of enemies, with several boss fights in between. More games like this are Duke Nukem, Shadow Warrior, Doom, Quake, and many others. If you like those kind of games, you'd most likely enjoy the Serious Sam franchise. As usual with one man army games, shooting and killing enemies play a major part in the gameplay. You'll have a great variety of weapons, and you are free to use them according to your play style or enemy type. However, these kind of games usually lack story content. You may have fun blowing up enemies, but don't expect a memorable story from these games.

I have played the demo version of this game, and loved it to pieces. It was so quirky, so unique. It gave me a whole new dimension when it comes to FPS. Now, to purchase the full game is a dream, and makes it much easier for me. Even so, the game is still as hilarious as ever. Whether it would be Sam's quirky remarks to certain enemies to the game, through to his uncompromising view that everything can be settled by the barrel of his gun/minigun/rocket launcher/grenade launcher etc. (well, the thing is, even the weapons are pretty much extreme! For example, a rocket launcher that doesn't hurt you?) If you are looking for something fresh, funny (in a very strange way) and just plain silly, well, this just might be the game for you.