Serious Sam: The First Encounter

Serious Sam has very nice arid scenery (at various parts of the game, I felt a desire for the location to be real so that I could be there in person, minus the monsters of course) and some decently clever level design, both indoor and outdoors (but for me, the outdoors was what really shone). Given the length of the game, they could have added a few more monster types, but the monster types that are there all have a lot of flavor and are different enough from each other that each type will require its own tactic and weapon of choice to face. The guns are not revolutionary (except for the cannon which is hilarious and pretty terrific to use), but for the most part are different enough that you'll want to use different guns in different situation. The only exceptions to that are the grenade launcher which is mostly inferior to the missile launcher (yes, the grenade bounces off walls, but you won't use it as much as you'd think when facing hordes of randomly spawning enemies) and the laser rifle which is mostly inferior to the improved machine gun. The multiplayer includes the ability to play though the game in coop mode which is nice (I managed to make it work with the GOG version over a LAN, though it kept complaining about a lack of CD in the early game which was annoying) as many shooters regrettably don't have that. The game will keep your adrenaline pumping as it will send you wave after wave of monsters, especially in the later game, but while I found this was a good rush for the first couple of times, it became a bit tedious in the second half of the game (especially in the arena-style enclosed spaces, that was kinda boring). While the scale is immense at times (sometimes, I'd find myself shooting what must have been over 100 enemies at a time and more kept coming), quality would have beaten quantity hands down here. More situations where there are fewer, more cunning foes with an interesting scenery that can be used strategically would have been better (and there are such instances in the game, just not as many as I would have hoped). Also, the randomly spawning enemies are a mixed blessing. It will definitely keep you on your toes, but often, they will ambush you by spawning behind or around you in places you have already cleared and unless you have completed the game a couple of times, it will seem pretty random (especially when rocket launching monsters will spawn right behind you) so you'll feel the urge to save often. So overall: great atmosphere and flavor, great adrenaline rush, but not as many interesting shootout situations as I would have liked to see. Still a good game despite its shortcomings.

Classic FPS, its a simple shooter, nothing more. The arcade style gameplay is very enjoyable and satisfying, blasting monsters with the shotgun is so much fun. There are many hidden secrets you can find by exploring the map One minor annoyance is NETRISCA. It gives you info on mobs but if you ignore it, it flashes its icon. A thing to note - The game by default is not in widescreen mode. You can follow this article to resolve this : https://www.pcgamingwiki.com/wiki/Serious_Sam:_The_First_Encounter#Widescreen_resolution

This is not a game about precision and brains... except that if your enemies had one, we could see a lof of them fly in the air while you kill them. This is a brutal FPS which mostly follows the same pattern: - Enter a room - The exits are sealed - Kill all the monsters - The exits are clear, continue to the next room No need to think or solve puzzle here, all you have to do is shoot. As we progress in the game, we encounter WAVES of ennemies (sometimes more than one hundres) and, in these cases, it is necessary to determine the best weapon for the job. If you need to decompress or relax, play it. It is fun and allows you to disconnect your brain a bit before going back to normal life. Also note that there is a story in the game and it is quite enjoyable.

Yeah, it's all fun and games till someone loses an eye. To PLAY this game on MODERN RESOLUTIONS, you can try this "FIX" by WISHMASTERTHEDARK. I can confirm it works 100% for me and thanks to this guy! The FIX: Since both games use the same engine, this instruction works for both games. Since both games use the same engine, this instruction works for both games . Find the installation folder. Enter Scripts sub-folder. Find PersistentSymbols file. Open it. Once the notepad file has been launched use the search function to locate these lines: persistent extern user FLOAT plr_fFOV=(FLOAT)xx; Change its default value into: persistent extern user FLOAT plr_fFOV=(FLOAT)105; for 16:9 screen resoultion. persistent extern user FLOAT plr_fFOV=(FLOAT)100; for 16:10 screen resolution. Find these next: persistent extern INDEX sam_iScreenSizeI=(INDEX)xxxx; persistent extern INDEX sam_iScreenSizeJ=(INDEX)xxxx; Change its value for desired screen resolution. Upper value is width, lower value is height: persistent extern INDEX sam_iScreenSizeI=(INDEX)1920; persistent extern INDEX sam_iScreenSizeJ=(INDEX)1080; Enjoy the game with a modern resolution standard.

I know a lot of people complain about this game. And yes, they do make valid points. The difficulty is way too high, it DOES punish you for picking up items, and the waves of enemies are SERIOUS, hence the title. However, once you get used to the intense action of the game, you can see the good points too. Great music and graphics for its time, LOTS of humor, and sam is a way better protagonist than duke nukem. My only concern with this game would be anybody trying to play it with a heart condition. There is suddenly heart pounding action constantly. Been playing this and the sequel for many years, and it still frequently startles me. As a suggestion for anybody new to the game, set the difficulty in game to the lowest. Health will slowly Regen, and it takes a lot of the bite out of monster damage. Good for getting used to the seriously unfair monster wave ambushes. I also think there is an unofficial patch that adds controller support, but not sure as I am good with a keyboard mouse combo. (Veteran mordor and demise player)